With energy prices being hiked up by providers and the threat of an “energy blackout” this winter, Irish households are worried as to how to manage their electricity and gas usage coming into the winter
Dr Tara Shine, the director of Change by Degrees has said that we can all take steps to change how we rely on our household energy and use our appliances differently to save on costs, and to help the planet.
The environmental scientist told RTÉ’s Claire Byrne that Irish households could drastically cut their energy bill simply by following her tips for using household appliances.
Here are Dr Shine’s tips on how to use your appliances in the best way for both planet and your pocket:
Pilot lights
That little red light that comes on your telly after you switch it off still manages to rack up a bill on your energy costs.
Leaving things like the TV on standby still uses a significant amount of energy. Dr Shine explained that it comes to about 11% of household energy use in the EU.
Shockingly, “eleven percent of every bill is things being on standby,” she said.
The solution is to simply unplug and totally turn off things like printers, coffee machines, desktop monitors and television.
“Argue that out in your own house and see which things you can manage to take off standby.”
Central Heating
Data from the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland suggests that turning down your central heating by just one degree can lower your energy bill by 10%.
And if you cannot handle a one degree change, “put a jumper on,” said Dr Shine.
Immersion
To the horror of Irish mammies everywhere, it could be argued that leaving the immersion on all the time could actually be better for energy conservation instead of periodically turning it on and off all the time.
“There’s always this argument of ‘is it better to heat something off from zero cold to hot versus leaving it on all the time?’,” said Dr Shine.
She said that if you are not using a huge amount of hot water all day long, or if your water heater isn’t very well insulated, that leaving the immersion on all the time wouldn’t be a good idea.
But the huge amount of energy needed to heat up the immersion is also a factor if you have a big family and are using a lot of hot water.
Dr Shine suggested trying out leaving your immersion on all month for one month and then switching back to turning it off and on for the following month and comparing your bills to see which is most cost-effective for your household.
Tumble Dryer
The tumble dryer can be expensive to run, especially for those of us who rely on an older, lower energy rated dryer in our laundry routines.
Dr Shine shared the stark fact that “if every home… dried just one load per week on the line per week instead of the drier it would save 1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year.”
That’s enough electricity to power 170,000 homes per year.
Coming into the winter months it can be harder to find the perfect time to stick clothes on the line, but Dr Shine explained that even popping your clothes onto the line for a few hours while it is dry and then transferring your laundry onto an airer inside overnight is much more sustainable than relying on electricity.
Kettles
All of us are guilty of sticking on the kettle for a cuppa and then forgetting about it, and ending up boiling it again and again throughout the day.
“We are quite impatient, we want our cup of tea quickly so they put a lot of energy into warming the water fast for us,” she said. The energy used by a kettle is enormous.
In fact, 85% of the carbon footprint produced by making a cuppa is from the boiling of the kettle alone.
Dr Shine suggests only boiling the water you need, don’t fill it up to the top every time. And don’t be a “serial re-boiler.” Boil it once and make your cup of tea or coffee.
Be sure also to look after your kettle and other appliances. Descale your kettle regularly so you don’t end up having to keep buying new ones. “Look after the things you have, it’s one of the most important things you can do if you want to be more sustainable.”
For more drastic energy-saving, Dr Shine also commended one listener on using a “pump-pot” flask to keep water at boiling point all day long and minimise the need to reboil the kettle over and over.
Courtesy: The Irish Mirror