Every summer Queenslander’s have the daily struggle of whether or not to turn on the air conditioning. Now, since Queensland is notorious for their brutal summer days and unrelenting summer nights, the answer may seem obvious. However, with record high electricity rates, running your air conditioner on full all summer long is out of the question for many people.
Luckily, Sun City Hot Water & Plumbing have come up with a list of 4 easy ways to reduce your energy usage so you can relax in front of your air conditioner this summer without having to worry about your next power bill.
- Energy Efficient Lighting
Indoors – LED bulbs use 90% less electricity than incandescent bulbs. Switching out all of your light bulbs for energy efficient bulbs will drastically reduce your lighting costs. However, if you can’t switch all of your bulbs right away, simply replace the main bulbs in the house and then slowly replace the remaining bulbs as they blow.
Outdoors – It can be easy to forget about outdoor lights and leave them on overnight, however, the result of this is a lot of wasted energy. To avoid wasting energy on outdoor lighting, install motion sensor lights to light as needed. Not only will this prevent energy wastage, it comes with the added benefit of automatic lighting when you arrive home or leave the house.
Additionally, using solar lights outdoors will reduce your power bill by utilising the free energy from the sun. - Reduce Hot Water Usage
According to Carbon Track, hot water can account for up to 30% of your home electricity bill. Luckily, there are many ways to reduce your hot water usage to cut back your energy bill.
The first thing you can do to reduce your hot water usage is to install water efficient fittings. Simply switching out your old shower head for a three star rated showerhead can reduce water usage in the shower by half.
In a storage hot water system, the water in the tank is heated by an electric element at the bottom of the tank. When sediment builds up in the bottom of the tank it can inhibit the system’s ability to heat the water. Draining your hot water system every 6 months for sediment build-up will help to maintain the efficiency of the system and reduce your electricity bill.
Switching from a storage hot water system to a tankless system can reduce your water usage by half which will in turn significantly reduce your power bill. This is because a storage hot water heater is constantly working to heat the water stored in its tank throughout the day whereas a tankless system simply heats the water on demand.
For quality installations on all hot water systems both storage and tankless call Sun City Hot Water & Plumbing on 1300 728 122 today.
If buying a new water system is not an option, insulating the tank of a storage hot water system will help reduce the amount of energy required to heat the water throughout the day. - Maximise Cooling Efficiency
According to Origin,40% of the energy used in Australian homes is attributed to heating and cooling. This may come as no surprise as Australia is well-known for its tropical climate.
The first way to reduce the cost of cooling in your home is to close the curtains or blinds where the sun comes in and try to cool your house with a floor or ceiling fan before resorting to your air conditioning unit. However, this does not mean that you can’t use your air conditioner while minimising your power bill.
Running your air conditioner can be a necessity during the notorious Queensland heat waves. Luckily, there are some things you can do to improve the efficiency of your AC and reduce your energy consumption. For example, simply checking the filter and changing it when it’s dirty will increase the efficiency of your system.
Another way to reduce the energy consumption of your air conditioner is to ensure that it is regularly serviced for maximum efficiency.
Keeping your fridge and freezer fully stocked will also help to reduce your energy usage. This is because cold or frozen items will act as insulation, meaning less energy is required to maintain the set temperature. Also avoid refrigerating food that is still hot as it will raise the temperature of the whole fridge requiring more energy to cool it back down. - Optimise Appliance Usage
Our last tip to reduce your power bill this summer is to optimise the use of your appliances. Consider replacing any old appliances you may have as older appliances use a lot more energy than newer ones that do the same job.
Next, optimise the use of your existing appliances. For dishwashers and washing machines this means only running them when there is a full load (but don’t overfill them). Disabling the heated dry function on your dishwasher will help to reduce the energy used for each load of dishes.
You can also maximise the efficiency of your clothes dryer by cleaning the filter with each use. Additionally, you can use dryer balls to speed up drying time, reducing your energy usage.
Another way to reduce energy usage on your appliances is to replace your powerboards with smart strip surge protectors that will automatically cut the power to appliances that are not in use. This reduces wasted energy used by appliances in a “standby†mode, for example, any appliance that keeps the time.
