The following tips will help you to achieve this goal.
Small steps
Turn appliances off at the wall
Switch off lights when you leave the room. Turn appliances off at the wall – even when on standby, appliances use a surprising amount of electricity. This includes unplugging phone chargers, which continue to use energy even when not plugged into phones.
Turn off your heated towel rail when the towels have dried
Turning off the towel rail after four hours, rather than leaving it on all the time can save you up to $100 on your power bill per year.
Try to use cold washes to wash your clothes rather than hot
A warm wash uses as much energy as a drier cycle.
Try to use your clothesline more often instead of your dryer
Hanging out the washing saves money and reduces the amount of moisture in your home, and the suns rays will kill harmful bacteria and germs.
Keep the heat in your home — close windows and curtains at night
This makes the most of the heat stored in your house during the day.
Turn off your beer fridge
Beer fridges are often old, inefficient and often half full. Turning off your beer fridge could save you $100 per year.
Consider taking a shower instead of a bath
Short showers use less energy and water than baths. You can save even more by fitting a
low flow shower head.
Reduce your power use and try to use your microwave more
Microwaves use less energy than stoves or ovens. If possible, switch the microwave off at the wall after use – over time the clock on a microwave can use more energy than cooking the food!
Turn your computer monitor off — it uses less power than standby
Instead of using a screensaver which actually consumes energy, turn your computer monitor off when you aren't using it. Your monitor uses more energy than your hard drive!
Replace your regular light bulbs with eco-bulbs
Replacing your highest-use lights with CFLs can save on your power bill. They use 20% of the energy of other bulbs and produce the same amount of light. Put them in the five most-used areas of your home.
Draught-proof your home to make it easier to heat
Use
draught stoppers behind your doors, and seal cracks around windows, especially in the colder months. Draught stoppers can be brought from any hardware store - or you can make your own.
Medium steps
Fix leaking taps
A leaky tap that drips every second can waste 10,000 litres of water a year. This can usually be easily fixed by changing a washer and for hot water, can save $20 - $30 per year on your power bill.
Keep the heat in your home and consider installing thermal curtains with good quality lining
Thermal curtains are specially designed to increase the insulation around your windows and retain more heat within your home.
Reduce your power use — install a timer on your heater
A timer will ensure you heat your house only when you are home.
Choose energy efficient appliances — look for the Energy Star label or star rating
Use the
Energy Star website to choose products which use less energy.
Find out how much power you are using — get an energy audit done on your home
An
energy audit will allow you to identify cost savings that may be able to be made from reducing energy use in your home.
If you're building, get advice on home energy efficiency
Talk to an Eco Design Advisor about what you can do to make your home healthier and more energy efficient. Check out the
Eco Design Advisor website for more information.
Consider attending a Sustainable Living course
Sustainable Living courses are offered throughout the country and provide practical methods and tips to living sustainably in your home. Some of the topics include: transport, organic gardening, saving water and shopping choices. To find out more, and where your closest course is visit
Sustainable Living evening courses and introductory workshop sessions.
Big steps
Insulate your home
Insulation makes your house easier and cheaper to heat. Insulation can be found at most hardware stores, or search for it in the
Yellow Pages under ‘Insulation Thermal’.
Wrap your hot water cylinder and pipes to stop heat escaping
If your water pipes are hot to touch, valuable heat is escaping which is costing you money. Hot water cylinder wraps can be brought at most hardware stores and will reduce the amount of heat lost from the water in the cylinder.
Find out where you are using power — invest in a power monitor
Power meters test how much electricity your appliance uses when running and when in standby mode.
Install a solar hot water heating system
Hot water heating makes up about 30% of average household energy use. A
solar hot water heating system provides plenty of hot water and saves up to 75% off your hot water bill see the Solar Smart website for details on solar water heating.
