Do you and your household suffer from monstrous power bills? All you need are a few simple tricks and tips to start saving energy and dollars. Keep an eye out for signs that you might be using more energy than needed – lights on in unused rooms, unnecessarily large bills and wearing shorts inside in winter are all signs that you are using too much energy. Here’s a few tips…
Heating:
- Set the heater to a comfortable 20°C.
- Get a heater that can be programmed to turn on and off automatically as required
- Put on more warm clothes, use hot water bottles and heated throws – only use heaters on the really cold days and nights!
- Check for and seal any air leaks and consider insulation
- Invest in an annual tune up to ensure your heating system is running at optimal efficiency.
Cooling:
- Set your air conditioner to a comfortable 24°C.
- Close your blinds, curtains, windows and doors in the morning and open them when it’s cooler later in the day.
- Choose cool cotton clothing and only use air conditioners only on days maximum temperatures are 30°C or higher.
- Consider fans rather than air conditioners to cut electricity use. Most fans costs less than 1 cent per hour to run while air conditioners cost at least 12 cents per hour.
- Check for and seal air leaks and consider insulation.
Hot water:
- Change old showerheads to an energy efficient, three star rated showerhead.
- Invest in a heat pump, solar hot water system or upgrade an existing heater system to reduce bills – you could save more than $100 per year.
Lighting:
- Turn off lights in unused rooms.
- Consider dimmable switches for inside and motion sensor lighting for outside.
- Upgrade lighting system from standard incandescent bulbs to more energy efficient ones that give the same light but use less energy.
- Replacing 6 x 75 Watt incandescent with 15 Watt compact fluorescent lamps could save about $100 per year.
Fridges and freezers:
- Keep thermostats at ideal temperatures. The fridge should be between 2ºC and 6ºC while the Freezer should be between -11ºC and -23ºC.
- Make the most of improved minimum energy performance standards – upgrade your old refrigerator and save about $150 a year.
Clothes washing and drying:
- Front loading washing machines use around 60% less water and energy than top loaders.
- Switch to a sensor dryer that turns off automatically when the load is dry and conserve electricity.
- Use the washing line instead of the clothes dryer.
- Think about replacing your dryer with new heat pump technology which could potentially halve the energy used for drying.
Standby power:
- Make the effort to turn appliances off at the wall when no longer in use – this can help you save up to 800 kWh and $180 per year off your power bill.
