Learning to be more sustainable at home also has the great advantage of saving you money on your energy costs. Our four step approach will show you how to reduce your carbon footprint and reduce your household bills!
Steps to Future Proof Your Energy Costs
Step 1: Understand your Power Bill
On any given day we consume energy in a variety of ways; turning on the hot water, blow drying our hair, boiling the kettle, cooking , turning on the lights, throwing a load of washing on. Almost everything we do consumes power!
Our power bill represents the household energy usage in kWh (kilowatt hours) but how exactly does this relate to our everyday activities?
How your power use adds up
Here is a table of typical power use in your home:
|
Description
|
Power consumption
(kWh)
|
|
1 kW electric heater turned on for 1 hour
|
1
|
|
800W (highest setting) microwave on for 5 minutes
|
0.067
|
|
1,500 W hair dryer on highest setting for 10 minutes
|
0.25
|
|
100 W incandescent light for 1 hour
|
0.1
|
|
75 W incandescent light for 1 hour
|
0.075
|
|
15 W CFL for 1 hour (equivalent light to 75 W incandescent)
|
0.015
|
|
50 W halogen downlight (+10W transformer) for 1 hour
|
0.06
|
|
Energy used in 1 year by a home PC with LCD screen (if left turned on 24 hours/day, 365 days/year)
|
800
|
|
Energy used by an average pool filter pump in 1 hour
|
1
|
|
Ceiling fan for 1 hour
|
.05
|
|
To bring 2 cups (500mL) of water to the boil
|
0.047
|
|
To bring 1.5 Litres of water to the boil
|
0.14
|
|
Energy used by a medium sized 4.5 star two-door fridge in 1 year
|
567
|
|
Energy used by a medium sized 3 star two-door fridge in 1 year
|
839
|
|
Energy used by a medium size 2-star clothes dryer
used once per week for a year
|
305
|
|
Average Sydney house over 1 year
|
7,654
|
|
2 Watt clock radio on 24/7 for a year
|
18
|
|
Big (50") plasma TV used 3 hours a day for a year
(including standby energy consumption)
|
435
|
|
Energy consumed by appliances in standby in a Sydney home
(assuming 10 per cent of energy consumption is standby)
|
765.4
|
Step 2: Reduce consumption
As electricity prices continue to rise, we need to be smarter and more efficient with our energy consumption.
Reducing your consumption does not mean that you have to sit in the dark feeling cold! You’ll be amazed how simple behaviour changes, that often cost nothing, can make a difference to your power bills without compromising your budget, comfort or convenience.
Our Government certified Sustainability Assessors can provide a range of recommendations, they'll visit your home, talk to you about your energy requirements and review the property to identify ways that you can be more energy efficient and save money. Best of all, this service is at no cost to you as the Federal Government is currently funding this program.
Step 3: Power Saving Solutions
The next step to Future Proof your energy costs is to consider home improvements, products or devices that are designed to save power and money.
Our Assessor will work in consultation with you to identify a range of options suitable to your property, energy requirements and budget. We provide a completely unbiased recommendation and look at general solutions tailored for your property.
Step 4: Offset energy usage
If your choice is to completely or partially offset your energy usage, then we can recommend and design an appropriate PV system that will achieve this result. We do not sell ‘off the shelf’ package deals. The fact is, not all products are made equally, there are different panels suited for different conditions and different inverters to meet specific capacities. We have access to a broad range of suppliers and are in a position to recommend the most appropriate modules and parts that match the unique needs of your property, energy requirements and budget. This is what sets us apart from our competitors.
Click here book a FREE Home Sustainability Assessment with one of our Government certified Home Sustainability Assessors
