Stop boiling water with an electric kettle. Use the gas stove instead. This alone will save tons in energy bill. I swear by this rule.

I’m not exaggerating when I say my husband has a habit of leaving his PC running for days on a stretch. The only time he turn it off is when it rains or going out. That is one bad habit I would like to see him change. Shutting down PCs at night would definitely save on energy usage.

Ordinary incandescent light bulbs are very inefficient at converting electricity to light because a lot of energy is wasted into producing heat. A house would save significantly if compact fluorescents are used instead. Good thing our home uses fluorescent lighting exclusively.

Wash dirty clothes with cold water at all times. Well I have never bothered about water temperature when washing my clothes. It had always been cold water.

Use microwave instead of the oven. Sounds good to me. The only time I use the oven is to reheat crispy and crunchy stuff. And I seldom bake.

Most household uses tankless water heaters, which is efficient in energy usage as it heats up the water on demand instead of constantly keeping a tank of water warm. You might even want to take it a step further by switching to aerated showerheads to conserve your water bill. CSIRO Melbourne, Australia, says it “has developed a simple ‘air shower’ device which, when fitted into existing showerheads, fills the water droplets with a tiny bubble of air. The result is the shower feels just as wet and just as strong as before, but now uses much less water”. It is said they intend to market the product at a very reasonable low price for consumers. When this hits the market in my neighbourhood, I’ll be sure to get one myself.

Electric appliances when not in use, pull the plug. I don’t always pay attention to this. Yes I know electrical stuff consumes a tiny bit of electricity in stand-by mode. All I’ve got in stand-by mode is the TV and air-conditioner at all times. So I guess the miniscule savings won’t matter much here.

Use less air-conditioning. With our searing tropical heat, this is one tough nut to crack. We try our best to limit our air-conditioner usage to our bedroom which needs only a small 1-horsepower unit to keep it cool. I really can’t tolerate sleeping in a hot and stuffy room.