There are lots of changes we can make around the home to reduce the amount of energy we use. If every home followed some or all of the energy saving tips below, our energy use as a whole would dramatically decrease and we’d save a lot of money too.
Top 10 Energy Saving Tips at Home
1. Switch it off
You know this already but it’s surprising how many people leave things switched on or plugged in when they’re not in use. Leaving a room? Switch the light off. Turning the TV off at night? Switch it off at the wall so it isn’t left on standby. Has your phone / laptop / tablet finished charging? Unplug it.
2. Buy Energy Efficient Appliances
Chucking out your existing appliances and replacing them with energy efficient ones is not always the most environmentally responsible way of doing things, and most of us couldn’t afford to do that anyway. However once an appliance has broken and can’t be repaired this is a good time to look into replacing it with a far more energy efficient one. Energy efficient appliances are normally slightly more expensive to begin with but will save you money in energy bills over time and of course are much better for the planet.
3. Use Energy Efficient Light bulbs
LED light bulbs use 90% less energy than traditional light bulbs and they can last up to 40 times longer as well. – The Green Age. And did you know that most LED lightbulbs can be recycled as well? – Ultra LEDS
4. Line Dry Don’t use Tumble Dryers
Tumble dryers use a lot of power and it’s free to dry your clothes outside or on a clothes airer inside, so from a money point of view this a no-brainer. Not only are you saving money on your bills but your clothes will last longer if you line dry rather than tumble dry.
I do understand that some households feel a tumble dryer is necessary, homes with lots of active kids for example, but at the very least not every load of washing needs to be put in the tumble dryer!
Why is line drying better?“If all households with a tumble dryer dried one load of washing outside each week, instead of by machine, they would save over a million tonnes of CO2 in a year.” – The Guardian |
5. Check the house for draughts
If your home is draughty you’re probably spending more on heating than you should be. An easy way to reduce your energy bills is by making sure you find the source of draughts and get rid of them.
6. Only fill the kettle with as much water as you need
If you’re only making one or two cups of tea it really isn’t necessary to fill the kettle to the top. It takes longer to boil the kettle meaning you’re using more energy than is required. From a money saving point of view it’s pennies each time, but it also adds up over time. So do the planet and yourself a favour and only boil as much water as you need (you’ll get your cup of tea quicker as well).
How does saving energy help the environment?“When you consume less power, you reduce the amount of toxic fumes released by power plants, conserve the earth’s natural resources and protect ecosystems from destruction.” – Save on Energy |
7. Check your thermostat
Living in the UK, having some sort of heating during winter is necessary. But to save yourself money and energy you could maybe turn the desired temperature down just a bit or reduce the amount of time the heating is on for each day. Turning your thermostat down by just one degree will reduce your heating bill. Having the heating come on 10 minutes later each day and going off 10 minutes earlier each day will make little difference to how warm the house is but will save you money on power bills.
8. Replace baths with showers and take shorter showers
A bath uses around 80 litres of water, whereas a shower uses only around 35 litres. The more water you use the more energy you’re using to heat it. If you can reduce your shower time by 2 minutes you will save money in energy bills; and your water bills if you’re on a meter. (Average shower time is around 9 minutes). According to research by the energy company Eon, it’s a potential saving of 300m worth of energy a year for the whole of the UK.
Power showers might feel great but they use more water, so if you’re serious about reducing your energy use, and saving water, look into more efficient shower heads. If you need help reducing the time you spend in the shower there are timers available (which are sometimes free from your energy supplier).
What’s using the most energy in your home?“In an average home, the TV, DVD player, set-top box etc account for around 8% of the energy bill, while computers, laptops and printers make up another 5%.” – USwitch |
9. Use a quick wash cycle and a cold wash
It’s rarely necessary to put the washing on for 2 hours at 60º, you can adequately clean your clothes on a cold wash and on a quick wash cycle. Less water, a lower temperature and a shorter spin cycle all save energy and water. It also causes less damage to your clothes so they’ll last longer as well! Use cold water or a 30°C cycle whenever possible.
10. Use timers
For those of us who don’t have central heating and have to use plugin electric radiators (thanks landlord!) invest in a timer so that your radiators come on and go off at set times of the day. Without using a timer it’s easy to leave them on for much longer than they’re required to warm the house and it’s also way more tempting to switch them on during the day for a quick boost of heat (well for me it is anyway).
Timers can also be used for other electrical appliances around the home if you have a bad habit of leaving things on.
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An additional tip is to check your energy supplier. Try to switch to a green energy supplier if possible. At the moment they can be slightly more expensive but that’s because they’re competing with massive companies who can afford to charge slightly less – although I’m sure these larger energy companies could be charging way less than they currently do! Do some research and see what you can find out. The more people who switch to green energy suppliers, the cheaper they’ll become and the bigger companies will start to change their ways when they start losing customers.
Got any more energy saving tips? Let me know.
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These are some really good and practical tips to save energy at home. Thanks a lot for sharing these. I didn’t know showers are better than baths. I used to think it is the opposite. One more point that you can add is the installation of home energy monitoring devices. These help you monitor the power consumption of all your home appliances on your smartphone. This way you’re always on top of things. These actually work quite well and we personally use a device called Ohm Assistant at our home.