Home Energy Saving Tips

There are many ways to reduce energy consumption and therefore your energy bill at home. Here are some suggestions:

Lighting

•Turn lights off when your leave the room.
• Use energy efficient light bulbs (also known as compact fluorescent bulbs). These use 80% less electricity than standard bulbs, last eight to ten times longer while providing the same level of light.
• Remove some bulbs from light fittings that have multiple bulbs, or use smaller wattage bulbs.
• Use task lighting instead of lighting the whole room, such as using a reading light with a lower wattage lamp.
• Use motion sensors on outside lights instead of leaving the lights on all night. Motion sensors can also be used on hallway, stairway and passage way lights.

Hot Water
• Don't overheat your water cylinder. Use a thermometer to check the temperature at the tap. If over 55°C, it's too hot and you're using more electricity than you need to. If you have a consumer adjustable thermostat on your hot water cylinder it should be set at around 60°C. If not, DON'T ADJUST IT YOURSELF, live wires are exposed in your cylinders thermostat housing! Call an electrician to adjust the thermostat for you or have a consumer adjustable thermostat fitted which will allow you to safely change the temperature yourself.
• Cylinder wraps cut down heat loss. If you use your hot water cupboard to dry clothes, chances are you are wasting energy from your hot water cylinder and need a cylinder wrap. A cylinder wrap insulates your hot water cylinder, reducing the amount of heat that escapes through its walls. Cylinder wraps are available at most building supply merchants and unless your cylinder is tricky to get at, you should be able to fit your own. An “A-grade” cylinder does not need a cylinder wrap as it is already well insulated.
• Have a shower rather than a bath. A quick shower uses less water than filling the bath.
• Put the plug in the sink when rinsing items or use cold water. Pouring hot water down the drain is like pouring money down the drain.
• Check your shower water usage. Hold a bucket under the shower rose at your normal settings for 15 seconds. Measure how many litres of water are in the bucket and multiply the volume by 4 to work out how many litres per minute you are using. More than 12 litres per minute is a waste. To reduce this volume, either use your shower settings to lower the amount of water coming through your shower rose, replace the shower rose with a low flow type, or get a plumber to install a flow restrictor.
• Faulty Ajax valve. Hot water leaking onto your roof could indicate that your Ajax valve is faulty. This increases your electricity use, yet is an easy, low cost job for any plumber to fix.
• Don't let a leaking hot tap fool you. Just one leaking hot tap will use approximately $50 of unnecessary electricity in one year - how much money do you waste this way? Changing tap washers is not difficult, if unsure, ask at your hardware store and remember the brown washers are for hot water, the blue ones for cold.
• Insulate your hot water pipes to prevent heat loss. If the outlet pipe from your cylinder is exposed, then your hot water cylinder is losing more heat in the first meter than at any other stage. This is easily fixed with pipe insulation from your hardware store.
• Are your hot water pipes too long? If your cylinder is poorly sited, your hot water pipes may be too long. It's important to remember that you are filling your entire pipe before any hot water comes out the tap, so the longer the pipe the more hot water you waste. This can be a consideration if building new or renovating.

Heating
• Wear additional clothing in cool weather. By wearing warm clothing inside your house you won’t need to use the heater as much, or have it turned to a lower temperature.
• Buy the right heater for the space you want to heat. The size and type of heater can make a big difference to your electricity bill.
• Close doors if only heating part of your home to avoid heat escaping into the unheated part of the house.
• Capture natures own economic warmth. The more windows you have facing the sun, the more natural warmth you'll enjoy and the less heating energy you'll pay for.
• Thermostats and timers mean heaters use less energy and actually give you more comfort allowing greater control over room temperature. Thermostats control the amount of electricity your heater uses by switching off when the room reaches the temperature you want, on again when it falls below. Timers can automatically turn your heater on and off at set times. Both can be purchased separately to your heater and can work with older heaters and are easy to use.
• A heat pump (also know as reverse cycle air conditioner) uses about one third the energy than a standard electric heater does. A heat pump can provide both heating and cooling. In winter the heat pump picks up heat outside your home and pumps it inside. In summer a heat pump acts as an air conditioner, cooling the air.
• A dry home keeps your electricity bill down. This is simply because a dry, well ventilated home is easier to heat. Condensation makes your home cold and quickly causes unsightly, unhealthy mould and mildew.
• Trees can cut your electricity bill by planting to shelter your home from prevailing winds. Once grown they will reduce the amount of heat you need to pay for. Be careful not to plant out the sun.

Washing and Drying
• Wash clothes in cold water whenever you can. Most cold water soap powders will clean clothes adequately.
• Whenever possible, hang clothes on the washing line outside to dry instead of using the clothes dryer.
• Choose the right water level for your wash. When washing your clothes, check the water level control on your washing machine as smaller loads need less hot water when the correct water level is set.
• Many people are unaware that it takes as much electricity to wash one towel as it does to wash a full load of muddy winter clothes. Wait until you have a full load before running your washing machine.
• A well ventilated dryer uses less electricity. Ideally vent the drier to the outside. Your dryer needs dry air to replace the damp air it expels from your clothes. If filters and air intakes are clogged or your laundry is not well ventilated (open outside door or window), your dryer is forced to draw in the same damp air it has just expelled. Drying then takes longer, increasing your electricity bill.
• If buying a new drier, buy one with sensors that turn the dryer off when the clothes are dry.
• Look for the Energy Rating Labels for your appliances. More stars means better energy efficiency. Choose the most energy efficient models that suit your needs.

Fridge & Freezer
• Choose the most energy efficient appliance available, check the Energy Rating Labels.
• Fridges and freezers with worn door seals use too much electricity. Most appliance centres supply and fit replacement seals.
• Allow food to cool before placing it in the fridge as your fridge has to work harder to cool hot food.
• Fridges and freezers are also more efficient if kept full; however do not overstock as it is important for the air to circulate.
• Defrost food in the fridge, it takes longer but saves energy.
• Keep your fridge at an optimum temperature - between 2°C and 5°C for fridges and minus 18°C for freezers.
• Allow space around your fridge/freezer for air to circulate.
• Close doors on your fridge/freezer as quickly as possible.
• Defrost your fridge/freezer; a regularly defrosted fridge/freezer is more efficient.
• Do not have your fridge close to a heat source such as the oven or stovetop.
• Turn off second fridge/freezer if all items will fit into 1 fridge/freezer. Turn off the beer fridge if there is nothing or very little in it.

Appliances
• Check the Energy Rating Labels, many appliances have them, choose the appliance with the most stars.
• Turn off appliances at the wall when not in use. Many appliances still use electricity while on standby.
• Turn off the heated towel rail if going away from home for more than 1 night.
• A heated towel rail will heat your towels in just a few hours; they don’t need to be on 24 hours a day. Consider installing a timer.
• Turn off the water heater if going away from home for more than 1 week.
• Phone chargers, laptop chargers etc. still use electricity, even if they are not charging anything, unplug or turn off at the wall.
• Only boil what you need. You don't need to boil a full jug of water if you only want one cup of tea or coffee.
• Use the cold tap to fill the jug instead of hot. Remember you'll be filling your entire pipe before any hot water comes out the tap and it is much more economical to use the jugs element to heat the water.
• Use your microwave. Most microwaves will use 70% less electricity than your stove.
• Use the right pots. Be sure to use your big pots on your big elements, and your small pots on small elements. A good rule of thumb is to always use a pot that completely covers the hot plate. Keep lids on pots and pans when cooking.
• Replace faulty oven thermostats.
• Try gently cooking your vegetables. Try using a little less water, then once the pot boils, turn the elements down keeping the lid on to create steam. Cooking this way keeps in more goodness and taste, and keeps your electricity bill down.
• Replace your worn oven door seals. The heat you have generated in your oven will quickly escape if the door seals are old and worn. This forces your appliances to work too hard, always having to quickly replace the heat as it escapes and of course this pushes up your electricity use.
• Run your dishwasher on the economy option and wait until you have a full load of dishes before turning it on. If your dishwasher can generate its own hot water, use this function. It is more efficient than using hot water from the cylinder. Don’t rinse the dishes under a hot tap.
• Switch off your computer when it's not being used. It will not harm your computer if you turn it off, and it will save you money on your electricity bill.
• If you can upgrade your appliances, do so. New appliances use less electricity than older ones (almost without exception), so if you can afford to, spend your money on an appliance that uses less electricity and makes your life easier. Look for an appliance with energy rating details.

Insulation
• Insulation can halve your heating cost. If your home isn't insulated, you're losing around 40% of your heat through the ceiling, 30% through the walls, and 20% through the floor. You can halve this loss by insulating. Does each job separately if your budget is tight - ceilings first, walls after etc. It pays to obtain quotes from several insulation installers before you decide.
• Choose the insulation that will save you the most. All insulation materials have stated "R-Value" the higher it is, the less heat it allows to escape.
• Seal your windows and doors - sealing compounds and weather strips are easy to use, relatively cheap and make a big difference to the amount of heat that stays in your room and that which escapes out your doors and windows. If you are only heating one room of your house consider a draught stopper to block the gap at the bottom of internal doors.
• Install good quality drapes and use them every day. Warmth escapes through your windows at night but comes in during the day - make your curtains work for you by drawing them closed earlier each evening (keeping sun's warmth in longer) and opening them earlier in the morning.