Some 70% of the emissions at home are generated through room and water heating.
The heating, cooling and lighting of buildings causes 60% of UK carbon emissions. Learning the best ways to control, conserve and reduce
the amount of energy used in the home can produce major savings and significantly reduce the carbon footprint of your property.
Whether you rent or own your home, the HVCA has hints, tips and eco-solutions of direct value to you.
Understand heating and hot water
Fitting a European Standard certified audible carbon monoxide alarm is an essential second line of defence after having your appliances safety checked.
Turn your thermostat down by just 1ºC and you could save £40.00 to £70.00 a year and never even notice the difference.
Your central heating system requires regular servicing to keep it working at its best. A routine check by a qualified engineer will improve the efficiency of your boiler and the system as a whole.
If you have an adjustable thermostat for your hot water, you should set it to no hotter than 60°C. Any higher is a waste of energy and could scald. Much lower and there may be a risk of harmful bacteria forming.
Update your heating controls
Replace your old controls with a modern electronic timer. It will provide accurate control over your home’s heat by giving you the ability to set precisely when the heating comes on.
Most home central heating systems are controlled by an electronic thermostat situated in one room. All other rooms should have thermostatic radiator valves (TRVs) fitted.
TRVs cost around £8.00 each and allow you to manage the heat in each room. HVCA member heating engineers can give you advice on the best heating controls to maximise your energy savings.
Time for a new boiler?
Today’s boilers are about 45% more efficient than they were in the 1980s. A modern condensing boiler converts up to 100% of the fuel it uses into useful heat in the house, making it much kinder to the environment.
It is also kinder on the wallet.
By installing a condensing boiler and modern heating controls, you could save up to £200.00 a year on your fuel bill – even more if you are replacing an electric system.
Since changes to the Building Regulations in 2005, anyone installing a new domestic gas boiler in the United Kingdom has been required by law to use a high-efficiency option.
Ancient appliances
Replacing your old (ie, ten-years plus) appliances with energy efficient A or A+ models could very well save you as much as £150.00 per year.
Appliances guzzle about 20% of a typical home’s total energy bill, but a new A-rated fridge-freezer could save you £39.00 a year on running costs. It has been estimated that, if everyone in the UK upgraded their fridges and freezers to modern energy saving models, nearly £800m in energy and the equivalent of CO2 emissions from 500,000 homes would be saved.
Insulate, insulate, insulate!
If you have less than 10cm of insulation in your loft, you’ll be losing almost a quarter of your home’s heat through the roof. Top it up to 27cm, save £50.00 to £150.00 a year and slash 1.5 tonnes of CO2 from your carbon footprint.
If everyone in the UK did this, we’d save around £560m per year, and millions of tonnes of CO2.
Small steps BIG difference
Air-dry dishes instead of using your dishwasher's drying cycle.
Turn down the radiators in any spare rooms – why pay for a warm space with nobody in it?
Keep your doors and windows closed when the heating is on and save £15.00 a year.
Use a microwave instead of your oven – it will use less energy and take a fraction of the time.
Switch off standby. Gadgets and appliances left on standby waste the equivalent CO2 of 1.4 million long-haul flights. Turn off at home and save around £50.00 a year on your bills.
Turn down both your heating and your hot water when you are going to be away from home for any length of time.
