Energy Efficiency in Housing

Climate change has been a major concern over the past 50 or so years and it has
come to some peoples attention that more consideration should be applied to
saving energy in everyday lives. Humans have impacted greatly on Earth in more
ways than one and this is raised concerns not only in Australia but all over the
world about how people can change the lifestyles to benefit the earth in a
cleaner, more efficient way. More effective, resourceful energy has been
discovered such as wind power and solar power but these are being discarded
because people think that coal, fossil fuels and gas are better and more efficient
even though they are clearly not. Even when people have a better option that
has advantages to both human society and the environment, they still make the
wrong decisions. The graph below, https://www.sa.gov.au/topics/water-energy-and-

environment/energy/saving-energy-at-home , shows how much energy is used and

what devices are using more energy than others.

Many people have come up with different ways of making their homes more
energy efficient. In the household that my family resides in, LED energy saving
lights were purchased to replace the incandescent light bulbs that were originally
there. This saves energy because the heat which is produced inside the light
from the filament, wastes a lot of energy and since heat is not a form of light,
there is a lot of energy and money going to wasted. LED lights (Light Stimulating
Diodes) on the other hand use a completely different method when creating
energy and light. The method which is used to create light from electricity
consists of clustering, up to 180 bulbs per cluster and encasing them in different
lenses meaning that the beams would become wider. Using LED lights rather
than incandescent lights can save up 80% of your power bill as it did for my
family. Fluorescent light bulbs are also used in my household and these light
bulbs transmit something called ultraviolet photons. The photons hit the inside of
the fluorescent tube and this gives off a very bright fluorescent light which
doesnt create heat or waste energy. This makes fluorescent light bulbs 4-6 times
more efficient than incandescent light bulbs and save us up to $350 dollars a
year.
When it comes to air conditioning a lot of money is wasted because the air
conditioner is kept on for long periods of time. Depending on the temperature of
the air which is being released and how long it runs for, costs can range from,
$20 per month to $100 per month. For example, a typical household would use
900 kilowatts of power for 6 hours with the air conditioner on continuously which
would cost $120.60 per month! The air conditioner that is located in the house
my family resides in has a timer which turns the air-conditioning/heating off
whenever the house gets either too hot or cold. This saves so much energy
because we dont have to keep turning it on and off whenever is gets hot or cold.
This benefits my family cost wise and energy efficiency wise.
When trying to keep households warm in winter and cool in summer insulation is
a major bonus to have. My household has an outer wall made of red-brick and an
inner wall made of linear and in between those two walls is insulation. Since my
house is quite small the hot air would spread very well around the house in
winter, but, the question is, why is insulation needed? Well, to keep your
household warm in winter and the hot air out of the house in summer an air
conditioner will always have to be running but, what insulation does, is it closes
all entrances or gaps meaning that hot air cant escape in winter and come in in
summer. This also means that the air conditioner will not have to be kept on for
hours on end and as explained in the last paragraph money and energy will not
be wasted. There are 2 main types of insulation. Bulk insulation and reflective
insulation. Bulk insulation is the more common type which is usually used to
insulate walls and ceilings. It is usually made of fiberglass, mineral wood or
rockwool, synthetic fiber and sheeps wool. There are many different types of
bulk insulation such as loose fill insulation and rigid insulation. Reflective
insulation normally consists of a layer of black foil backed up against a piece of
paper or plastic. They are very different and they equally do well in different
situations but my household uses bulk insulation.
When people are looking for the best energy efficient electrical appliances the
most significant things to look for are the energy rating labels that a very
distinctive and very useful. A lot of electrical appliances have this sticker which is
red and yellow and have 6 white stars on them. The washing machine that is in
my house has one of this handy stickers on them. The energy efficiency of the
device is shown by how many stars are shaded which means the greater the
energy efficiency the more number of stars are shaded. This is also very helpful
because it is very easy to compare different devices at once and see which ones
are more energy efficient and which ones arent and it can provide the purchaser
with an estimate about how much energy would be needed to operate the
device. This is usually shown as how many kilowatts per hour would be needed
to operate it for a year. This implicates that the higher that number is the more
energy it will need and the more money it will need to run. All this can be
estimated and worked out just by looking out for the very distinct label which is
on most electrical appliances.
Solar panels are one of the most popular energy efficient techniques that people
have installed. This is because it is a very effective way to save a lot of energy
and money. Solar panels were installed on top of our roof a few years ago and
they have saved us approximately $960 every year after, but, to have the
paramount results there are a few factors that come into play, which are,
average energy consumption, usage patterns, the size of the solar panel system
and where your house is situated. The reason that solar panels save us money
and energy is because solar energy is a renewable energy source. A solar PV
system (photovoltaic system) uses light to create electricity which is then used
to power our homes. This reduces power bills and is environmentally friendly. The
process which takes place to give us electricity starts with the suns rays of light
(photons) being absorbed by the solar panels. Then the conductors convert the
light into DC (direct current) electricity which is then transferred into the inverter
which changes DC to AC (alternate current). It is then used to power our homes
and devices. Most people would now ask, how is this renewable? Well, any
excess energy is stored and drawn to the grid. The grid is used when the house
needs more electricity and the solar panels cant provide it.
When buying our new television the company Embertec provided us with
something called a Smart Switch. The aim of the Smart Switch is to save people
money and energy. The Smart Switch was invented as a power controller so it
will automatically turn of any electrical appliances it is connected to after a
certain amount of time. My family has it connected to the television and it was
programmed to automatically turn off after one hour. The main reason this
device was invented was because it was proved that a lot of people fall asleep in
front of their televisions and computers causing it to lose a lot of energy, so
Embertec invented this to compensate for all the energy and electricity that was
being wasted.
Clothes dryers account for 12% of electricity use in a regular household. Imagine
all the energy that can be stored and reused just from the alone. Many people
around Australia either have a dryer in their possession or they are thinking of
buying one. I have a clothes line that is in my backyard and that is all people
need. They are spending so much money purchasing a dryer and even more
money paying the electricity bills for using it. There is a reason we have a sun so
people need to learn that there are natural resources that work just as well. Just
a few hours in the sun can dry all your wet laundry and it doesnt cost anything.
Using natural sun drying can save so much money and energy. The Saving
Energy website report http://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/dryers.html states that a
whopping $196 dollars can be saved just by air-drying your own clothes.
Overall, there are many different ways for saving energy and becoming more
energy efficient, some of which include using LED lights instead of incandescent
lights, looking out for the energy saving labels and using the natural resources
that are provided to you. Energy can be transformed and transported through
many different methods and people should learn to be greener and more
energy efficient jus by changing a few things in their own households.
Bibliography:

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