Romanians have become much more aware in the last year of the importance of simple measures to reduce unnecessary energy consumption: they set eco temperatures on the washing machine more often, choose natural drying of laundry, turn off the lights every time they leave the room, unplug appliances they are not using, even the mobile phone charger is no longer left there permanently, according to a new study conducted by E.ON and Delgaz Grid.
Asked how often they use the washing machine at high temperatures, above 60°C, over 41% of respondents said that, more recently, they usually set eco temperatures (30°C), while almost 40% admitted that they use high temperatures when washing bed linen or very dirty clothes. Also, over 13% say that they use high temperatures quite often, in more than 50% of washing cycles. Washing programs at low temperatures can reduce energy consumption by up to 50-60% compared to standard cycles at higher temperatures.
Regarding drying clothes, over 80% of Romanians say that they prefer natural or mostly natural drying, while 14% use a combination of natural drying and a clothes dryer.
Another area identified by those surveyed as useful for reducing unnecessary energy consumption is home lighting. Thus, the share of those who have started to pay close attention to light bulbs left on in rooms where they are not staying has increased to over 74%. On the other hand, about 7% say they still leave them on, citing the fact that they use LED lighting, which consumes less energy, while 5.5% say they leave them on because they quickly return to the respective rooms.
And regarding the mobile phone or laptop charger, a change in behavior is noticeable: it is immediately unplugged, after the device is fully charged, in 66% of cases. However, a fairly important category of users admit that they still have the habit of leaving it plugged in permanently (17.7%).
Also, 8 out of 10 Romanians are interested in replacing old household appliances with modern ones, with lower energy consumption. When it comes to the criteria for choosing the equipment itself, about 45% of those interviewed say they look primarily at the energy label, and another 47% say they consider it, but along with other technical details. At the same time, over 8% of respondents say that this criterion either matters too little or does not interest them at all.
