The Carbon Reduction Institute
The Carbon Reduction Institute is committed to enabling every individual and organisation to take real and effective action to reduce their impact on the climate.
Their mission is to create and initiate greenhouse gas reduction strategies and to drive business and individuals to do the same.
They fulfil this mission by offering consultation analysis in the following areas: NoCO2 Carbon Neutral Business Certification Program, consultancy on the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme, greenhouse emissions abatement project consultancy, life cycle analysis (LCA) of greenhouse emissions from products or services, climate change staff education / corporate culture workshops, retailing quality carbon offsets for individuals.
Managing Director Robert Cawthorne believes in applying his business and technical skills to create solutions in aim of preventing a climate crisis.
For more information on the Carbon Reduction Institute visit http://www.noco2.com.au/
Robert offered the following 10 tips in reducing the energy usage at home:
10 Tips for a good investment in home energy reduction
Many of us invest our money to grow our wealth and plan for the future. Home ownership is often a family's largest asset and is an investment that can be better managed by considering home energy efficiency.
An energy efficient home and good occupant behavior can greatly lower electricity, gas and water use reducing your utility bill expenses even as energy prices rise. For those paying off a home loan, the opportunity to lower monthly expenses can reduce difficulty in making loan repayments.
In fact, some ways of reducing energy in your home are free or have a payback period of less then a year. With such high returns on investment, there are even situations where it makes sense to borrow money to spend maximising the efficiency of your home.
Below are my 10 simple tips for a good investment in home efficiencies.
1. Appliances
When purchasing a new appliance consider the energy star rating. An appliance that is cheap to buy at the outset can end up costing far more to run in the long term if it operates inefficiently. A cheap appliance may require more frequent repairs and require replacing earlier. A more expensive appliance with high energy star ratings will be cheaper to run, may be more fully featured and last longer. Treat yourself and the environment!
Energy star ratings can be found at www.energyrating.gov.au.
2. Fridge Space
Many kitchens are designed with a little ‘nook' for the fridge. If the fridge is tightly fitted in this nook there will be no air-flow. Why is this important? Your fridge works by extracting heat from inside the fridge into the surrounding air, through the heat exchangers on the back of the fridge. The hotter the surrounding air is, the harder the fridge needs to work to keep its contents cool. A zero cost investment into energy efficiency can be achieved by pulling the fridge forward and drilling holes at the top of any cupboard or walls above the fridge - removing any junk from around the fridge that is stopping air flow might save as much as $50.00 per year from your energy bill.
3. Downlights
50 Watt halogen downlights produce approximately 90% heat and 10% light meaning most of the electricity used to power them simply heats the ceiling cavity. In addition, halogen down lights require a transformer to drive them adding to their energy use and creating more undesired heat. Using 20 of these 50W halogen downlights in your roof is similar to having a 1000W bar heater in your roof. Switching to LED downlights will reduce this heat load and their long lifetime means that you won't have to spend as much time replacing bulbs when they blow. From the energy savings alone we have seen returns exceeding 25% from the installation of LED bulbs.
4. Only fill the kettle with the amount you need
While this will cost you nothing to do it is probably one of the best examples of where we waste energy. Heating the water up and then allowing it to cool not only takes extra time, it also costs money. Heating up an extra litre of water once a day will add an extra $6 per year to your electricity bill and cause an extra 44 kilograms of greenhouse gas emissions. While the savings aren't significant there is simply no reason to fill your kettle more than you need.
5. Door and Window Seals
Draught sealing is a very low cost way to ensure that your home retains heat through winter and stays cool in summer. The financial return will depend on your house design, climate and usage of air conditioning and heating but will outweigh the very low cost of installation. Draught sealing around windows and doors can save up to 25 per cent of heat losses and gains in many climate zones.
6. Install Energy Timers to Reduce Standby Load
Around 10% of a household's energy usage comes from appliances sitting idle whilst not in use. This can be defeated through the use of energy timer switches - available at hardware stores for around $5 a pop - and can pay back within three-months when applied, for example, to a home entertainment unit. The switches allow you to set the operating times for your appliances; meaning that they are off when not in use -saving you money.
7. Home Education - Stickers / Reminders
Another low cost/free way to save energy is to remind your family to turn things off when not in use. Lights, heaters; TVs are often left on when no-ones around or watching.
8. Hot water System
Electric hot-water systems can represent over 30% of household energy usage. Switching to solar hot water, electric heat pump hot water or even gas will save you money and may reduce your household's carbon footprint by 30%.
9. Get an energy assessment
The federal government is providing free home energy assessments. For a zero dollar investment and a small amount of time you can have a trained professional visit your home and advise you on further ways your can reduce your impact. The assessment will allow you to access the federal governments green loans program.
10. Green Loans Program
Take advantage of any government rebates available to assist you invest in the efficiency of your home. The governments green loans program will allow your household to be fitted out with energy reduction options funded on a 4 year loan at very low interest rates. This could be a great way to invest in the efficiency of you household and reduce the impact powering your household has on our environment and your wallet.
