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September News & 10 EASY Ways to Reduce Your Electricity Bill

September Broad Band Drive So far we have only had a couple of new names added to our broadband demand register. To date, 32 signatures have been collected and according to the Telstra website, 18 more are required. The absolute minimum number of signatures required would be 35 and the maximum is about 75. The number required depends on the allocated budget. The Government is in the process of releasing over eight hundred million dollars in funding for communications which is a huge amount. Exactly how this amount will be allocated won't be known by the communication industry for a few months. It is for this reason that the exact number of signatures required is not yet known. We need the right number of signatures to be submitted so that if funds allow the go ahead, it will be all systems go. The telecommunication cables used in rural areas tends to be of a greater thickness as it is more robust and requires less maintenance. This is good because it means that broadband service can reach homes and businesses up to nine kilometres (rather than the commonly thought three kilometres) from the exchange, depending on the grade of cable, allowing more homes to be within the service area. So.... please email using the "Contact" link in the top menu and indicate your interest. Kundabung needs your support! Signing our broadband demand register does not mean you are committed to taking up broadband, so if you change your mind later, that's ok.
This Month: 10 Easy Ways to Reduce Your Electricity Bill 1. Turn off appliances at the power point. Appliances such as the television, VCR, DVD, hi fi system, printers, newer computers, scanners, washing machine and dishwasher can use up to six watts per hour. It doesn't sound like much but if you had one each of these that would mean their combined power consumption would be up to thirty-six watts per hour even when not in use. Now, is bending down to turn a power point on and off REALLY that much of a pain? 2. Replace all your lights with fluorescent lights or small compact fluorescent that replace the inefficient incandescent light globes. Compact fluorescent lights may not be suitable for outdoor use though. If ten 60 watt globes were replaced with 10 watt compact fluorescent lights (gives out light equal to a 50 watt globe) you could have six lights on at once and the power consumption would only equal that of one 60 watt incandescent globe. The kids may thank you - less nagging about turning off the lights. The compact fluorescents cost more but their life is approximately ten times that of an incandescent light globe and your electricity bill will be less so it works out cheaper in the long term. If the budget is tight just buy one or two per month until all incandescent globes are replaced. There may be tiny amounts of mercury inside a compact fluorescent so if one breaks don't use you bare hands to pick it up and wrap it up in newspaper. 3. If you have a dishwasher or are planning to get one make sure it is connected to the hot water. It costs a lost less to use the hot water from your off peak hot water system. Having the dishwasher connected to the cold water means the dishwasher must use its element to heat up the water during the hours when electricity costs more per unit. This also applies to washing machines if you like to use warm or hot water.	4. Turn off your computer monitor when not in use. At the very least have the settings adjusted so that the screen goes blank. Don't use a screen saver. A 17 inch CRT monitor uses about 80 watts. A blank CRT monitor uses between 0 and 15 watts depending on the settings. 5. Buy an LCD monitor when you need to replace the old CRT monitor. A 17 inch LCD monitor only uses about 35 watts. This is also argument when selling the idea of a new monitor to your partner! 6. Consider purchasing a laptop computer. They only use between 15 and 30 watts but a desktop and its monitor uses approximately 145 to 200 watts. A high end gaming machine would use more when in use. 7. Use your ceiling fan (on low) in winter alongside your regular heating. Change the switch on the fan from the summer setting to the winter setting so the fan forces the warm air up to bounce back down off the ceiling. Fans don't cost much to run but can make a big difference to how warm the house feels. This means you won't need to use so much power on heating. 8. Run some sealing tape (the rubber ones last longer) around your front and back doors to stop heat escaping. At night, when the heater is on, place your hand close to the crack between the door and the door jam. If you can feel any air it means you are losing heat. Use a sand 'snake' at the bottom of the door. 9. Only boil as much water as you need - don't boil a jug full when you only need one or two cups. 10. Turn off the heater and go to bed early. This might be fun!
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