Rising electricity bills are a constant source of worry for most homeowners, and tips and techniques to reduce energy consumption are always useful. The high cost of electricity makes energy efficiency a major consideration for all decisions involving home wiring and choosing new light fixtures.
When it is time to choose electrical accessories for a new home, or to switch to more eco-friendly products in your existing home, we know that it’s difficult to visualise and plan what products to use, where to install them, and to understand the amount of energy they will consume.
It might also be interesting to compare how much power you can save by switching to different energy-efficient options. While the actual installation requires licensed electrical contractors (like our team here at Everest Electrical), there are interactive websites that are quite helpful for choosing electrical products for each room of the house.
These make it possible to make your choice wisely after accounting for energy efficiency, and understanding the long-term benefits or drawbacks of each choice.
Here are some tools that could be of interest:
OSRAM’s Light a Home Tool
World leaders in lighting manufacturing, OSRAM provides a handy tool that helps you compare how much you can save – in power and money – each year. The tool allows you to select lighting options for each room – choose the placement, select how many lamps you require and the expected average hours of consumption – and tells you how much you are saving each year.
You get a detailed breakdown of the power consumption, energy costs, carbon dioxide emissions and even the number of trees required to absorb the emissions.
Access OSRAM’s Light a Home tool here
HPM’s Interactive House and Garden
HPM, another leading electrical supplier in Australia, has an interactive tool that gives you lighting tips for each room of the house, as well as the garden and exteriors. It also has a list of products that you can select for each room.
The tips include the placement of power points in each room, including surge protection for certain power points, choosing heat lamps, exhaust fans, motion sensor switches, dimmers and so on.
Access HPM’s Interactive House and Garden tool here
*Image from www.hpm.com.au
Switch On’s Energy Efficient House
An independent information source, Switch On is an initiative of the Victorian Government. But we believe that the tips and information provided by the tool will be useful for our Sydney and Northern Beaches clients as well.
The energy efficient house is a clickable tool that covers different areas of energy efficiency including lighting, electrical appliances, heating and cooling etc. You can also compare the energy efficiency of different appliances and find out the annual energy cost of each appliance depending on its Energy Star rating.
Access Switch On’s Energy Efficient House tool here
Energy Star’s Save Energy @ Home Tool
The widely-accepted Energy Star program helps consumers by informing them of energy-efficient products through its Energy Star Rating. But they also have on their website, an interactive tool that helps you with many cool energy-saving tips.
While some of these tips are specific to residents of the USA, many of the general tips are applicable to households anywhere. For example, unplugging battery chargers and adapters instead of leaving them plugged in always is one way of reducing a few dollars from your energy bill.
Access Energy Star’s Save Energy @ Home tool here
These tools provide you with great tips and advice, so that you can play an active role in choosing lighting products for your home, instead of just going with whatever the builder and electrician suggests. However, our team at Everest Electrical is always available for any advice and suggestions to help you make appropriate choices.
Call us on 0410 229 139 for any electrical jobs including new construction works and switchboard upgrades on Sydney’s North Shore and Northern Beaches.