Energy
Each person in NSW generates an average of 23 tonnes of greenhouse gas a year – reducing electricity use within your home will save you money and help our environment.
The NSW Government provides a range of programs to help you reduce electricity and carbon emissions.
In the average home, the four biggest users of electricity are: hot water; heating and cooling, refrigeration and lighting.
How Energy Efficient is your Home?
Test the energy-efficiency of your home and make savings on your electricity bill.
Energy Australia energy calculators
To reduce energy use in your home, calculate how much electricity your home uses and identify the appliances that consume the most energy.
GreenPower
Once you’ve reduced your electricity use, you can reduce your environmental footprint by choosing where you source your energy from. Choose 100% accredited GreenPower, you’ll reduce the greenhouse gas emissions from your home and support the renewable energy industry.
Solar Energy
Installing a solar system to your house or apartment roof * has never been more affordable. From January 2010, the NSW Government introduced feed-in tariff means you will earn 60 cents for each kilowatt your solar system returns to the grid.
A typical 1.5 kilowatt system will return about half of its electricity to the grid, and combined with savings on your electricity bill, you'll save around $1,000 a year, which will help pay off the cost of installation.
Under the Australian Government Renewable Energy Target, small scale solar installations are also eligible to generate solar credits. What this means is a healthy discount for you upfront on the installation costs.
* Installation of solar panels on apartment building roofs requires strata approval and generally applies to energy savings in common areas.
Hot Water
Hot water accounts for more than a third of your energy bill (around 37%). Installing a AAA efficient showerhead and taking shorter showers can reduce your bill by up to $100 a year and save 750kg of greenhouse gas emissions.
Calculate how much your hot water is costing you.
Choose an energy-efficient hot water system, save money and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Did you know?
Gas and solar hot water systems are more economical and produce fewer greenhouse gas emissions. A solar hot water system can reduce your household hot water bill by around 65%.
There are Federal Government solar hot water rebates to help you reduce the environmental footprint of your home and save you money.
Hot water that helps you Live Green
- Choose a hot-water system and size that suits your needs
- Locate the hot water system so that pipes leading to taps and outlets are as short as possible
- Insulate pipes (at least 1cm thick insulation) to reduce heat loss
- If you’re going away for more that a couple of days, turn your electric water heater off - you’ll save money and reduce your greenhouse gas emissions
- Investigate solar hot water and the various State and Federal Government grants.
Heating and Cooling
According to Energy Australia, around 22% of your household electricity bill can be attributed to heating and cooling your home. There are simple actions you can take to reduce the cost of heating and cooling your home.
Did you know?
Each degree you raise the temperature of your home by in winter (and lower in summer) adds around 10% to your electricity bill.
Heating your living area
- Heat a smaller space - if you can divide your living area by closing doors or installing heavy sealed drapes, you'll reduce your heating bills
- Prevent drafts and loss of heat by installing seals around windows and doors
- Check all your windows and doors for air gaps, seal to prevent drafts and retain warmth inside your home
- Allow sunlight to fall directly upon tiles or concrete during the day, they retain heat and will release later.
What are the most cost-effective heating solutions for your home?
Between 18 and 21 degrees is the temperature to aim for in winter, and 23 to 26 is the recommended temperature for summer. Sustainable Design solutions will help you heat and cool your home naturally and you can take energy-efficient measures to keep your home warm in winter and cool in summer.
Did you know?
A gas space heater costs around 26.6 cents an hour
A large fan or radiator heater 33.5 cents an hour
A large oil column heater 33.5 cents an hour
Air-conditioning is estimated at 48.9 cents an hour
Ducted air-conditioning is estimated at 83.8 cents an hour.
Lighting
Lighting your home is around 9% of the total cost of your electricity bill. Make the most of natural light in your home, only use lights when you need them, and switch to energy-efficient lighting to save money and energy on lighting.
Did you know?
Each halogen down light can burn up to 65 watts and cost more than $10 a year?
Live Green Lighting
- Make the most of natural light in your home and consider skylights for the kitchen and bathroom
- Turn off your lights when you leave the room
- Replace one 75 watt standard globe with one 15 watt energy-efficient globe and save around $10 on your annual electricity bill
- Switch to compact fluorescent light bulbs – they can use as little as 11 watts and can be up to eight times more efficient than a standard globe
- Consider LED globes – they can use as little as 3 watts and can last up to 15 years - providing 50,000 hours of service.
- Outdoor security lights (each 150w) add around $21 to your electricity bill each year. Don't leave outdoor security lights on all night or during the day - consider installing a timer or sensor.
For more information visit the Energy Australia website.
Increasing Natural Light in your Home
Maximise the natural light in your house or apartment and reduce the need for artificial lighting.
- Live green natural lighting
- Paint the wall outside the windows a light colour to maximise reflection of ambient light into the room
- Install a solartube into the ceiling or corridor of your home if the windows provide insufficient light
- Paint the interior of the room a lighter colour and consider light-coloured soft furnishings
- Use task lighting and lamps to light key areas rather than lighting a whole room.
Appliances
The average home has 10 appliances in stand-by mode adding around 10% to your electricity bill. Turning appliances off at the wall will reduce your home’s environmental footprint and save you money on your electricity bill – perhaps more than $100 a year.
Did you know?
A DVD on stand-by (the small green or red light on) will add $6 to your electricity bill each year. Printers and computers left on stand-by will each add $5.
Small appliance energy calculator
Appliances account for around 11% of your electricity bill. Calculate how much money your appliances are costing you.
The Australian Government Energy Rating Website
When buying any appliance or new gadget check for the Energy Rating - the more stars the more money you will save on electricity bills and the more energy-efficient the appliance, the fewer greenhouse gas emissions it will produce.
The Australian Government Energy Rating website is a great tool to compare all makes and models of various products including their energy usage and cost per annum.
Did you know?
By 2012 all electrical appliances sold in Australia will need to meet the one watt target. This has the potential to save more than 2.5 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions.
Televisions
A large screen TV, used six hours a day can generate around half a tonne of greenhouse gas a year – check the energy rating before you buy.
Did you know?
A Plasma TV costs around 4.2 cents an hour in electricity, and a flat screen LCD TV costs 2.1 cents an hour?
Energy-efficient Products in the Live Green House
Solar panels
Solar panels used on the house are thin film amorphous. Thin silicon film (0.3 of a micron) is applied directly on to glass to create a thin film cell.
Thin film technology has many advantages including:
• Exceptional performance in low light and shady conditions – a crystalline panel can cease to function when shade falls on a small part of the panel. On a thin film panel, shade will only impact on the portion of the panel that shade obscures.
• Lower level of embodied energy – the energy required to manufacture a thin film panel is much less than the energy required to make a crystalline solar panel.
The energy payback for a thin film panel is less than two years.
• Exceptional high temperature tolerance. In hot conditions, regular crystalline cells decrease in power twice as rapidly as thin film.
• Uniform appearance is ideal where aesthetics are important.
• Increased power efficiency means 1000W of thin film will produce a greater amount of energy over one year than 1000W of regular crystalline.
The Live Green Benefit
The latest generation Amorphous Thin Film PV panels typically outlast and outperform regular crystalline panels under Australian conditions.
Thin film panels require around half the energy to manufacture compared with regular crystalline solar panels, and consume around 1/500th of the silicon.
These panels have superior light absorption, heat tolerance and shade tolerance which all go to higher energy yields compared with regular crystalline.
Although Amorphous panels take up more roof space than regular crystalline, their smooth glass appearance is generally considered more aesthetically pleasing than the traditional multi-cell crystalline design. They also provide an extra benefit in the form of additional roof insulation.
SolarShop
A variety of solar power and solar hot-water systems. Solarshop.com.au
PowerMate
Connect a PowerMate to any appliance in your home and plug the PowerMate into a power point and you’ll see exactly how much each appliance costs to run over a quarter or a year, and how many kilograms of greenhouse gas your appliance produces. You can borrow a PowerMate from any City of Sydney Library.
The products displayed in the Live Green House have been provided by sponsors for illustrative purposes. The inclusion of a product in the Live Green House does not constitute an endorsement by the City of Sydney of a particular branded product. There may be alternative products that are also appropriate choices.
Last Updated: Tuesday 8 March, 2011
