Tag Archive for "LivingResponsibly"
Those following fuel price hikes in India would often remember the drama that happens on the day the fuel price hike comes into effect. If the price increase is significant, petrol bunks close early. Typical reasons include a lot of people rushing to re-fuel their vehicles to save a bit on fuel costs and some (very few) really silly minded petrol bunks trying to sell their stock at a higher cost on the next day.
This time we also had a Rs. 50 hike in the gas cylinder price. I happened to come across the drama played by the gas agency with people at my own home. This is what happened
We had a cylinder booked 2 days before the price hike. It was delivered the day after the price hike. The gas agency guys had the old price on the bill ( it was booked earlier right ). So far so good. However , they asked for the new price. Trained to handle such situations, we refused to pay. We gave the gas agency two choices. 1) accept old price 2) give us a new bill with new price. They refused to comply with both options and took the cylinder back.
We called up HP and promptly complained the cheating attempt by the gas agency. After couple of calls, the gas agency brought a new cylinder ( of course with a new bill ).
While we did lose 3 days in the process, at the end of it there was a satisfaction that we refused to accept bad behaviour.
What do YOU do in such situations????
While we didn’t have adequate supply and very less demand of CFL few years back, things seem to be much better now. Most supermarkets and all electrical shops have them for sale, at reasonable cost(Rs. 90 to 130 for branded 11W). Shops and other commercial organizations are leading the way. It would only be few more years before their price becomes on par with tube lights.
I’m seeing many shops shifting to CFL ( probably 1 28 to 36W CFL replacing 3 to 4 60W incandescent bulbs). It is quite beneficial for the shops, as they could recover the cost of buying a branded CFL within few months from saved electricity bills.
While I can understand this trend in Chennai, I was pleased to see this at Tirunelveli during my last visit. More interestingly Bombay Theatre there had most of its lighting from CFL. It was nice.
By using CFL fixtures, we get the following benefits
- power consumption reduced by as much as 70 to 80%.
- they generate less heat than incandescent bulbs, requiring less cooling.
- They last 3 to 5 times longer than a incandescent bulb
- They’re much more environment friendly, considering their energy efficiency.
I use energy efficient lighting fixtures at my home. Do you?
Most of us get paper / printed statements from many sources (a.k.a hard copy ), like phone bill, credit card statement, bank statements etc. Many a times, these statements may not be necessary. In this post, I’m covering why these are harmful to the environment, and how can we be more environment friendly.
A typical detailed phone bill has between 2 to 5 pages, along with one envelope , and some brochures that we never read. This means, we’re generating a lot of paper statements, that promptly go back to the used paper vendor or get tossed into the trashcan, indirectly making more trees cut for the paper that we (don’t) use.
Can we opt out of Print / hard copies of statements?
Yes. Here are the options. Go ahead, try them, and share your thoughts.
- Most telephone companies support electronic statements, instead of sending you an electronic copy. I know Airtel does it, I hope BSNL also has an electronic format. You can easily switch to electronic format.
- Most banks support sending statements in electronic format.You can easily switch to electronic format from their online banking sites.
- Some banks don’t send you a credit card statement, if you didn’t have any transactions during a reporting period. Using one ( or very few ) credit cards can help this way.
The advantages?
Apart from the feeling that we are being eco-friendly by saying no to physical statements, you also get some additional benefits by going online.
- If you’re computer savvy, it’s much easier to review / record statements into your accounting software easily from a online format, compared to a print / hard copy format.
- It’s more secure not to have a print copy. You can’t afford to have your bank statements weighed and sold. Not many of us have a shredder at home
- You can always request for a print copy, when you need it.
- No statements could also mean, no one drives to your home in a fuel hungry vehicle to deliver a courier / statement.
If you would like to know how to opt out of some of the Indian private institutions, I have some experience :-), feel free to write to me.
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