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Townsman, 1991-11, Page 18Make it a 'green' Christmas Tips on how to enjoy a bountiful Christmas and still help the environment The slogan, "reduce, re -use, recy- cle", has been set to dance and music. The singers cavort in costume and mask for audiences, trying to get the message of protecting the environ- ment across yet again for consumers without seeming to be like nags. Imagine what Santa Claus might say, if he was told to cut back. Imag- ine the poor child getting a piece of coal in his shoe or a lonesome candy in his stocking. It just would not cut it. Santa's sack has always been seen to be bottomless. The Christmas season has always been seen as a consumer's heyday. The catch is, how can we use less without really noticing it, without being seen to be cheap, scrooge -like in our attempt to save? Being energy conscious and less wasteful can become a habit, if we are conscious of cutting back, if we become more resourceful. Many area utilities offer sensible advice on how to conserve for the season. Put your food in the oven as soon as you turn it on rather than pre -heat. Don Heath, London and area manager of Union Gas, pointed out that the pri- mary feature of gas is the spontaneous heat control, the immediate on-off which reduces or eliminates the pre- heat cycle. "When you can put your items in the oven right away, you are not just heating empty space." Also, microwaves are more energy efficient than ovens, taking less time to heat or cook. Cook the turkey and vegetables and perhaps pudding or pie in the oven together takes less energy than cooked separately. When you are through cooking, turn the oven off and leave the door open to heat the living space. Before you bake turn the By Sandra Orr thermostat down and allow the oven to heat up your house. During the holiday season, when people entertain more, there is the temptation to run the dishwasher when it is Tess than full. Use it only when full or hand wash those extra dishes. When you expect a large crowd for a party, turn the thermostat back before they arrive. It may be cool at first but with many people the living area will soon warm up. Waiting for people to complain, before turning the heat or opening the door is wasteful. "The biggest energy users are the hot water heater and the furnace. They're the ones to cut back on," says Heath. Setting the thermostat back at night and when people are at work and turning it up to warm the house up in the evenings or early mornings is a good way to conserve energy. A lot of our customers have automatic set -backs. Gas consumption seems to be weather -dependent." When people are spending more time at home during the holidays, lights tend to be left on in empty rooms and more hot water is used for showers and laundry. But the biggest difference in usage over the holiday, if the weather seems to be a constant, is in relation to cook- ing and using appliances. During the holiday season, almost everyone has a lighting display out- of-doors as well as indoors. "Our motto for lighting is 'On at seven, off at eleven'," says Dave Arnott, of the regional Ontario Hydro office in London. "There is no sense in having them on for prowlers to enjoy." 16 TOWNSMAN/NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 1991 If you buy five -watt bulbs, you can save almost 50 per cent of the hydro used in your lighting for the Christ- mas tree. The lower wattage bulbs are more efficient. If you can't remember to turn the lights off at night, you can use a timer. A timer can be also used for the block heater for a car. Usually two or three hours of heating a car is sufficient in cold weather. Many peo- ple plug it m at six when they arrive home, but it would be a savings to have the timer tum it on at four m the morning. When entertaining, the refrigerator, sometimes more than one, is used more often. If there is nothing in the beer fridge, it should be unplugged, as it is an energy waster if it is not in use. Bell Canada offers a 60 per cent dis- count or Sunday rates for Christmas day, December 25, and New Year's Day, January 1, for anyone wanting to call family or friends. Discounts in the evenings, late nights, and on the weekends helps distribute the use of the telephone more evenly and saves the consumer money. If you like the aroma of a real Christmas tree, it is very important that the lights not be left on when you go out or go to bed, especially when the tree has been up awhile because it can become very dry. When the sea- son is over, the tree can be placed as a shelter for birds in the backyard with a feeder of corn or seeds for the cardi- nals, bluejays and sparrows to enjoy all winter long. Clippings from the tree, if you have made it more symmetrical, can be tied onto a wire wreath with string or wire.