5 March 2009

Get down to the library now for your home energy use kits

| johnboy
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Simon Corbell is proudly launching the Home Energy Action Kit which you’ll be able to loan from public libraries if you’re one of the happy few to still live near one.

    “The Home Energy Action Kit is an effective and practical set of tools to help householders become energy smart and it is available for free loan from our public libraries.”

    The kit contains:

    — A power meter to measure energy consumption and running costs of appliances;
    — An infrared thermometer to measure fridge, freezer and hot water temperatures;
    — A compass to identify the orientation of the home and passive solar heating opportunities;
    — A stopwatch to measure shower and tap flow rates;
    — Instructions on using the equipment and worksheets to calculate your home energy efficiency; and
    — A Home Energy Action Plan to record actions you will take to save energy and reduce bills.

(Comic by Panama)

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I think it’s fair enough to start off with two and see if there’s a demand in the community. It works well enough for books. If there’s a huge waiting list they can always request more.

I think it sounds like an interesting exercise – not sure if it’s compelling enough to propel me through the doors of my local library, though.

2 at each library. You won’t know unless you ask, anyway.

If there’s 2 kits at the library, I suspect the list to borrow it will be very flapping long. Useless for determining one’s energy consumption in the near future.

i might contact my local council, you never know, they might have such a thing (doubt it though).

That might be the only useful thing in the kit for some people caf. I never leave my tv on standby. The only things on in my house during the day are a clock and the fridge.

I’ve been there and done that with the heating/warm clothing scenario, now I can afford to have the heater on a bit longer (and live in a house with central heating meaning I have control over what rooms are or aren’t heated at any given time). While that may be selfish I have spent enough Canberra winters cold and sick in my time to not really care.

The point I’m trying to make I guess is that if there are only two of these kits in the Civic library as an example it’s a token effort and a waste of time and money.

Obviously it would be more of a waste of money if everyone got a kit but really the money would have been better spent on a campaign to break some of these habits that have been ingrained over the years.

An even better solution would be to perhaps focus more on the consumtion used by industry as opposed to domestic.

For me it just seems they want to be seen as doing something when in reality they’re not doing that much at all.

You can actually book a HEAT (home energy audit test) test on your house and an expert comes out with all this gear to suggest ways to use less power in your home. This is an ACT govt thing too.

The thermometer was actually interesting – the same room can have hot and cold spots several degrees different, indicating draughts from the floor or ceiling, or too much exposed glass (windows) in a corner, or heat reflecting from the concrete verandah outside half the room.

Umm.. the library? That’s kind of the whole point of this thread, ant.

Angry Henry: If you can see how much per hour a device like, say, a heater is using, you might choose to use it less and wear more warm clothing. Or something like a TV on standby, which most people leave on 24/7, but have little idea how much that’s costing them.

caf said :

ant: The power meter thing is actually a real piece of gear that you plug in between the appliance and the socket (there’s a picture of the kit contents in the latest government propaganda newsletter). It looks like the most useful bit of the kit by far, to me. Even if you can’t afford to replace appliances that use a lot, you can at least find out which ones it’s worth trying to use less.

OK now THIS is useful. I wonder if it’s possible to borrow/rent one? Anyone know if there’s anywhere (Canberra or NSW) where you can get one of these for a week or something?

Because I am suspicious of my fridge and stove. Mind you, I like the fridge. It’s huge and I can get all kinds of things into it. but after getting it, my power bills went up. Mind you, Country Energy put their prices up around then, but still. I’m suspicious.

caf said :

Common sense – the collection of prejudices acquired by the age of eighteen.

Not really, common sense in that if you aren’t using an appliance and it’s not your fridge, turn it off, if you can afford to but new appliances have a check out the energy rating. Have short showers. Maximise the use of natural lighting where possible.

We already know this stuff. You can dress it up and put it in a kit if you like but it’s a waste of time and money..

Common sense – the collection of prejudices acquired by the age of eighteen.

Damn italics!

The big AngryHenry idea is common sense.

Next you’ll be telling me Earth Hour actually has an impact.

caf said :

So what’s the big Angry Henry idea then? Business As Usual?
quote]

Common sense caf, common sense.

caf said :

ant: The power meter thing is actually a real piece of gear that you plug in between the appliance and the socket (there’s a picture of the kit contents in the latest government propaganda newsletter). It looks like the most useful bit of the kit by far, to me. Even if you can’t afford to replace appliances that use a lot, you can at least find out which ones it’s worth trying to use less.

I have to say I do find testing different appliances intriguing.

So what’s the big Angry Henry idea then? Business As Usual?

ant: The power meter thing is actually a real piece of gear that you plug in between the appliance and the socket (there’s a picture of the kit contents in the latest government propaganda newsletter). It looks like the most useful bit of the kit by far, to me. Even if you can’t afford to replace appliances that use a lot, you can at least find out which ones it’s worth trying to use less.

What a retarded idea.

How long do you think it will take before all the pieces go missing? Or worse still, based on a previous article, someone wipes snot all over it?

So i use the power meter and my appliances aren’t that energy efficient, but given the current economic situation it’s not like I can afford to buy new ones.

I use the thermometer to test the temp of the fridge and hot water. Or I could just open the door and see if it’s cold, or god forbid turn on the tap to see if the water is hot.

If you need a compass to work out the orientation of your home you should perhaps be living under a rock. And even if you worked out the passive solar heating options could you afford to do anything about it given that most of your wage is being funnelled into paying off your mortgage.

And a stopwatch. So you can entertain yourself by racing your shower against the rest of your taps. How much water do you waste testing flow rates?

Civic Library only has two of these kits. What a brilliant intiative.

Stop being wankers and do your jobs properly.

Furry Jesus said :

Will it tell me why I don’t have the energy to mow my back lawn?

I’ll hook you up to the power meter while you mow the thing, whilst simultaneously timing you with the stop watch! This should reveal something.

Skidbladnir said :

The cartoons are crap.
Also, MacGyver is spelled wrong.

I think they’re good, I always get a chuckle out of them.

Will it tell me why I don’t have the energy to mow my back lawn?

ant said :

Those cartoons are good (the Panama ones).

The cartoons are crap.
Also, MacGyver is spelled wrong.

I’d sure like to know how to caclerlate the energy useage of my various applicances. I am very suspicious of the fridge, for instance. It runs a lot. i’m also eyeing the stove, one of the lights flickers although the hotplate isn’t warm. What’s it up to? and it seems you aren’t allowed to buy a microwave now that doesn’t have little lit-up numbers on it.

However, I bet the energy use thing is just a general ready-reckoner, like they use on those shows where they do an energy audit.

Those cartoons are good (the Panama ones).

Woody Mann-Caruso8:18 am 06 Mar 09

How long is the queue now?

Why don’t you find out before you start whining? Judging from all in here who are apparently so flush with cash they couldn’t care less about reducing their power bill, the answer should be ‘there isn’t one’.

I’ve been biting my tongue for a few hours, hoping that I wouldn’t be the first pedant on this thread. My tongue is now bleeding.

I believe we borrow from the library.

Pity the kit doesn’t include a free plastic Stanhope doll (like those Warnie and Boonie dolls VB were handing out) that gets all moral and indignant when you use to much power and tells you over and over to turn things off.

old canberran5:59 pm 05 Mar 09

I wonder how many will electrocute themselves measuring the power consumption of appliances. Should be interesting.

Good scoop!
It appeared to be a good initiative until I read the press release and discovered that Civic Library has just two kits. How long is the queue now?
Will more kits be purchased if the demand warrants it?
Am I able to reserve one from the, to be, re-opened inner south library or has M16 Art Gallery taken over the old Griffith Library site?

barking toad5:13 pm 05 Mar 09

Sooooo, you can drop into the local library, curtail your Walpoleing activities before visiting the cheese shop and borrow a compass to find which way’s North, then a stopwatch to time how long you sit in the bath, a thermometer to tell you whether the beer’s cold (don’t they have hands?) along with other useless paraphernalia. When you’ve had your fun with the little package, presumably you return it to the library (do you get late fines, like library books?).

No doubt this little package will be accompanied by reams of glossy brochures (ala the ACTEWAgl WaterSaver Kit which tells you how to save water by making sure taps are properly turned off)sourced from the best of imported paper made from our woodchips.

Do the idiots that come up with these stupid ideas have any supervision? Stanhopeless and his local council have a lot more to answer for than just the criminal grassby statue.

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