How to make your home energy efficient – The beauty about reducing the carbon footprint in your home is that you reduce your monthly bills too. And there are so many ways – great and small – that you can achieve the best of both worlds. So, whether you’re ready to install modern, more efficient technology, or you merely want to improve your day-to-day habits, here are some ways to make your pad eco-friendlier.
Never leave appliances on standby
For decades, we’ve been advised to switch our TVs fully off, and the same rule applies to printers, laptops, and other electronic devices. It’s an easy way to save energy, as it simply requires us getting into the habit of turning things off when we’re not using them, and saves us around £30 a year. Meanwhile, if you wash your clothes at just 30-degrees Celsius, rather than a higher temperature, you’ll save at least £50 a year. That’s already £80 saved without a penny being spent!
Upgrade your boiler
This might seem like an expensive venture, but when you consider that a modern, energy-efficient boiler will save you hundreds of pounds every year, you’ll soon make your money back and then some. Plus, you’ll be being kinder to the environment. Older, inefficient boilers work very hard to produce your energy, and when you consider your boiler makes up 55 percent of your overall electricity bill, that’s quite a cost when compared to a brand-new A-grade gas boiler.
Draft-proof your windows
As well as making your house more efficient, this will also make it a more pleasant place to live. During the colder months, it’s extremely difficult to heat your house properly if you have a constant draft coming in. Double glazing will insulate windy windows and will reduce the amount of heat your boiler needs to generate to warm up your home. Then you can look forward to curling up on the couch for snug nights in front of the TV and wait for the warm weather to arrive again.
Insulate your loft and walls
As with double glazing your windows, this prevents your home from losing warmth, and you’ll find your heating bills reduce because of it. So long as your house isn’t huge, insulating your loft isn’t an expensive business. It might set you back £300 if you live in a semi-detached house, and you’ll probably make that back within a couple of years. Likewise, check that your wall cavities have good-quality insulation. If not, you might want to get these done too, to save you even more cash long-term.
Whether your main motivation is saving money, saving the planet or a bit of both, it makes sense to look at your home and consider what changes you could make to improve its energy efficiency. Any changes you make will be a win-win for your bank balance and the environment.
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