Sustainability In Your Home
What Can You Do At Home?
Lighting
New ultra-low efficient LED lights are now available to purchase for your home from supermarkets and hardware stores. These can plug directly into existing light sockets and can save over 50% of electricity consumption compared to current energy efficient Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFLs). These lights could save you up to $150 each year if you replaced all the CFLs in your house with LEDs.
Don't overheat or overcool your home
Cooling your home to 23 degrees in summer and heating it to 19 degrees in winter will save you considerable amounts of money and electricity. Every degree above 19 degrees in winter and every degree below 23 degrees in summer can add up to 10% to the running cost of your heater/air conditioner.
Energy efficient appliances
The Energy Rating System for electrical appliances provides an easy to understand guide to purchasing energy efficient appliances for your home. Each appliance has a ‘star rating’ ranging from one to six stars, with the most energy efficient options achieving a six star rating. By following this guide, you can save a significant amount of electricity as well money over the life of your new appliance.
Install solar PV
Solar photovoltaic systems can heavily reduce your consumption of electricity from the grid, saving a significant amount of carbon emissions as well as substantially reducing your power bill. A 1.5kW system can reduce your consumption of grid electricity by up to 40%.
Install insulation in your home
If your home does not have insulation, this will be costing you significantly. Installing insulation can save up to 45-55% on your heating and cooling costs. Uninsulated ceilings, walls and floors can account for 70% of total heat loss from a home.
Turn appliances off at the wall
When appliances such as computers, TVs, printers and stereo systems are turned off with the ‘On/Off’ switch provided, they merely enter ‘Standby Mode’. This means they are still consuming electricity and costing you money on your power bill. To eliminate this unnecessary consumption and reduce the size of your power bill, turn these appliances off at the wall instead. This could save you up to 10% of your electricity costs.
Mulch your garden
Mulching your garden will not only mean your garden requires less water, but it will help prevent weeds, provide additional nutrients to the soil and encourage worms which help to aerate fertilise the soil.
Plant native species
Planting native plant species will ensure that your garden requires less water to thrive. It will also help support local native wildlife by providing them with suitable food and habitats.
Recycle Responsibly
Batteries
Batteries can only be disposed of at specific locations as they cannot be put in your general waste or recycling bin. They can be dropped off at the following locations around the City:
| π Batteries N More |
6 Coventry Street, Kalgoorlie |
| π CD. Dodd |
1 Coath Road, Kalgoorlie |
| π Bunnings Warehouse |
139 Boulder Road, Kalgoorlie |
| π Woolworths |
340 Hannan Street, Kalgoorlie |
| π IGA O’Connor |
Corner of O'Connor Street and Maguire Street, Somerville |
| π Return-It Kalgoorlie |
5 Brooks Way, West Kalgoorlie |
| π Coles Kalgoorlie |
169-173 Egan Street, Kalgoorlie |
| π Yarri Road Landfill Weighbridge |
33 Yarri Road |
For more information on being sustainable in Kalgoorlie-Boulder please download our brochure