As more of us are trying our best to reduce our carbon footprint as much as possible by recycling and trying to reduce our individual energy usage. With that being said this guide will highlight some of the key ways you can change your habits around the home to help reduce your energy usage and as a result save you money.
Electricity
By slightly changing your habits with your electricity usage, you can dramatically reduce the energy you use on a daily basis. Lighting in the home accounts for around 20% of the average homes energy usage, by simply switching off unnecessary lights while you’re not in the room can help you to reduce this usage. You can also switch to energy saving light bulbs to help reduce the energy used when your lights are in use. Unplugging electronics when they are not in use can save a large amount of unnecessary electricity usage. This is most notable in televisions. You can save a considerable amount of power by unplugging them when not in use, instead of leaving them on stand-by. Other things such as washing laundry at 30c instead of 40 degrees can all add up to help reduce your overall energy usage.
Insulation
One of the leading areas your home can be wasting energy is through insulation, or more specifically the lack of insulation throughout the home. According to the National Energy Foundation as much as 20% of your energy bill can be saved by ensuring you have good loft insulation. They recommended a minimum depth of 150mm (6 Inches) but preferably 200mm (8 Inches) if possible. By improving the insulation in your home you can quickly improve its energy efficiency. Another major cause of heat loss is what is called Infiltration or simply Air Leakage. This is where your house is not completely airtight, causing a significant amount of heat to be lost. This will ultimately mean that your central heating system will have to work much harder to heat your home, only for a lot of the energy to be lost.
Typically leaks can be found around windows and doors but can occur in many places such as light switch covers ductwork or even in brickwork. If you suspect this to be happening in your home you can hire professionals to perform what’s called a blower door test. In simple terms, this test will detect the pressure differences between the inside and outside of your home by blowing air into the house, the less air required to change the building pressure the less likely you are to have air leakage. By detecting and plugging these holes can make a big difference when reducing the amount of heat is lost through your home.
Upgrade Appliances
Kitchen Appliances are one of the biggest energy draws in the home. As we continue to use dishwashers and washing more on a daily basis the energy used is very high. For this reason it is important to ensure that the appliances you have are using energy in the most efficient way possible. By replacing your older appliances with newer A-rated energy saving versions can ensure that your appliances are running at 90% efficiency or higher. There are schemes available which are designed to help homeowners repair or replace their heating solutions to improve energy efficiency. Of which the primary scheme is the Energy Companies Obligation or ECO. This scheme was introduced by the government to make it a legal obligation for energy companies to improve energy efficiency in households.
As part of this scheme the Affordable Warmth Scheme has been developed to help lower income or vulnerable households to replace their current heating system with more efficient A-rated equipment. This will help to reduce overall energy usage in these homes. There are also areas of the scheme focusing on providing sufficient insulation for housing to further improve efficiency.
That concludes this quick guide on just some of the changes you can make to your home to help save you money, and ultimately reduce your energy usage.
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