Website design By BotEap.comHave you ever received your energy bill and thought “what the hell happened here?” or “who used all this power?” I’ve got. Gone are the days when power cost around 10c per Kw/h and the bill was a couple hundred dollars. Depending on where you live, you may have high season rates, low season rates, summer rates, etc. And it’s a bit confusing how the utility company calculates your bill in the end. Well, you know what? I hate ‘donating’ money to utility companies. One of my pets hates. I prefer to save energy. They raise millions of your hard-earned dollars each year and at the times you need it most, there are blackouts in the summer and it’s 100 degrees in the shade! Or there may be ‘blackouts’ when you are working on your PC or recording a TV show and you messed up what you were doing when your screen flickered for a second. “Increasing load on our infrastructure”, they say, “the population explosion creates a high demand for resources”, gushes the government. It’s time to fight back! Stop ‘donating’!

Website design By BotEap.comSome of these tips are SO obvious, but do you think your kids know how to save energy…or do they practice them?

Website design By BotEap.comProbably not. Train them too.

Website design By BotEap.comHere are some things to do to save energy:

Website design By BotEap.com~ Turn off the light when you leave a room.

Website design By BotEap.com~ Turn off appliances at the outlet when not in use. (yes, even a little power is used when the PP switch is on)

Website design By BotEap.com~ Please turn off the standby switch on your TV/Stereo/VCR/DVD player when not in use as it is using a lot of power in standby mode.

Website design By BotEap.com~ Ditch incandescent light bulbs and use energy saving light bulbs (CFLs) – their cost has come down in recent years and they last thousands of hours – a real no-brainer that many people are using to save energy.

Website design By BotEap.com~ If your home has them or you are considering them, LED recessed lights are an excellent replacement for halogen bulbs, use a fraction of the energy, and are an attractive alternative to conventional room lighting.

Website design By BotEap.com~ Are you looking at new appliances? Check out their ‘star’ rating for energy efficiency.

Website design By BotEap.com~ Front-load washers use less energy than top-loaders, plus most modern units only use cold water and heat the water when needed.

Website design By BotEap.com~ Do you have a clothes dryer? Use only if necessary: ​​hang your clothes (or better yet, have the kids do it!)

Website design By BotEap.com~ Insulate your home – Your roof space is a critical area to keep warm in winter and cool in summer, as well as draft-proof windows and doors. Do you have old sash type windows? These are very drafty, so heavy curtains or replacing them is a reasonable solution; Opt for the extra expense of double-glazed or laminated windows. Your energy savings will pay for it in the long run.

Website design By BotEap.com~ Use thick batting for ceilings and walls if possible. Or choose an alternative: recycled paper-based insulation can be ‘pumped’ into your ceiling or wall space. I have used this on my daughter’s bedroom ceiling and it made a huge difference. I ended up getting this for free from the government and the result was 2 great things: I was able to save energy and my favorite: I saved money!

Website design By BotEap.com~ Seal any gaps that may be on the exterior of your home, such as window and door trim, eaves, and loose shingles.

Website design By BotEap.com~ Set your air conditioner to 75-80 instead of 65-70 in the summer. If you have a split air conditioning system, make sure your inverter or compressor is housed in the shade or in a cooler area if possible. A great system I once saw was a very high pressure misting device used near the inverter to cool the area around it using “latent heat of vaporization” as used in some greenhouses. A great way to save energy in your home as you don’t have to work as hard.

Website design By BotEap.com~ Hot water heaters. Set them to 140 – 150, this will be fine for adults and turn it down to 120 – 130 if you have children. Turn it off if you’re going to be gone for a while. H/W solar systems are great but need to be fixed critically facing north. Depending on where you live and how much sunlight you get per day, you will still need to use the H/W boost on short winter days and obviously on cloudy days as well. “Heat pumps” are a relatively new innovation that use latent heat in the atmosphere to heat water, as well as “reverse air conditioning” to heat water on cold days or to a desired temperature. Just installed 1 and it’s fantastic and unbelievably cheaper to run than my old H/W solar system! What has this system done for me? Another opportunity to save energy – one of my favorite hobbies! They’re expensive, but I feel great because they’re energy efficient AND I’m using rainwater for it, everyone wins.

Website design By BotEap.com~ Cooking. Your microwave oven is a competent energy user, as it only cooks your food compared to just heating your conventional electric oven. But try to avoid using it to thaw anything – plan ahead and let nature do it. If you can upgrade, get a fan forced oven as they are also more efficient. Try to use wise practices like using a lid on your pots and pans. If you’re a meat eater, you can use other cooking methods from time to time, like having a barbecue, and if you don’t have one, go out and get a kettle oven. They are fantastic, the taste is to die for and you have many options to use for fuel such as briquettes, charcoal, wet and dry wood etc. Bonus: It is a way to save energy and money.

Website design By BotEap.com~ Solar energy. An expensive option for sure. Those who claim that it can be done cheaply are probably kidding themselves. Get a system up and running for $200? I would question the quality of such a system. We all know that going this way could take a sizable chunk out of your wallet if you want to take a sizable chunk off your energy bill. But you would have to weigh the pros and cons. Do you live in a particularly sunny area? Are you skilled enough with the right tools, materials, and knowledge to build your own solar panels and install the array and infrastructure? Or do you do it professionally? Do you simply want to save energy or will your system have the ability to make your meter spin backwards? Electricity grid feed-in rates vary widely depending on where you live and are a great incentive. One other thing, if you are lucky enough to have a shed, workshop or barn with a separate electricity meter, then that is a great opportunity to produce your own energy simply to make money from feed-in fees and help your community as well. .

Website design By BotEap.com~ Wind energy. There are many different systems and turbine designs on the market, and again maintenance personnel can build them from kits or from scratch. Producing electricity obviously depends on the consistency of the breeze in your location, and if that’s not up to the task, combining them with a solar power system could be an option. Explore weather sites and the like to determine if it’s feasible to power your home by these means.