The energy saving advice you need this winter
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It’s getting colder, the clocks have already gone back, and now it’s time to think how you can save energy in your own home.
There’s so much advice out there and that can be a little overwhelming. So, we’ve put together this short guide to give you some tips on how to save energy throughout your home.
Heating your home
Radiators can play a big part in saving energy throughout your home. One quick way to save energy is to turn down the radiators in the rooms you aren’t using. If you’ve got thermostatic valves on your radiators, set each one to the temperature you need for each space. If you don’t have these valves – just turn off the radiators in any rooms you don’t often use or areas which will warm up anyway from air coming from the rest of your home.
Have you ever thought about bleeding your radiator? It’s something that I think we all can forget to do but it can help! When you bleed your radiator, you will allow air to escape which will help your radiator work more efficiently. This handy guide will show you how to bleed your radiator.
Get smart with your heating. Think about when you actually need it on and the temperature it is at. You could set your heating timer to turn off an hour before you leave in the morning – your home will still stay warm, and you’ll save an hour a day of heating. You could also think about doing this at night.
An easy tip but a worthwhile one: make sure you keep those doors shut. I know some people in your house might need reminding but it’s such a simple way to save energy!
Doing household chores efficiently
Washing your clothes at a lower temperature can help you save energy. On many washing machines, there are so many different options on how to wash your clothes. As Which? explains:
“Doing your laundry at 30ºC (rather than 40ºC) cuts the cost by 38%, according to our tests.”
Only wash when you need to – make sure you have a full load.
Say no to the tumble dryer. It’s tempting to just put all your clothes in the tumble dryer. It’s quick and easy but if you can get your clothes outside on a windy day – it’s much better. We get that not everyone can do this, but you could always use a free-standing airer.
In the kitchen you can save energy with some small changes. One way is to make sure that you don’t pre-heat the oven for longer than you need and boil pans with the lids on.
You can also make sure that you don’t open the oven door too soon as you’ll just let out hot air and then waste energy.
Another great tip is to start batch cooking. Not only will it free up your time in the week to do things that you enjoy, but it’s a great way to save money on energy and ingredients as you’ll only have to use the stove or oven once.
Sort out your appliances
One of the easiest ways to save energy is to turn off your appliances when not using them. This means switching off at the socket. According to the Energy Saving Trust:
“The average UK household spends £55 (45kgCO2e) a year powering appliances left on standby .”
Another simple way to save energy is to turn off your lights when you’re not in the room. It’s easy to forget to do this – we’ve all been guilty of this, but it’s such a quick way to save energy.
One way that we know you can save money is to get yourself a smart meter. A smart meter will help you see how much energy you’re using and when you’re using it. Having this information means that you can keep up to date on your energy usage – saving you energy and money in the process. Find out more here.
These are just a few tips on how to save energy throughout your home this winter, but there is much more information available to you. These handy websites are perfect to find out more about this topic.
Please remember that if you are struggling with your energy bills you can get in contact with us. We want to help, and there are lots of ways we may be able to if you ever have trouble paying your energy bills.
The best thing to do is to get in touch with us as early as you can. We’ll discuss your options, and we’ll do everything we can to make paying your bill as easy as possible for you.
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