Two years ago, my partner and I bought our first family home in Sydney. Having spent my entire career working to reduce carbon emissions I was very keen to turn it into an energy-efficient, fully electric home.
Our new home had some things going for it, such as efficient lighting with LEDs throughout and a modern reverse-cycle air conditioning unit for efficient winter heating.
Other updates needed to be done incrementally as life with a young family does not leave a lot of spare time in the day. Cost was a factor too — I wanted changes that would have the biggest bang for the buck.
Each update has required effort but, by doing them one by one, it hasn't felt daunting. It's been a very rewarding process that has significantly reduced our monthly energy expenditure.
Under $200
The easiest of all the changes was purchasing a water-efficient showerhead. For around $100, we reduced the hot water usage in our household by close to 50 per cent. The savings quickly covered the cost of the showerhead.
Another easy win was a heated throw blanket. Why heat a room when you can heat yourself? You can find an electric throw blanket from most department stores or online for around $50. It can use one-tenth of the power consumption of a typical electric radiator.
These two changes are ones I had previously implemented as a renter.
When we bought our home, I was surprised to find that the bathroom exhaust fans had no draught stoppers. When the fan is off, draughts could pass back from the outside straight into the house — not ideal in winter. A low-cost draught stopper placed over the fan is a cheap solution. Replacing it with a fan with an integrated draught stopper is another — the ones we installed ourselves cost around $80 each.
Under $1,000
In summer, we avoid large electricity bills by making use of natural ventilation and pedestal, desktop and ceiling fans — effective at keeping us cool on all but the hottest days and use significantly less energy than air conditioning.
One item that we lacked at our new family home was a barbecue. There are now many electric barbecue options on the market, across different price points. Going electric removed the need to worry about whether a gas canister would run out mid-barbecue or worrying about leaking gas.
Under $5,000
Like many Australian homes, ours had poor ceiling insulation. In summer, the ceilings were hot to the touch and in winter they were chilly. The existing insulation had been lifted, moved around and re-laid several times, resulting in a fairly patchy and thin covering.
I arranged for a specialist company to remove the old insulation, vacuum all the dust and lay new ceiling insulation — all for around $4,000. The indoor temperature is now much more constant and easier to keep warm or cool.
My favourite change of all is our new hot water system. We installed heat pump hot water, which extracts heat from the outside air and pumps that heat into a water tank. It is incredibly efficient to run. The one we chose cost around $4,000 including installation and removal of the old system.
There are many options on the market, ranging in prices, with different incentives available according to where you live. For this and other changes, I found the Facebook Group 'My Efficient Electric Home' invaluable with tools and members sharing their experiences.
The only remaining gas appliance in the house was the stove. We replaced this with an induction cooktop at a cost of $3,000 including removal, a new 32-Amp circuit to the kitchen and installation. As a keen cook, it has been a joy to cook on. And by not burning gas inside the house, this change has also improved indoor air quality.
With this final gas appliance removed, we requested our gas company to disconnect our gas meter at a cost of around $100. This has meant that we no longer receive a daily gas connection charge.
Under $10,000
The most obvious change was one more Australians have done per capita than any other country — adding solar panels on the roof.
We have shifted much of our energy demand to occur during daylight hours — such as having our hot water system on a timer and setting our washing machine to come on during the middle of the day. In the future, we will likely have a battery, either in the form of a home battery or an EV with vehicle-to-home (V2H).
This article contains general information only. You should consider obtaining independent professional advice in relation to your particular circumstances.
Will Rayward-Smith is a partner in Climate and Sustainability at Deloitte. He has a PhD in Applied Mathematics and has previously worked for the UK Government's Department of Energy and Climate Change.
ABC Everyday in your inbox
Get our newsletter for the best of ABC Everyday each week