This winter, heat with your air con, and 13 other hot tips

A community group asked me to summarise key steps that householders can take to reduce their energy bills, improve home health and comfort, and reduce environmental impact. Here is a list of 14 ideas complete with hyperlinks to past Fifth Estate articles and other information sources.

1. Heat your house with a reverse-cycle air conditioner for around one-third the cost of gas heating and one-quarter of the cost of using simple electric heaters. A reverse-cycle air conditioner can be cheap to operate in winter because it’s a heat pump using circulating refrigerant to collect free renewable heat from the thin air outside your home.
2. Heat your water also with a heat pump, again for much less than using gas or simple electric-resistive heating. If your home has solar photovoltaic (PV) panels on the roof, schedule your heat pump to come on mid-day for more savings.
3. Cook with an induction cooktop to reduce air pollution in your home. Reduce asthma and other health and safety risks. Using a portable induction cooktop can be a quick way to get started.
4. Disconnect your home from the gas grid. Say goodbye to the gas meter and avoid paying the one-dollar-per-day (and increasing) gas-grid connection fee…for the rest of your life.
5. Install an electricity monitor, in order to understand electricity use on a minute-by minute basis. Also, check for home energy investigation and info kits available for loan at councils or libraries.
6. Check at least annually that your home is on the best electricity or gas supply deal.
7. Insulate your home. Ensure that your ceiling insulation is thick enough, and that batts haven’t been displaced by tradespeople who have gone into your roofspace. Consider retrofit wall and underfloor insulation.
8. Draught-proof your home in order to minimise uncontrolled air leakage. Often, draught-proofing can be done do-it-yourself (DIY). But first ensure your gas-burning heaters and cookers aren’t going to poison you with deadly carbon monoxide now that you have draught-proofed your home.
9. Ventilate and manage moisture and other contaminants in your home’s air. This is especially important in tight modern and in draught-proofed homes. Run kitchen and bathroom extraction fans and open windows regularly to freshen the air and manage moisture. Avoid hanging laundry around the house to dry with the windows closed, or else consider using a dehumidifier.
10. Ensure you have good window treatments (e.g., drapes, blinds, awnings) inside for winter warmth, and outside for summer shading.
11. Install electricity-generating solar photo-voltaic (PV) panels on your unshaded roof. Your home can become a power station!
12. Upgrade key windows to double-glazed or secondary-glazed.
13. Access free advice and government-organised rebates / incentives.
14. Consider paying for independent professional advice to identity best “bang-for-buck” priority items in your home.

Is this list in priority order? Not necessarily. Every home is different. For many homes, draught-proofing can have the quickest impact and best bang-for-buck. As can sorting out the insulation in your roof space. Many people will prioritise solar panels above all else in order to not miss out on waning incentives and rebates.

In some homes, improving home air quality now, by managing ventilation, may be an urgent need during this damp winter.

However, I’m likely to always place the four de-gasification items at the top of my lists, because this is a concept that is new and novel for many households even though the favourable economics of electrifying have been clear for nearly a decade. Case in point, a young plumber told me the other day that “gas is cheapest”. Nevertheless, he’s not to be held at particular fault while the gas industry continues to offer inducements to householders and run advertisements found to be misleading.

And what about renters? There have been lists published elsewhere about what renters can do to reduce energy bills, etc. Understanding the economics of heating with the air con (should that be possible in a rental), the health benefits of using a portable induction cooktop, DIY draught-proofing (should that be allowed at a property), ventilation requirements, and DIY window treatments can apply equally to renters as well as to homeowners.

Of the 14 items above, how many are still a work-in-progress at your home?

Tim Forcey, My Efficient Electric Home

Tim Forcey is the Melbourne-based author of the new book My Efficient Electric Home Handbook available for pre-order now and in bookstores 18 June. He continues to see “huge interest in home electrification and de-gasification”. The Facebook group he founded, “My Efficient Electric Home (MEEH)” has now reached 115,000 members “with 100 new members often joining each day”. More by Tim Forcey, My Efficient Electric Home