Be energy efficient

Here’s some tips on energy saving...

Lighting

• Energy efficient light bulbs use 20% of the energy of normal light bulbs, give out the same light and last much, much longer. A compact fluorescent light bulb will cost approximately $5 per bulb, but it will save you $13.80 over a year. If you replace 5 light bulbs in your house, your savings could be up to $79 a year.
• Turn lights off when you leave a room.
• Paint walls light colors – dark walls need more power for the same amount of light.
• Use natural light whenever you can – pull curtains back on sunny mornings.
• Use the right strength light bulbs for the right areas, for example a 100 watt bulb might be suitable for the lounge, but not for a bedside lamp.
• Install motion and daylight sensors on your outside lights.

Appliances on stand by

• 5% of your power bill is used just to run electrical items on stand by.
• Switching off your TV, DVD, Video, stereo with a remote control doesn’t stop them using power. If there’s a red light or timer display showing, it’s still drawing electricity.
• Unplug mobile phone charges when you’re not using them.
• Turn off computers, monitors and printers when you’re not using them – Monitors use more than half of the total energy used to run a computer.
• Switch all appliances off at the wall and save yourself around $75 per year.
  

Keep the heat in

• Insulate your ceiling. This can stop 34% of your heat escaping and save you up to $400 per year. A fully insulated home (ceiling, walls and floors insulated) will almost halve the heating requirements, compared to an uninsulated home.
• Older ceiling insulation can get blown around, thin and less effective over time. Have it checked by a builder or a professional. It may need replacing. Ceiling insulation costs approximately $1300 and annual savings could be from $100 to $400.
• If you have polished wooden floors, make under floor insulation one of your first steps. Under floor insulation will cost approximately $800 to $1000 and could save $50 to $300 per year.
• Seal gaps in windows and doorframes and save up to $75 as year. You can use self adhesive tape from hardware stores. Use fill or “gunk” gaps where cables and pipes go through walls to the outside. The costs could be as little as $10 to $30.
• Door snakes are good for keeping draughts out.
• Windows are a significant heat loss area. Close the curtains before dark to keep the warmth in that has built up during the day. Open the curtains during the day to let as much sunlight in as possible to warm the place up. Use thermal or close- woven materials and linings and make sure your curtains are bigger than the window frame and close fitting, so no air can escape. This alone can save you $7 a year.
• If you are renovating or building a new house, seriously consider double glazing. Double glazing has the benefits of less condensation and less external noise.
• Plug up the fireplace. Fill it by stuffing plastic bags filled with newspaper up the chimney. Leave a reminder in the fireplace.
• Close the doors of the rooms you’re heating. Only heat what you need.
  

Heating

• Use a thermostat and a timer on your heaters so they only come on when you need them and automatically turn off once the right temperature is reached. And only heat the room you’re in.
• 45% of your heat could be escaping if you don’t have insulation. That’s a lot when you consider heating accounts for a third of our energy bills.

Kitchen

• Don’t open the oven door too often – the temperature drops by up to 15 degrees each time.
• Use cold water when you’re filling the kettle and fill the kettle only with as much water as you need. It takes far less energy to heat up a small amount of water then to use water from your hot water system.
• The fridge is the single biggest energy consuming appliance you own. Fridges older than 10 years use much more power than modern fridges. If you’re replacing you’re fridge, replace it with the most energy efficient one. Look for the Energy star mark. The more stars in the red band, the less power it will use. If you have a second fridge such as an old beer fridge that you’re not using, get rid of it. Take it to your local refuse centre and you could save up to $150 a year.
• Position the fridge away from the stove or direct sunlight.
• Let food cool before you place in the fridge.
• Set the fridge temperature between 2˚C and 5˚C, and the freezer to -18˚C
• Use lids on your pots. Uncovered pots use three times more energy.
• Use the smallest amount of water to simmer food.
• Boil water in the kettle, not on the stove.
• Don’t rinse dirty dishes under the hot water tap.
• It is cheaper to boil the jug to wash a few dishes than it is to fill the sink with water from the hot tap.
• Only use your dishwasher with full loads.
  

Laundry

• Use cold water washes when washing clothes. A warm wash uses as much energy as drying the clothes in a dryer.
• Run your washing machine with full loads or adjust your wash cycle to match the load.
• Make sure your clothes are well spun before putting them in the dryer.
• Use the low heat setting on your dryer whenever you can and only use your dryer in wet weather. Line dry clothes as much as possible before using the dryer.
• Do all your ironing at one time.
  

Bathroom

• Take a short shower instead of having a bath and save!
• Check your shower flow. Water efficient shower heads can give a really decent shower but with half the water. To check, run the shower at normal temperature. If it fills a 2 litre container in less than 10 seconds, you could use a more efficient shower head. Grab one of these from your hardware store. It will cost around $38 to $53 and will save you approximately $74 over a year.
• If you use your heated towel rail for 4 hours as against 24 hours day, you will save up to $100 a year.
• If you can, have an electrician fit a timer to your heated towel rail.
  

Water heating

• Heating water is one of the big issues with power bills. It accounts for 30% to 50% of your power bill.
• If your cylinder was made before 2003, check that it has an A-grade symbol. If not, you’d save energy with a cylinder wrap or a replacement cylinder.
• If you’re going away for more than two weeks turn off your hot water cylinder.
• Fix leaky hot water taps. A drip a second can add $20 or $30 a year to your electricity bill.
• Check your hot water cylinder. If it’s warm to touch it probably needs insulation wrap. This costs approximately $100 and you could save that over a year.
• Wrap the hot water pipes with insulating foam.
• Replace broken hot water thermostats.
• Turn the hot water cylinder thermostat down, so that the tap water temperature is 55˚C to save you money.
• A solar water heater could provide you with a plentiful supply of hot water and save a massive 75% of your hot water bill.
  

At work

• If you’re going to be away from your desk for more than 15 minutes, turn off your computer monitor – they use well over half of the total energy used to run a computer.
• Turn off all office equipment at the end of each day – it won’t disrupt programs.
• Laptop computers use up to 90% less energy than desktop computers.
• Make someone responsible for switching lights off at the end of the day and on weekends.
• Set the heating thermostat at 19˚C
• Set the air conditioning thermostat between 23˚C and 24˚C.
• Use 26mm rather than 38mm fluorescent light bulbs – they use 8% less energy and give out more light.
• Install a programmable thermostat – set it to begin 30 minutes before employees arrive at work and to stop 30 minutes before they leave.
• If your work place uses a large amount of energy, consider regularly assessing where you can make savings. You can find a list of accredited energy auditors available on the Energy Management Association’s website. www.ema.org.nz
  

For more information on improving your energy choices, visit www.energywise.org.nz