James5

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We were audited yesterday - and it wasn’t as scary as it sounds. I saw in the paper that Maroondah City Council are offering free home energy audits to encourage people to use less energy and emit less greenhouse gas. I arranged an appointment, and on Thursday Jo from Going Solar came around and showed me how I could save energy, money and the environment.

I was a bit worried that it might be a bit of a waste of time for both of us, we’re renting and I thought energy frugal, but it actually turned out to be quite enlightening and I think we just might be able to knock our consumption back about 8% or 1 whole kW per day!

First Jo had a look at our energy consumption, Clare and I use about 5-7 kW on-peak and 4-5 kW off-peak. So about 12 kW a day roughly which means our consumption is at the low end of the scale. Jo explained stuff like ase load electricity, how my GreenEarth Energy from Origin works and gave the following tips to saving energy around my home:

1. Replace the bulbs. While we are slowly replacing our bulbs with CFLs as they die, Jo recommended we move all our high use bulbs over to CFLs as soon as possible. Not only do they use about one-fifth of the energy as incandescents, but they also last for years.

1. Plug the holes. All the doors in our place have a lovely halo of sunlight around them because of the gaps between the door and frame. In winter this is going to be a major source of heat loss, making our heater work harder then needs to. The good news is this is an easy fix: weather stripping is about $6 for 5m - enough for the average door, and will create a seal around the door to stop heat escaping.
2. Cover the windows. In summer a lot of our rooms get hot due to large windows facing the rising/setting sun. We thought we were doing well by covering them with towels on really hot days, but it turns out that to stop the place heating up you really need to stop the sun hitting the window at all - rather then cover up the inside of the window. This is because if the glass gets hot, your house gets hot due to direct heat transference to the air - the towel on the inside may stop the light and some of the heat getting through, but it’s much more effective to block the sun on the other side. Jo recommended shade cloth hung over the outside of the window does a fantastic job.
3. Shorten my showers. Heating hot water accounts for about 35% of the average energy use. We had the egg timer to get us out quicker - but I couldn’t see it without my glasses on - now we have a funky electronic timer which beeps very loudly when my time’s up.
4. Unplug your charger. Some chargers still use electricity even the phone or laptop isn’t plugged in. To see if you need to unplug just feel the charger, if it’s warm it’s using energy.
5. Turn off. Ask yourself if you really need to have your computer, modem, or TV on 24/7. When you turn them off, make sure it’s not just on stand-by. Also, make sure the lights go off when you’re not in the room.

She also gave some suggestions that are a bit hard when we’re renting, but you might find helpful.

1. Check the hot water temperature. In Victoria hot water heaters have to be set to at least 60º, but they shouldn’t be much higher. You might need a plumber to do this for you.
2. Insulate. Check your insulation and see if you can do better. Good insulation is the key to energy conservation. Your house should barely need to run the air conditioner if it’s insulated properly.
3. Move the fridge. If your fridge is right next to your oven, or in direct sunlight it’s working harder then needs to. You want your fridge in an area with a reasonably constant temperature - one that’s not too high.

The best part was she gave us this pack with CFL bulbs, a digital shower timer and water flow controllers (worth $40). So I would heartily recommend an energy audit, even if you think you’re awesome there’s bound to be something you can do to make things even better or share with someone else to make their impact a little less harmful. If you’re interested in doing your own audit the South Australian government has a site that helps you do a self-audit.

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