30 ways to make your home more energy efficient

In the kitchen

Use pot lids

Damp air is harder to heat, so you want to cover your pots when you cook to stop the steam escaping.

Get a slow cooker

Even though slow cookers run for 8 hours, they use only about 20 cents worth of power, and you might be able fit enough in them to get dinner for the next night too. By comparison, a roast in the oven will cost about $1 to cook.

Use your dishwasher’s eco mode

Wait until your dishwasher is fully loaded before you run it and choose the eco or auto-sensing cycle so it doesn’t use more power or water than it needs.

In the bathroom

Showers, not baths

A bath will cost you twice as much in power as a shower. Add a fun challenge to shower time by setting your phone timer for 5 minutes and getting out before the timer goes off. If you can get everyone in your household to reduce their shower time from 15 minutes to 5, you’ll save $260 per person a year. 

Test your shower’s water flow

Check if your showerhead is wasting hot water by seeing how long it takes for a running shower to fill a 10L bucket. If the bucket fills up in less than 1 minute, there’s savings to be made. You can buy efficient showerheads, but they tend to be an expensive solution to the problem. Give water-flow restrictors a search on the internet – they’re cheap little discs that you can insert yourself easily and do the same job. 

Get a shower dome

A shower dome over the top of a shower will turn steam into condensation and send it down the drain instead of letting it out into the air.

Turn off the heated towel rail

Leaving the heated towel rail on costs about 48 cents a day – so about $14 a month and $172 a year.

In the laundry

Clean your dryer filters

Improve your dryer’s efficiency by pulling out the lint filter and giving it a good vacuum every now and then rather than just tossing out the clump of lint. This will speed up the drying time.

Give your washing extra spin time

If you know you’re going to be hanging your washing inside, spin the load on the fastest speed or give it an extra spin at the end of its wash. Every drop that’s spun out means less water evaporating into your living space.

Do laundry in cold water

A warm wash in a front loader costs three times as much in power as a cold wash; in a top loader, it’s about six times the price. The difference in cleaning performance when washing with cold versus warm water is marginal. Save the high temperature for when you’ve got really dirty clothes.

Staying warm and dry

Get rid of draughts

Light a candle and take it around your window edges, doors and vents – but make sure your curtains are out of the way. When the flame goes sideways or out, you’ve found a draught. Tighten screws on door hinges and window latches to help close the gap. There is also special window sealing tape available at most hardware stores. This can help block gaps and cracks.

Set your heat pump timer

Instead of turning up the temperature on your heat pump when you want to warm up quickly, set it to come on at about 20 degrees before you wake up or come home.

Clean your heat pump filter

If you haven’t cleaned your heat pump’s filter in a while (or ever), you’ll immediately notice the difference once you do. You just need to open the front of the heat pump, slide out the filters and give them a gentle vacuum. Check out our guide on how to maintain and clean your heat pump.

Choose electric heaters with thermostats

Electric heaters are expensive to run but might be your only option. Make sure you get one with a thermostat to maintain an even temperature rather than continuing to make the room hotter and hotter.

Get a timer for your heater

Electric heaters that don’t have timers can be controlled with plug-in timers. Timers cost from as little as $10 and are available at most hardware stores. Like with a heat pump timer, programming your heater to come on earlier will reduce the temptation to turn up the heat.

Get long curtains

Our curtain tests revealed that floor-length, heavily-lined curtains do the best job of keeping the heat in – they’re better than ones advertised as thermal.

Our window blind tests showed that honeycomb blinds do the best job of keeping the heat in. Roman blinds are the next best, followed by roller blinds then, lastly, Venetians.

Put rolled up towels above curtain rails

It’s not going to do much for the aesthetics of your home, but we found putting rolled up towels along the gap between the curtain rail and the wall increased the curtains’ effectiveness by creating a seal at the top.

Fans are for winter too

Fan-less heaters (like oil-column models) often distribute heat unevenly. To avoid cold feet and a hot head, place a small fan on the ground beside the heater. We found it helped an oil-column heater warm a room three times as fast.

Fake double glazing

Installing double glazing will make a big difference to your house but unfortunately also to your bank account. If you want the effect without the big bill, you can buy DIY window insulator kits. All you need to do is cut the film to size and use a hair dryer to shrink it onto the window. If you’re not worried about how it looks, there’s an even cheaper way. Use an adhesive putty or double-sided tape to stick bubble wrap to the window to help stop heat escaping in winter.

Check your cat flaps

Cat flaps are a major source of draughts. To improve the seal around the frame, unscrew the whole assembly, clean the area where it’s in contact with the door or wall, then screw it back in tightly. Then add a thin line of silicone sealant around the frame. If draughts persist, stick some light rubber insulation tape on both sides of the flap.

Get a rug

A rug is a great way to add another layer of insulation, especially if you’ve got wooden or concrete floors.

Use an electric blanket

You don’t need to worry how much power an electric blanket is using – over a whole winter, it’ll only cost you about $10 in power. Check your electric blanket for damage before the start of winter, especially the power cord near the controller. And if you need a new one, check out our test results.

Check on your insulation

When was the last time you checked the state of the insulation in your home? Over time, it compresses and starts to lose its effectiveness. Take a look to see how yours is faring. If it’s old and damaged, you can top it up or replace it.

Consider a dehumidifier

A dehumidifier will dry out small spaces and acts as a heater too. If you already have one, clean out its filter regularly to help it work efficiently. We test dehumidifiers, so you can see which ones do the best job.

Other tips

Switch to LED light bulbs

If you still have old incandescent, halogen or CFL bulbs, look into switching to LEDs. They use far less energy and last much longer For more info on switching to LED, check out our guide.

Insulate your hot water cylinder

Hot water cylinders made before 2002 aren’t well insulated. Wrapping the cylinder in an insulative wrap will keep in the heat you can feel when you touch it. That means the cylinder doesn’t have to work so hard to get the water up to temperature. You can usually find water cylinder wraps at hardware stores.  

Ventilate

Open your windows every day to get free ventilation. If you have a ventilation system, think about when you last changed the filters – it might be time to swap them out.

Choose energy efficient appliances

Energy Rating Labels are included on most major appliances. Check for them before you buy any appliance – the energy rating stars can help you spot which appliances will cost you more in power. More stars mean a more efficient appliance.

Turn off appliances at the wall

Some electrical items can use a surprising amount of power when they’re left in standby mode. Printers are one of those because they’re always primed to print at a moment’s notice. We’ve calculated they can add $10 a month to your power bill. You can find out more about how much your electrical products cost to use in our article How much power do your appliances use?

Use power outside peak times

Some power plans give you cheaper or free off-peak power to encourage you to shift your power use away from the peak times. You could save by moving your major power use to these times. It will also help the country to not have to fire up the gas and coal-powered stations. You can check if you could be paying less for power at our power comparison website Powerswitch.