Cold homes are detrimental to our health and wellbeing. With many people still struggling with the cost of heating their homes, we’ve compiled some simple home energy saving tips which we can all adopt to reduce our energy use, fuel bills, and carbon footprint.
Home energy saving tips
1. Reduce room temperature
Turn your thermostat down. Reducing your room temperature by 1°C could cut your heating bills by up to 10 percent and typically saves around £55 per year. If you have a programmer, set your heating and hot water to come on only when required rather than all the time.
2. Reduce water temperature
Is your water too hot? Your cylinder thermostat should be set at 60°C/140°F.
3. Keep heat trapped in
Close your curtains at dusk to stop heat escaping through the windows and check for draughts around windows and doors.
4. Switch off your appliances
Don’t leave appliances on standby and remember to unplug laptops and mobile phones when fully charged.
5. Switch off unnecessary lights
Always turn off the lights when you leave a room.
6. Avoid half loads
If possible, fill up the washing machine, tumble dryer or dishwasher: one full load uses less energy than two half loads.
7. Don’t overfill the kettle
Only boil as much water as you need (but remember to cover the elements if you’re using an electric kettle).
8. Fix dripping taps
A dripping hot water tap wastes energy. In one week it could waste enough hot water to fill half a bath. Fix leaking taps and make sure they’re fully turned off.
9. Use energy saving lightbulbs
Energy saving lightbulbs last up to 10 times longer than ordinary bulbs and using one can save you around £40 over the lifetime of the bulb. If you’re replacing a high wattage incandescent bulb, or one used for more than a few hours a day this saving could jump to around £65.
Our Experience
Through our work with local authorities and social housing providers, we are well aware of the importance of helping vulnerable people out of fuel poverty. Anthesis offers a range of services to help provide reliable and cost-effective heating. Alongside building stock improvements, we often support our clients by delivering behaviour change programs for their residents.
Behaviour change programs involve providing residents with bespoke advice on how to reduce their energy use, based on their individual property and circumstances. When applied, the energy saving techniques result in a reduction in the residents’ fuel bills, meaning they can afford to maintain a warmer and healthier home.
We hope you have found these tips useful. If you would like to find out more about our behaviour change programs, please contact us by filling in the form below.
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