It doesn’t matter if you’re building a new home in the Whitsundays or renovating, you should maximise the opportunity buy installing energy efficient appliances throughout your home. It’s true that there will be a larger upfront cost for energy efficient appliances; however you will likely make your money back over the life time of the appliance.
Below is an example from SaveEnergySaveMoney.com.au the annual running cost of two common appliances is compared:
Firstly let’s look at clothes dryers, there are 3 main types:
- Heat Pump Dryers – a type of condenser dryer which are considered the most energy efficient of the three. They work in a similar way to the condenser dryer.
- Condenser Dryers –these extract the moisture from the wet clothes and drain it off which prevents the need for ventilation as with the vented clothes dryers.
- Vented clothes dryers – are the most common dryer and are usually the cheapest to buy. They work by blowing hot air over the clothes, creating moisture which makes these suitable for use in rooms with a window or extraction fan. If you decide to go with this option and are using an extraction fan the energy used to power the extraction fan needs to be taken into consideration when calculating the annual running cost.
Below you can see that the most energy efficient appliance is the heat pump dryer, there is a larger upfront cost to purchase the dryer however you will save on your energy bills for years to come. In the below example you can save up to 65% on your drying energy bills by purchasing the more energy efficient model.
Annual running cost is based on 52 drying cycles
Looking at the number of energy stars an appliance has will give you an indication of how efficient an appliance is, look at the below example from the Save Energy Save Money website:
The first appliance has 3 stars and is the most energy efficient and the third appliance has 2 stars which makes it the least energy efficient in this example.
The most energy efficient dishwasher is going to cost you and extra $95 to purchase upfront than the least energy efficient. However it will cost you $29 less per year to run, which means it would only take you just over 3 years to make this money back in running costs.
If the average appliance lasts around 8 years you will actually save yourself $138 over the life of the appliance.
Based on 365 wash cycles per year
Perhaps a simpler way to look at it would be to work out the lifetime cost of the appliance, which is simply the cost of the appliance + (annual running cost x 8).
In the 1st example the lifetime cost would be $1093.12
In the 2nd example the lifetime cost would be $1138.99
In the 3rd example the lifetime cost would be $1237.12
Imagine doing this with all your appliances think how much you could save on your energy bills.
Julie Moore director of Save Energy Save Money