Top Tips for Saving Energy!
1. Turning your thermostat down by 1o C, could cut your heating bills by up to 10 percent, and save you around £55 per year.
2. Close your curtains at dusk to stop heat escaping through the windows and check for draughts around windows and doors.
3. Always turn off the lights when you leave a room.
4. Eliminate draughts and wasted heat by installing a cheap, easy-to-fix brush or PVC seal on your exterior doors. Letterboxes and keyholes should be covered too. You can install draught proofing yourself. Stop draughts and heat escaping by filling gaps under skirting boards with beading or mastic sealant. That'll save around £20 off your heating bills every year!
5. Switch to energy saving light bulbs. They last around 10 times longer than ordinary light bulbs, and each bulb you fit could save around £40 over its lifetime.
6. Insulate your hot water tank with a jacket. It only costs a few pounds and pays for itself within months. Fit one that's at least 75mm (3") thick and you could save around £35 a year. If every UK household fitted a jacket on their tank tomorrow, we'd save around £160 million of energy every year!
7. Insulating an empty loft can save you around £150 a year, or £45 if you're topping up.
8. Around a third of the heat lost in an uninsulated home is through the walls. Not all buildings are suitable, but if your home was built between the 1920s and 1990s, then it could be a candidate for cavity wall insulation. You could save up to £115 on your annual heating bills!
9. Switch to a high-efficiency boiler. If your boiler is over 15 years old, it's probably time to replace it. By law, new gas boilers in England and Wales must now be of the high efficiency condensing type, Replacing your old boiler with a new A-rated condensing model with a full set of heating controls, will save you up to a quarter on your heating bills straight away.
10. Don't leave appliances on standby, and remember not to leave appliances on charge unnecessarily - this could save around £40 per year on energy bills.
11. Look out for the energy saving recommended logo when you're buying new electrical appliances. The logo appears on a growing range of products - from light bulbs to laundry appliances, indicating the most energy efficient appliances, which are also cheaper to run.
12. Keep twice as warm with double glazing! Replacing single glazing with Energy Saving Recommended double glazing cuts heat loss through the windows by 50 percent and could cut your heating bill by up to £135 a year. If you can't afford to replace all the windows, why not choose the rooms that cost the most to heat, such as the living room and occupied bedrooms.
Still not sure what are your home's weak spots?
If you are not sure which energy efficiency measures are suitable for your home, and you like a Free Home Energy Audit, please contact |Action Surrey. If you do not have access to the Internet, please call Action Surrey on 0800 783 2503 with your enquiry or email Action Surrey at info@actionsurrey.org
Once a visit has been made, energy efficiency measures will be recommended to you which will provide you with the most appropriate cost savings and energy savings. With your agreement, we can also refer you to trusted organisations who will look to install energy saving measures in your home, either free of charge or at discounted prices. If you are a tenant, please note that it will usually be necessary to have your landlord's agreement to install energy saving measures in your home.
