Top Tips for saving money
Top Tips from the Energy Saving Trust: 2008-9
The average home can save £300 a year by being energy efficient.
Cut your bills and make your home cosier in the winter with these simple steps.
Look for cavities…
Around a third of the heat lost in an uninsulated home is through the walls, so insulating them can be one of the most cost-effective ways to save energy in the home. Not all buildings are suitable, but if your home was built between the 1920s and 1990s then it could be a candidate for cavity wall insulation and you could save up to £115 on your annual heating bills! Like double-glazing, cavity wall insulation will keep you warm in winter and can also help to keep you cool in the summer. It’s a straightforward and hassle-free job. If we all had our cavity walls filled tomorrow, together we’d save around £700 million of energy every year!
If your house was built before 1920’s and has a solid wall construction, and you need to carry out repairs to your walls or rooms, why not install internal or external wall insulation? It could save you £400 a year on your heating bills.
Boilers…if it isn’t broken, it still might need fixing…
We rarely think of our boilers - until they go ‘bang’! Boilers usually break down in winter so it’s essential you check yours in the summer. If your boiler is over 15 years old, it’s probably time you replaced it with a new energy efficient one. Replacing your old boiler with a new A-rated condensing model with a full set of heating controls will save you up to a quarter on your heating bills straight away – that’s up to £235 on average in gas heated homes. If all homes in the UK with gas or oil central heating switched to condensing boilers, we’d save around £1.3 billion a year! To compare old and new boilers visit www.boilers.org.uk.
Be nice to your freezer…
Fridge freezers are the most hardworking appliances in our kitchens - in fact, UK households use around £2 billion worth of electricity on refrigeration and freezing every year. To help cut costs, don’t leave the door open longer than necessary, as cold air will escape. Avoid putting hot food into the fridge, defrost the freezer regularly and check the door seals are working properly.
Look for the logo…
Look out for the energy saving recommended logo when you’re buying new electrical appliances. The logo appears on a growing range of products - from light bulbs to laundry appliances, indicating the most energy efficient appliances which are also cheaper to run. Replacing an old, energy inefficient fridge-freezer with a new energy saving recommended one could save you up to £36 every year. If we all made the change to more efficient cold appliances (fridges, freezers and fridge-freezers) this week, together we’d save around £725 million every year!
Treat your hot water tank…give it a jacket
An insulating jacket for hot water tanks only costs a few pounds and pays for itself within months. Fit one that’s at least 75mm (3″) thick and you could save around £35 a year. If every UK household fitted a jacket on their tank tomorrow, we’d save around £160 million of energy every year!
Draw at dusk…close your curtains
As the days get chillier, closing your curtains at dusk will stop heat escaping through windows.
A bright idea…buy an energy efficient light bulb
When the days are shorter you’ll be relying on your lights more. Trade up your ordinary light bulbs for energy saving ones. Priced from just £2.00, energy efficient light bulbs last around 10 times longer and for each bulb you fit, you can save around £2.50 on your annual electricity bill. This saving could be up to £6 a year if you’re replacing a brighter bulb with an energy efficient one of the same brightness, or one used for more than a few hours a day. If every UK household installed just one energy efficient bulb we’d save over £60 million per year!
Take to the floor…defeating draughts
Stop draughts and heat escaping by filling gaps under skirting boards with beading or mastic sealant. That’ll save around £20 off your heating bills every year!
See double…and cut heat loss by 50%
Double-glazing cuts heat loss through windows by 50% and could cut your heating bill by up to £140 a year. If you can’t afford to replace all the windows, why not choose the rooms that cost you the most to heat, such as the living room and occupied bedrooms.
Feeling chilly? Loft insulation will keep the heat in your home
If your loft is uninsulated, about 15% of what you’re paying for your heating could be escaping through your roof. Insulate your loft to 270mm and if it’s currently uninsulated you could save around £150 a year off your heating bills. If you have less than the recommended 270mm, topping it up will save you around £45 a year. If everybody in the UK who could install 270mm of loft insulation did so, we would save over £500 million per year.
Be switched on - take a Home Energy Check…
For a report on how much energy can be saved in your own home, fill out the Energy Saving Trust’s online home energy check www.energysavingtrust.org.uk Alternatively, you can obtain a paper version by calling your local Energy Saving Trust advice centre on 0800 512 012. Our staff at your local Energy Saving Trust advice centre can also provide you with free, impartial advice on how to make your home more energy efficient and talk to you about the grants available in your area to implement energy efficient measures.
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