Making energy savings
ERA - Eco Rother Action’s mantra of ‘Buy Less, Use Less, Waste Less’ applies to energy as much as it does to other purchases. If we are going to begin to reduce the rate at which the climate is changing, with all its potential to make our lives, and that of others, much trickier, we all need to work out how we can live more sustainably. With energy prices going up there has maybe never been a better time to reduce your household’s use of energy!
Many of the tips in this article will already be well known to you, but the actual impact of some of them came as a surprise to me, especially some I found on the website of the Energy Saving Trust and summarised in the chart below. I have always turned the TV off at the wall and not left it on standby overnight, but I assumed it would be a marginal saving of money, but their chart states that a saving of £55 per annum can be made by turning off items that are sitting around the house on standby. (Visit Energy Saving Trust to see details of the assumptions these figures are based on, size of house, electricity price etc.)
Researching elsewhere for energy saving tips, they all have draught-proofing as the place to start and to keep going back to and re-checking, as it can have the biggest of impacts for just a modest investment. The following ideas mostly came from a list generated at one of our early pre-Covid meetings:
Note: not all of the suggestions below will apply to all dwellings
Minimise draughts in your home
o Fit draught excluders around external doors
o Fit a draught excluder on the inside of your letter box
o Silicone seal around windows and between skirting boards and the floor
o Seal (expanding foam) around any pipes that come out of external walls
o If you have an open fire use a chimney balloon to block draughts when not in use
Maximise the insulation of your home
o Cavity wall insulation
o Loft insulation
o Insulation around your hot water tank and pipes
o Double or triple glazing
Turn your thermostat down by one degree
Turn appliances off at the plug – don’t leave things on standby
Close off any unused rooms
Fix radiator reflector panels (or foil) behind radiators (particularly if you do not yet have cavity wall insulation)
Air dry washing
Use low energy cooking methods such as slow cookers or hot boxes
Shut curtains/blinds and windows
Keep your fridge and freezer at least 3/4s full
When buying new appliances check you get the best energy rating
If you spot anything that I have missed from the list then do get in touch and let me know and I hope that most people can find something there that can help them reduce their energy bills.