This page is dedicated to everything about Electricity. We all use it in our daily lives and alot can be done to reduce the amount we use. Be it simply turning off a light to buying solar panels. In this page i will cover general electricity firstly then go onto individual devices.

General Electricity:

Turning off the light: This one is fairly simple and you have probably heard of it before. Turn the Light of when you leave the room. Lights don’t consume a lot of electricity but it all adds up so switching it of when you leave the room makes a difference. This also applies to other lights around the house do you really need them on? Do you need a light lighting up your front door all night?

Replace old light bulbs with energy efficient ones: Many of you will already know about this step and be actively doing it. If you haven’t heard then replace all your old Incandescent light bulb (Picture). With the new Compact fluorescent bulbs (Picture) These light bulbs use half as much electricity and are just as bright effectively reducing your energy uses. Although if you would like to take it a step tougher you could look at LED bulbs (Light-emitting diode) (Picture) these are common in computers (they make the little lights that tell you its on). They are also very very energy efficient. Although at the moment they are hard to come by and often only suitable for lamps.

Buying Green power or doing it yourself: To make a big difference to how much CO2 you emit from your electricity consider buying green power or installing solar panels on your house. In Australia most energy providers will sell you Accredited Green Power. This is electricity produced using renewable sources of energy (eg, Wind, Solar, Geothermal) that means that this power is produced with nasty impact on the environment. You could also consider purchasing solar panels or a wind turbine for you own house. This means that you will be producing some of the electricity yourself. If you make enough you can even sell it back to the energy company. Although solar panels can be expensive they will pay for themselves in time by reducing your energy bill.

Another option in this categories is Solar hot water systems. This is a unit that sits on your roof and uses the sun to heat your hot water. It will lower your power bill and reduce the impact on the environment.

Turn down your thermostat in winter and up in summer: If you own an air conditioner or Heater in your home (or something that does both) then a good way to reduce how much power it uses is to turn it up or down according to the season. In Summer you should turn it up a few degrees so that its closer to the outside temperature there for not having to work so hard. In the winter you do the opposite by turning it down a few degrees. You may feel a tad cold but you will be using a lot less energy to run it.

Also on the topic of Heating and cooling. Turn the system off if you don’t need it. If you’re not going to enter that room again today, or you’re going to be away all day. Then don’t leave it running. Open a window and get a breeze though instead. It’s good for your health and reduces your power bill. On this note if it’s not too hot/cold outside consider turning it off completely. If it helps you sleep, consider turning it on in your bed room an hour before you go to bed. Before that time open the window and let the outside air cool the room. Remember that if a room is very hot/cold, it will have to work a lot harder to cool/heat it.

Double Glaze your windows and insulate your house: These mostly fall under the Heating and Cooling section although they have a separate section because they aren’t totally the same. Both these are ways to reduce the temperature in your house. They basically enhance the effects of your heating and cooling system.

Double Glazing is sticking to glass panes window so that there is an air gap between them this effectively insulates the window so that your house stays cooler/warmer. Click here for more details

Insulating your house is fairly self explanatory and your house unless it is old probably is already. This basically just keeps the heat in and the cold out or vice versa. It reduces the amount drafts though your walls and roof there for keeping the temperature more steady inside. This is achieved by sticking insulating materials into the walls and roof when the house is built. In older house/buildings this may be possible to some extent. Click here for more details

What to do with individual devices around your home:

This topic includes your TV, stereo system, white goods, and other small appliances.

Ditch standby, This is a great device if you’re a lazy blob but otherwise it’s just a waste of power. A lot of devices these days don’t have an ON/OFF button only a standby switch. Although this is slowly changing half a chance you know what I mean. Standby is basically putting the device into a state of readiness although it isn’t necessarily saving any time on simply turning it on and off at the wall. Standby also uses electricity although it may not appear to its quietly using it this is also known as Phantom power. This can be stopped by turning the device in question off at the wall. If you can’t reach the power point then maybe a power board with individual switches on is the way to go. Then you can turn things off if you’re not using them.

Older devices and some very new ones may well have done away with standby as its becoming increasingly unpopular as it’s just a waste of power. The EU is considering banning it and many countries have taken a look at the One Watt Initiative . That would require all electronic devices to use only 1 watt while in standby. Click here for more

This also applies to unplugging things when they aren’t charging. A lot of phone chargers also use power even when they aren’t charging so unplugging them not only extends there life it reduces their power usage.

Buy a Solar charger: These little devices are rather clever they use the power of the sun to charge up small gadgets. They can be used to charge up mobile phones and mp3 players and often don’t cost more than 100 dollars (AUD). They also have the advantage of been a portable rechargeable battery for when you’re out and about.

For more tips on saving power take a look at the Computer page and the House and Garden page.

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