Easy Energy Efficiency
Being energy aware can save you money on your electricity bills, and helps the environment too! We have some ideas which are easy to put into practice and will make a big difference straight away.
2 minute read
Being energy aware saves you money on your electricity bills and helps the environment too! All of these changes combined could be enough to reduce your bills by over £1,000 a year. Some of these tips even come with no cost and can be implemented immediately, so you can start being greener in no time.
Reducing Energy Use
- Turn your heating settings down by 1°C; this will reduce your energy consumption and your heating bills (potentially by around £100 a year)
- Wash clothes at colder temperatures. Most detergent companies now produce products that are designed to be used at colder temperatures. Changing from 50°C to 30°C can save around £28 a year
- Where possible, allow clothes to dry naturally rather than using a tumble dryer (potentially saving £60 a year)
- Only boil the amount of water in your kettle that you need (saving approximately £11 a year) and descale it regularly. Overfilling it wastes energy, as does boiling a scaly kettle
- Let food cool down before putting it in the fridge or freezer, and avoid leaving the door open. For every minute the door is open, it takes a further three minutes to reach the original temperature. Remembering to do these things means your appliance doesn’t have to work as hard to maintain its set temperature
- Regularly defrosting your freezer can save around £50 a year
- Switch lights off when you don’t need them (saving up to £20 a year) and make sure all your light bulbs are LEDs (potentially saving around £150 a year)
- Turn off your electrical appliances rather than leaving them on standby
- Replace your appliances if they’re at least 10 years old with a modern energy-efficient equivalent; they cost less to operate
- Unplug portable items, such as mobile phones and laptops, once they have finished charging (possibly saving around £55 a year)
- Install roof insulation (saving up to £300 a year) and cavity wall insulation (also a possible £300 a year saving), and remove draughts (potentially saving around £45 a year)
- If you have a hot water cylinder, increasing the insulation around it can save around £35 a year
Energy Performance Certificate
Your Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) shows how energy efficient your home is and suggests ways to improve efficiency. You can access your home’s certificate at www.gov.uk/find-energy-certificate, using your postcode and address.
The certificate has two ratings: the Energy Efficiency rating and the Environmental Impact rating. Both are measured on an alphabetical scale, with an A rating indicating better energy efficiency and less environmental impact.
Additionally, the EPC comes with a recommendation report, which lists the potential rating that your home could achieve, if you made changes. The report lists improvements that you could carry out and how this would change the energy and carbon emission rating of your home. They can include actions in the above list, such as installing insulation.
