WITH regards to the Post article in regarding Bristol City Council having to pay £3.65 million for street lights and the lights in the offices ("City faces £1 million rise in bill for electricity", October 17), may I ask why it is that all the traffic directional signs in the city ("keep left", "no entry" and so on) are illuminated 24 hours a day?

Why is it that when a new sign is erected the contractors remove the built-in light sensor switch from the new lamp so it's illuminated 24 hours a day ?

If one were to assume that each lamp is 11 watts (and it was to be only illuminated for 10 hours a night on average through out the year), it's an easy calculation to work out how much electricity is being wasted by Bristol City Council by leaving the lights burning electricity 24 hours a day

We householders are told to invest in low energy bulbs and how we can save energy and cut our energy bills – but I fear the ethos of each council department is to spend it's full budget year on year so it can justify an application for an increase in its budget the following year.

Philip Morris, Barton Hill.

OVER the past few weeks, I've read any number of articles in various papers, both national and local, about how to save energy and money in these days of increasing financial difficulties.

As a general rule, these have highlighted such things as changing to low energy lightbulbs, loft insulation, turning off electrical appliances when they aren't in use and so on, as perfectly illustrated in the Seven article "Green supremo" (October 18) – yet none of them have mentioned what, for myself, is one of the best gadgets around for saving energy and money as well as cutting down dramatically on any household's water usage.

This wonderful gadget goes by the name of a pressure cooker and can be picked up in most kitchen shops or from any internet auction site for as little as £20.

Here are a number of reasons as to why pressure cookers should be mentioned in any article on energy saving:

The amount of water needed to use a pressure cooker is minimal – just enough to cover the first layer of veg and to ensure the cooker comes up to the right pressure correctly.

You can cook all your vegetables in the one pan at the same time – there is no need to use multiple pans and rings.

Once the correct pressure has been achieved (which usually takes about five minutes depending on how many veg are being cooked), the gas or electric is turned right down to the level needed to keep the pressure at the correct level.

Overall cooking time can be as little as 15 minutes for three, four, even five different types of veg. For example, when I'm cooking a typical meal of pork chops, mash potato, carrots and peas I prepare everything beforehand, then when my mother and I are ready for our meal I go out and can turn those raw ingredients into a hot meal within 15 minutes, or 20 minutes tops.

Pressure cookers are also ideal for cooking such items as boiled ham (which takes about 30 minutes), beef, stews, in fact just about any food or meals that require a little bit of boiling.

Used correctly, a decent pressure cooker will not only save you a small fortune – I've been using mine for at least the past 20 years or more and must have saved myself enough to fly around the world a few times– it will also provide you with food that is cooked to perfection and still retains more of its goodness than it would had it been cooked in the more traditional manner.

Kevin Rawlings, Clevedon.