Shanghaiers, famous for being careful planners and calculating everything down to the last fen, have come up with a list of energy-saving tips that are easy to follow and practical.

The tips, compiled into a brochure, have been selling like hot cakes in Shanghai. The brochure is into its third print run, Xinhua reported on July 16.

The brochure was compiled by the Shanghai Municipal Energy-Saving Supervisory Center. The center analyzed energy consumption patterns in over 1,000 households and gathered advice contributed by citizens via the “energy-saving hotline.”

Some of the tips sent in include:

Soaking rice in water for 10 minutes before cooking it in a 700-watt electric cooker actually consumes less electricity and cooks faster than cooking non pre-soaked rice in a 500-watt cooker.

Instead of thawing frozen food in the microwave oven, consider taking it out the night before and leaving it in the fridge. Speaking of which, fridges should not be jammed packed with things.

As far as air-conditioners are concerned, recommended summer setting is 26-28 degrees Celsius. Recommended winter setting is 16-18 degrees. In summer, using an electric fan at the same time allows you to set the air-conditioner to a lower operating level, which can save energy as well.

And the walls. Well, depending on their color, they could enhance light utilization rate. A white wall, for example, has a reflection coefficient of up to 70-80 percent, which can reduce the energy consumed by a lamp.

Some of these techniques have been confirmed by scientific tests. To use household appliances as an example, tests show that an appliance that is still connected to the mains continues to consume energy even when it's not in use. Hi-fi systems consume the most electricity in such a situation, up to 10 watts of electricity every day.

The brochure therefore suggests disconnecting the appliance from the mains when it's not in use.

The Shanghai Municipal Energy-Saving Supervisory Center has compiled another two brochures covering buildings and energy savings in industry. According to rough calculations, if all of the tips in the brochures are followed closely, more than 30 percent of energy can be saved in buildings alone.

(China.org.cn by Zhang Tingting July 24, 2005)