Now that we are in the last week of the challenge, it is once again time to share your weekly average.

Due to hot weather both day and night for two days our average is just a bit higher than my baseline.  Air-conditioning really is a guzzler of energy .  We recorded average daily usage of 17.6 kWh which is 4% higher than my baseline of 16.6 kWh.  Sometimes you just can’t win a trick!

Oh, I just remembered. The builder was using all of his power tools on Friday (the big spike in the graph), so that would have gone a long way to the large usage we experienced that day.  At least today is looking a lot better with only 13.7 kWh being used.  Our best day so far has been 11.1 kWh, when we were out of the house for most of the day.

Anyway, I hope you have all stuck with it, and tried to reduce where you can and saved a few bucks so far.

So to finish of this post here some information about energy efficient lighting.

Lighting:

Compact Fluorescent Lights

Compact fluorescent lighting now comes in a variety of colours, shapes, sizes and functions including:
• A ‘warm white’ colour, similar in appearance to an incandescent lightglobe suitable for use in living areas, kitchens and bedrooms
• A ‘cool’ white colour suitable for use in bathrooms, toilets and for outdoor use
• Globe, coil and spiral shapes, and now bulbs suitable for reading lamps and chandelier lights. Also available with a glass cover that give them a similar appearance to incandescent lightglobes
• 9 watt (24 watt equivalent) to 18–20 watt (100 watt equivalent)
• Downlight replacements (similar in shape to a halogen downlight).

Compact fluorescent light bulbs are generally available wherever conventional light bulbs are sold, with most hardware stores and major supermarkets stocking a good range. They are usually designed to fit into conventional bayonet or screw fitting light sockets. Specialist lighting stores will stock less conventional bulbs for use in downlights and heritage light fixtures, such as chandeliers.  LED replacements are also becoming more readily available and are getting cheaper all the time.

What about halogen lighting?

Halogen lights are also a type of incandescent light. These are mainly used as downlights in homes. Halogens are also known a “low voltage” lights as they have transformers fitted to convert from the standard household 240 volts to 12 volts, but this does not mean that they are also low energy use.
Halogens are considered an energy intensive lighting option because several halogen lights are often needed in the place of one incandescent or fluorescent light bulb to achieve even lighting levels in a room. (Most low voltage halogen globes used as downlights consume 50 watts each and an additional 15 watts for the transformer).
A 50W halogen downlight used 3 hours a day will cost around $10 a year to run. If you had a room with 8 halogens and ran them for 8 hours each day, it would cost you over $200 every year!
As most halogen lights have a narrow light beam, many more are need to effectively light a room than when using other forms of lighting.  As with incandescent lightglobes, a large proportion of the energy consumed by halogen lighting is actually lost in the form of heat.

Options for Halogen replacements

• In a new home or renovation you can get the look of downlights by installing mini CFL down light fittings. This will cost a bit more, but you will make a big difference to your energy bills and greenhouse gas emissions.
• If you have 50 watt halogen lights downsize them to 20 watt or 35 watt halogen lights to save energy and lighting bills.
• Install a dimmer switch.
• Instead of halogen light consider alternatives such as floor and bench lamps fitted with CFLs.
• If replacing low voltage halogen lights, an electrician will be needed to convert the lights.
• Another technology is LED downlights (LED downlights retail between $30 and $100 each but last up to 50,000 hours). They are currently available from specialist environment stores, online retailers and larger hardware stores. While they are currently quite expensive and the light output and quality may be less than halogen downlights, performance and price is improving all the time.

Energy Efficient Lighting tips

• Natural light is free and the most energy efficient lighting source
• Turn lights off when you don’t need them.
• Replace standard incandescent globes with energy-saving compact fluorescent globes, particularly in high-use areas, and make sure you use the lowest wattage light needed.
• Use programmable timers, daylight sensors or movement sensors to control outdoor and security lighting.
• For outdoor garden lighting, try solar-powered lights.

 I hope that you can use this information and tips to reduce your electricity bill even further.

As the second week of the challenge passes by it is time to ‘fess up again!  Hopefully everyone is still taking their meter readings and trying little things to lower their consumption.

Once again, add up each daily figure for Week 2 in the “Total kWh used in home” column and divide by 7.  This will give you the daily average for the week.  Lower than your initial baseline is good, and lower than your Week 1 average is fantastic.

Personal confession time.  Our daily average for Week 2 is 16.8 kWh which is 1.1 kWh higher than last weeks average or 5% higher and just above my baseline.  The shame!  We had a spate of hot days over 32C so the air-conditioner was necessary which caused the increase.  However for the last few days of the week we did really well in the low teens.  Here is my data sheet (click to enlarge).

Here is my progress graph.

The trend is down which is a good thing, and we are striving to get a few days below 10 kWh in the next few days, but as the temperature is creeping up above 30C again later this week, we may not have the chance.

Kim also used the electric oven on the 29th, which is obviously a habit that is going to be hard to break.  Still I enjoyed the bread and biscuits that she made, so I cannot complain too much.  Kim’s mum flew out to Bangkok on Saturday so we have one less person in the home.  Even though we will miss her, it might just make the difference of me passing this challenge!

Hopefully everyone is still enjoying or at least getting something out of the challenge.  I certainly get a kick at 7 pm when I read my meter.  It is nice to finally work out the entire dynamics of the grid vs solar PV and how much we are actually consuming in total.  Even though we are not drawing much from the grid, I would still rather pump as much electricity back into the grid during the day as I can (sunny days obliging of course).

Anyway, I hope you are all doing better than I am, and I feel a little bit embarrassed that I am struggling with my own challenge.  Who would have thought?

It was nice to see a few people sharing their progress so far during the challenge.  I am certainly no saint when it comes to using electricity, however it is due to a few circumstances beyond my control.

Today I discovered that my solar hot water system is broken.  Well the little pump that circulates the water up to the flat panel collector is anyway.  It was 34 C today, and I expected the hot water to be at least 70 C, but when I washed my hands before dinner, it was only the normal luke warm temperature.  I went out and investigated, and discovered that the return pipe was cold, whereby it should have been boiling hot.  However the little 7 watt pump was boiling hot, and drawing 75 watts.  I believe it is fused/stuffed, so as I believe it still under warranty, I will give the manufacturer a call tomorrow to get it fixed.  I estimated that this broken pump has been drawing about 1.8 – 2.0 kWh a day, which could account for the unusually high daily energy usage that we have been experiencing.  I am glad I noticed it, and funily enough I dreamed last night that I needed to check it today!  Quite a coincidence.

Also, and I have probably shared this before during my Downshift post, but due to Kim having Multiple Sclerosis, it is essential that she keeps cool at all times.  Otherwise I come home to a wonderful wife who is totally fatigued at the end of the day because she is trying to soldier on.

So we have ceiling fans on the low setting most of the time in Spring, Summer and some of Autumn, with a small air-conditioner on every few hours on days over 30 degrees C.  We also have to keep the swimming pool well maintained so that she can have a dip when she is totally exhausted.  You should see the new lease of life she has just after a 1 hour swim in the cool, cool pool.  It is amazing!

Therefore I make no apologies for our mid-teen daily kWh usage, which is one of the many reasons I had Solar PV installed (besides the obvious environmental positives) to limit grid utilisation.  However, with that said, I have always tried to be as energy efficient with heating and cooling as possible.  For those still participating in the challenge, here are today’s tips focusing on this subject.

Did you know that over 39% of the average Australian home’s energy usage is for Heating (90%) and Cooling (10%) and 27% of the homes energy usage is for heating water (electric or gas)?

Cooling

• Keep curtains and windows closed during the day to block out the heat, then open them at night to let in cooler air.
• Fit ceiling fans instead of air conditioners.  They use only about one twentieth of the electricity of an air-con.  Even a pedestal fan more energy efficient. 
• Don’t leave your air conditioner on the highest setting (coolest). The recommended room temperature for summer is 24°C – 27°C. Every 1°C cooler will increase your energy costs by around 10 to 15%.
• Cool occupied rooms and seal off those rooms not in use if you can.
• Turn off your air conditioner for 15 minutes each hour. Or cool your house in the morning and turn the air conditioner off for an hour or so in the afternoon.

Heating

• Install north facing windows (South facing in the northern hemisphere) to catch the winter sun and reduce the amount of energy needed to heat your home.  If you can afford double glazing, then it is well worth the investment.  
• Make sure that you have as little shading as you can from trees over these windows.  Deciduous trees let the light in during winter and shade during summer months.
• Insulate you homes ceiling to at least R2 rating, and if possible any walls you can get to.  Good insulation stops heat loss and ingress.  The higher the R rating the better the insulation properties.
• Choose the right size appliance for the area you want to heat. Overheating wastes energy, whilst a unit that is too small will struggle (even if running on maximum setting).  
• Keep doors to cold rooms, like kitchens, bathrooms and laundries, closed and use heavy curtains on windows. These can prevent up to 75% of total heat loss from a home.
• Stop draughts by sealing unused chimneys with chimney dampers, sealing gaps around doors, and switching off range hoods and exhaust fans.  The old door snake/sausage works wonders for drafts under doors.

I thought I would add in hot water heating (due to my own hot water dilemmas) into these tips as it is a form of heating.

Hot water

• Installing a solar-boosted hot water unit can save you up to 90% of your hot water costs on a sunny day.
• Switch off your electric (or gas and solar) hot water unit if you’re going away for a week or more.
• Set the temperature of your hot water between 60°C and 65°C.
• Or, if you have small children, set your bathroom hot water temperature to 50°C – 55°C to decrease the risk of scalding.
• Installing a AAA-rated water efficient shower rose can result in significant savings on both your energy and water bills.  
• Take shorter showers.  Everyone in our family has a 3-4 minute shower with no issues.  You will save energy and water as well.
• Fix that drip! A hot water tap dripping at the rate of 1 drip per second can waste up to $25 worth of hot water in a year.
• Make sure the pipes from your hot water service are insulated to prevent heat loss.

I hope those tips help.  The are from just about every state and federal government energy efficiency site I could find.  More tips can be found at; www.resourcesmart.vic.gov.au and www.livinggreener.gov.au.  Both are great sources of information.

Until next time, keep on saving those Kilowatt Hours!