Tips for Reducing Energy Consumption

Hot Water

If you have an electric water heater tank, hot water uses a lot of power because it has a 1000 – 2000 watt element to heat the water. For years my mother would turn on the hot water before she went to bed and turn it off in the morning because it would be hot enough to use the entire day without reheating. I installed a timer on mine so it turns on at 6am and off at 10am and I never run out of hot water.

Appliances

Many appliances like TVs and computers use power even if you’ve switched them off. If you switch them off at the wall you’ll be surprised at how much power you’ll save and it will also reduce the risk of fire.

Power Packs

Those power packs we use to charge our phones and gadgets are like mini heaters that use power even if your gadgets aren’t plugged into them. Either unplug them or turn them off at the wall. Better still, don’t use them at all, use the USB on your TV or computer to charge your gadgets.

Power Plan

Most people are on an “anytime” power plan. Sounds good, but what it actually means is you pay around 7c more per kilowatt hour for your hot water cylinder. So if it uses 12 Kw hours a day that equates to about  $97.20 in hot water power instead of the $72.00 you’d pay if you changed to a “Controlled” power plan and you won’t even notice any difference but reduce your bill by about $25 per month.

Seals

We cannot stress enough, the importance of sealing up air flows. This includes potential air coming in from outside, and in and out of the attic. Replacing old worn out seals in entry doors, sliding doors, doggy doors and the like, will drastically reduce the costs to heat or cool you home. 

LED Bulbs

If you haven’t changed to LED bulbs in your home yet, you’re behind the curve. Initially they were somewhat cost prohibitive, but they have gotten much more reasonable in recent years. The cost savings from traditional incandescent lights is around 95%.

Accessories in Ceiling

Anything that punches through the drywall of your ceiling will be an easy inlet for either hot or cold air to penetrate you living space and increase costs of heating or cooling. This includes light fixtures like recessed lighting, flood lights, smoke alarms and ceiling fans. These generally have a direct shot into your attic where most of the temperature change can be imposed in the area. Look into ways to seal these areas off from the attack with additional insulation to keep your living space more temperate, and limit energy consumption. Can lights / flood lights are a huge problem because many are not IC (insulation contact) rated so they don’t put insulation around the fixture in the ceiling. There are insulation can light covers that you can install in the attic to seal them off, and add insulation around to drastically increase the loss of heating or cooling and maintain a more stable temperature within your home.

Make it easier

Remote Control Power 

I use a simple remote control power switch so when I leave my office I can press one button and all the power is physically turned off for non-essential things like computers, printers and monitors. At home, I press the button for the lounge and my TV and Freeview Box come on. When I go to bed I press one button and everything is turned off. Search Ebay for Remote Control Power.

Power Time Switch 

My hot water turns on at 6am so when I get up at 7am my shower is ready. My coffee machine turns on at 7am so when I get out of the shower my coffee is ready. They both automatically turn off when I don’t need them. All done with a simple power timer. Search Ebay for a digital power time switch.

Electricity Meter 

If you’d like to know how much power your appliances are actually using you can get an  electricity meter. We used one of these in our office to identify what appliances we’d replace first with more energy efficient models and also to work out how much each device was costing us each month. Search Ebay for Electricty Meter.

As a matter of interest I thought you might like to see my power usage for 2016:

Our power usage is nearly exactly the same every day. The only reason it peaks so much from May to October is because we’re using our air conditioning more in the hotter months.

Savings Potential

By following these simple steps and doing some other more technical stuff I reduced my monthly power bill from $600 to $100. My home power bill is $50 per month.

Should I invest in solar power? Can I Eliminate My Power Bill?

Solar Power

Solar power has many variables to consider. Obviously, you need to own your home to consider this option. However, if done right, you are simply “purchasing your power rather than renting it.”

What does that mean? It means if your power is being supplied to you by the traditional means, you are renting your power, and it will never go away. In fact, it will increase year to year on average of 5%.  This may not seem like a lot of money, but it ads up to a large some of money over time. More information on Solar Power Click Here.

Discuss Solar Options with a Professional