You might not realize it, but heating water is a large part of your household energy costs. In fact, in the average Australian household, it accounts for roughly 23% of your energy usage!
This means that using less hot water can translate to big savings on your energy bill. Check out these 5 simple ways that you can cut down on hot water usage in your home.
1. Take Showers Instead of Baths
Having an energy-efficient hot water system helps to cut down on the overall cost of heating water. However, you can save even more by using less water.
One simple way to do that is to take showers instead of baths. Depending on the size of your bathtub it could take up to 200 litres of water to take a bath. Compare that to 105 litres for a 10-minute shower with a standard showerhead.
2. Low-Flow Showerhead and Shorter Showers
Already taking showers? Great! You can improve even more by installing low-flow showerheads and taking shorter showers.
Though decidedly less than the bath, that 10-minute shower we just mentioned still uses a considerable amount of water. Compare that to using only 21 litres of water for a 5-minute shower with a low-flow showerhead.
3. Run the Dishwasher Only When Full
Dishwashers do a great job of using minimal water to wash dishes. In fact, an efficient modern dishwasher can wash considerably more dishes than you can by hand with the same amount of water.
However, the dishwasher uses that same amount of water whether it is full or not. Always fill it up to capacity to take full advantage of the water used.
4. Wash Clothes in Lukewarm or Cold Water
Only the clothing that goes next to your skin like underwear and socks require being washed in hot water to kill bacteria. For other types of clothing, it will get clean enough by using cold or lukewarm water. As a bonus, this will also extend the life of your clothing and reduce the risk of leaking dyes.
Even when you wash a load in hot water, always set the rinse to cold. There’s no reason to heat water up twice for the same load!
5. Fix Leaks
Did you know that a leak that drips at a rate of 1 drop per second can waste around 6,000 litres of water per year? That’s pretty astonishing when you think about it and totally unnecessary. Patch up all those leaks to effortlessly save money on both water and heating costs.
Ready to Save Money?
Duh, right? It’s a no-brainer that you want to save money on your energy bill! It’s also great news that simple tips like these that don’t even affect your routine that much can have such a big impact.
