As the saying goes, "if you can't stand the heat get out of the kitchen".  A slight modification to that saying is relevant to cooking in summer, "if you can't stand the heat in the kitchen, get the kitchen out of the house". 

This question is a little bit like 'how long is a piece of string'; however it is useful to know something about the expected service life of a heat pump and what affects it. Note this is not a guarantee of how long your heat pump WILL last it is an examination of the available information on how long heat pumps tend to last as a group.   

A backyard pool is a major drawcard in summer, your house will certainly be popular amongst your friends and neighbours as things heat up, but what will probably not be popular with you is paying for pool operation and maintenance costs, especially energy costs.  In this article we are going to break down just how much energy a pool can use and how to have a pool and not feel like you are throwing piles of money into it when you receive your energy bill.

Due to the horrendous bushfires still burning in Australia at the moment you might notice a drop in your solar production on the order of 20-30%, this is due to the bushfire smoke in the air but it also might be due to the ash being deposited on your panels.  The way to tell if you have significant ash on your panels is to check your production on a relatively clear day, if production is still down then you probably have ash on your panels which will need to be

Note: Credit for this article goes to Peter Court for his excellent post in the Facebook group My Efficient Electric Home; it is the basis of this article.

When it comes to home cooling and heating the phrase 'work smart rather than working hard' applies; by that I mean you only want your air conditioning (AC) system to work as hard as is necessary to keep your house comfortable.  The way you 'work smart' is to insulate and shade (in summer) your home, that way your AC unit will have a much easier (and longer) life and the heat or 'coolth' it generates stays in your home (where you want it) instead of leaking outs

The idea of a centralised ducted AC system is attractive in some sense because the ducting can all be hidden away and routed to a centralised AC unit that could in theory by installed on your roof (assuming it is possible to install in your house).  However ducting has many downsides compared to split systems that not many people are aware of:

Factors to consider when choosing your solar system

So you want to go solar and save your hard earned money by generating your own power instead of making a quarterly donation it to the power companies, who only ever seem to raise power prices.

The energy star rating system for air conditioners is a bit of a mystery and over time has been upgraded (with the latest determination happening in 2019) so that what was once a 5 star appliance may now only be a 3 star appliance, the look of the energy star label has also changed.