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Energy Saving Tips

Emsol energy saving tips for general use, large business, small business and home use.

How can I save energy in general?

  • Replace incandescent, halogen or mercury vapour lamps with more efficient LED technology. Also consider upgrading metal hide, sodium or fluorescent lamps. Lighting uses around 15% of your electricity at home, 30% in commercial buildings, and 5% in industry.
  • Switch off lights when leaving the room. Switching on a light does not use a significant amount of energy. However frequent switching can reduce the lamp life. Therefore a rule of thumb with lighting is to switch off when away for longer than 10 minutes.
  • Utilise day-lighting, be more rigorous at switching off lights and install more efficient lamps. Office lighting typically costs $7-$10 per m² per year but most offices can reduce this to $3-$5 per m² per year.
  • Clean lamps, diffusers and fixtures at least once per year, which will help maintain required light levels.
  • Switch off your computer when away from your workstation for longer than 30 minutes, The start-up energy for a computer is negligible and a computer can be expected to have a life of 500,000 hours or 500,000 starts. Therefore if you switched your computer off 136 times a day, you should expect it to run for more than ten years. 
  • Switch off your monitor if you’re away from your computer for longer than 30 minutes but don’t want to switch off your computer.
  • Switch off your computer when you go home. A single computer uses 75% less energy each year it it’s switched off overnight and during the weekends saving $100 a year.

Accelerate and drive smoothly while driving and avoid heavy use of the brakes. A car under full acceleration can use twice the amount of energy as a car quietly motoring at 40km/h and driving habits can influence fuel consumption by as much as 25%, saving $500 a year.

  • Check hot water cylinder thermostat temperature. It can be turned down to 60°C. This will reduce heat losses from your cylinder.
  • Install a hot-water cylinder wrap if you do not have an ‘A’ grade hot-water cylinder (shown by the “watermark” label) or your cylinder is warm to touch. At a cost of $70, a hot-water cylinder wrap saves about $40 a year in electricity costs.
  • Install low flow shower heads. At a typical cost of around $30-$90, a low flow shower-head reduces water flow to 6-8 litres per minute compared to about 10-16 litres per minute, saving around $80 per annum.
  • Wash clothes more often in cold water instead of hot.
  • Lag the hot-water pipe coming out of the top of the hot-water cylinder. This can cost $10-$15 and will save the same amount annually.

How can our LARGE BUSINESS save energy?

Consider high efficiency and running costs when buying motors. The annual electricity cost for running an electric motor can be 10 times more than the initial cost of the motor or more than 100 times over the life of the motor.

  • Undertake regular maintenance. This improves efficiency and provides safer work environments. Report and isolate problems as soon as they are noticed and track maintenance costs to identify high cost items.
  • Assign staff the responsibility for switching off particular equipment. Often equipment is left on unnecessarily because no one is responsible for switching it off.
  • How much electricity are you using at night and over the weekend? In business, night time use is typically 10-15% of day-time use. Getting cleaners to clean a floor at a time can prevent lights being on unnecessarily.

How can our SMALL BUSINESS save energy?

Consider high efficiency and running costs when buying motors. The annual electricity cost for running an electric motor can be 10 times more than the initial cost of the motor or more than 100 times over the life of the motor.

  • Undertake regular maintenance. This improves efficiency and provides safer work environments. Report and isolate problems as soon as they are noticed and track maintenance costs to identify high cost items.
  • Assign staff the responsibility for switching off particular equipment. Often equipment is left on unnecessarily because no one is responsible for switching it off.
  • How much electricity are you using at night and over the weekend? In business, night time use is typically 10-15% of day-time use. Getting cleaners to clean a floor at a time can prevent lights being on unnecessarily.

How can I save energy at HOME?

  • How many appliances in your house are currently on? Purchase appliances that can be switched off at the wall instead of leaving them on standby and save $2 to $14 every year. Standby power consumption for appliances such as stereos, TVs, microwaves, printers or cordless phones typically vary between 2 – 10 Watts each.
  • Look for the ‘Energy Rating’ label when buying an appliance. The energy use of similar appliances can differ significantly. Each additional star on the label represents a reduction in energy use and a more efficient appliance could save you $30 every year.
  • When buying a new appliance check out www.energyrating.gov.au. This website has the energy use of all energy labelled appliances sold in New Zealand. This can help you seek out the most efficient models and compare the efficiency of different models.

A house with ceiling insulation will typically save in the order of $200 a year compared with a house without ceiling insulation. Insulation is effectively a heating and cooling system with no operating cost. Homes built before 1977 are more likely to have little or even no insulation than homes built recently.

  • Get an electrician to install a time switch on your heated towel rail. It may cost $100 but it will save $50 every year.
  • If you have a second refrigerator, see if you can empty it and leave it switched off. An average fridge will use $70 – $90 a year in electricity. Don’t forget to leave the door ajar so it stays dry and doesn’t grow mildew.
  • Defrost frozen food by placing it at the bottom of the fridge the night before, instead of using the microwave. This reduces the energy use of the fridge and the microwave.
  • Try not to place fridges in direct sunlight or next to heat sources like ovens. A fridge or freezer will use less energy if it is in cool surroundings.
  • Defrost regularly and clean dust off the cooling fins at the back to maintain the efficiency of your fridge. Not defrosting your fridge dramatically increases it’s energy consumption.
  • Pull your curtains once the sun goes down. To further improve the effectiveness of your curtains ensure they are thermally backed or install a pelmet.
  • Block up unused fireplaces and chimneys and stop other draughts. EECA suggests that weather-stripping and draught-stopping your house can cost around $140 but can save between $30 and $70 a year.
  • Insulate the ceiling. Up to 40% of house heating can escape through the ceiling. Installing ceiling insulation typically costs around $1200 for a 120m2 house and can save around $140 to $390 in energy costs.