25 Easy ways of Green Living in Dubai

 

 

Every resident of the UAE pays the two biggest bills one is electricity and second water. We need to use air-conditioning for at least 5/6 months but there are ways to save your electricity bills.

1. November to May you can live comfortably without A/C, just open your windows and let the fresh air come in. If required you can use table fans.
2. During summer always keep the thermostat on 24/23 degrees, just to make a pleasant atmosphere. We don’t need to make chilled indoors when it is 34 degrees outside.
3. Not wearing suites in offices and conferences during summer in UAE should be a norm. Companies can take initiative, if not we can start that from us and spread awareness. Wearing weather-appropriate clothes is just common sense, isn’t it?
4. For better circulation of conditioned air, a fan can be used at home and in offices but instead we push the thermostat to its limit!
5. Please don’t keep A/C in your home on while you go out if it’s unavoidable then at least keep it on 25/26 degrees. I know millions of people in Dubai who like to return back to a chilled home! It’s luxury not a necessity at the cost of a lot of electricity!
6. The best way to reduce heating of homes/offices is shading, so try to shade the windows, doors by simple structures, trees, even thick curtain helps.
7. Always clean A/C filters at least once at the start of summer to prevent airborne infections. Here is more information about improving indoor air quality.
8. Don’t disconnect yourself from outside even during the summer. If you observe June is always a better month than July and August. If you keep in touch with the outdoors, you can probably adjust the thermostat accordingly and can actually prevent unnecessary colds and flues.
10. Oh yes, adjust the thermostat in the fridge two times in a year, the start of summer and the start of winter.

 

We all know, UAE is completely dependent on desalinated water, so using water wisely is most important here. If you reduce your water use you don’t just save your water bills but you save sewage bill too.
11. Install tap water filter to make your own drinking water and ditch bottled water.
12. Invest in a water-efficient washing machine and always run it on full load.
13. Swimming during summer is better than 2-3 showers a day.
14. Figure out ways of recycling water at your household. For example, the car can be washed on the lawn, so that lawn watering can be done at the same water. Don’t forget the leftover water from the school water bottle use it to water plants.
15. Take quick showers instead of baths in the full water tub.

Here are some more elaborate tips on conserving water and reducing your water bills.

Recently on 31st December, there was a big traffic jam as always so I think the topic of using public transport is not out of the blue. A few years back when there was no metro and no connecting buses, things were different. But now most part of Dubai is well linked with public transport.
16. Avoid using cars at least on weekends and use public transport
17. To commute to and from the office we can always share cars with colleagues or find professionals on sites like car share etc. I have done it a few years back and believe me it’s fun, you get to know many different things from each other. If the car buddies are from different countries then you look forward to that boring commuting time and even enjoy traffic jams!
18. When you can walk, you don’t need your car. Depending too much on your favorite car is not healthy.
19. You can buy all those fancy cars which you can’t buy in your home country. But even then if you will buy a fuel-efficient car then you won’t do any harm to yourself. I have seen people don’t even care for safety ratings when they buy a car. It is the norm on Dubai roads to give way to high-end cars, but it’s time we start showing respect to hybrid, electric cars on road.

Here is a dedicated article to understand what is sustainable transportation.