I've got the power!

FREE Home energy saving kit in libraries nationwide

Anyone who grew up in the nineties will remember the fear and dread that gripped them if they suddenly remembered, mid-morning, that they had left the immersion on at home. Irish daddies certainly knew how to get agitated about immersions and house phone bills. There was nothing like the mention of either to set their eyes bulging, face flushing, voice raised and steam coming out of their ears. Now, if you could channel that as an energy source!

Fast forward a couple of decades to the smart home and little has changed in the face of rising energy bills and a cost of living crisis. People are more environmentally aware too in an effort to reduce their carbon footprint and protect the planet.

Householders will be delighted to learn that a new home energy saving kit has been made available at most libraries nationwide. Developed by Dublin's energy agency Codema, the kit is free to borrow for a period of two weeks and can help you identify the power guzzlers in your house, as well as giving tips on how to conserve energy.

The kit contains five tools, six practical exercises and worksheets designed to help you understand your energy consumption in the home and identify where savings can be made

The items in the toolkits address three key areas of energy use in the home - space heating, hot water and electricity consumption - and can help identify common problems such as lack of insulation, poor ventilation and the appliances in the home that might be driving up electricity bills.

My latest energy bill came in at €346.33 from Electric Ireland. Our four-bed detached home is about 2,200 sq ft in size, and with a family of six, you can imagine it has a wide range of appliances and devices – although we don’t have an electric hob but use gas.

Like most modern homes, there is the dishwasher, washing machine and tumble dryer. As a busy working mum, I won’t be sacrificing any of those any time soon. With four children, aged 17 years down to 10, there is everything from TVs and a Sky box, to broadband, an X box, a PS5, laptops, phones… you name it!

Perhaps the most interesting tool in the kit is the plug-in energy monitor. Plug any appliance or device into it, while you’re using it, and it records how long you have been using it for and the kilowatts used.

Electricity use is measured in units known as kilo watt hours (kWh) and there are 1,000 watts in a kilo watt (kW).

So one kilowatt hour (1 kWh) is the amount of energy you’d use if you kept a 1 kW appliance running for one hour. Your bill will also have the cost per unit on it – in my case 0.39 cent.

As you can expect, machines like the tumble dryer, are harder on electricity that others. My latest bill was for 58 days. I tend to put the dish washer on the same setting every night, I calculated it was costing me €24.36 for that alone in the billing period. Certainly worth it, in my opinion, not to have to wash the dishes?

In terms of the washing machine, I probably do three washes, on average, every two days. I estimated the cost of that in my bill was around €20.17, excluding the tumble dryer, though I tend to only use that if I have to and when clothes are nearly dry.

What really shocked me, however, was the kettle.

As soon as I turned it on, the kilowatts started to clock up on the display, almost in sync with the seconds on the time counter. The hair dryer was much the same. While neither or these devices would typically be used for a great length of time, it really just goes to show how important it is to only boil the volume of water your need and to limit your time on the hairdryer. In fact, any device that used instant heat, was a power guzzler.

It might also seem like a pain to be going around every night turning off all your sockets and switches but, when you consider how much power certain electrical items use, even in standby mode, and you multiple that out over the course of the year; it’s worth making it part of your bedtime routine.

If my calculations are right, the X-Box, simply in standby mode for 24 hours, with perhaps an hour of actual game time each day, would run up €42.34 of a bill in a two-month cycle.

It difficult to know how much power the lights use, though we have all LED bulbs at this stage.

Unfortunately, it’s not possible to test your shower or oven for energy consumption with the kit because, typically, they are wired into the mains and not a plug. The electric shower is, however, one of the biggest energy consumers in any home. Get those timers out and tell your children – they are only allowed in the shower for the length of a song (and not Bohemian Rhapsody).

The best and most reliable electric showers use about 0.175 kilowatt hours per minute – meaning a five-minute shower would cost you around 34 cent.

I have to say that the kit was very easy to use. At first when you open it, it’s daunting and you’re inclined to close the box again until you have more time to figure it out. But there really is little figuring out in it. The user guides for each device are foolproof – easy to follow.

Mostly I experimented with the plug-in energy monitor but the thermal leak detector is very easy used and, as you can expect, it shows up cold spots underneath doors and at window frames etc. It is useful for finding any problem areas that you might not be aware of.

It’s a good idea to bleed your radiators regularly, particularly at this time of year and the fridge/freezer thermometer is handy for establishing if your device is working properly and is at the optimum temperatures.

The temperature and humidity meter, again, can help identify any room that are at risk of damp or mould. You may need to reseal around your windows or even insulate certain walls. It’s also worth checking out the Sustainable Energy of Ireland (SEAI) website to see what retrofitting grants you night be entitled to and details of registered contractors in your area.

You really and truly need to keep the kit for a couple of weeks to get comprehensive readings from around your house and it’s a great idea to get all the family involved so they are more aware as to what are the biggest energy guzzlers or vampires in the home. Afterall, it will take a group effort to be more conscious and make a real and lasting change that will be beneficial for the environment and your pocket.

MORE INFORMATION

Contact your local library to arrange to borrow the kit. Don’t be afraid ot it – there is a step-by -step user manual and a demonstration video to explain how to use each tool correctly.

Check out bonkers.ie for some interesting stats and tips on what appliances use the most energy.