climate smart

Posted on | October 2, 2009 | No Comments

yesterday, we had the long-anticipated climate smart appointment.
i swear the flyer was dropped in our letterbox six months ago…..and as soon as i walked down the drive and into the house, i had read enough to pick up the phone and book us in.
because we live a bit remotely, it was only now that we were able to be seen.

our electricity bills are always somewhat of a shock.
we have energy efficient appliances….front loader washing machine, efficient and newish refrigerator with good seals.
we turn stuff off.
we live in a very small 90-something square metre place with a woodstove and no airconditioning.
we have a toaster….a gas stove with kettle on it.
we don’t use our dryer all the time.
we have a water-efficient shower head….which we need even though we have solar hot water, because we pump water out of our tanks with electricity.
we have solar hot water on our house and on our workshop.
we run laptops and we turn stuff off.
our toilet is a dual flush.
our garden is watered via a petrol-pump down at the creek.
and yet, every quarter, i have a nervous breakdown over the bill…not the actual money, but the incomprehension about where is it leaking to?

the climate smart guy hooks up a meter to your power board.
it transmits info to a monitor….incredibly detailed info.
it shows the watts actually ticking over in real time (with a few seconds delay).
you set the time, the date, the amount you pay per kilowatt and the rest is like magic.
it shows you how many cents you are using per hour right now.
you switch things off and on and it shows you how much they are costing in real time.
our base rate during the day is negligible…..BUT the two big energy sucks around here are
1. the hot water booster (if it is cloudy for days on end….and it does rain a lot here…..that electric booster is a HUGE expense….it sends our base rate up ten fold).
our new strategy is to only use it when desperate. and to turn down the thermostat to 60 C. (our solar hot water is roaring out at a brisk and boiling 77 C). and to turn it on for two hours ONLY.

2. the dehumidifiers in the workshop. they bump our base rate up from six cents an hour to fifty cents an hour. that’s how you get four hundred dollar bills in no time at all.
well this is a tough one.
it’s humid up here in the wet tropics.
the soap needs to be kept dry.
you wouldn’t chastise a restaurant for running a refrigerator….and our dehumidifiers are just as essential.
so, we’ve worked out some strategies there too….including putting them on a timer and monitoring them a little more rigourously, rather than letting them dehumidify endlessly.

our other soapmaking equipment and household stuff made negligible differences to the readings. we really have minimised our energy usage as much as can for our personal stuff.
it was great to get the info on the water boosters and the dehumidifers though…..we’ve been suspecting them but couldn’t prove it until now.

the climate smart monitor thingie has temperature and humidity readings on it also…..talk about handy!
it also gathers data and you can compare your past usage, once you’ve accumulated some info for it.

so, the man was with us for about an hour, while we hammered him with questions.
he gave us nine energy efficient light bulbs and a big magnetic thermometer to stick on the fridge.
he was offering a water-efficient shower head for free, but we already have one.
the sensor and monitor thing in all it’s computerised glory is worth a couple of hundred dollars.
this whole thing cost $50 and is a queensland government initiative.
i HIGHLY recommend it.

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