Australians biggest greenhouse polluters in Western World

[missie_mack]

It came up at work (I work in the electricity industry) that Australians are the biggest polluters of greenhouse gases per a capita in the western world mostly relating to electricity consumption with our total emissions being similar to countries such as the Uk or France despite having half the population! Apparently this comes down to using energy inefficently. I myself have noticed the average consumption of electricity in homes has almost doubled in the past 3 years.....

So tips on how to reduce your electricity consumption?

[Knocked_for_six]

Oh how shameful is that! :(

We have energy saving light bulbs in all lights & lamps throughout our home

We have insulated walls & ceiling to keep it cool in summer & warm in winter whcih inturn means less heating & cooling

We do have a ducted reverse cycle system however when it is on we ensure only the zone that we are in at the time is on and when it is on the windows are shut, it is set at 24 degrees and the doors to rooms that aren’t in are shut!

We take advantage of natural breezes, open windows and doors onto the verandas.

We are very fortunate to own a Queenslander, which for the most part was built for the Queensland climate; with verandas around most of our home it seems to keep it quite cool in summer. The bottom story of our home is half built into the ground (slight slope to the block) and this is where the kids playroom is, due to the natural cooling properties of the ground it keeps very cool in summer, hardly ever need to put the ducted on downstairs!

We also have solar hot water and solar heating for the pool

I believe most of our appliance (fridge, washing machine, dishwasher etc) have pretty good energy ratings.

I turn most electrical items of at the wall when not in use!

We also have a fireplace which we often you in winter instead of the ducted, but it also has it drawback environmentally.

I recognise there are still a lot of other things we could do, but we are slowly working on downsizing our carbon footprint. :flowerz:

[xkwzit]

It's not down to energy efficiency. Both the UK and France have nuclear power stations producing electricity. Nuclear produces a tiny fraction of the GHG of a coal fired power station (which is where most of our energy comes from). We even use brown coal for power generation. I'm not sure of the accuracy, but I did hear a rumour that if we shut down the two brown coal fired power stations in Vic, Australia's GHG emissions would go down by something like 25% OVERNIGHT. (disclaimer: long time ago, verbal conversation, I've still got nappy brain so it may not be accurate, but I'll try to verify)

I doubt that we are any more / less energy efficient than UK or France. It would be interesting to see consumption for industry and household electricity usage in developed countries though, to see if there is a real difference. Comparing GHG production rates per capita isn't an accurate measurement of energy efficiency.

Cheers

[Knocked_for_six]

It's not down to energy efficiency. Both the UK and France have nuclear power stations producing electricity. Nuclear produces a tiny fraction of the GHG of a coal fired power station (which is where most of our energy comes from).





That is a very good point, I didn’t even consider of that!! :o

[missie_mack]

It's not down to energy efficiency. Both the UK and France have nuclear power stations producing electricity. Nuclear produces a tiny fraction of the GHG of a coal fired power station (which is where most of our energy comes from). We even use brown coal for power generation. I'm not sure of the accuracy, but I did hear a rumour that if we shut down the two brown coal fired power stations in Vic, Australia's GHG emissions would go down by something like 25% OVERNIGHT. (disclaimer: long time ago, verbal conversation, I've still got nappy brain so it may not be accurate, but I'll try to verify)

I doubt that we are any more / less energy efficient than UK or France. It would be interesting to see consumption for industry and household electricity usage in developed countries though, to see if there is a real difference. Comparing GHG production rates per capita isn't an accurate measurement of energy efficiency.

I know in Ireland they have gas fired power stations which we also have in Australia (although a minority) and having worked in electricity industries in both Ireland and Australia (Australia currently) I believe IMO that Australians in general use more electricity than the Irish. I was lead to believe that the Irish power consumption is very similar to the English due to similar climates although obviously there are different population levels. Europeans in general tend to utilise gas better and have smaller homes needing less electricity (generally speaking of course because we all know there are exceptions to the rule) A very basic home without electric hot water really only needs to use about 8-9 units of electricity in the home however the majority of electricity consumers I see (which is NSW) tend to use more like 20 units minimum and thats without airconditioning or pools! The most astounding factor is how many people feel they absolutely neeeed to use their airconditioning/dryer/spa/heater etc etc (you get the picture)

The average UK power consumer with a 3 bedroom home uses about 11 units of electricity a day or 4200kW a year where as the average power consumer in NSW uses 7260kW a year which is just short of 20 units a day! Not to mention that the average home electricity use in NSW has increased by about 20% since 2000! (the trend would follow through to other states but I am not in the position to be able to quote consumption for other states)

[xkwzit]

Talking about kW makes more sense to me because it removes the nuclear complication in the GHG calculation. Aircon prob plays a part in recent increase in power usage for NSW homes, but that rate was still high in comparison to the UK data, even before that increase.

Interesting...:detective:

[missie_mack]

Pretty scary if you ask me. A big part of it is the whole extra fridge/drink fridge in the garage laundry... You can expect an extra fridge to add nearly $400 a year to an electricity account (of course the value varies depending on the rate you pay for your electricity but just a rough idea) and well thats if its a fridge in good running order which often isnt the case... too often it is the fridge that has been replaced for whatever reason