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So many of us are currently struggling with the energy crisis that is driving the current cost-of-living crisis. Last October, 4.5 million UK households were in fuel poverty; that has now risen to around 6.7 million and is expected to rise to 8.4 million by April.
Many of us also work from home at least part of the time now, meaning we are using more electricity at home throughout the day, costing us a lot more.
It’s a tough time for us all, and it’s important that we do what we can in our own lives and in our homes to be as energy efficient as possible. An energy-efficient home costs us less to run and is better for the environment too. Making your home as energy efficient as possible is the best way to reduce your costs and keep your home feeling warmer.
There are lots of low-cost ways to help make your home more energy efficient and reduce your costs, so here are some practical and often simple ways you can improve you home’s energy-efficiency.
One of the simplest things you can do is to turn your thermostat down a little. By turning your thermostat down just 1 degree you can save around 7% of your heating energy and cut your bill by £40-60 a year.
You could also consider installing a programmable thermostat so that you can set different temperatures for different times of the day, which also means you don’t leave your home forgetting to switch the heating off and wasting money.
Thermostatic radiator valves allow you to control each radiator individually meaning that you can turn off radiators in rooms that you are not using.
Also, check the settings on your boiler and adjust them if they are too high – setting your hot water to 50 degrees can save you another £90 on average.
Draught-proofing can be a pretty cheap and effective way of saving energy and making your home warmer. You can make your own draught excluders or buy them from local DIY shops and fit them yourself.
Draughty windows and doors can make such a difference to the temperature of your house, allowing cold air in and warm air out. If you have single-glazed windows and you can’t afford or don’t want to replace them, you can use sealant to block up any gaps, or get strips that you stick around the window frame.
If you have gaps at the bottom of external doors you can buy draught excluders (I just bought one for our back door at the weekend from TKMaxx) or you can even make your own with uncooked rice in a pair of tights, or some old clothing filled with bags or whatever else you can think of!
It has been found that draught-proofing around windows and doors could save you another £60 a year as well as making your home much warmer and cosier.
If you have an open chimney that you don’t use, it’s a good idea to draught-proof that as well, potentially saving you around £90.
Making sure your floors are insulated is another way to keep your house warm, but often this can be quite a big job and in many cases can only be done properly when you are replacing flooring or carpets. You can, however, seal gaps between floors and skirting boards with a sealant as a quick fix you can do yourself that will help reduce draughts.
If you have wooden floors you could invest in rugs to add another layer and help to keep you warmer, and make sure you close curtains, shutters and blinds once it starts to get dark to trap that heat in.
As mentioned above, windows are often a big source of heat loss in houses and so another way you can reduce this yourself is by installing shutters. Shutters make a home more energy-efficient as they stop draughts from escaping and keep the heat in.
Installing shutters yourself is much easier than you might think and, compared to paying to have them installed by a professional is a much more low-cost option.
You can get made-to-measure shutters for your windows and choose from full-height, tier-on-tier or cafe style shutters (just covering the lower section of the window) from places like DIY Shutters, who offer lots of easy-to-follow guides and videos so you can successfully measure, order, and install them yourself.
These DIY shutters offer the luxury and quality you want, but at a fraction of the price, and wooden shutters are a really energy-efficient option for your home (better than curtains!) due to the solid material which acts as a barrier, preventing heat loss.
Installing your own shutters saves you money and improves your home’s energy efficiency at the same time whether you have single or double-glazed windows. They’re a great choice if you want to improve your home’s energy efficiency, and they look so lovely too.
Unplugging all appliances and electronics when not in use is a simple approach to save electricity because many of them continue to use energy even when not in use. Consider using power strips that can be turned off while not in use if you don’t want to constantly unplug equipment.
Also, only charge your phones and other items for as long as necessary and don’t leave TVs on standby mode as these all use extra electricity.
Make sure you turn off lights when you leave a room (I’m finally getting better at this!) or set timers for lights to come on if you’re going to be out or away so that you don’t have to put them on before you leave. Motion sensors on lights are also good for stopping energy wastage from people leaving them on. Just one standard 60W lightbulb left on all day could cost you around £89.50 a year, for just one light bulb! That’s a crazy amount if you often leave a few lights on so switch them off!
Switching light bulbs to energy-saving lightbulbs is also a good and simple way to save money as they are more energy-efficient, consuming less energy and lasting longer, as well as being better for the environment.
Insulating your home can make a massive difference and even doing some little bits yourself can really add up.
Make sure your hot water tank has the appropriate insulation if you have one. If your tank is very old, you could buy a foam jacket for around £15 and install it yourself. Your annual heating costs could be reduced by around £70 just by insulating a hot water tank with a new jacket. You can also add insulation to pipes and radiators pretty cheaply to save even more.
An uninsulated home loses 25% of its heat through the roof. A great way to stop heat loss and save your heating costs is to insulate your loft, attic, or flat roof. In some cases, it is possible to insulate your loft yourself if it is accessible and does not have any issues with condensation or dampness.
Have a look at this government site to see if you might be eligible for grants to help with increasing the efficiency of your home.
Radiator reflectors behind your radiators can help keep more of the heat coming into the room. Instead of allowing heat from the radiator to escape through an exterior wall, these panels are attached behind your radiators to reflect heat back into the room, so you only need to install reflector panels on your radiators that are on an external wall.
There are lots of easy ways to reduce the energy used to heat water in your home. You can wash your clothes in cold water which is still effective but hugely reduces the energy required.
You can take shorter showers and fewer baths, and you can sometimes get free gadgets to help reduce your water use from your local council. We recently got a 4-minute timer for the shower to encourage us to take shorter ones and you can get things to easily attach to taps and showers to reduce the water flow.
Make sure you use a washing-up bowl rather than keeping the tap running when washing up, and if you use a dishwasher, only put it on once it is full.
These small changes will make a huge difference to your energy costs over time.
It may be worthwhile getting in touch with your energy provider, who may offer insulation for a discount or, in some cases, for free, depending on the current scheme. See if you qualify for the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) and speak to your local council and ask about any schemes operating in your area. If you rent your home, then by law landlords must ensure it is safe and habitable so contact your local authority if that is not the case.
There are, of course, lots of bigger, more expensive things you can do to make your home more energy efficient, such as replacing the windows and doors, installing solar panels, getting wall insulation, getting a new energy-efficient boiler and more, however, these aren’t possible for a lot of us with limited funds to pay for professional installations and new products.
The ideas above are mostly simple things that can be done quickly and often by yourself, improving your home’s energy efficiency and saving you money on the work and the cost of energy.
Small actions can really add up too; washing your clothes in cold water, keeping pans covered when cooking, wrapping up in blankets, switching the lights off before leaving the room and closing your shutters or curtains when it gets dark can all make a big difference.
Energy conservation benefits the environment as well as your utility bill. We have faced environmental issues in recent decades that must be addressed for the benefit of our shared future.
This is a collaborative post.
Sources:
https://www.nea.org.uk/energy-crisis/
https://energysavingtrust.org.uk/advice/draught-proofing/
https://www.iea.org/topics/saving-energy
Welcome to Birds and Lilies! I'm Lou: mother, blogger and freelance writer. This is my lifestyle blog, where I talk about motherhood, infertility and IVF, beauty, my love for food and wine, as well as my thoughts about stuff, and our real-life and travel adventures.
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