Energy - Electricity

Electricity use in homes is a big item in terms of its environmental impact (greenhouse gases from its generation, esp in Australia when 80% is coal powered). Also in terms of waste and inefficiency. It's used all over the house for all sorts of reasons and much of it 'invisibly'. So there is a lot to go at.

Our own story is rather complex because we reduced our consumption and then had solar panels fitted, so it's no longer easy to track how much we use on a day to day basis or compare with the past. But here's what I found, since the solar panels were installed in Feb 2009:

• The solar panels have produced 2,643 kWh of electricity. That's around 4 kWh, which is just over average for a 1kW system in Victoria.
• The panels exported 867 kWh of that (33%) out to the grid. That's 1.3 kWh per day. The rest (2.7 kWh) has been used within the house.
• This means the solar panels have saved about  $462 in reduced consumption from the grid and earned about $572 from the electricity we've sold. That's a total value of $1,034 - around $500 per year - giving a payback period of eight years.
• We have 'imported' 7,760 kWh of electricity from the grid. That's 11.58 kWh per day. Making our average daily use as 14.28 kWh. Which is a tad disappointing since we were once headed for around 10 kWh per day just before the panels went in. I know that 1.7 kWh goes to running the (Fronius) grid connect inverter for the solar panels, which I think is simply 'criminal' - given that the panels only produce 4 kWh per day! But that's the price we pay for grid connected completity and safety . . .
• So, really, we are standing at around 12.6 kWh per day, which is probably half of a typical house/family of this size.
• Bear in mind that the panels produce almost all of our electricity (8 kWh) on a sunny summer day and very little on a cloudy one. Also - that ALL of this electricity is 'green', renewably generated.

Did you realise that electricity prices (per kWh) have increased by around 29% from late 2006 to late 2010?

How did we do it?

Just some of the many things we've done:

• fitting solar panels, we now generate almost 30% of all the electricity we use.
• we changed all of the lights throughout the house to compact fluorescent globes/bulbs. We did leave a few security spotlamps outside with the original incandescents, but we hardly use them.
• especially important was removing all of the halogen spotlamps and replacing them with new CFL fittings. Thos things use so much energy and are so hot that they are a known fire hazard. They do give off a nice light tho!
• we turn all appliances (where possible) off at the wall, so there is very little standby power.
• don't leave lights on when not needed.
• wash on cooler wash programs.
• we have a clothes drier but it's used a handful of times during the year, we dry clothes outdoors on our sun powered Hills hoist or inside on clothes racks in wet winter times.
• (try to) turn the dishwasher off after the rinse cycle and before the drier starts.
• turn our gas heater system in summer (it uses electricity on standby).
• use the electric oven as little as possible.
• don't fill the kettle with any more water than needed for that boiling.
• don't leave the fridge or freezer doors open for long periods and make sure they are well stocked. Place them with plenty of ventilation space around the back.
• fitted ceiling fans to all bedrooms and two downstairs rooms for most of our cooling needs.
• turn off the split aircon (AC) system at the mains, since we discovered that unbelievably it demands 130 watts on standby! Only found this out after a year. That alone reduced our electricity use by 3.1 kWh per day, that was 21% of our whole consumption!! It's truly amazing that such systems are still being built.
• we only use the split AC for cooling at night when the upstairs bedrooms reach 27 degrees C or above (maybe 20-30 days per year) when sleeping is difficult. We set the thermostat to 25-26 degrees C, so it cools minimally. We then use the ceiling fans to provide the rest of the cooling.
• use the split AC only very rarely downstairs in the living area, set to 26 decgrees C again, maybe a few days per year in Jan/Feb time.
• working from home, I stopped using a PC and moved to a more efficient laptop.
• fitting automated timing switches to internal security lights.
• installed an Efergy power meter to monitor our electricity use in real time.
• we also by accredited GreenPower, tho that does not reduce the amount one uses!