The Alternative Lifestyle Site

The Energy Saver Challenge: How Much Is Enough?

We have had abundant sources of cheap energy at our disposal for many decades and as a result of this we have formed habits of use and mis-use of energy that we may not even be aware of. Because it is now easy to heat our homes – for most people it is just the flick of a switch or the push of a button – we over heat and over cool our homes. This has become the norm but the questionsshould always remain. How Much Is Enough? How Much Is Reasonable? How Much Is Sustainable?

Here are a few things to consider:

Do you have to heat or cool your entire home, all the time?

• It may be incredibly convenient or it may be necessary for your particular home or circumstances to be heated or cooled in its entirety all the time but this would be unusual.
• Is it possible to only heat living rooms during the day or reduce/remove heating from some zones at night?
• Do you have the ability to use a thermostat timer to automate the zones or the times the cooling or heating is being used?

These kinds of activities will save you a considerable amount of energy and money over the course of a year.

Another thing to consider is what temperature you have your home.

• Is it so warm that you peel off layers of clothing as you enter the house?
• Are you down to shirtsleeves?
• This is costing you a lot of money and if you reduce your thermostat by even one degree you will make a big difference to the next energy bill. For example, each time you turn up your heater by one degree (over 21 degrees C), you are increasing your energy bill by up to 10%
• Consider an extra layer of clothing rather than turning your heater up or cooler down.

I know I must be sounding like a broken record by now but this stuff is so important. Not just to save you money – in truth that is just a side bonus to me.

We have become accustomed to programmed and programable comfort levels in our homes and the cost of that has been increasing over the last few years and shows no signs of slowing.

Becoming more aware of our reasonable and real needs in terms of heating and cooling and making conscious decisions around when, how and why we heat or cool our homes will go a long way to reducing our rampant energy consumption and put some more money in our pockets.

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Save Energy: Making the right choices

The accent in this video? Kiwi! (New Zealand), our wonderful neighbours down under.

Every home is different, every family is unique and the comfort level for one may be the discomfort level for another. When you are choosing cooling systems or heating systems for your home there are many things to consider and which one to buy is probably quite a way down the list.

There are things you can do inside and outside your home that will reduce your need for heating and cooling, reduce the amount of energy you need to use once you turn those systems on and that save a lot of carbon (CO2) emissions and a lot of money. Let’s look a some simple and really effective things for you to consider.

Shade in summer can make an enormous difference to the comfort, or otherwise of your home.

• If you have space, consider a tree that will shade the sunny side of your home. North here in Australia and South if you live on the other side of the equator. A tree that is leafy in summer and bare in winter will help with both your heating and your cooling efforts.

• If space does not allow, then placing awnings or blinds over your windows will do a good job of keeping out the sun and they can be removed or rolled up in the winter when you want that light and sun entering your home.

Let me share my story of how I discovered just how much difference some shade (or sun) can make.

• We had a west facing window and each afternoon in the summer when the sun hit the glass it just got scorching hot inside my home. So I purchased a very inexpensive bamboo slat blind from the hardware story (in absolute desperation) and hung it inside the window. It made quite a difference right away. Then I read somewhere that if I hung that bamboo blind outside the window it would be even more efficient, so I gave it a try.

• The result was instant relief and I remember it making a 10 degree difference to that end of the house over that summer. You see, the sun shining directly onto a pane of glass makes that glass act like a heater, for every one square metre of glass it can generate the same amount of heat as if you were running an electric heater around 1200watts I believe. You just don’t want that happening in summer.

• So, whilst blinds and curtains can make a big difference to the heat entering your home, you can gain a much bigger benefit if you stop the sun shining directly onto the glass in the first place.

• Of course, in winter, that same room was the best place to sit to catch the afternoon sun. Nice and cosy because I’d taken down the blind and had it stored safely away in the shed until next summer.

• I now live in a house that has a lovely verandah all the way around and on the western wall during summer, I hang my trusty bamboo blinds to stop the sun coming into the bedroom windows. All my potted plants love their new ‘shadehouse’ too and the view from the inside it practically tropical. In the winter, this same space is bathed in sunlight and the late afternoon sun reaches into the bedrooms bringing welcome warmth towards the end of the day.

There will come a time though when you will want or need additional heating and cooling and once again, it comes down to choosing the right appliance for your needs. There are many factors to consider including:

• cost – of course. Your ecomonic circumstances will impact on what you can afford to buy but you must also take into account the extra running costs if you choose a heater or cooler that is not appropriate to the space you in which your are going to use it.

• Ensure you know the size of the space you are wanting to heat or cool and buy a unit suited to that size

• Really have a good hard look at exactly how much of your home needs to be heated or cooled at any given time, some types of heating can be “zoned” to maximise efficiency (like underfloor electric heating)

• If you are building, just facing your home North (or South in the Northern Hemisphere) and placing windows with a view to summer shade and winter solar access can make an astounding difference to your energy requirements for climate control within the home.

• And it goes without saying, but I’ll say it again… ensure that you purchase the most energy efficient model no matter what you are buying.

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Thanks for visiting and reading all the way to the end!

Save Energy: Put a jacket on your house

You know what it’s like when you get caught short in those months when the seasons are changing. You either don’t have a jacket when you need one, or you are peeling off layers of clothing as an unexpected hot spell catches you out.

The same goes for your home. If you are one of the fortunate people who own (or are buying) your home then you have an opportunity to really cut the amount of energy you use for heating and cooling and save money in the long term (and not so long term). The biggest impact you can make is to ensure your home is correctly insulated for where you live.

Underfloor insulation is another area often left out of the equation. Although most homes are now built upon a concrete slab, there are many timber floored homes that could be improved with underfloor insulation.

Let me share a little story with you.

A few years ago my family moved back “home’ to where I grew up to be closer to my parents who were experiencing bad health at the time. We purchased a brick home in the town I was born and moved in. This house needed a new heater as the one installed didn’t look safe to me and we replaced it with a modern gas heater with a remote control and thermostat. I was very happy to feel a lot safer and to have the convenience of a more modern heater.

That winter we really felt the cold, despite having moved to a more moderate climate.

• One day, during a heavy rain storm, we heard dripping in the ceiling and I sent my trusty husband up into the roof to put a bucket under the drip. As I heard him clomping about in the roof it occurred to me that I shouldn’t be able to hear the drip, as the inspection report we commissioned when we purchased the home told us it had ceiling insulation installed.

Guess what? It didn’t – the report was incorrect!

• Before the next summer arrived we had a nice thick layer of insulation blown into the ceiling cavity and that summer was much more comfortable as a result.
• Our home generally stayed between 5 and 8 degrees C cooler than the outside temperature without the air-conditioning.

And the following winter?

The difference was remarkable. Where we had previously closed off the living room from the rest of the house to have at least one warm room, we were now able to just close those rooms we were not using.

• The ‘wet’ rooms like the bathrooms and laundry, the spare bedroom and once the children were asleep I could even partially close their doors to reduce the amount of warm air in the room they were sleeping.
• Nothing worse than being too hot in bed for my family.

So for less money than the previous winter our comfort level and sense of wellbeing went through the roof. The economic benefits would be recouped in a few years but those other intangible things were repaid to us immediately.

I hope that little story helps you to seriously consider increasing the amount of insulation in your home. The benefits are not only financial and the benefits you will appreciate the most cannot be counted in dollars or pence. If you don’t own your home, the video shows many things you too can do besides adding insulation to your home, you can also improve the performance and enjoyment you get through the cold and hot months by doing some of these simple things.

I’d love to hear success stories like the one I have just shared with you, leave a comment if you have something to share. While you are at it, sign up for the newsletter by simply putting your name and email address in the form to the top right of this page. Happy insulating!

Save Energy: Plug that gap!

This is one of the simplest actions you can take. It is also one of the cheapest options when it comes to making your home more energy efficient. To get the ball rolling….

I came across this great little ‘how to ‘ video for those of you who are willing to consider another great way to handle windows that let your precious energy intensive warmed or cooled air pass out of the room.

Windows and doors are the most common sources of draught in your home – these can be cold air or hot air depending on the season. If your windows have curtains or blinds draw them fully of an evening in the winter as this helps to trap the warm air inside your room, rather than letting it escape through the glass. Glass does not have a good thermal rating, especially if it is a single pane. Likewise, in Summer draw your blinds or curtains during the day – especially if the get direct sunlight on them – to stop the glare and slow down the heating up of your home. This will save you lots of energy and money in reducing the time you need to run your air-conditioning.

• Double and triple glazing of windows is expensive in the short term but as energy costs continue to rise, over time, they will save you on your heating and cooling expenses for years and years to come. This is one time when the long term perspective pays off even in the short term.

You can purchase weather stripping tape from your local hardware supplier very inexpensively. This can be used to exclude air transfer around door and windows and can dramatically improve the efficiency of your home. It is cheap, very easy to apply and if you need to see how it is done just look for a “how to” video from YouTube… you will be spoiled for choice!

• Under the door itself is another source of air transfer between the room you are heating or cooling and whatever is on the other side. There are a number of ways to block this source of draught but even a towel rolled up and placed before the gap will make a difference. Do you remember the “door snake or door sausage” that your Grandparents used to keep the rooms cosy? They still work today and they can be covered to look very chic indeed. If this is not your cup of tea then check out your local hardware outlet for other more modern options.

Here are a few other things you can do the ensure you are getting the best value from your heating or cooling dollar and that will go a long way to ensuring that you are not an energy hog this season.

• Check around your windows for damage or gaps that are allowing your precious warmed or cooled air to escape.

• Look around the join of your floor and walls, especially if you enjoy a timber floor or even tiles. This is another place that draughts can appear. In many older homes this is an area where many gaps appear over time.

• Put down a rug for the winter to add a layer of cosiness. It can give you that lovely layered look for winter and then as the weather warms up it’s like your room gets a new lease on life as you roll up the rug and celebrate the return of the growing seasons.

• Look for other gaps too. A Common place to look is where your pipes enter and leave your home is another way for air to flow. There are now expanding foam spray products available that are easy to use and make sealing up these gaps quick and easy.

I hope you find this post inspirational and it gets you heading out to Plug Those Gaps! If you would love more inspirational tips, ideas, innovations and just good old information subscribe to the newsletter by putting your details into the form to the top right of the page.

Saving Energy: Throwing Money Into The Fireplace?

Imagine you are walking down the street on a cold evening and you see a family sitting in their front garden in front of a bonfire. They are having a really great time and from where you stand it looks like the perfect activity for a night like this.

As you get a little closer you notice that the fire is really blazing and that some of the family have taken off their jackets and coats and even some of their long sleeves and are just toasting themselves in front of the fire.

You begin to feel a little uneasy.

Imagine now that you are right across the street, on the opposite corner to this bonfire loving family. You’ve got a really good view now and despite the cold, they are now sitting in shirtsleeves and some of them don’t even have their socks on. You are now fascinated by the sight before you and you cross the road and peer over the fence just in time to see the parents add more fuel to the fire.

They pick up a bucket and toss its contents into the flames and to your horror a bucket full of money flutters helplessly into the awaiting flames.

You scream… and wake up. Of course, this is an extreme example of a waste of money and a waste of energy.

However, many people are doing both these things every winter because they heat their homes in ways that are very inefficient. Some of this inefficiency comes from poor insulation and sealing of homes, some of it comes from poor heating choices but much of it comes from habitual behaviours and unconscious choices in the heating of homes. To make matters even worse, during the summer they do it again – with air-conditioning.

Is there no end to their madness, or are they just victims of some habits they developed with there was an abundance of cheap energy with no end in sight? These habits are costing you a lot of money when it comes to heating and cooling your home. This results in you using energy which you don’t need to use. You could cut your home heating energy use and costs and not feel any reduction in your comfort level or your sense of wellbeing.

There are some simple, effective, and necessary steps to take if you would rather save a bucket of money and further reduce your energy consumption and we will be looking at a few of them here over the next week or so.

This introductory video will give you some ideas to get you thinking about how you can take steps to stop “throwing money at the bonfire” all winter and all summer long. This one is from Australia and was part of a series – I love it because it’s so simple to see what happens when you use and abuse electricity and how simple it can be to make a change for the better.

Put your name and email address into the form “Subscribe To Our Newsletter” at the top right of this page so that you can become a leader in saving energy, reducing your environmental impact and show other people you know that they too can stop throwing buckets of money into the fire every year.

Energy Saver Challenge Tip #3 – Heating and Cooling

The Challenge takes a look at how you can improve your energy efficiency and the performance of your home in terms of heating and cooling. Let’s come up with some simple, effective and achievable solutions anyone can implement.  Here is a quick video to get us started.

Become part of the solution, sign up for the Alternative Lifestyle Site newsletter in the box in the top right corner and be the first to hear of innovations, ideas, products and processes that will help you create your perfect Alternative Lifestyle.

Saving Energy: At The End Of The Day It Comes Down To This

There are many other energy using appliances in our home that you may not have thought of. Things like your iron, your microwave, your television, computer, dvd/video machine, stereo, gaming consoles…..

• How on earth did we come to rely on energy so much for our daily lives, our creature comforts?

• How did we get to the point where we agreed to pay so much money for the everyday running of these things?

• When did we decide that it was an affordable thing to do?

These are deeper philosophical and cultural questions than this blog can hope to address but there is a role for these thoughts in your mind as you make the changes to your energy use that will make a difference to your budget and the planet. Let’s take a look at some of them now.

Most of these appliances now contain digital clocks and also standby lights. Now this is all very well but how many clocks does one room need? In my home, in the kitchen I have a clock on the wall, one on the stove and another on the microwave. In the living room I think at last count there were four clocks in the TV cabinet! What is this obsession with clocks on appliances? Now to get to the point.

I’ll give you an everyday example as a means to make it – the microwave oven.

Most if not all homes now possess such an appliance.

They almost all come with a digital display that tells you all sorts of useful information like temperature and duration of cooking time while you are using them and that is great but once their job is done, they just sit there with their little display telling you the time.

And using energy.

• I use my microwave for less than 30 minutes a day and yet I allow it to use energy (and cost me money) for 24 hours per day.
• That just does not make sense.
• Turn it off at the switch when you are not using it.
• It will not mind, it will not stop working.
• Nothing terrible will happen.

The same goes for your stereo, music systems.

• If you are not listening to it, turn it of.
• Not just on the front, that will just let it sit there on standby mode, using power!
• Turn it off at the switch.

And when you go to bed at night…?

• All those things in the entertainment cabinet with their little red and green lights just begging you to turn them back on, are costing you money.
• Don’t listen, reach behind the cabinet and flick that switch!

Now here is the big sell for me about this one.

• All those clocks, all those little red and green standby lights (including the ones on your computer!) add around 10% to your energy bill.
• That means by creating the habit of turning them off when they are not being used, you could save between 5% and 10% (depending on how many gadgets and appliances you actually have) on each and every energy account you receive from this day forward.

Over your lifetime, that can add up to a lot of energy and a nice amount of money left in your bank account for something much more fun than paying the energy bill.

Take action on energy today, begin by joining our Alternative Lifestyle Site Newsletter by putting your details into the form in the top right hand corner of this page. We look forward to sharing many more fantastic tips with you as well as keeping you informed of many ways you can create the perfect, planet friendlier lifestyle for yourself and those you love.

So how can you save energy in the laundry?

This time the Energy Saver Challenge takes a look in the laundry and the washing machine gets the energy efficiency treatment. You know the deal by now with the energy rating if you are in the market for new appliances right? I know you have a good idea of what to look for now.

The first tip is to wash in cold water.

• I’ve not washed in hot or warm water for decades and I’d love to know how much energy and money that has saved me. I also recently had to buy a new machine and went for one of those front loading varieties. I have to say, I like it very much and it uses less water and less energy than an equivalent top loading machine so it appears I have made a good decision with that one.

• As with the dishwasher, you will discover that your washing machine will use the same amount of energy whether or not there are a few items or a whole load so it makes sense really to wait until you have a full load of washing if you are trying to save energy and thus have more money in your pocket at the end of the month.

Now, the bane of my life, clothes dryers.

I was given one as a wedding gift and I had it for about 15 years before it finally coughed it’s last load of soft fluffy clothes at me. However, I had used it less and less as I realised just how much money it cost me each time I used it. Eventually for the last three or four years it only got used in emergencies of weather or bad management on my part.

• If it is a sunny day, hang your washing outside. I have a clothes line but I know others who use clothes airers and they work well too. The sun dries them perfectly, the breeze softens the fabrics and they smell fantastic when you bring them back inside.

I guess I’ve shown my preference but I absolutely understand that sometimes you need to use the dryer. So here are a couple of tips to make that less of a drain on your hip pocket.

• If you do use your dryer, never put dripping clothes in, always spin them first, and
• Make sure the lint filter is cleaned really regularly so that the machine can weave its magic for you as efficiently as possible.

Just in case you needed more inspiration to consider a clothes line…..

Maybe you could trial drying your clothes by hanging them outside on a sunny, breezy day and just finishing them off in the dryer to give them that softly, softly feel as an interim measure while you make your decision about how to dry your clothes on a regular basis.

Leave a comment, sign up for the Alternative Lifestyle Site newsletter and have a wonderful day.

Cooking and Cleaning Up The Mess – Save Energy and Money Too

Now the Energy Saver Challenge turns it’s gaze to some other popular appliances. We can stay in the kitchen and look to that other increasingly common appliance and look for ways to make its operation more effective and more efficient. Dishwashers, Stoves, Cooktops and Ovens.

Dishwashers:

My dishwasher is my husband and my son and I think they both have a 50 star energy rating!

Seriously though, washing dishes in the sink is a good thing and personally I think it’s underrated as a family activity. We have had a dishwashing machine in the past but now we’ve decided that with only three people in the house we don’t really need one. Washing dishes by hand for us is the most sustainable solution to the endless round of dirty dishes.

Of course, you get to make your own choices for YOUR Alternative Lifestyle so if you choose to use a dishwasher think about it’s energy rating when you buy it and see how many of these tips you can adopt in it’s use.

• Only run the dishwasher with a full load – it uses the same amount of energy (and water!) whether it’s full or half full so it just makes sense to wait until it’s full right?

• Then don’t let the machine dry the dishes for you – program it to stop before the drying cycle and just open the door – the dishes will dry themselves without any extra energy needed at all.

• Take note of the video above and take care in stacking your dishwasher, you can improve the cleaning job it does for you just by taking a little care at the front end of the process – and it makes unpacking it at the other end a whole lot simpler.

Your stove or oven:

Once again if you are buying new, go for the highest energy rated appliance you can afford – it will keep saving you money for the whole of its life.

• One big tip is to only use your oven when you actually need to. Frying pans, pressure cookers and crock pots and even microwave ovens are more energy efficient if what you are cooking can be created in them.

• If you are going to use your oven, check that the door closes fully and that there is a good seal when it is closed. No point in paying for all that energy to warm it up if it is justgoing to escape out around the door. This applies equally to electric or gas ovens.

• Now to the cook top. Did you know that just putting the lid on the pot will substantially lessen the amount of energy required to cook what is in it?

• Plus, if you ensure that the right pot goes on the right hotplate or burner (not too big, or small) then you will also save substantially in both energy and time. Not to mention the money!

If you have enjoyed this post, sign up for the Alternative Lifestyle Site newsletter using the form in the top right hand corner of this page. We’d love to hear how you are going with your personal Energy Saver Challenge – leave a comment and share what you have achieved in terms of saving energy in your home.

Energy Saver Challenge Tip #2:

Turning Up The Heat on Energy Efficiency and Your Appliances

The Energy Saver Challenge is turning it’s attention to your appliances and how to save energy and save money by getting wise to their tricks and preferences.

We are now surrounded by appliances of every imaginable shape, colour, size and scope. Our days are filled to the brim with gadgets and devices which fill our homes, our workplaces, our cars and which constantly consume energy. Energy that we must pay for in one way or another. It’s time to turn up the heat on energy efficiency and your favourite appliances – change them if they must be changed or learn to use them more efficiently if they are still doing what they were designed to do.