Retailers must by EU law display an energy efficiency rating on new appliances
- use it!
‘The old tumbler dryer finally died’, said my friend, ‘the wife insists the new one must have an A energy rating. But it’s so much more expensive than a C.’ ‘Listen to the wife,’ I told him, ‘it’s always a good policy. But in this case she’s spot on. ‘Which?’ tests show that a C-rated dryer costs 70c per load for electricity but an A-rated one only 28c. At 5 loads a week the A-rated dryer saves more than €100 a year - you’ll be quids in!’
Saving electricity at home cuts CO2 emissions at the power station, reducing global warming and saving money on the bills. You would be pretty dim not to follow these 3 steps:
Step 1: Switch off and unplug
When you leave a light on that’s not needed, or leave an appliance on standby, you are wasting electricity. Stopping the waste is the first step to saving. So turn off the lights when you leave a room. Turn off appliances, TVs, computers and phone chargers rather than leaving them on standby, unless you have a recent model with a special energy-saving mode.
Step 2: Use appliances and lights more efficiently
Don’t boil more water than you need – it will save electricity and be a lot quicker. A dishwasher or washing machine uses the same amount of electricity regardless of the amount of clothes or dishes in it - so wait until you have a full load before starting it. Dryers use a lot of power – so if the weather is fine consider hanging the clothes out on a line as our grandmothers used to – the sun and the breeze are free! If you use external lights at night fit them with motion detectors, so that they only come on when they are needed.
Step 3: Buy efficient appliances and lights
The traditional tungsten filament light bulb is so inefficient that their sale has now been banned. But it makes sense to change out your old bulbs before they fail, since the lifetime cost of the new efficient CFL bulb is 20% of the old one.
The biggest users of electricity around the home are the tumbler dryer (up to €1 per cycle), the refrigerator (30c per day), the washing machine (48c per cycle), the dishwasher (30c per cycle) and the plasma TV (56c per day). But there is a big variation in the amount of electricity different models use. Retailers are now obliged by EU law to display energy efficiency labels (see the picture) on the products they sell, rating them from A to G, with A the most efficient. Always check the rating before you buy a new appliance. Aim for the highest rating possible to save emissions - frequently any extra cost will be more than outweighed by savings in your electricity bills.
Renewable Electricity
It is now possible to get domestic scale wind turbines to make your own electricity when the wind is blowing, and you can also sell any surplus to the ESB. But the capital investment is large, and unless you live in a particularly exposed windy place your savings are unlikely to repay the investment.
However one thing any of us can do is to make the switch to an electricity supplier that consistently supplies a high proportion of renewable electricity. All suppliers make claims for their commitment to increase the renewable electricity they supply: Airtricity won the Green Energy Award this year for supplying the most; Bord Gais say they will increase renewable electricity to 30% by 2012; and ESB plan to increase theirs to one third by 2020. The latest figures certified by the Energy Regulator are for 2008, when Airtricity supplied 69% renewable electricity, ESB 12% and Bord Gais 8%. In order to encourage the move to renewable electricity, I have made the change to Airtricity. But I will continue to monitor the certified figures and change again if the figures suggest I should.
For more information and to take the 10:10 pledge see www.1010.ie or contact Nenagh Carbon Watchers (email nenaghcarbonwatchers@gmail.com).
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