Most Kenyans dream of owning their own houses for one major reason: to stop paying monthly rent.
However, even if you own your own home, you’ll still continue paying monthly energy bills to KPLC, which can even be as much as the monthly rent.
If you want to go to truly zero energy bills, the solution is going full solar.
But it’s not that simple.
If you go out to buy a solar system right now, it might cost more than you can afford, and will take many months or years to recoup the cost.
What you need to do instead is first overhaul every single appliance in your home to become solar ready.
This way, you’ll have appliances that use minimal energy; hence, you’ll only need an incredibly small and cheap solar system.
Forget about the huge shelf-size solar battery systems worth hundreds of thousands of shillings.
Just imagine POWERING YOUR ENTIRE HOME WITH ONE BATTERY.
Yes, it’s possible.
Follow these three steps and you can achieve that.
Important message:
This compilation consists of products you can buy from Jumia, since I’ve had a positive experience buying more than 10 different products through the site.
Here’s my review on one of the products I bought (a Bluetooth keyboard):
I found the site useful since it features an incredible variety that you may not easily find in your vicinity, and quite a number of the products come from the original suppliers; hence, giving you unbeatable prices.
Of course, they do charge shipping costs, but you can cater for that by making bulk purchases at once. This way, the price savings you make from the lower product costs will more than cover for the shipping costs.
You can reach me through Facebook.
The links are affiliate links.
Before considering any appliance changes, you can eliminate many energy costs with simple home improvements.
If your home feels cold, instead of buying a room heater, first get a thick carpet to insulate the floor. This can reduce the heating you need to keep your home warm.
That means you’ll need far less room heating.
Check out the wide range of carpets on Jumia.
Apart from insulating the floor, you should certainly insulate your windows. Get thick curtains to keep the cold out and retain the heat within.
Jumia has an extensive selection of curtains at different price ranges.
You’ll likely need less heating in your bedroom if you have thick blankets or duvets. During the day, you can also cover yourself with the blankets while sitting on your sofa.
Find the best quality and price on Jumia.
If you have warm clothes during the cold months, you won’t need too much heating in your home.
If you have cool clothes during the warm months, you won’t need too much cooling during the hot months.
Both save you money.
Find the best deals on Jumia.
This video shows you how.
Get the bubble wrap on Jumia.
Here’s how.
You can find a bunch of these fireless cooker baskets on Jumia.
Here’s how.
Find the best price on Jumia.
Vacuum flasks are the sure way to avoid using your cooker every now and again. Simply put your hot tea in it and it will stay hot all day.
Find the best vacuum flask on Jumia.
You can also save cooking energy with an insulated casserole. With it, you don’t need to reheat your food just because someone came late for dinner.
Jumia has a range of beautiful and presentable insulated casseroles.
Preferably, get appliances that run on 12v DC, so you can use solar batteries directly without requiring an inverter.
If the 12v appliances aren’t powerful enough for you, find the most energy efficient 240v AC appliances.
A 12v LED light bulb can be connected directly to your solar battery. They might not be as bright as the 240v LED bulbs, but you can sort that out by setting up two or more 12v bulbs together.
They come in different designs and wattages on Jumia.
An emergency bulb has an inbuilt battery. It will certainly save you from darkness during blackouts.
Pick the best bulb on Jumia depending on how long you need the light to stay on.
Why use power to light your outdoor bulbs yet there’s lots of sunlight out there which you can use for those bulbs.
Outdoor solar lamps that have inbuilt solar panels and batteries solve this problem. Some even have motion and light sensors, so they turn on when someone passes by or darkness sets in.
Check out the available options on Jumia.
If you want to know why your energy bill is so high, get a voltage electricity monitor which will show you which device is taking up so much power.
These come in different variations for both 12v and 240v power on Jumia.
A big 240v AC home theater system consumes significantly more power than a 12v DC stereo system, yet you get just the same amount of sound that you need in your home.
Jumia has a selection of varying types at different prices.
A good Smartphone can replace multiple devices that would consume more power in your home, including digital cameras, and Internet modems.
In fact, with the right Smartphone, you can even connect it to a wired/ wireless/ Bluetooth keyboard and mouse to use it exactly like a desktop computer.
Every possible price range is available on Jumia.
A power bank is extremely valuable on those days that your phone runs out of power during a blackout. Even when you do have a solar system, you just never know when you might be far from home.
The choices available on Jumia are priced based on quality and battery capacity.
Do you know that your regular 240v AC clothes iron uses about 1,000 watts of power?
You can reduce that by one-tenth simply by getting a DC 12v clothes iron which uses about 100 watts.
Pick your best choice from Jumia.
Room heating is another place where you might spend lots of money on power. Room heaters typically use up 1,000 watts of power.
To curb such power expenses, you can get a 12v DC ceramic heater that can use as little as 100 watts.
Pick out your preferred model on Jumia.
Once you decide to buy a space heater, you must also get a thermostat temperature control switch. Without it, you’ll end up heating the room excessively, and using more energy than you should.
The 12v thermostat temperature control switch will regulate your 12v DC ceramic heater and switch it off when the room temperature reaches your desired state.
You’ll find a range of affordable offers on Jumia.
Cooking with a 240v electric stove takes up 1,000 watts.
You can cut down that energy cost to only 100 watts using a 12v DC electric stove. It may not be as powerful at cooking as the 240v stove, so you might just use it to warm your food.
Find the best 12v DC cookers on Jumia.
Air conditioners take as much energy as room heaters.
12v DC mini air conditioners will change that and save you lots of energy.
Jumia offers a range of designs and sizes to choose from.
Heating water takes as much energy as cooking. A 12v water heater will drop that 1,000-watt energy use to 300 watts and lower.
Check out the options available on Jumia.
Your fridge is another energy sapping appliance. A 12v fridge can cut down that unnecessary energy bill.
Since they are smaller than the 240v AC fridges, you might use it to make ice which you then transfer to the cooler box, where you keep your food.
Check out the options available on Jumia.
Have you ever checked the watt rating on your desktop computer?
You’ll find something in the range of 250 watts, compared to laptops which use about 89 watts. That’s about three times less power usage.
Therefore, you would rather dump your desktop computer and get a laptop.
Many varieties exist on Jumia including mini laptops.
Do you know that your laptop doesn’t actually run on 240v AC?
It instead uses the power adaptor to take down the 240v AC to about 19v DC.
That means your laptop can run on a solar battery using a DC to DC power adaptor instead of an AC to DC power inverter. This way, it will use much less energy.
Check out the various options on Jumia.
Instead of buying a TV, you can just use your laptop as a TV, using a USB DVB T2 digital TV tuner.
This way, you have one less energy-sapping device.
Pick out the best device on Jumia.
If you get the small flat screen TVs up to about 20 inches in size, they will likely have both AC and DC inputs. This way, you can use them with a 12v battery.
Check out the options available on Jumia.
When sleeping you don’t need to heat up the entire room. You can just heat up your blanket while you sleep and avoid wasting energy.
Even during the day, you can just cover yourself with the heated blanket.
Jumia has a bunch of heated blanket varieties you can buy.
Instead of heating up your entire house, why not just heat up your body and save tons of energy.
This is especially valuable for “boda boda” riders. It can keep you super warm when riding, so you don’t need to wear thick layers of clothes, which will be uncomfortable when you’re stationary.
You can just buy the heated pads instead of an entire new set of heated clothes.
Find the best offer on Jumia.
With lower energy needs, you can go for cheaper components.
Here’s how all the components are joined up in a full solar system.
And here are all the components involved.
That also means you’ll have greater storage capacity that can last for weeks or months.
You can pick up a cheap used battery from the car or motorbike repair garage nearby.
If your house appliances have lower wattage ratings, they’ll pull in much less current from your battery; hence, you’ll need a lower capacity solar charge controller.
This way, you save money.
Check out the available options on Jumia.
In the same way, if you have low-power appliances, you won’t need large solar panels.
That will result in significant cost savings.
Jumia features an extensive range of solar panels at different price ranges.
If you only have appliances that use 12v DC power or less, you might not even need an inverter to convert the DC battery power to AC.
You can just get a step-down power converter.
Find the best priced product on Jumia.
Even if your DC appliances have power ratings above your 12v battery, you might still do without a power inverter.
All you’ll need is a step-up power converter.
Check out the options available on Jumia.
A power inverter will turn the 12v DC from your battery to a 240 AC so you can use it with your AC appliances.
It’s useful for those appliances that cannot do without the high power AC.
Find the best offer on Jumia.
In case you want to supplement your solar power with wind power, you can get a wind turbine.
It certainly helps to get constant power even during the night when solar can’t work.
Check out the available options on Jumia.
Plus, you get to save money and make energy to the point of being independent of Kenya’s precarious power system.
However, even if you own your own home, you’ll still continue paying monthly energy bills to KPLC, which can even be as much as the monthly rent.
If you want to go to truly zero energy bills, the solution is going full solar.
But it’s not that simple.
If you go out to buy a solar system right now, it might cost more than you can afford, and will take many months or years to recoup the cost.
What you need to do instead is first overhaul every single appliance in your home to become solar ready.
This way, you’ll have appliances that use minimal energy; hence, you’ll only need an incredibly small and cheap solar system.
Forget about the huge shelf-size solar battery systems worth hundreds of thousands of shillings.
Just imagine POWERING YOUR ENTIRE HOME WITH ONE BATTERY.
Yes, it’s possible.
Follow these three steps and you can achieve that.
Important message:
This compilation consists of products you can buy from Jumia, since I’ve had a positive experience buying more than 10 different products through the site.
Here’s my review on one of the products I bought (a Bluetooth keyboard):
I found the site useful since it features an incredible variety that you may not easily find in your vicinity, and quite a number of the products come from the original suppliers; hence, giving you unbeatable prices.
Of course, they do charge shipping costs, but you can cater for that by making bulk purchases at once. This way, the price savings you make from the lower product costs will more than cover for the shipping costs.
You can reach me through Facebook.
The links are affiliate links.
I. Cut Down Energy Consumption by Enhancing Energy Efficiency
Before considering any appliance changes, you can eliminate many energy costs with simple home improvements.
1. Thick Carpets
If your home feels cold, instead of buying a room heater, first get a thick carpet to insulate the floor. This can reduce the heating you need to keep your home warm.
That means you’ll need far less room heating.
Check out the wide range of carpets on Jumia.
2. Thick Curtains
Apart from insulating the floor, you should certainly insulate your windows. Get thick curtains to keep the cold out and retain the heat within.
Jumia has an extensive selection of curtains at different price ranges.
3. Thick Blankets/ Duvets
You’ll likely need less heating in your bedroom if you have thick blankets or duvets. During the day, you can also cover yourself with the blankets while sitting on your sofa.
Find the best quality and price on Jumia.
4. Warm and Cool Clothes
If you have warm clothes during the cold months, you won’t need too much heating in your home.
If you have cool clothes during the warm months, you won’t need too much cooling during the hot months.
Both save you money.
Find the best deals on Jumia.
5. Bubble Wrap for Windows
Bubble wrap on your windows is a fantastic DIY idea that can insulate your window panes.This video shows you how.
Get the bubble wrap on Jumia.
6. Fireless Cooker Basket
Cooking takes up lots of energy. Fortunately, you can cut your cooking energy costs by a half to three-quarters. Simply use a fireless cooker basket.Here’s how.
You can find a bunch of these fireless cooker baskets on Jumia.
7. Cooler Box
Keeping food cold also uses energy, but you don’t have to rely on a fridge or freezer always. You can use a cooler box to keep the food cold for days.Here’s how.
Find the best price on Jumia.
8. Vacuum Flask
Vacuum flasks are the sure way to avoid using your cooker every now and again. Simply put your hot tea in it and it will stay hot all day.
Find the best vacuum flask on Jumia.
9. Insulated Casserole
You can also save cooking energy with an insulated casserole. With it, you don’t need to reheat your food just because someone came late for dinner.
Jumia has a range of beautiful and presentable insulated casseroles.
II. Overhaul Your Household Appliances
If you want to get the most from a solar system and avoid spending tons of cash on such a system, you need to get the most efficient and least energy-sapping appliances for your home.Preferably, get appliances that run on 12v DC, so you can use solar batteries directly without requiring an inverter.
If the 12v appliances aren’t powerful enough for you, find the most energy efficient 240v AC appliances.
1. 12v LED Light Bulbs
A 12v LED light bulb can be connected directly to your solar battery. They might not be as bright as the 240v LED bulbs, but you can sort that out by setting up two or more 12v bulbs together.
They come in different designs and wattages on Jumia.
2. Emergency Bulbs
An emergency bulb has an inbuilt battery. It will certainly save you from darkness during blackouts.
Pick the best bulb on Jumia depending on how long you need the light to stay on.
3. Outdoor Solar Bulbs
Why use power to light your outdoor bulbs yet there’s lots of sunlight out there which you can use for those bulbs.
Outdoor solar lamps that have inbuilt solar panels and batteries solve this problem. Some even have motion and light sensors, so they turn on when someone passes by or darkness sets in.
Check out the available options on Jumia.
4. Voltage Electricity Monitor
If you want to know why your energy bill is so high, get a voltage electricity monitor which will show you which device is taking up so much power.
These come in different variations for both 12v and 240v power on Jumia.
5. 12v DC Sound/ Stereo System
A big 240v AC home theater system consumes significantly more power than a 12v DC stereo system, yet you get just the same amount of sound that you need in your home.
Jumia has a selection of varying types at different prices.
6. Smartphone
A good Smartphone can replace multiple devices that would consume more power in your home, including digital cameras, and Internet modems.
In fact, with the right Smartphone, you can even connect it to a wired/ wireless/ Bluetooth keyboard and mouse to use it exactly like a desktop computer.
Every possible price range is available on Jumia.
7. Power Bank
A power bank is extremely valuable on those days that your phone runs out of power during a blackout. Even when you do have a solar system, you just never know when you might be far from home.
The choices available on Jumia are priced based on quality and battery capacity.
8. 12v DC Clothes Iron Box
Do you know that your regular 240v AC clothes iron uses about 1,000 watts of power?
You can reduce that by one-tenth simply by getting a DC 12v clothes iron which uses about 100 watts.
Pick your best choice from Jumia.
9. 12v DC Ceramic Heater
Room heating is another place where you might spend lots of money on power. Room heaters typically use up 1,000 watts of power.
To curb such power expenses, you can get a 12v DC ceramic heater that can use as little as 100 watts.
Pick out your preferred model on Jumia.
10. 12v Thermostat Temperature Control Switch
Once you decide to buy a space heater, you must also get a thermostat temperature control switch. Without it, you’ll end up heating the room excessively, and using more energy than you should.
The 12v thermostat temperature control switch will regulate your 12v DC ceramic heater and switch it off when the room temperature reaches your desired state.
You’ll find a range of affordable offers on Jumia.
11. 12v DC Cooker
Cooking with a 240v electric stove takes up 1,000 watts.
You can cut down that energy cost to only 100 watts using a 12v DC electric stove. It may not be as powerful at cooking as the 240v stove, so you might just use it to warm your food.
Find the best 12v DC cookers on Jumia.
12. 12v DC Mini Air Conditioner
Air conditioners take as much energy as room heaters.
12v DC mini air conditioners will change that and save you lots of energy.
Jumia offers a range of designs and sizes to choose from.
13. 12v DC Water Heater
Heating water takes as much energy as cooking. A 12v water heater will drop that 1,000-watt energy use to 300 watts and lower.
Check out the options available on Jumia.
14. 12v Fridge
Your fridge is another energy sapping appliance. A 12v fridge can cut down that unnecessary energy bill.
Since they are smaller than the 240v AC fridges, you might use it to make ice which you then transfer to the cooler box, where you keep your food.
Check out the options available on Jumia.
15. Laptop
Have you ever checked the watt rating on your desktop computer?
You’ll find something in the range of 250 watts, compared to laptops which use about 89 watts. That’s about three times less power usage.
Therefore, you would rather dump your desktop computer and get a laptop.
Many varieties exist on Jumia including mini laptops.
16. Universal 12v DC Power Charger for Laptop
Do you know that your laptop doesn’t actually run on 240v AC?
It instead uses the power adaptor to take down the 240v AC to about 19v DC.
That means your laptop can run on a solar battery using a DC to DC power adaptor instead of an AC to DC power inverter. This way, it will use much less energy.
Check out the various options on Jumia.
17. USB DVB T2 Digital TV Tuner
Instead of buying a TV, you can just use your laptop as a TV, using a USB DVB T2 digital TV tuner.
This way, you have one less energy-sapping device.
Pick out the best device on Jumia.
18. AC + DC TV
If you get the small flat screen TVs up to about 20 inches in size, they will likely have both AC and DC inputs. This way, you can use them with a 12v battery.
Check out the options available on Jumia.
19. Heated Blanket
When sleeping you don’t need to heat up the entire room. You can just heat up your blanket while you sleep and avoid wasting energy.
Even during the day, you can just cover yourself with the heated blanket.
Jumia has a bunch of heated blanket varieties you can buy.
20. Heated Clothes (Boda Boda Riders Will Love This)
Instead of heating up your entire house, why not just heat up your body and save tons of energy.
This is especially valuable for “boda boda” riders. It can keep you super warm when riding, so you don’t need to wear thick layers of clothes, which will be uncomfortable when you’re stationary.
You can just buy the heated pads instead of an entire new set of heated clothes.
Find the best offer on Jumia.
III. Get a Full Solar Kit
Once you have the right appliances, your energy needs will reduce drastically. This way, you won’t need to fork out insane amounts of money for a complete solar system.With lower energy needs, you can go for cheaper components.
Here’s how all the components are joined up in a full solar system.
And here are all the components involved.
1. Solar Battery
The less energy you need the lower capacity battery you have to buy, so you save money.That also means you’ll have greater storage capacity that can last for weeks or months.
You can pick up a cheap used battery from the car or motorbike repair garage nearby.
2. Solar Charger Controller
If your house appliances have lower wattage ratings, they’ll pull in much less current from your battery; hence, you’ll need a lower capacity solar charge controller.
This way, you save money.
Check out the available options on Jumia.
3. Solar Panels
In the same way, if you have low-power appliances, you won’t need large solar panels.
That will result in significant cost savings.
Jumia features an extensive range of solar panels at different price ranges.
4. Step-Down Power Converter
If you only have appliances that use 12v DC power or less, you might not even need an inverter to convert the DC battery power to AC.
You can just get a step-down power converter.
Find the best priced product on Jumia.
5. Step-Up Power Converter
Even if your DC appliances have power ratings above your 12v battery, you might still do without a power inverter.
All you’ll need is a step-up power converter.
Check out the options available on Jumia.
6. Power Inverter
A power inverter will turn the 12v DC from your battery to a 240 AC so you can use it with your AC appliances.
It’s useful for those appliances that cannot do without the high power AC.
Find the best offer on Jumia.
7. Wind Turbine
In case you want to supplement your solar power with wind power, you can get a wind turbine.
It certainly helps to get constant power even during the night when solar can’t work.
Check out the available options on Jumia.
Conclusion
With these insights, you can cut down your power consumption while getting as much value as you did previously.Plus, you get to save money and make energy to the point of being independent of Kenya’s precarious power system.
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