Reduce heat loss
Check out the areas where your home could be losing heat. Contact REG to take advantage of our thermal imaging camera to identify heat loss areas.
Banish draughts
Draught proofing around windows and doors can apparently save up to £45 annually e.g. foam fillers and wool draught seal tape and ‘sausage’ draught excluders at the bottom of doors. Magnetic Perspex sheets can be fitted onto single glazed windows. Put a flap over your letter box too.
Thermal blinds
Apparently these can halve heat loss through windows and also keep heat out in hot weather. Normal blinds and curtains can also be of some benefit in stopping heat loss. Drawing your curtains early on and tucking them behind a radiator can make rooms warmer.
Top Up Loft Insulation
A quarter of heat – worth up to £580 a year is lost through the roof of a house where the loft is not insulated. Even if you have loft insulation, topping it up to the recommended 270mm will pay for itself in a year or two. Insulating the loft hatch can also be important.
Insulate Floors
Fill gaps in floorboards. Good underlay beneath carpets and hard flooring also helps. Don’t block traditional air bricks as this causes damp. Instead swap for AirEx floor vent, smart bricks which close the floor cavity automatically on icy days (airex.tech 2023).
OPTIMISE HEATING
Get your boiler serviced annually. Ask the heating engineer to check that the pipework is properly insulated as well. Check that you have a good 8cm thick jacket on your hot water tank.
Boost Radiators
Think about temperature settings, reducing the temperature by 1°C can save up to £128 annually. Reflector panels behind the radiator reduce heat loss through the wall. Fitting thermostatic radiator controls to set the individual temperature of rooms will enable you to control your energy bills.
USE YOUR APPLIANCES EFFICIENTLY
Defrost the freezer when ice builds up to a quarter of an inch, it will help to stop it gobbling up electricity.
Descale the Kettle. Kettles are one of the biggest energy guzzlers.
Boil less water in the kettle. Only boiling what you need can save up to £50 annually. Switch to gas as it is cheaper.
Ditch the tumbler dryer. These could cost up to £200 per year. Drying washing on the outside line is free. Choose a rapid spin cycle on your washing machine to remove as much water as possible. Try a drying rail inside the house but avoid radiators. Sometimes heated drying rails can be relatively cheap to run. Try the local launderette. Having an extra large dryer can be cheaper than a home dryer.
Optimise the oven. After kettles and tumble dryers, ovens rank third on energy guzzling appliances. Self-cleaning ones are the most efficient as they are the best insulated. However, a warning – using the self-cleaning function uses a lot of energy. Clean it manually. The fan function is more efficient as it cooks at lower temperatures. Try to fill your oven to capacity, batch cook and freeze extra portions.
Turn off the microwave when it is not in use. Digital displays and lightbulbs guzzle electricity. Microwaves are cheaper to use than ovens. Slow cookers and air fryers can also reduce energy bills. However, you need to check the pros and cons when cooking large amounts.
Much of this material is taken from The Times. 8/10/2022. George Nixon.
Change lightbulbs.
Replacing the all the bulbs in your home with LED lights could reduce your CO2 footprint by up to 50Kg and save you money.
Ref: energysavingtrust.org.uk for more detailed information.
You can also SAVE electricity by:
Turning the thermostat down and wearing layers of warm clothes. Heat the person not the room.
Having 2 minute showers.
Using less water overall.
Using your clothes dryer only when necessary.
Washing your clothes less often (apart from your smalls!).
Using green friendly energy tariffs.
Use a smart meter – they don’t cost anything and even if you don’t act on it apparently using one will help the energy companies manage electricity usage nationally to save energy. Some energy suppliers offer time of use tariffs to customers for using energy at different times of day. (smartenergygb.org).
Switching off appliances at night and lights when not in use.
Don’t be an energy vampire! Check out this useful website https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/bills/article-10640385/vampire-electrical-appliances-sucking-cash-bank-account.html
Think of all the ways electricity is used in the products and services we use in daily life.
There are HUNDREDS of ways to save ENERGY, CO2 and MONEY in the home.
PLEASE THINK AND ACT NOW!
