Save Energy – Reduce Electricity bills, Global warming too

Fascinated by the latest gizmos? Hold on! Before investing in any latest electrical appliance, just check how much power is it going to swallow? If you are going shopping with your child for a playstation , just go through the report of a global study which says that game consoles like Play Station 3 consumes five times more power than a medium sized refrigerator. Such a Play Station, even on its standby mode, could cost almost $250 (about Rs. 11,000) a year in electricity as compared to a fridge which costs less than $50 (about Rs 2,000) a year.

The Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) has made energy efficiency rates mandatory for refrigerators, tube lights, geysers and is planning to add air- conditioners to this list. This has been done to encourage the industry to come up with more energy efficient products. Now it’s the turn of the consumers to become responsible and switch to electrical appliances with BEE Star- Rated Labels.

Star ratings determine how many kilo-watts of power an appliance consumes in a year. A product labeled one star will consume 20 % more energy than a two star product. With every rise in the number of stars, energy efficiency improves by 20 %. Thus an appliance with One Star is least energy efficient and that with Five Stars is most energy efficient.

So next time when you are buying any appliance, count the stars within the coloured strip of the BEE label and feel honoured for being a responsible member of the mankind helping reduce global warming, an enlightened citizen increasing the availability of electricity for more people and a happy money saver reducing your own electricity bill.

Here are some more tips on energy saving

Are you listening……? The Art of Active Listening

03/06/2008

“The most basic of all human needs is the need to understand and be understood. The best way to understand people is to listen to them.” — Ralph Nichols

Have you ever felt like not being properly heard by your spouse, your colleagues, your children, your friends? In the midst of that serious discussion with your husband, haven’t you said to yourself “God! Why isn’t he listening to me?” When you had a cold war with your mother-in-law, haven’t you realized that she didn’t listen to the narration given by you for not bringing her medicine and is just going by what her “morning walk friends’ have told her? And just remember that meeting where you went with the first ever presentation of yours, bubbling with energy. After a few minutes of the presentation, haven’t you felt like you had wasted your time preparing for that presentation and here was the ‘intellectual crowd’ making most of their time munching cookies and enjoying the cool atmosphere of the conference hall.

Yes, we all crave for ears to listen to our words. These were the situations where you were the speaker. Just think of those moments when you were on the other end, listening to someone- in class, at home, in a training session, in a discussion, in meeting. Were you not behaving like the listeners in the above paragraph?

"We were given two ears but only one mouth, because listening is twice as hard as talking." Did you know that our brain uses as much energy in an hour of careful listening as is used by our body during a long race?

Listening is one of the most important skills one can have. How well we listen has a major impact on our job effectiveness and on the quality of our relationships with others. Active, effective listening is a habit which can be developed through practice. It is the foundation of effective communication. It is a way of listening and responding to other person that improves mutual understanding.

What is ‘Active Listening’