Lowering energy means using less, being more energy efficient and finding different ways to power your life
Energy across all its many forms - powering the production of goods and services, fuel in transport, powering buildings and in fugitive emissions - makes up more than 70% of Global greenhouse gas emissions. That's across everything - if we zoom back into the home, energy consumption makes up around 65% of a household's total greenhouse gas emissions.
In my earlier post (Electrify me a little less (Part 2)), I talked about the main forms of energy consumption in the home, mainly heating & cooling and water heating.
What changes have I made since writing that post?
Cooling - we have evaporative air-conditioning so it doesn't get super cold, just has different fan settings (though it does have an auto setting so these must be linked to a thermostat somehow). The summer just gone, I put a timer on for the odd occasions I left it on when I went to bed (so it would turn off once we all fell asleep), but mainly we just opened the windows for the breeze or switched to overhead fans in the kid's rooms later in the day (ceiling fans use much less energy than air-conditioning). If it was going to be over 35 degrees that day, I followed the practice of putting the aircon on early and on low, and left the curtains down to keep the place cool, only opening up when the afternoon breeze was in.
Heating - we don't have built-in heating (tbh it's really only chilly enough to warrant it for 4-6 weeks of the year in Perth). We have a Dyson Hot & Cool fan that we put on in the mornings in the kitchen in the dead of winter or in each of the kids' rooms for half an hour or so to take the chill out of the air before bedtime. I plan to stick to that again this winter and yes - I know electrical heaters are pretty energy intensive and not ideal if you have reverse cycle as an option. Avoid gas heaters - its literally burning fossil fuels! If we end up saving up for reverse cycle air-con (won't be this year as our next big expense for the following 12-18 months will likely be an EV) this will become our future heating source. As it is - we just tend to get our slippers and dressing gowns on as the house is pretty well insulated.
Water heating - I've got a gas hot water system and will replace it when it dies (hopefully not too soon given the expense of a new system), although I know it's adding to our footprint. When it's done, I'm looking to replace with a heat pump system because of how energy efficient they are. As for behaviour changes - I've pretty consistently stuck with the eco setting on the dishwasher and washing our clothes in cold water, so no dramas there. As for shorter showers - um. Most of the time. Work in progress.
Sidestep moment - If lighting💡 is not a huge chunk of the average family's energy consumption, why do so many posts and articles recommend changing out halogen lightglobes to LED, in order to save energy? Sure, LEDs are great - they use way less energy than halogens, (75%) and can last 5 to 6 times longer, according to the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, but its still only going to be <10% of your total energy consumption in a year. The main reason? It's such an easy change to make with no ongoing behaviour adjustment needed (it's the exact same process to buy a new lightglobe when the old one runs out), its super low-cost (mere $'s) and you can make the change if you're renting or own your home. It's a no-brainer. Just replace with an LED.
OK so let's go back to the next cab off the rank for reducing energy - appliances.
Let's talk appliances
Lowering carbon emissions from energy use means using less, being more energy efficient or finding different ways to power your lifestyle.
Less is like turning the lights off, not turning the aircon and heating on in mild weather, having shorter showers.
Better is looking at using more energy efficient appliances that do the same job - like the dishwasher on the eco-setting, still cleans the dishes, just using less energy to do so. We'll talk about this one more below.
Different can be using your own solar power or batteries to power your home (if you're able to make this choice). Different can also mean changing behaviours if you have solar, matching your use with when the sun is shining. We call this load shifting - moving the use of power (load) to a new time (the shift) to better match when your renewable source is generating (with solar, this would be when its sunny from late morning to late afternoon). So, this would be getting used to setting a timer for your dishwasher and washing machine, so they only go on in the middle of the day, heating water in the day if you have a heat pump system & timer or charging devices (like laptops and phones) during the day rather than overnight.
The efficiency of an appliance is rated under the Greenhouse and Energy Minimum Standards Act 2012 – Australia's national appliance and equipment energy efficiency legislation - and administered by the Greenhouse and Energy Minimum Standards Regulator (GEMS Regulator). All of this is captured in the Energy Rating Label you would have seen when you buy most electrical appliances and is part of the Equipment Energy Efficiency Program.
The GEMS Regulator is based in the Australian Government Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. The GEMS Regulator replaced all previous state and territory appliance and equipment energy efficiency regulators.
I've pulled together some common electricity consumption ranges for common appliances or electrical goods. If you want to know what that looks like in CO2e, there are a few different sources you can find around. For WA in 2021/22, the emissions factor is about 0.68, meaning you emit around 0.68kg of CO2e per kWh of electricity consumed from the South West Interconnected System (WA's electricity network). These are rough numbers as with every renewable generator and increase in behind-the-meter solar panel installation, the actual emissions profile per kWh will continue to change - downwards as more renewable energy replace fossil-fuel generators. At night, our WA system emissions profile will be higher than during the day, as the fossil fuel generation currently does the heavy lifting post nightfall.
So what does this tell us?
Well, it's really worth getting a more energy efficient appliance that you use everyday (or most days) as some can have a big range. Dishwashers and ovens are really great examples - when you get a new one, you're expecting to get a good decade (or two for an oven) out of them. An energy efficient oven could save 2.5 times the carbon emissions (9.32t CO2e compared to 3.7t CO2e if you used the oven for 180hrs per year for 15 years) it would also save you $3,000 in electricity costs (ignoring inflation and tariff increases, @30c per kWh) over its life! Worth paying extra for a more efficient appliance🤔?
It also gives an idea on some of the power-hungry appliances and which ones you should really do your homework on (or check the star label) when buying new - aircons, cooktops and ovens, dishwashers, clothes dryers and fridges. Also if you live in Perth and own a clothes dryer - please don't use it (except maybe in July). Make the most of the Freo Doctor and get it out on the clothesline.
Want to search up the appliances you already have? Or do some research before you hit the stores? Check out the GEMS database of appliances for an idea of energy rating and cost by brand: Energy Rating - Search the Registration Database
Other stuff to know about
Before we finish up our time on household electricity, you may not know that in Australia not only do we have the appliance energy efficiency rating scheme, but we have one for houses too, the Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS).
"If you are building a new home or undertaking major renovations, you will likely need to meet minimum state and territory building energy efficiency requirements based on the National Construction Code.
The most common way to meet these requirements is by getting a home energy rating done using the Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS). A NatHERS Accredited Assessor can conduct your home energy rating and also provide you with advice about how best to design and use your home to reduce its heating and cooling needs. Good design can save you money on your energy bills, while also improving the thermal comfort and resale value of your home."
There are also some free home designs on their website: Our free Design For Place home designs will help you create an energy-efficient, sustainable home that suits your climate and lifestyle. There are 2, 3 and 4 bedroom home designs and they look pretty nice. They've also tweaked the basic design and technical drawings to cater for environmental differences across the capital cities of Australia. I wanted to check this out so I compared the Cairns and Perth designs and while the design looks the same, I was surprised to find differences in the materials used and in the overall energy efficiency ratings. The designs have some really great general info about building in Australia that forms a handy checklist if you are in this position.
I won't be building or renovating anytime soon (I don't think) but checking this out has made me super aware of the importance of shading (eaves are such a good design feature often lost in modern homes!!) and orientation. I feel this a lot being in a coastal suburb - the back of our house is an oven in summer if I don't keep the blinds down, or hadn't invested in reflective tinting for the downstairs family room.
Next time you're up for a new appliance, check the energy rating - sure there might be a greater upfront cost for a more efficient appliance, but think about that in terms of the 5, 10 or 15 years it should last you and how much more just one star less could cost over the lifetime of that appliance! Remember the $3,000 difference from running an appliance that uses 2kWH to a 5kWh from running for one hour, every second day for 15 years. That could be a huge difference and cost you more than the appliance!
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