Going Green, Saving Energy, Saving Money

“KESC bekaar hogayee hai. Aao in kee gaarian jala dey tay hain.”

We usually do hear something like this when there are power outages in Karachi and other parts of the country. Angry businessmen and their employees lose out on a lot of business due to power outages and indeed, they are not at fault.

But is burning down the vehicles we essentially pay for with our utility bills and taxes really bring any benefits? Also, if we burn the KESC vehicles down, rendering them useless will delay the process of bringing power back on even more.

You will note that a lot (if not most) of the times, power outages are caused due to an overload on a grid, on a power line, or something along those lines. Enough blaming KESC. We need to do something…no, not burn down more cars, something more peacefule, benevolent and effective.

What, pray tell, is this stance that we can take, you ask?

Conserve! The entire world is going green, and this article is part of a series of what you can do to save electricity using DIY kits (to double as airconditioners) and what not.

So, now that the elections are over and we have lesser to worry about, lets take some steps. But, before you start taking actual physical measures, here’s a few tips which will help you prepare.

First, when you see or believe illegal electricity stealing, REPORT IT! KESC likes nothing better than to cut power for people. They’ll enjoy doing this so give them the reason to. That way, you won’t face an overload in your house. Imagine an entire township in Malir having 50% electricty being stolen, you could save so much money and energy. More for you!

when you see a riot about to begin, tell people to stop and this is not the way. Explain to them. Most people have nothing to do when power goes out so they go burn the KESC cars and beat the drivers. This won’t get you anywhere. It will delay the job.

If you have bulbs that you use in your home, try to replace them with Ecotones. Sure, they cost slightly more, but they will last longer, work on generators and save ALOT of energy. A whole lot.

Turn off lights when you leave the room. If you did this, you would DRASTICALLY reduce your electricity bill.

Try to keep your A/C thermostat somewhere around or on 5-6. This will consume less power, all the while keeping your room cool.

The most important thing however, is to check your meter: sometimes the meters will run really fast as part of a flaw, so your bill will come really high. Even if the bill is slightly higher than general, imagine over 12 months, you may end up paying a whole lot more money collectively.

So lets try taking these measures and see where we get in a bit. More to follow.