Ways To Reduce Your Heating and Cooling Costs

Ways To Reduce Your Heating and Cooling Costs

With the Australian summer well and truly here, cooling your home is likely to become a pretty major expense. Canstar found in January 2021 that the average electricity bill in Australia ranged from $916 in WA to a staggering $2,224 in the NT.

Instead of having a heart attack and feeling broke every time you get an electricity bill, here are 6 ways to reduce your heating and cooling costs.

  1. Keep doors and windows closed when running your AC

If you have all of the doors to each room open when you are running your AC, the unit has to work hard to cover a lot of ground. If you’re hanging out in the living room, make sure the doors to your bedrooms, bathrooms, and any other spaces are closed. This will prevent needless energy consumption from heating and cooling your home. Let’s take a look at Is a split system air conditioner the right choice for your home?

  1. Use your blinds and curtains

Windows bring in a lot of heat and let out a lot of cold, so it’s important to be aware of how you can limit this. During the summer, lowering your blinds can help keep the blistering heat of the sun out of your home. You might even want to think about the type of blinds or curtains you have. Light coloured curtains with 2 to 4 pass backing, for example, can reduce heat by up to 33%.

During the colder months, good-quality curtains can also help reduce heat loss during chilly nights. Keep curtains open during the day though, especially those covering the windows that get sunlight during the day.

  1. Install a Solar System

The sun might overheat your home in the summer, but there is a great way for you to enhance that power and save some serious money in the process. Installing solar panels might be a larger upfront cost, but you will save huge chunks off your power bill.

You might even earn money from your power company if you opt into net metering. This is where you sell power that your solar panels produce, but that you don’t use, back to the grid to be used by other homes in your community. Chat with a local residential solar panel installation company to find out more about the benefits of installing a solar panel system.

  1. Keep your filters clean

Air conditioning and heating units filter air as it passes through the system. If you don’t regularly clean these filters, they can easily become clogged with dust and other particles which impede the function of your unit over time.

Cleaning your filters is an easy job and could save you running costs of as much as 15%. Remove the filters from your AC unit and take them outside to shake off any build-up. You’ll then want to wash them with water and leave them to dry completely before reinstalling them.

  1. Set your temperature to 24 degrees

The lower the temperature that you set your thermostat, the higher the cost. For each degree under 24 degrees, you will use 5% more energy. That extra 5% will add up to enormous additional costs throughout the year.

  1. Switch to LED lightbulbs

LED lightbulbs are an excellent alternative to traditional lightbulbs for a huge number of reasons. They not only last longer, and use less energy, but they produce less heat. This means that they will help you keep your utility bill down because your AC unit won’t have to deal with cooling the additional heat produced by lights, and won’t have to work as hard.

LED lightbulbs are a little more expensive than regular lightbulbs to buy, but the savings over time are immense. They also last up to 25 times longer, so the savings from these lightbulbs will last and last.

In Summary

These small tricks can help you save big time on your utility bills! If you consider the long-term costs of the action you’re taking, rather than focusing solely on the upfront costs. Making your home more energy-efficient will save you hundreds or maybe even thousands in the years and decades to come. We install split systems from Footscray, Altona North, Hoppers Crossing, Werribee to Geelong and Torquay. See our ceiling fan and split system installer service areas here.

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