For the average Australia household, electricity represens almost 20% of total household greenhouse gas emissions. For households with air conditioning, multiple refrigerators and TVs ths figure may be significantly higher.
Yet television shows like Carbon Cops and Eco Change show that reductions of electricity usage of in excess of %50 are possible for most households without making significant sacrifices.
In order to know where to start in reducing your electricity consumption, it is first important to undertake an electricity audit to determine where you are using the most electricity.
A few years ago you would have had to organise an electrician to do this work for you. Last year, Toni and I bought a meter that we could use to test the consumption of our appliances ourselves. This cost about $300.
I was delighted to find a similar power meter available over the internet for just $40.00.
The unit is know as the "Monitor My Power Meter" and is available from latestbuy.com.au
You just plug the unit into the outlet, and plug your appliance into the meter to get real time power monitoring.
Enter your local electricity rates and the unit will tell you exactly how much the appliance is costing you to run! It also tracks the electricity used to show you exactly how much power you're using now and the peak levels that have been drawn. And it features backup batteries so you won't lose your information in a blackout or when you move it to a new socket.
If you know of a cheaper option available in the market place, then please let me know.