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| Why? Because it'll save you money and be good for the environment. |
Things you can do today at no cost:
- Turn off lights when you leave a room
- Teach everyone in the house to turn lights off in rooms not being
used.
- Only boil the amount of water you need in your kettle
- Turn off televisions, videos, stereos and computers when they are
not in use - they can use between 10 and 60% of the power they use when
on
- Don’t leave fridge doors open for longer than necessary, let
food cool down fully before putting in the fridge or freezer, defrost
regularly and keep at the right temperature
- Close curtains at dusk to keep in heat & tuck them behind the
radiator!
- Let your clothes dry naturally rather than using a tumble drier
- Turning down the thermostat for your heating by 1 degree could cut
your heating bill by 10%
- Set your water thermostat for 60 degrees - this is
plenty warm enough for bathing and washing and will save money too
- Use economy programmes on dishwashers or washing
machines
- Where possible don’t stand cookers and fridges/freezers next
to each other
Things you can do in the future or with an initial
cost:
- Put foil behind radiators fitted on external walls
- Use energy saving lightbulbs - they use a quarter of the electricity
and last much longer
- Insulate your hot water tank and pipes
- Speak to your energy provider about their ‘green tariff’
- they may be able to match your energy consumption with an equivalent
amount of energy from renewable sources
- Fit seals to externals doors, skirting boards and floor boards to
reduce heat loss - 15% of heat is lost through draughts and 15% through
the floor
- Make your windows draught proof or fit double glazing - this cuts
heat loss in half - up to 10% of heat is lost through uninsulated windows
(NB ventilation is essential in rooms with gas, oil or solid fuel appliances
so don’t block of ventilation in rooms with these types of appliances.)
- Fit loft insulation - which should be at least 200mm thick to be most
effective - 25% of heat is lost through an uninsulated roof
- Fit wall insulation - up to 33% of heat is lost through uninsulated
walls
- Replace old inefficient boilers
- Fit solar panels or solar tiles to your roof
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