Home Tips
Without spending large sums of money or having to apply for grants the following small things could make a real difference:
- Turn your thermostat down. Reducing your room temperature by 1°C could cut your heating bills by up to 10 percent. You could save around £40 per year.
- Is your water too hot? Your cylinder thermostat shouldn't need to be set higher than 60°C/140°F.
- Close your curtains at dusk to stop heat escaping through the windows.
- Always turn off the lights when you leave a room.
- Don't leave appliances on standby and remember not to leave appliances on charge unnecessarily.
- If you're not filling up the washing machine, tumble dryer or dishwasher, use the half-load or economy programme.
- Only boil as much water as you need (but remember to cover the elements if you're using an electric kettle).
- A dripping hot water tap wastes energy and in one week wastes enough hot water to fill half a bath, so fix leaking taps and make sure they're fully turned off!
- Use energy saving light bulbs. Just one can save you £100 over the lifetime of the bulb - and they last up to 12 times longer than ordinary lightbulbs.
- Do a home energy check. Just answer some simple questions about your home and the Energy Saving Trust (EST) will give you a free, impartial report telling you how you can save up to £300 a year on your house hold energy bills.
Energy information provided by the Energy Saving Trust.
You can see the video we made for the Energy Saving Trust 'Green Barometer' piece. It's only about three and a half minutes long (we’re the ‘younger’ couple with the baby).
For additional information, check our Home Eco-links section.