As the winter nights get shorter and colder, I’ve started to notice that my power bill is rising almost as fast as the temperature is dropping! All that extra energy use can really start to add up and I also saw recently that there has been a call for New Zealanders to try and save more power.
Eager to do my bit (and save some money while I’m at it), I decided to further reduce my personal power use. I already save power by turning off lights and appliances, reducing the use of my heater and trying not to use the drier. So what other steps am I taking?
Well for starters, I’m trying to avoid using power as much as I can in the peak six p.m. to eight p.m. period. This is when there is the most demand on the nation’s electrical system, and when there is the highest risk to an interruption to household power supply. So, for example, I wait until after eight to use the washing machine. In the kitchen, I leave meat out to defrost naturally and I’m trying to use the elements more for cooking, instead of the oven. In the living room, I’ve also got our heater on a thermostat and a timer, and I have a draught stopper blocking off any heat trying to escape under the front door.
Structurally my place is hardly ‘eco-friendly’ at the best of times, as I’m pretty sure the insulation in our walls consists of nothing but shredded newspapers. Through the sheer fact of renting, I’m a little limited in the ‘big’ physical changes I can make – such as installing solar heating – but this weekend I’m off to buy some thermal curtains and energy saving bulbs, so I’m feeling a little better about my efforts.
If you’re willing and able, there are also a number of bigger changes you can make to your home:
• Double glazing for your windows
• Thermal wrapping for your hot water cylinder
• Install a low-flow shower head (which cuts your hot water heating bills)
• Install photovoltaic solar panels
• Move it to the Caribbean (O.K. just joking…)
To learn more about the ways you can save power in your home, check out our Energy Page for ideas. It’s got loads of simple tips on how you can cut your energy usage.
A lot more information can also be found at:
• Energywise.org.nz
• Powersavers.co.nz
• Home Energy Advice Centre (Ph. 0800 388 588). This service provides free, impartial advice. It is currently only available in the Wellington region, but there are plans to extend it to other regions in the near future.
• Contact your local Eco-design Advisor for free advice on how to make your home more sustainable.
So what are you guys doing to save more power? What do you think I should be doing? I’d love to hear any hints, tips, or ideas you have to share. Also make sure to get your vote in on our latest poll to show us how much you're saving!
Comments
I live in a badly insulated flat too - my tip would be cosying up in one room with the door closed. Makes the trips to the kitchen etc quite cold, but it uses less electricity than trying to heat the whole place!
Submitted by Tamara on 20 June 2008 19:16:00
Thanks Tamara, that's a useful hint. Anyone got any others?
Submitted by Andrew on 26 June 2008 14:22:29
Yeah, I'm trying to save power as well. Trying to dry the washing outside more and putting on jumpers, etc instead of having the heater up high. I'd love to get double glazing like they have in the uk too.
Submitted by MJ on 27 June 2008 15:13:56
Here's what I'm doing to conserve energy:
Submitted by Lindis on 1 July 2008 13:47:37
All the small things add up - lighting is significant during those winter months. Sadly, not everyone can use compact flourescents. What if you have halogens???
When our house was redocorated a couple of years ago the owner at the time went halogen crazy. They installed a whopping 850 Watts of Halogen lighting in the living room, kitchen and bathroom. This seemed obsurd to me, so I did some web research.
This is what I found:
Replace those standard cheap supermarket brand Halogen bulbs with "energy efficient" halogens. They are about $10 each (c.f. $5 for normal halogen bulbs) and you might have to look around for where to buy them but they do really pay for themselves over the bulbs life in terms of power savings (I checked the calcs myself).
We found that there are energy efficient options by one or two of the better known bulb manufacturers for both 240V (look for "bulb pinch") and 12V (look for "irc") lights. We replaced 1 x 50W bulb with a 20W "irc" energy efficient halogen and can only just distinguish the difference (that's 60% less power for a tiny bit less light), we have also replaced 4 x 50w bulbs with 35W bulbs and reckon we get more light out of each for 30% less power. We replaced a 100W bulb halogen with a 65W "bulb pinch" technology halogen, it is brighter and uses 35% less power and has about the same bulb life.
We also replaced 3 x 100W halogens in our lounge for 2 x 21W compact flourescents (had to replace the fittings, but this will pay for itself within about 2-4 years, so do it if you can). We find we are getting more useful light out of 42 watts than we did out of 300W of Halogens. We will replace the other halogens in with compact flourescent fittings or energy saving halogens as they blow (if not sooner).
Also avoid any incandescent bulb (including Halogen) that is "long life". It is not any sort of fancy technological invention that makes them last longer, they just design them so that filament doesn't get as hot, so it lasts longer because it doesn't burn out, BUT it drastically reduces the light output meaning you can use up to 30% less light for the same amount of power - WHY BOTHER? You WILL spend many times more on power than you will save in bulbs.
When complete we will reduce our complete lighting power load of the house from over 850W down to 420Watts (maybe less). Thats a 50% saving on our most used lights. At an average of 3 hours per day for those most used lights we will save over $80 per year. That is more than 5% of our total bill - just on lights. Well worth it.
Submitted by jameski on 10 July 2008 18:19:22
Wow jameski, that's some really impressive savings. I've just got some new CFLs and I've been really impressed with how they're working. I better get out and start checking my power meter too!
Have you got any other tips or ideas to share? We would all been keen to hear.
Submitted by Andrew on 11 July 2008 11:34:59
It is great to see people committing to doing the obvious things - sometimes we overlook the simple things, either by ignorance or simply because we don't have the time. Here is a less obvious one, that won't benefit everyone, but could have significant benefits to those who have water header tanks on their roof.
If you have a header tank on the roof (outside) you could try insulating it to stop it getting so cold overnight (this also will help keep the water cooler in summer). Of course take all necessary care if you are working on the roof. In fact that sounds quite dangerous, and not really much fun... Don't worry there is a simpler and more effective way of saving hot water that doesn't cost anything and you don't have to fool about on a slippery roof in winter.
So try this: The first person up in the morning could put a load of washing on before they have a shower (cold water cycle of course). Depending on your plumbing and the size of the header tank, this will drain the header tank of that VERY cold water that has been sitting up on the frosty roof all night and replace it with new water from the city supply that will be about 5 degrees warmer (possibly more). This has a double benefit.
1) The cold water coming in to the shower is 5 degrees warmer - so you won't need to mix it with as much hot water - saving on hot water used. This is very hard to measure but it will make a difference none the less.
2) The cold water (from the header tank) that goes into you hot water cylinder to replace what you used in the shower will be 5 degrees warmer and will therefore take less power to heat up. I calculate that if the temperature going into the hot water cylinder is 5 degrees warmer this could save up to 5c per shower. Not much you reckon. That adds up to about $1.50 per month per person (assuming 5 minute showers with 7 litre/minute low flow shower heads - more if you have a higher flow shower head or take longer showers). The saving here is about 10% of the power used to heat hot water for the shower. Easy money, and if you hang your washing outside first thing there is a better chance it will be dry at the end of the day and you won't need to use the dryer - even better.
Oh yeah AND you wont have 5 loads of washing waiting to be done on Saturday morning!
This will also greatly reduce the risk of cold showers as you will used less hot water AND the water coming in will not cool the cylinder down as much.
Side note for those who feel they are missing out because they don't have a header tank...
Water header tanks are great. If your city supply is interrupted for some reason you don't notice it because you have a little back up supply. Better still it leads to less water use - including hot water. Why? Header tanks greatly reduce the pressure of water which leads to a lot less water flowing when you turn on the tap (or shower). In additon to this plumbing is a lot less likely to leak if you have lower pressure. Lower pressure plumbing tends to be quieter too (you know those horrible squarky noises when you turn on the bathroom tap, or when the toilet is refilling). Of course the slight disadvantage is things like washing machines and dishwashers take a little longer to fill, but that has never really bothered me because I know I am saving heaps on water used everywhere else in the house (water is very expensive where I live). Of course the water use reduction extends to hot water and, since you have to pay to reheat every bit you use, reducing the amount of water used creates the best saving.
Submitted by jameski on 13 July 2008 10:11:56
When buying compact flourescent bulbs look to see how efficient they really are. There are lots of brands out there. The best ones produce more than 70 lumens* of light per Watt (usually written on the bulb as 70lm/W). Standard Incandescent bulbs produce about 15 lm/W. Some of the cheaper energy saver bulbs are about 60 lm/W so will be at least 10-15% dimmer, or use 10-15% more power. If it doesn't say on the bulb then it probably is a low cost production that was not carefully designed to be as efficient as possible. The low cost ones that are less efficient are what is earning the compact flourescent bulb a bad reputation of not being as bright as standard bulbs. Suprisingly the most efficient aren't always the most expensive.
* Glossary - Lumen is a measure of light visible to the human eye.
Submitted by jameski on 13 July 2008 10:21:26
BIG TV's.
Some countries are talking about banning some big screen Plasma and LCD TV's.
So when you replace your TV take a good look at its power consumption.
In general the bigger the TV the more power hungry. Also most manufacturers produce LCD TV's that use considerably less power than plasma equivalent. Sony don't even produce plasma anymore, apparently because they reckon that can make LCD TV's that are as good as plasma and use as little as 1/3 the amount of power.
The power consumption for 42" TV's range from about 230W (LCD) to nearly 500W (Plasma). That is a bit over the top for everyday use. A 32inch LCD typically uses less than 150W and a 26inch uses a mere 90W. For comparison my 10 year old 25inch TV uses 140W, a 26 LCD would use 35% less power.
What power savings can you achieve?
Lets compare a 32inch LCD with a 42inch Plasma. The power difference is 135W vs 475W (I just picked brands and models at random from the web to give a random example of how significant the difference is). Over a year, for every hour per day you watch the TV, the 42 inch TV will use 120KWH more power - that will cost about $25 per year more. If you watch 3 hours a day that is $75. That is more than our summertime power bill for a whole month!
Also while you should try to choose one that has low standby power, don't do this a the expense of the power consumption when in use. Nearly all TV manufacturers have standby power down to a minimum. Since standby power is less than 1W and the in-use power is typically at least 100W the standby power becomes less significant. Of course you should turn the TV off at the wall anyway so standby use could be irrelevant all together.
And lastly a note on Sky and Freeview. Some manufacturers now have released TV's with built in Freeview decoders. That means that you do not need a separate box consuming power. We don't have freeview yet, but our sky decoder uses 15W (even on standby). That is about $25 per year.
Submitted by jameski on 14 July 2008 10:09:25
Thanks jameski. You certainly do you research.
Submitted by Andrew on 14 July 2008 14:50:41
Crikey jameski, you've been THINKING again haven't you? You could probably heat a whole room with the heat radiated from your brain while you were working all that stuff out! LOL!
Seriously though, there are some excellent tips there. We don't have a header tank but I like to do a load of laundry first thing in the morning anyway (I like to hear the yodelling sound made by whoever is in the shower at the time when the water goes hot/cold/hot/cold).
You have also given me some excellent information to use next time my partner says we really 'need' a giant home theatre system :)
Submitted by Lindis on 16 July 2008 14:28:28
What about rinsing dishes in the cold water which has more pressure than hot?
Submitted by tel on 22 July 2008 19:33:55
See previous (bit hasty there), I mean rinisng before putting in dishwasher which I only use when it's full.
Submitted by tel on 22 July 2008 19:35:00