Ecology = Savings

In order to help you save water and electricity, you will find below some simple ecological instruc- tions to limit your charges (costs related to your consumption as a tenant).

 

 

Heating and ventilation

  • Adjust the room temperature using the room thermostats. If you have thermostatic valves, re- member to close them if you open the windows, which will prevent the radiators from reacting to the cold outside.
  • Avoid leaving your windows open, even in a tran- som.
  • The ideal temperature in a home should not ex- ceed 21 to 22 degrees. Each a further degree results in an increase of more than 6% in energy consumption.
  • In case of absence, lower the room temperature.
  • Ventilate briefly but intensely (3 to 5 minutes 1 to 2 times a day): sufficient for renew the air while avoiding excessive heat loss.
  • Do not cover the radiator or place a sofa or piece of furniture in front of it.

 

 

Hot water

  • Use hot water sparingly
  • Take showers rather than baths (a shower consumes about 30-50 liters hot water and a 100 to 150 liter bath!)
  • Do not let the water run while brushing your teeth, soaping yourself, when shaving or doing the dishes.
  • Regularly descale the taps.
  • Remember to turn the mixer tap to cold before any use if the hot water is not necessary.

 

 

Elecricity

  • Whenever possible, prefer the use of natural light.
  • Turn off the lights when you are not in the room. WARNING: do not leave your electronic devices in standby mode: they consume always energy!
  • Use low consumption household appliances (class A or +).
  • Preferably use energy-saving or compact fluores- cent bulbs.
  • Do not put hot food in your fridge: let it cool down first.

 

 

Drinkable water

  • Choose devices with low water consumption.
  • Equip the taps with a water saver.
  • Do not run the washing machine or dishwasher if it is not full (clean thoroughly regularly filters and washing holes).
  • Preferably opt for natural products without phos- phates.
  • Use wisely the 2 positions of the toilet flushes.
  • Report any water leaks as soon as possible.

 

Waste

Your building is generally equipped for sorting and recycling waste. A storage place for household waste, glass, paper and cardboard and organic waste (food and plant) is located in or near the building. If this is not the case, you can dispose of this waste at your municipal waste collection cen ter.

Do not hesitate to return unnecessary packaging to your stores, these are often equipped with a re- cycling center.

Official garbage bags are on sale from your mu- nicipality or in supermarkets. Warning: these are different for each municipality, be careful to buy the right ones!

 

 

Mobility

If you have the possibility, prefer public transport or for short trips walking or cycling.

Also consider carpooling for long regular trips

 

Did you know ?

This type of faucet is called a «mixer» because it mixes hot and cold water with a single wave of the hand. Practical for ideally dosing the temperature of the shower, this device has two major flaws in its use at the sink or the kitchen sink:

  • you can draw hot water without realizing it.
  • there is a tendency to raise the lever fully, and to draw more water than necessary.

When hot water is not needed, a good habit is to move the lever to the right before putting it in the up position. If the lever is in the middle position, it will draw hot water even though we don’t need it.

Sometimes we hear a sort of «gurgling» in a room, like a flow of water coming from the heating pipes … This noise can come from the radiator when it contains air instead. to be full of water: it is the hot water which produces this noise when it arrives in the radiator, which prevents it from delivering all its power. In this case it is necessary to «bleed» the radiator, that is to say to expel the air.

It is then sufficient to activate the bleed, usually located on the side of the radiator, and let the air out until water comes out. Warning: do not forget a container to collect water!

A thermostatic valve automatically maintains the temperature of a room. In fact, inside the rotary knob is hidden a mechanism that expands or contracts depending on the ambient temperature – and suddenly it opens or closes the hot water supply to the radiator.

By placing the valve in a position that generally goes from 1 to 5 (the hottest), you can limit the tempera- ture of the heating to suit each room in your home. Example :

The sun heats the room. The valve reacts to heat and closes automatically: it saves heating energy. The window is open and the cold air enters. The valve reacts to cold and opens automatically: it wastes energy!