Energy Saving Tips
Tweed Council’s number one energy saving tip is:
Work out your daily energy consumption and set yourself a target for the next electricity bill (e.g. 10% reduction)
To do this:
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Don’t just pay the bill when it arrives. Read the information and use it to work out average daily consumption for each member of the household (i.e. average kilowatt hours / person / day)
Some electricity companies make this easy for you by displaying an energy graph and a sentence next to it that reads ‘average daily energy consumption for this billing period is XYZ kilowatt hours’. Simply divide this number by the number of people in your home and you have ‘average kilowatt hours / person / day.
If your electricity bill doesn’t display ‘average daily energy consumption for this billing period’ you can work it out
by dividing total energy consumption for the billing period by the number of days in the billing period and dividing this number by the amount of people in your home. For example if you consumed 2000kWh in 90 days with a four person household that’s 5.56kWh per person per day.
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Once you know your daily consumption, set yourself a reduction target (e.g. 10%). Implement your energy saving actions such as those described below and repeat the calculations when you next get your bill. You can even create a bit of friendly competition with family and friends if their households are doing the same thing.
The great thing about this action is it costs you nothing and increasing awareness in your household will usually deliver results on your next electricity bill.
Now that you’ve measured your current consumption, the next step is to reduce it so the next time you measure it you can see how well you’ve done.
Tweed Council suggests a two-pronged approach to reducing your household energy consumption.
- Change your behaviour – this costs you nothing and if practised regularly will deliver immediate, ongoing benefits.
- Change your fixtures – these will often incur an up-front cost and need to be based on informed decision making before you purchase anything that consumes electricity.
Appliances
Change your behaviour (did you know that cutting out standby power can slash the average household’s energy bill by up to 10%):
- Don’t use the remote to turn off appliances like TVs and DVD players as this only puts them to sleep. Use the power button on the unit instead.
- Create a ‘recharge station’ for phones, cameras and other hand-held devices. This reduces the chance of accidently leaving the charger on when its not being used.
- Turn the computer off instead of leaving it to hibernate all day.
Change your fixtures:
- Make energy efficiency a top priority when you’re purchasing products, appliances and equipment. You can search and compare appliances at www.energyrating.gov.au. Even better, ask yourself if you really need the appliance at all.
- Remember that Council has a free electronic waste recycling program. Simply take your old television, computer monitor and other e-waste to Stotts Resource Recovery Facility and all the components will be reclaimed instead of ending up in landfill.
Hot Water
Change your behaviour:
- If you have an electric hot water heater, it’s likely that more than 30% of your electricity consumption goes into making hot water. Save money by using less hot water. Taking shorter showers and cold washing your clothes are the obvious solutions.
Change your fixtures:
- Replace your old electric hot water system with a solar hot water system. You may even be eligible for rebates. Council provides links to Federal and State rebate information under the ‘your environment’ section of this website.
Heating and Cooling
Change your behaviour:
- Every 1°C difference in temperature adds 10% to heating/cooling costs and greenhouse emissions.
- Use the heater or air-conditioner as a last resort, and then only sparingly.
- Don’t cool below 25°C in summer or heat above 21 °C in winter.
Change your fixtures:
- Add extra insulation to walls and ceilings, and keep cooler by using external shading such as eaves, awnings, shutters or trees to reduce heat gain by as much as 80%.
Refrigeration
Change your behaviour:
- Resist the urge to run a second fridge or freezer. Turn it on for busy holiday periods if necessary.
- Keep the coils at the back of the fridge clean and well ventilated to improve efficiency.
- Use water bottles to fill up empty space in your fridge or freezer. More mass in the fridge reduces the amount of cold air escaping when you open the door.
Change your fixtures:
- Consider replacing your old fridge. They can consume twice the energy of a new fridge.
- Search and compare appliances at www.energyrating.gov.au
Lighting
Change your behaviour:
- Switch them off. It’s that simple.
Change your fixtures:
- Install energy saving globes.
- Minimise the use of downlights. They are energy hungry and hang around in packs. If you already have downlights, reduce the wattage in areas such as hallways and cupboards.
Renewable Energy from the Grid
Switch to Green Power. Contact your electricity supplier and ask them to source your electricity from renewable sources such as solar, wind, biomass and hydro. For more information go to www.greenpower.nsw.gov.au.
You can also install a solar photovoltaic system on your roof and generate clean renewable energy from the sun.
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