A few tips on saving energy, water and money. The easiest way to keep track of your bills is by using an Energy Monitor.
Make sure technology is switched off
It’s so easily done, you’d be surprised at how much power is used by things that are left on standby. Turning things off at the plug or unplugging them could save wasted energy. Get in to the habit of turning off certain appliances once you’ve finished using them. Turning things off could save the average household between £45 and £80 a year according to Energy Saving Trust.
Change your usage
Changing the settings of certain appliances can really make a difference. When it comes to your washing machine, change the temperature setting to 30°C which uses around 40% less electricity than higher temperatures. Most washing powders are optimised to be just as effective at lower temperatures.
Try opting for a shower rather than a bath as research conducted by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) a bath requires 70 gallons of water whereas a shower uses 10 to 25 gallons. A dishwasher can surprisingly be more eco-friendly than washing dishes by hand as it uses less water for washing and rinsing etc. If you do need to wash dishes by hand use a bowl of water rather than leaving the tap running.
When boiling the kettle make sure it’s the amount you intend to use as research shows that we boil twice as much water than we need wasting energy and water.
Heating
Draught-proofing your home could save you money too. Heat escapes through small gaps in the house, ones you won’t even notice, trying to cover these draughts could keep heat in your home meaning you won’t have to turn the heating as high. Another way to save is to make sure your heating is turned off when you’re away and lower while you’re asleep.
Lighting
There is a range of energy saving light bulbs and LEDs on the market that can replace the lights inside and outside the home. With lighting making up 20% of household energy bills changing things could make a dramatic difference to cutting down on energy costs. A lot of people are in the bad habit of leaving lights on in a room which can obviously waste a lot of energy so simply making sure lights are off in unoccupied rooms saves energy. Another tip is to use desk and table lamps to light up an area of the room rather than light the whole room. Obviously the most energy reducing option is to replace your lights with LED lights to save up to 90% of the energy used.
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