Energy Efficiency In Your Home
For this months blog post i thought i would tackle Energy Efficiency in the home. Clearly this is a big topic to write about so I may may carry it on into other blog posts. I thought the best way to start would be to give a brief overview of all the different types of energy efficient products and “green products” you can use in your home and things you can do to make sure that your not wasting money. One thing i do know about is how to save money on electricity bills and i think thats something you’ll probably be interested in learning about because every one likes to save money right?
Saving Electricity – Appliances
Take a look at the video below its from Home Energy Scotland its got loads of useful tips about saving energy in your house.
The Fridge:
- Make sure the seal is intact and fits properly, if you don’t this means the fridge will have to try and work overtime to try and keep everything cool which uses loads of electricity.
- Don’t put hot / warm items in the fridge because this will warm up the whole environment – again the fridge has to work twice as hard to cool it down again.
- Don’t over fill the fridge because it will struggle to cool everything down.
The Kettle:
If you are filling the whole kettle up every time you make a cup of tea you are wasting a lot of electricity boiling water you don’t need. So its best to guesstimate the amount of water you need and boil just enough.
The TV:
Modern TV’s are getting bigger and these tend to consume more energy so witching your TV off at night can save you a packet in electricity cots.
Appliances:
This seems like a simple one but appliances use a lot of electricity and even leaving them on standby uses electricity so turn them off at the plug and when your going on holiday turn everything off.
Washing Machines:
Washing at 60 turn down to 40! I remember the adverts – I can’t be the only one. The lower the heat you set your washing machine the less electricity it will use.
Energy Efficient Lighting
Energy Efficient lighting is becoming the norm in most houses today. The upside is you don’t have to change anything you do (apart form buying the right light bulb). The are 2 different types of energy efficient light bulb these are CFLs (Compact Fluorescent Lamps) and LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes).
CFLs are the bets option for most houses – you get the same level of light as n old bulb but you’ll save £3 per year or about £50 over the life time of the bulb.
LEDs are better for spot lighting and dimmer lights. They are more expensive but by replacing the halogen downlight in your house you’ll save about £30 per year.
Buying Renewable Energy
This won’t save you money but it is socially responsible & it helps the planet. You can buy “green” electricity form a number of firms. They make sure there carbon footprint is as low as possible and they plant trees and things like that to offset the carbon footprint. You can also get green energy with a lot of the big energy supplier but we like to promote the little guys int he industry.
Smart Electricity Meters
Smart electricity meters work in much the same way that a traditional electricity meter works – it measures the amount of electricity being used. The good thing about the new digital meters is they can track individual uses of electricity (TV, Fridge, Lights etc) and you can tell the device to turn the lights of at a certain time or you can turn the heating up or down using an app on your phone.
To get more information about Lutron systems which is our preferred smart system click here.
Home Insulation:
I know this isn’t strictly an electrical issues but the money you can save is substantial. The Energy Saving Trust think that on average a detached house could save £240 per year on heating bills by insulting the loft. According to the BBC the average cost for gas and electric is £1,200 per house so thats a saving of 20% which is not to be sniffed it. It will cost upwards of £300 to insulate your roof but you’ll start earning money after a year and a half.
If you want some information about Energy Efficient windows take a look at this link Energy Efficient Windows: What You Need to Know
Produced by Paul form Bebington Glazing.
