# Devices for home energy saving



## TristanW

Heya mates,

I'm looking to improve the way in which I save energy.
So far I've done the whole insulation, windows upgrading, and I have a small wind turbine installed. Well, it's still not enough and I've seen there are plenty of energy saving devices out there? Any advice on where to buy the best priced ones and what models/types I should go for?

I'm interested in something for the overall house as well as for specific items, e.g. computer energy saving.
Some ideas would be most welcome, guys.

Cheers,

Tristan


----------



## Dexter

There have been a lot of commercials related to green energy. Not sure about bills but there were some rebates offered by government for installing an environment friendly device.


----------



## Wanderer

There's not so much energy saving devices as more appliances that use less energy, LCD TVs as against Plasma for example, how big a one do you really need? and you'll find that most appliances these days will have energy rating stickers on them and then there are different approaches you can consider like food storage and do your own study on how you organise your refrigerator shelves and what it is that you most often open the door for, like is it a cold drink or the milk for a coffee, the butter for some bread and so would it make more sense to have a much smaller bar style fridge in which you stored your most often daily used items.
And then how do you cook your food?
Do you have air conditioning when a ceiling fan may suffice, they having a summer and winter opposite rotation so all that hot air near the ceiling can be driven down to warm the bod in winter if need be after you have put on some warmer clothing.
And if you have an Aircon for summer heat, along with good insulation, you'll be amazed how hot a ceiling cavity can be and how much cooler it could be with a couple of Whirly gigs fitted.

I am fortunate in having a sufficiently mild climate that we basically get by winter and summer without aircon or heating and have windows open all year round day and most nights, even in winter and if you want to warm yourself and generate some fitness as well as heat, you could always have an exercise bike to watch tele on, maybe even see about running a small generator off one to run a lamp or mini heater!

And so once you have looked at what you can do in that way, you can then look at the potential for solar power and heating.

Depending on where/how you live and how much you want to spend or if thinking of building again, there are some good passive solar design concepts about, the CSIRO I think it was that used to have various info sheets many years ago but basic stuff that seems to get ignored a bit too much is:
. orientation north for us or south for northern hemisphere.
. making use of and shielding from the sun meaning sizing of verandahs to suit change in suns angles from summer to winter and if you want some internal feature brickwork, design it as a heat sink so as sun rays will heat it in winter through windows and then drwa heavy curtains at night.
. more complex systems I've seen at times will have a solar heated water system with a wall or more simply for a concrete slab home, put water coils in the slab connected to water coils under external concrete paving.
. for a sloping site, I once saw a design which included a mass of boulders under the floor of the house that was used as a form of heat sink.
With a bit of searching, you'll come across numerous sites that have plenty of info re eco house design and the Scaninavians have taken it to a very advanced state for their climate where they basically make a house an insulated box, much as it seems you have done as well as incorporating solar orientation and then added airflow heat exchangers where they even tap into the human heat produced.
They also for their very severe winters have air lock style entry doors.

And then of course with new building, a good look can be taken at choice of building materials and timber is actually a better insulator than stone/brick, so log cabins are great as well as timber lining of a house adding to benefits.
A typical brick veneer house has bricks heating up in summer and then without good wall insulation, a lot of that heat is radiated inwards.
If you ever have a trip to a place like Broken Hill, you'll see many of the older homes looking like a corrugated iron shed and besides availability and transport, early pioneers found that iron might heat up as well as being as being reflective but it did not hold much heat and cooled down quickly too.
You even see the old corrugated iron making a bit of a comeback in many areas and there are many light weight less manufacturing energy masonry style products now on the market too.

And just to close with, just had a little thought on my solar garden lights, very cheap these days and think I'll have to experiment with having a few in a prominent position and on stands that I can then bring inside of an evening to see how they go re background lighting at least.

But for winter, the best energy saving devices might be another layer of clothing and having heavy curtains to draw.


----------



## oloov

May I ask, why You are looking for this.
Is that to reduce Your carbon footprint or because of high energy price in Australia? Or both?
And by the way, what are energy costs in Australia? In Melbourne area to be specific.
I would like to take my high-end (read power-hungry) desktop PC with me, when I move there, and I'm wondering how high energy bills might be.


----------



## Wanderer

I do not think that the hungriest of PCs will use all that much power compared to other appliances but it could come down to hours of use.
I'd reckon TristanW just has a personal approach of helping to be kind to the environment whilst also helping the budget re cutting down on electricity costs.
The electricity supply scene in Victoria is de-regulated and that in itself may allow you to see what competition is doing and a site like Electricity Victoria | Compare Energy Companies in Victoria Australia will give you a guide.
There are various other comparisons sites if you do a google on Victorian Electricity charges .
Generally, in Australia electricity charges have risen substantially in recent years and this is expected to continue as older power stations are seeing many interim replacements by more expensive gas turbines, particularly in Victoria, the building of high consumption water desalination plants and limited renewable but again expensive power units and now on top of all that because federally we have a minority government that relies on independents and Greens backing, they are planning on introducing a Carbon Tax, so all up yep, electricity in Australia is likely to get dearer than what it already is.


----------



## davidriley

Most of the energy saving devices simply tell you how much it is costing to run an appliance and help education wise. I would be a little dubious about anything that reduces the amount of power an appliance uses as dropping your voltage (like what happens in a brown out) can damage appliances.

My advice, if you want to reduce your consumption turn things off and don't use items if you don't need to. Get an energy auditor out to your home to advise on how to make your home more energy efficient (and not the type that hand out shower heads and light bulbs  )


----------



## davidriley

Tristan,

TI am using the Efergy E2 wireless, got it from energysaver,net,au, it's really neat and it really helps you understand how much and especially where your electricity goes – basically, it's an green energy auditor in your hand 

You might want to check other products on that website too – but, again, the best thing you can do is not to use "brown out" devices, or any devices that minimize your energy output, but rather gadgets that give you insight, information, and, best of all, control over the way you use energy.


----------



## priya899

Electricity saving is becoming important for all of us because of the effects upon our planet of profligate energy use.

Energy efficiency can be achieved partly by using some of the home power saving devices described here.

LEDS and CFLs, home energy metres, stand-by busters and some other products.

thanks,
Priya


----------



## dan

where are you located?

if you are in QLD then you should get one of these inspections done.. well worth the money!

EzyGreen: Home


----------



## pencilpusher

nice information on this guys... will surely need all the help we can get on having to save our resources practically for our children if not for our children's children...

cheers...


----------



## LightLED

Have you considered your home lighting? CFLs can eat up up to 25 percent of your home's electric bill you know. You could try replacing them with a more efficient alternative.


----------



## Ezrio315

*Gas Heating*

There are many ways for saving energy like you can choose Gas heating which has low cost and is more energy efficient than electric alternatives. I suggest you for ST-G006 Economical which is efficient and low cost too.


----------

