Save Power Challenge: Families facing the challenge

Published: The Daily Telegraph Date: 13 September 2010

This weekend kicks off The Sunday Telegraph, Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water NSW (DECCW) Save Power Challenge, in which six NSW householders and six small businesses will go under the microscope as they do their best to save money while rescuing the planet.

Kelly Ackers

Kelly Ackers lives with husband, Shea, and eight-month-old son, Tavish, in Rutherford, NSW. She says the Save Power Challenge has come at the right time: "We want to reduce our electricity bill, and now that we've brought a new life into the world, we feel we should be doing something to support our planet."

She says having a baby can make it harder to be energy conscious: "I've got more washing and I think about the heating and him being comfortable. Then again, there's the benefit of me being at home and having more time to think about this sort of thing."

The family already tries to use power wisely: "We're good at things like not putting the dishwasher on unless there is a full load. We don't have a 1000cm television. We try not to put lights on all the time."

Kelly acknowledges there is room for improvement: "My husband is a bit of a tech head. We have a lot of appliances, including an outdoor music system and two TVs. They're not huge, but we leave everything on standby."

She's looking forward to the Save Power Challenge: "It's making me more aware of what we use and what we actually need to run our lives."

Jodie Davis

Jodie Davis lives in Dudley, NSW with husband Lambert and two sons, Lachlan (12) and Connor (nine). She says they've signed up for the Save Power Challenge for two reasons: "We wanted to save some money on our electricity bills and teach the kids some good habits about electricity use."

She says parents should be positive role models: "Kids are not going to get that from anywhere else, so it's critical that parents set a good example."

Jodie says the family is already energy-conscious: "We don't have an air conditioner, just a fan we use in summer. We don't have a dishwasher. We don't use the dryer excessively; we only use it when it's raining and you've really got to wash stuff."

She admits some of the household routines could change. "Long hot showers are a very bad habit. And the rest of the family leaves lights on all over the place so I have to walk around turning them all off again."

Alex Ross

Alex Ross lives in Dundas with his mother, Catherine. He wants to save money on his energy bills and hopes the Save Power Challenge will help him discover why they are using so much: "We've only got two people in the household, but we use a lot more electricity compared to friends and other families.

"We're trying to work out what we are doing differently to other people. It could be something we're doing or it could be the electric appliances we're using. We may need to swap appliances or change our habits and turn off more lights." Alex saves power with timers.

"We use timers for lights and other things throughout the house. So even if we forget, they still turn off."

He's made some energy savings but is looking for more. "The power for the pool is supposed to run for six hours a day and we cut that to four. That's the bare minimum otherwise you start to get mould. We're not too sure what else to do."

Yvonne Mitchell

Yvonne Mitchell lives in Dover Heights with husband Brendon and three young sons, Lachlan (10), Cooper (eight) and Ashton (three).

She has two reasons for taking part in the Save Power Challenge: "I thought it would be good not only as a learning experience for the boys but also a good thing to do for the environment all round."

She says it will help them be more conscious of their behaviour: "It will give us a good indication of where we're using the power. It should be a great incentive to the family to remember to turn the lights off."

Yvonne says her boys are excited about the challenge and hopes it will encourage them to be more aware of their habits. She says: "We have to stay on top of the children a bit. They tend to have long showers if we let them, and leave their lights on constantly."

Chrystalla Soghomonian

Chrystalla (Chrissie) Soghomonian lives in Forrestville in Sydney's leafy north with husband, Shant, and she's just five weeks away from having her first child.

Chrissie wants to get involved in the Save Power Challenge so the family can reduce their environmental impact. Interestingly, her brother in-law is already an eco-superstar. He has a 15" touch screen in his lounge room to monitor energy consumption and has solar panels to generate his own energy. The goal for Chrissie is to follow in his footsteps.

Keen to make an improvement, Chrissie and Shant have made a few changes in the last few months, such as ceasing to use the clothes dryer and they have closed off unused areas of the house when using their heating and cooling.

Renae Dimovski

Renae Dimovski lives in Mount Warrigal with husband Peter and 21-month-old son, Lucas. She has signed up for the Save Power Challenge because she is keen for the household to become more environmentally friendly and because she wants to reduce their power bill.

She says: "We want to get a better idea of how much power we are using each day, so that we can possibly pinpoint the days when we use excessive power.

"We've had humongous bills in the past couple of months and want to see whereabouts we could cut down." She has already started making changes: "We have a reverse cycle air conditioner and we're using the ducted heating in all of the rooms.

"It was going into places that didn't really need it, so now we are just using the gas in the main areas."

Renae says having a family has affected her power usage: "I always put my son's clothes in the dryer because they attract bugs on the washing line outside. We leave a light on at night and we could probably use a nightlight instead of that."

She says she's looking forward to making some change: "I'm quite excited about being involved. Now that we've got a young person in the house, we want him to be able to learn to save energy as well."