As the climate debate continues to dominate headlines on a daily basis, the immediate call to action is becoming very clear.

The honeymoon days of cheap electricity and gas are well and truly over. But the question is: will increasing costs change the way we use energy?

Hi I’m Pete Dormand and I have been invited to share with you my ideas and views over the coming weeks about what we can do to reduce our energy and water costs and consumption.

This week I’d like to set the scene. In the weeks following, we will take a tour through our homes and find ways to save a few dollars and help our planet. It can be a bit hard to think about saving household energy or water because we don’t get the bill until months after we have used it. Imagine if it was the same when you did the grocery shopping?

 You walk in to the store take what ever you want; put it in the trolley and then three months later you get the bill. How could we ever work out what it was that was sending ourfood bills out of control?Smart electricity meters with in-housedisplays will become available in the not-toodistant future and they will help us better understand what’s going on.In the mean time though there is a lot we can do to minimise the wasted electricity and precious water in ourhomes that we might not even know exists.

 I hope to dispel a few myths along the way as well.Particularly the one about leaving your fluoro lights on because it takes heaps more energy to restart them.

Lets bust that myth right now – trust me it is not true.Fact: Energy and water efficiency is about two things, the efficiency of the appliance and how long it’s switched on.

So while we can’t necessarily afford to go and replace all of our inefficient appliances right away, we can make sure that they aren’t running or on stand-by when they don’t need to be.