Become a fan of energy efficiency

Did you know that it costs more to boil a full kettle than to run a ceiling fan for an hour? Air conditioners, on the other hand, can guzzle more power during summer than your entire hot water system.

Fans are a smart way of mechanically cooling your home. They are cheap to buy, cheap to run, operate quietly and suit rooms of all sizes.

How cool is this? Using a fan instead of an air conditioner can slash your power bill by $140 each year and reduce carbon pollution by 550kg.

There are three different types of fans for your home:

• portable fans are best suited for personal cooling
• ceiling fans are great for cooling rooms, providing a good level of comfort while using very little power. They cool you down by moving air over your warm body. You don’t have to leave them on when you're not in the room, because fans don't actually lower room temperatures
• whole house fans use moving air to create naturally cooling cross-ventilation in rooms, while removing hot air from the roof space. The size of the fan is related to the size of your home, with a single fan unit installed inside your roof space with a ceiling shutter. Air flows through the house, up through the ceiling shutters into the roof space and then blown outside by the fan.