Lighting and standby power

The average household spends up to 9% of their annual energy bills on lighting. Our top tips to save on lighting are listed below.

• lighting technology has improved significantly and CFL and LED options are widely available and can save up to 80% on your lighting costs
• select the right light for the space
• turn off lights: 26% of people leave lights on all evening in unoccupied rooms
• make the most of natural light.

Standby power is electrical power used by appliances and equipment while switched off or not performing their primary function, often waiting to be activated by a remote control. Standby power and lifestyle appliances account for up to 10% of household energy use, or over $100 per year on energy bills.

• home office and entertainment appliances are the worst offenders, with 65% of people turning off the TV with the remote and 28% never switching off their computer
• turn off appliances like your TV, gaming console and computer at the wall rather than leaving them in standby mode and save up to $80 per year
• program the computer to have a blank screen when idle as screensavers will not reduce energy use of computer monitors – screen savers are not energy savers.