ELECTRICITY KNOWLEDGE AND USAGE SURVEY BY: NINA NEL; KATHERINE VAN WYNGAANRDEN, MIA ROBINSON, SABRINA SHAW

OUR SURVEY Our survey was to find out our community’s education and knowledge in electricity usage. We surveyed our parents, SCS matrics, SCS grade nines and few SCS grade elevens. Our survey consisted of various questions on how we use electricity in their everyday lives.

1. WHEN YOU GO AWAY FOR 2 DAYS OR MORE, DO YOU SWITCH OFF YOUR GEYSERS; POOL PUMPS ETC? YES When most people leave their homes, we found, that they turn off their geysers; pool pumps and anything they don’t use while they’re away. 24 people from the SCS community do turn off their appliances when they go away. NO We found that only 14 people do not turn off their pool pumps; geysers etc. when they go away. We found that 2 people sometimes turn these appliances off. SOMETIMES

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2. DO YOU KEEP WINDOWS AND DOORS OPEN WHEN AIR-CON/HEATER IS ON? YES 8 people when answering this question said yes. They do not know that the cool air then escapes the room and more electricity is wasted. NO 32 people said that they don’t open their windows and doors when their air-con is on.

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3. IS YOUR GEYSER INSULATED? YES 27 people said yes, they are saving a lot of electricity by preventing heat being lost. NO 13 people haven't insulated their geyser hopefully they soon will.

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4. ARE YOUR WINDOWS PROPERLY SEALED? YES 25 people said they have sealed their windows and are saving energy by keeping warm or cool air inside their house. NO 15 people said they haven’t sealed their windows and are wasting energy because the cold and warm air is just escaping through their windows.

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5. IS YOUR ROOF PROPERLY INSULATED? YES 23 people have insulated their roofs, this shows that they know that energy does escape through the roof. NO 17 people have not insulated their roofs and are losing heat energy because of this.

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6. WHEN EXITING THE ROOM DO YOU SWITCH OFF THE LIGHTS? YES 26 people said they do switch off lights every time they leave the room or if they are not in use NO 9 people said they do not switch off light s when they leave the room, and they should try to change that. 5 people said they sometimes switch off the lights. SOMETIMES

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7. WHEN SWITCHING OFF AN APPLIANCE, DO SWITCH IT OFF AT THE PLUG TOO? YES 25 people said yes, so they are saving energy by putting appliances off properly and not just leaving them on standby. NO 11 people said no, they probably don’t know that appliances still use electricity even in standby mode. Sometimes 4 people said that they sometimes do but don’t always remember.

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8. IS YOUR STOVE GAS OR ELECTRICAL? GAS 23 people use gas stoves, which use less electricity. ELECTRICAL 17 people use electric stoves, which use more electricity than gas.

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9. DOES YOUR HOUSEHOLD RELY ON HEATERS OR AIR-CONS ON A DAILY BASIS? YES 6 people said yes, so they are using a lot of energy. NO 29 people said no, so they are saving energy Sometimes 5 people said sometimes, so they do occasionally use heaters and air cons.

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10. ARE YOU CAUTIOUS WHEN USING APPLIANCES EXAMPLE DO YOU DO HALF LOADS OF WASHING INSTEAD OF FULL LOADS? YES 29 people said yes, so they are being good about how much electricity they consume when they use appliances. NO 11 said no, they are wasting electricity by using appliances foolishly.

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CONCLUSION We concluded that the St. Cyprian’s community is educated about electricity usage