A sustainability solution to avoid the Carbon Tax

There has been alot of debate about the Carbon tax and what is will cost business and household alike, so I have heard alot of people ask “please give me a sustainability solution on how can I save on my electricity bill and avoid paying the carbon tax?”

Lighting is the easiest way to cut your electricity bill without any investment at all, and this is demonstrated in the following green blog.

There was a lot of interest in my last post about carbon tax, and in particular, how to avoid increases in your electricity bill. There are some easy, practical and realistic steps you can take without any sort of sustainability consulting to help avoid the carbon tax and cut your bills and reduce energy consumption.

You don’t have to do them all – initiating even a few changes can make a difference. The more you do, the more you can save.
Some actions don’t cost anything and you can start doing them today – like turning appliances off at the power point, not leaving laptops and mobile phones on charge unnecessarily, taking shorter showers, and using a solar clothes dryer (a clothes line or rack).

Others you can do when you need to upgrade appliances – like comparing the water and energy rating labels of different appliances before you buy, or when you are building or renovating.

Some require an investment, like installing solar power, but there is a range of government assistance that can help with these.

The easiest and most cost effective method where you could save up to 50 per cent of the energy used for lighting is by making smarter lighting choices and using more efficient technologies. Most sustainability consultants would focus on this area first has it has the greatest return on investment.

Switching to energy-efficient lighting is one of the easiest and most cost-effective things you can do to reduce energy use – you could halve your household lighting costs. Compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) only use around 20 per cent of the energy to produce the same amount of light as an incandescent light globe and last between 4 and 10 times longer.

1. Get a home sustainability assessment. This will help you identify the areas where you could install efficient lighting. Your assessment report should include an estimate of potential energy savings.
2. Switch to energy-efficient globes. There are many different models, styles and colours to suit your needs. Many new varieties are emerging as the technology develops.
3. Install clever switching controls that turn lights on and off as needed.
4. Try placing mirrors opposite your windows to reflect light around the room.
5. Consider re-decorating with light-reflective surfaces and pale carpets and furnishings. This will reduce the need for artificial lighting.
6. If you’re building or renovating, create cosy or dramatic effects with an energy-efficient lighting design. Start by talking to your builder and lighting retailer for options. A lighting designer experienced in energy-efficient systems will be able to help you design more effective lighting scheme.

Even if you have energy-efficient lighting, it makes sense to use lighting sensibly to further reduce energy use and electricity bills. There are a few simple steps you can take to use lights more efficiently:

1. Check that you are not using a higher wattage globe than is necessary to light a room.
2. Turn off unnecessary lights, especially when leaving a room.
3. Have multiple switches to control the number of lights that come on at one time. Place switches at the exits from rooms and use two-way switching to encourage lights to be turned off when leaving the room.
4. Consider installing movement sensors to turn lights on and off automatically in rooms that are used infrequently where lights may be left on by mistake.
5. Use timers, daylight controls and motion sensors for outdoor security lights or for common areas, such as hallways and stairwells in multi-unit housing.
6. Clean light fittings to allow more light to pass through.
7. Take advantage of natural light.
8. Consider using solar powered lighting for your garden.
9. Consider decorating with light coloured finishes and furnishings – this can allow lighting levels to be reduced.

Related articles

• The truth about a carbon Tax (sustainabilityinsights.com)