Free energy in Honduran homes, know what you should do.

After the ENEE statement in Honduras, this past February 3, 2022, about free energy for Hondurans who consume less than 150 KiloWatt, many questions arise in this regard.

Is it possible to consume less than 150 KW of energy?

An expert from the National Electric Energy Company tells us that it is possible to consume that value of energy per month. "Most homes, usually in the villages, have 60 Watt bulbs that give yellow light, however with that type of bulb the counter could not reach 150 Kilowatt. There is a 10 Watt saving bulb that if we change it for all the 60 Watt bulbs we can lower the consumption of the energy bill in this month of February" he specified.

"The use of microwaves increases consumption, so if you use microwaves to heat your food you should avoid it completely. If you have showers you should eliminate them completely, it is best to bathe with cold water, which is even healthy. If you have an electric stove With 4 burners it will be impossible to lower the consumption of your electricity bill, it is best to eliminate it completely and return to cooking with a burner fire or use a gas stove.

In a home, the devices that consume a lot of energy are the following:

Article	Power in KW
1. Refrigerator	between 0.250 to 0.350 KW
2. Microwave oven	between 0,900 to 1,200 KW
3. Electric oven	between 1,200 to 2,200 KW
4. Washing machine	between 1,500 to 2,200 KW
5. Plasma TV	between 0.150 to 0.400 KW
7. Air conditioning	between 0,900 to 2,000 KW

A Honduran household should avoid the use of these devices, if you are one of the people who was thinking of buying a dryer because you do not have space in your house to use a clothesline, analyze well what suits you best. If you live in an area where the water is deficient and does not reach gravity, surely you use water pumps for several hours, a water pump consumes 373 KW, the ideal is that you use the pump only to fill tanks or batteries that accumulate water, when the water is gone try to use the gravity of the tank you filled. The water tanks must be elevated so that when you need water, it reaches the taps inside the house without the use of a pump.

In short, free energy depends on the consumption that you generate in your home. Free energy is not for everyone, it is for those who intend to save. However, if you are one of those people who like to have comfort and have the possibility of affording yourself the luxuries of having a washer, dryer, plasma screen, air conditioning, the government benefit is not for you.

However, it does not hurt to have savings in the consumption of the bill at home, so keep these tips in mind:

Unplug appliances that are not in use.

Experts indicate that when a device is connected, even if it is turned off, it always has a consumption that is called "phantom consumption". In our homes we are used to connecting several devices to a power outlet racket, which is not a bad thing, but seeing the number of cables it is tedious to disconnect those that are not in use. If you want to have a healthy energy consumption, try to get rid of the laziness of having to disconnect the devices that are turned off from that tangle of cables.

Plugging multiple devices into a power strip can make you feel lazy to unplug devices that are not in use, but try to unplug them to avoid phantom power.

Avoid opening the refrigerator as little as possible.

Believe it or not, opening the refrigerator increases the consumption of your energy bill. How does this happen? Well, you should know that all refrigerators have a temperature sensor, called a thermostat, when the internal temperature of the refrigerator rises, this sensor sends a signal to the compressor to work on lowering the temperature inside. The compressor works using the energy of your home to circulate the refrigerant that is inside it, likewise the fan is activated that generates air impacting the condensers of the refrigerator. In such a way that every time you open the refrigerator door, hot air from outside enters and modifies the temperature inside, putting the entire system that we have already described to work.

That is why try to program each thing that you have in the fridge or refrigerator creating a list every time you come shopping, if you are willing to prepare the food, go to that list to determine what things you will use specifically for that lunch, dinner or breakfast . If it is a dinner, you may need eggs, tomato sauce, refrigerated or frozen beans, go to the refrigerator at once to get these materials in the necessary quantity. Many find it useful to have an airtight cooler, to get the drinks with ice in one go.

A young woman keeps the refrigerator open while she places her refrigerated purchases to avoid opening and closing.

Correct ignition of the air conditioners.

You have wondered if there is a correct way to turn on air conditioners. You will be amazed to know that in the way you turn on your air conditioning you can save on consumption.

Many people have the bad habit of turning on the air at full speed, when activating Power or On, they lower the temperature to 18 or 16 degrees with the idea that it cools the room in the shortest possible time and reaches a comfort temperature . However, by doing it in addition to cold you get an increase in energy consumption.

For a healthy energy consumption when using your air conditioner, it is vital to take the following aspects:

1. Turn on the Air Conditioning when no one is in the room, for this you will have to anticipate the ignition before your guests or your guests arrive. What is achieved with this? By turning on the air with the room empty, you prevent the air conditioning from being forced. Like refrigerators, air conditioners have a temperature sensor that tells you what temperature the room is at and according to the order you give it, what temperature it should reach. When there are no people, the air conditioner will not detect body temperature and will reach the comfort temperature in the shortest possible time or the compressor will work in the shortest time to cool the room. Each person generates 800 BTUs of body heat, if there are 5 people in the room, 4,000 BTUs of heat are being released, not counting the electronic devices in the room, such as televisions or computers previously turned on by your guests.

2. When turning on the air conditioning, do it at a temperature of 24º C. As there is no one in the room, with that temperature in order, the refrigerator will not take too long to reach the comfort temperature. Do not consider that 24ºC is not enough to feel cold, the air conditioners are programmed so that this temperature gives you comfort and the amperage levels do not rise to reach temperatures of a lower range, that is, colder.

3. Once the air is turned on and you feel the cold environment, make sure to close the doors and windows well, the room should, as far as possible, avoid having cold air leaks into the environment. Before you turn on the air, it is good that you open the windows and doors so that any heat stored inside can escape, it usually happens when the room is exposed to the sun for long hours, when the sun hits from 11 in the morning until 5 p.m. When you get home from work, you may feel that hot steam entering the room, so it is essential that you open the windows before turning on the air conditioning, this will help cool the space and prevent the air conditioning unit from being forced.

Young man turns on his air conditioner without other people in the room and puts 24º C

Correct use of washing machines.

It is true that with the advancement of technology and modernization, things are done with a couple of buttons and that's it, however the machines are not fully automatic, for example you must determine how much weight of clothes your washing machine allows, some washing machines They have written instructions on their gate and it tells you how many pieces you can wash. If you exceed that amount, you will surely force the appliance and not only consume energy but end its useful life or ruin a particular part of your washing machine.

Learn to use the cycles of your washing machine, there are people who do not know how to master the cycles, and that is where we see them washing delicate garments in power or time extension cycles. Washing men's pants and bedding is not the same as washing underwear, baby clothes or children's clothes. To avoid having the washing machine working unnecessarily long on light garments, you must understand that factor and read the instructions carefully in the instructions of the appliance, by itself no automated washing machine does it.

Avoid opening and closing the door of the washing machine. When you open the gate, a safety sensor deactivates the washing machine's motor, which protects you from accidents. However, when you close the gate, the revolution of the motor rises suddenly to activate the programmed power in the washing cycle, thus generating more energy consumption, if opening and closing is constant for reasons that you are putting the clothes in at breaks or because If you think that you should go ahead putting the washing machine to work and then put the clothes that you are selecting little by little, you are making a serious mistake.

We hope that these correct ways of using the devices help you save a little energy, although you may not reach the ideal range to not pay indicated by the ENEE.