Energy Saving Tips
As we all know, the news is full of stories about global warming, renewable energy, and energy-saving devices. The good news about energy-saving is that everybody wins! The government wins, because energy-saving commitments are being met, you win, because you pay less for your heating and energy, and, if you spend money on energy-saving in your home, there is a very good chance that you will improve the value of your house.
Not all energy-saving tips are of the same value for money, and in fact, some energy-saving tips will actually cost you nothing. Here are some ways in which you can put energy-saving to immediate use:
- Turning your thermostat down by 1° could cut your heating bills by up to 10% and save you around £40 per year.
- Is your water too hot? Your cylinder thermostat shouldn't be set higher than 60°C/140°F.
- Close your curtains at dusk to stop heat escaping through the windows.
- Always turn off the lights when you leave a room.
- Don't leave appliances on standby and remember not to leave appliances on charge unnecessarily.
- Make sure that your washing machine, tumble dryer or dishwasher is always full to maximum before you use it.
- Only boil as much water as you need, but remember to cover the elements if you're using an electric kettle.
- Fill any gaps between skirting boards and floor. This can be done with a standard filler available from DIY shops.
- Fit heat reflecting foil behind radiators on outside walls to keep the heat inside your home. Make sure the shiny side is facing into the room.
- Draughts are one of the main reasons why homes feel cold and cost a lot to heat. Draught strip windows, outside doors and the loft hatch and fill gaps in the ground floor floorboards and below the skirting board. NB. Do not cover vents/air bricks
- Dripping hot water tap wastes energy and in one week wastes enough hot water to fill half a bath. So fix leaking taps and make sure they're fully turned off.
- Replace your light bulbs with energy-saving recommended ones. Just one energy-saving lightbulb can reduce your lighting costs by up to £100 over the lifetime of one bulb-and they last up to 12 times longer than ordinary lightbulbs.
- Increase the insulation in your loft to 250mm. This can add up to 10 SAP points. If you have less than 50mm in your loft at present you may be eligible for a grant to assist you in this. Don't forget to insulate the loft hatch and any pipes or tanks in the loft.
- Increase the lagging on your hot water cylinder to 33mm
- Although a more expensive option, changing to a gas condensing boiler is the most effective single measure you can take. It could add up to 47 SAP points to your houses rating.
- More heat is lost through the walls of an average uninsulated house than by any other route. Most homes built since the early 1030's have cavity walls (two walls with a gap in between) which can be filled with insulating material. To install cavity wall insulation most people will need to employ a specialist firm.
- If your house has solid walls cavity filling is not an option. You can, however, consider external or internal insulation of the walls but this is an expensive and disrupting task for which specialist advice should be sought.
- As much as 10% of your expensively created heat can be lost through floorboards. If there is easy access to the joists under the floorboards, you can insulate from below by filling the spaces between the joists with mineral wool mat or expanded polystyrene boards.
- Even draught-proofed, single glazed windows allow a lot of heat to be lost (around 20% of the total heat loss from the house). Heat loss through windows can be halved with double-glazing. Professionally fitted double-glazing can be expensive, but if you need new windows, having double-glazing fitted is the sensible thing to do as it makes rooms more comfortable. Put double-glazing in the rooms you use the most and on large windows first. Where double-glazing can halve the heat loss through windows, double-glazing with low emissivity glass can reduce it by a further 30%.
- If you cannot afford double glazing, various methods of secondary glazing can be fitted on DIY basis. Cling-film:- attached to the inner window frame with double sided tape. Then heat is applied to stretch the surface - a hairdryer can be used for this. this will last for only 1 year. Rigid or flexible plastic sheeting ca be attached in a similar manner as the cling film and is more durable. The second pane is placed in an aluminium or plastic frame and fitted either by hinges or runners.
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