Energy Efficiency

There’s no doubt that solar PV will reduce your carbon footprint - by around 1000kg per year for a 2.5kWp system. But there are some other easy-to-do things which will cut it further. And they’ll save you money because being more energy efficiency means smaller bills …

1 Be cool(er). Turn your thermostat down by just 1°C click and youcould save 10% on your annual heating bills.

2 Focus. Do you need to heat the whole house? What about looking into a low energy heater as an option if you only use a couple of rooms?

3 Lighter bills. Energy saving light bulbs use around 80% less electricity than traditional bulbs to produce the same amount of light. Just one energy saving lightbulb could save you around £40 before it needs replacing (even taking into account the cost of the bulbs in the first place).

4 Switch off the blinking thing. 16% of domestic electricity is used for appliances. Leaving electrical appliances on standby means they still use power. A TV, DVD player, recorder and freeview set top box could cost you £40 a year just in stand-by charges.

5 Snug up. Poor loft insulation accounts for up to 15% of heating costs. The ideal thickness of the insulating material is around 270mm, which once installed, it could save you £110 a year.

6 Fast food. Microwaves are fast and efficient particularly for small families and singles and use around a third of the energy of a conventional gas or electric cooker.

7 Clear view. Double-glazing could cut your heat loss by 50%, and save you around £100 a year on bills. AND you’ll get less condensation and more peace and quiet. Perfect.

8 Sprinkle power. A shower uses around a third of the water of a bath and, by cutting a minute off your shower time, you could save about 3,300 litres of water a year and enough electricity to heat water for 6000 cups of coffee.

9 Measure up. It’s estimated that if you fill a kettle just to the level you need it, you could save 90 seconds each time you boil and cut your bills. Overfilling each time we boil wastes enough energy in a week to light our house for a day or run a TV set for 26 hours!

10 Cool Water. Using a 40 degree wash cycle rather than 60 degrees means you use a third less electricity. Reducing the temperature to 30 degrees will save even more, and as modern detergents and washing powders work just as effectively at lower temperatures, there’s no reason not to.