As an individual, it may be difficult to measure your own actions’ effects on nature. This is why we use comparisons in order to get at least an approximate view of your direct impact on the environment.

Once we have learned how to use the microwave oven, we can make a simple calculation in order to assess the energy consumed in our homes without any concrete purpose. A computer monitor that is not switched off during the night uses as much energy as a microwave oven uses to heat a plate of food.

A TV set left in stand-by mode uses 45% of the energy it needs when it is switched on. The same applies to a CD player or a computer left in stand-by mode.

Electricity production is a polluting activity. In 2008 Romania produced approximately 64.7 TWh. About 32% of all this energy was used by private households (calculated on the basis of 2004 data presented in the studies issued by the Romanian Agency for Energy Conservation).

Coal is the main source of energy, used for the production of 42.5% of the total, i.e. 27.5 TWh. Hydroelectric power came second, with 26.4%, while nuclear energy was the source of 17.3% of the total.

According to the specialists in the energy industry, in order to produce 1 kw/h, enough coal is burnt to release 1 kg of CO2 in the atmosphere. Therefore, the 27.5 TWh produced in 2008 from coal released in the atmosphere 27.5 million metric tons of CO2. If we continue to extrapolate, if one third of the electric power produced was used by private households, it means that in 2008 homes in Romania threw in the atmosphere over 9 million metric tons of CO2.

Exhaust fumes from cars, trucks, diesel engines and CO2 resulted from gas burnt in factories, etc., are added to this quantity.

Isn’t it worth switching off the TV completely in the evening? Wouldn’t the quality of the air that we breathe improve if you switched off light bulbs when you don’t need that source of light, and if you turned off any appliance that is of no use to you while it remains in stand-by mode?

Try it yourself! Follow this advice and compare your electricity bill with the one you paid the previous month! Then write to us at office@rorec.ro and let us know what you noticed.