Improving the energy efficiency of your home can mean either making changes to the building, or simply changing your behaviour to save energy.
Heating
Central heating and hot water is the largest energy user in UK homes accounting for 60% of the average household energy bill.
Turning down your thermostat by 1 degree can reduce your heating bill by 10% - the energy efficient optimum thermostat temperature is 19 degrees celsius.
Lighting
By switching off lights in empty rooms, you can cut your lighting costs by up to 15%.
Energy saving lightbulbs use only a 1/5th of the power of a standard light bulb and a 20 watt compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) gives the same amount of light as a 100watt standard bulb. A CFL lightbulb lasts on average for 8,000 hours and it can save you up to £35 over its lifetime. This may not sound like much but think about how many lightbulbs there are in your house?
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Windows
By closing curtains at night you can stop heat escaping through the windows – saving energy and money.
TV/Computers
Leaving your TV on standby accounts for 8% of its total energy use. Switching off electrical appliances at the wall whenever you’re not using them, such as your video recorder, saves energy and saves you money.
By turning off your computer overnight you will be saving enough energy to laser print 800 A4 pages.
If you’re buying a new TV, liquid crystal displays (LCD) screens are less environmentally damaging than conventional screens.
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Walls/Insulation
The typical home loses around half its heat through the walls and loft.
A home built to 2006 Building Regulations will be 70% more efficient on average than a home built to pre-1990 standards.
Kitchen & Bathroom Taps
Leaving the tap running when washing up wastes up to 10 litres of water each time – use a bowl instead!.
Leaving the tap running when you clean your teeth can waste up to 10 litres every time – that’s as much as 20 litres a day.
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Washing Machines
Using a 40°C wash cycle rather than 60°C means you use a third less electricity. Reduce the wash to a 30°C cycle and the amount of electricity saved (not to mention money) will be even higher. And modern washing machines are just as effective at lower temperatures.
Dishwasher
It is not always more efficient to wash dishes by hand rather than using a dishwasher. The most efficient dishwashers use 15 litres of water or less to clean a 12 place setting - 26 litres less than washing dishes by hand.
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Bath
By not overfilling your bath you will save both energy and water – saving yourself money.
Shower
Showers use around 12% of the water used in the household. A five-minute shower can use about a third as much water as a bath. But power showers can use more water than a bath in less than five minutes.
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