ENERGY EFFICIENCY

MY GREEN HOME SUMMARY GUIDE

MY GREEN CASE STUDY AND GUIDE LONG VERSION

MY GREEN HOME RETROFIT SUMMARY

 Understanding your electricity use

• A clear explanation of ‘what is a kilowatt hour?‘ by Eskom, explaining the energy use of appliances
• Understand your utility costs with our handy guide.
• Evaluate your household energy consumption by conducting an eco-audit at home.
• 49M’s Know-your-Number calculator for consumption per square meter (kWh/m²)
• What is your home’s kilowatt usage per year? Find out how to calculate your home’s annual number in kWh/m².
• Eskom’s Eco Audit calculator, takes an inventory of your appliance usage and creates a pie-chart breakdown of your home electricity use and suggestions for areas in which you can save. You have to sign up for a free account first.
• Eskom’s appliance calculator helps estimate the electricity used by any home appliance.
• Understanding Electric Heating

Solar water heaters

• Step-by-step guide to solar hot water 
• City of Cape Town’s Accredited Solar Water Heating Programme
• Eskom’s Guideline to Choosing a Solar System
• eThekwini municipality’s Shisa Solar programme explains how solar water heaters work and how to choose.

Pool pump electricity use

• General pool advice from Eskom
• The ultimate pool efficiency

Lighting

• Guide to Globes. This is the era of choice in lighting, which can also make it a time of confusion. Learn the basics to be green shopper who knows what’s watt. (Or just skip to our Buying Recommendations at the end.)
• Eurolux’s lighting calculator estimates savings and payback times for replacing incandescent bulbs with efficient globes. Technology is evolving so fast that you will probably save even more than the predicted results.

Appliances & reading energy labels

• My Green Home’s Guide to Reading Energy Labels. Head to the appliance store knowing what to look for on South African, European and American energy labels.  See above for the link.
• Eskom’s appliance consumption guide. A clear explanation of ‘what is a kilowatt hour?’, detailing the energy use of appliances.

Heating, insulation and cooling

• The different types of electric heaters are clearly explained on the New Zealand energy efficiency agency’s website.
• Builder’s Warehouse provides straightforward DIY advice on draft-proofing doors.
• This independent Canadian organisation has comprehensive information on heating with wood.
• All about wood stoves and fireplaces

Cooking

• Insulation cooking advice from Wonderbag. The website sells Wonderbags, but also provides dozens of recipes, offers tips and answers questions.
• Insulation/ thermal cooking blog. Recipes, videos and more for all types of insulation cookers.

 Home staff involvement

Checklist guides for domestic workers and gardeners – to help get your household staff involved in saving energy and water.

Transport

• The green-car shopper’s first stop

Electricity saving – general advice/ ‘tips’

• Eskom’s Managing Your Energy Consumption at Home web page has a wide variety of tips and resources.
• Eskom’s tips on managing your home’s energy consumption.
• Winter Energy Saving Tips from Eskom
• City of Cape Town’s Electricity Saving Campaign website has both quick tips and in-depth information on the city’s solar water heater programme.
• City of Cape Town’s Top 10 Best Ways to Save Electricity focuses on high-impact actions and investments.
• The 49M campaign asks South Africans to make pledges to save energy in a variety of ways. It offers quick tips for cutting electricity consumption.
• American Michael Bluejay’s no-nonsense, practical guide to saving electricity. While some of the information is obviously American (e.g. the tariffs and sources of energy), the explanations and principles are useful.

WATER EFFICIENCY

• How to Install a New Shower Head For Dummies
• Rand Water’s Waterwise campaign has good information on saving water under the ‘Water Info’ and ‘Gardening’ tabs, including instructions for fixing leaky taps and toilets.
• Saving water, fixing leaks. Rand Water’s Waterwise campaign has good information on saving water under the ‘Water Info’ and ‘Gardening’ tabs, including instructions for fixing leaky taps and toilets.
• Green guide to dishwashing. A humorous, detailed explanation of the most efficient way to wash dishes whether using a dishwasher or by hand.

RECYCLING  

• Fact sheet: How easy it is to recycle
• For useful tips and information regarding recycling
• Where to recycle your paper and cardboard
• Where to recycle your glass bottles
• Tips for safer cleaning
• Find your nearest recycling Depot

GREEN LIVING GUIDES

• Nedbank’s Green Living Guide, a 36-page booklet with detailed suggestions for greening your home.
• City of Cape Town’s Smart Living Handbook, a downloadable PDF version of a 166-page book with deep background on waste, energy, water and biodiversity. Energy saving ideas start on page 71.

CARBON CALCULATOR 

• Nelson Mandela Bay municipality website’s easy-to-understand carbon footprint calculator helps you see how much each aspect of your life – house, car, flights, etc. – contributes to your total. (If you use LPG, use rough conversion: 1 kg = 2 litres.)

OTHER USEFUL SOUTH AFRICAN WEBSITES

• Sustainable Energy Society of Southern Africa (SESSA) has info on energy efficiency, solar photovoltaic panels, and a good Solar Water FAQ under the Consumer Help tab.
• The blog Greener House features practical advice from a Johannesburg suburbanite called Don Boroughs who won the 2013 Eskom eta Energy Efficiency Award for cutting his electricity use by 75%.
• Water Wise is a campaign aimed at increasing awareness of the need to value water and to use it wisely.
• Plastic Recycling PETCO