Wasting energy has become a big issue for all of us, whether we're worried about the environment or about the dent in our bank balance.
Experts are urging all of us to do more - the Energy Saving Trust has set a target for every household to save 20% of their fuel consumption.
Well, we threw down the gauntlet to our reporter Rebecca Rooney to see if she & her family could slash their energy bill by a fifth - we'll be following their progress over the course of a week but, until then, she's put together her top tips for saving energy & cash...
1) CHANGE LIGHT BULBS TO LOW ENERGY ONES – I was shocked to count all the bulbs in my house and find there were 70. Only one of those was low energy – a free gift I think! When we changed them over our energy consumption plummeted. Each one should save us £8 a year – that’s £560 a year for us. You can get them for halogen spot lights, and dimmer switches, which I didn’t realise before. They are expensive around £6 a time but won’t need changing for up to eight years.
2) TURN DOWN YOUR THERMOSTAT – just one degree on the main thermostat could save 10% of your heating bill, for us that works out around £8 a month. Turn down individual room thermostats too and shorten the length of time on your programmer. You won’t notice much difference to the warmth of the house but for us they could save £12 a month.
3) CHECK YOUR LOFT INSULATION – we’ve already got some but could do with more. If we upgraded our loft insulation from 100mm thickness to 270mm thickness we save another 3% of our annual heating bill.
4) USE LESS WATER – don’t keep boiling a full kettle of water when you’re only making one cup of tea. You could save a third by boiling only the amount you need. I have a new eco friendly kettle to help me do this - you don’t have to worry about covering a heating element with water and so can boil one cup at a time. It should save £6 a year.
5) WASH AT LOWER TEMPERATURES – I used to wash at 60 degrees or 40 degrees but by washing at 30 degrees I’ll be using 40% less electricity.
6) PEG OUT YOUR WASHING – in the winter time it is easy to shove all your washing in the tumble dryer but I’ve worked out that the dryer uses an energy guzzling 20p an hour. If it’s on a couple of times a day that soon tots up. I am trying to use the clothes line instead, though it was a bit icy outside this morning - the socks will be frozen not dried!
7) TURN IT OFF! – I have been terrible for leaving things on standby - the TV, DVD, digibox, the computer, but your DVD player still uses 85% electricity on standby. By turning your TV and its associated appliances off, you could save £40 a year. There are a couple of handy gadgets on the market to help you do this – one’s a remote control, another’s a intelligent plug which can sense when an appliance hasn’t been used and will switch it off. Saves you scrabbling around the back of the TV! Remember to unplug your mobile phone charger too.
8) CLOSE THE CURTAINS – drawing the curtains at dusk can save 15% energy loss, don’t forget the bedrooms!
9) SWITCH ENERGY SUPPLIERS – save money and shop around for a cheaper supplier. We don’t have gas where I live but we have changed energy companies several times for better electricity deals.
10) KITCHEN COMMON SENSE – only set your dishwasher going when you have a full load (in our house this isn’t a problem, we have at least one full load a day!). Put the lids on pans when you put them on the stove, they’ll boil quicker. Don’t let your freezer frost up, it’ll work more efficiently if it’s defrosted regularly.
FOR MORE INFO YOU CAN CALL THE ENERGY ADVICE CENTRE FREE: 0800 512012
USEFUL WEBSITES: www.energysavingtrust.org and www.100ideashouse.co.uk and www.cse.org.uk
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