Published: The Daily Telegraph Date: 3 October 2010
Lambert and Jodie Davis with their two son Lachlan (12) and Connor (9) at their home in Dudley, NSW. The Davis family are participating in the Energy Savings campaign.
Source: DECCW
For Jodie Davis who lives in Dudley with husband Lambert and two sons, Lachlan (12) and Connor (nine), the biggest power users have been the kids and their long showers.
Since receiving an action plan from her energy assessor, Jodie has reviewed the family's energy usage.
"Before we started the Save Power Challenge, I didn't think we'd be on the higher end of the scale for electricity use because we don't have a lot of electrical appliances.
"The challenge for us is to see what difference it makes when you are taking shorter showers and being more conscious about everyday things."
Everyday things include electric hot water – one of the biggest contributors to Jodie's power bill.
She says having an energy monitor is a big incentive for her kids: "The boys have definitely been taking shorter showers since we got the monitor. They've put a timer in the shower, too, and they've been using that and getting out before the time is up."
Jodie says they've also been thinking about insulation: "Our bills double in winter because of heating and using the dryer more. We haven't used any heating since we started the Challenge, but we've put some insulation around our front door. We'll probably notice that more in winter but it is stopping the draught."
Alex Ross
For Alex Ross who lives in Dundas with his mother, Catherine, saving energy can be a lot simpler than you might think. Alex says they have cut their power usage by more than 50 per cent (down to around eight kW/h per day) without making noticeable sacrifices.
He says saving energy is simple: "We've reduced our power use by half in just one week by switching off lights around the house and cutting down on our use of the dryer and refrigeration."
He says their energy monitor helps them target savings. "The wireless energy monitor is really handy. It allows us to see what we're using when we're using it. Now we make sure we turn everything off when we're not using it."
Alex says even small appliances can be energy hungry: "We turn everything off before we leave the house now. One day, I was going out and the meter showed power was still being used. "We'd left the electric toothbrushes recharging and the towel warmer was still on. Each toothbrush was using 0.02 kW/h and the towel warmer was using 0.1 kW/h. So we were using about .14 kW/h just from those three things."
Alex is looking forward to seeing a difference in his energy costs. "Our bills are normally around the $420-$450 mark. I'm not too sure how much we'll save – it could be as much as $100 or more."