Home Energy Saving
Our homes are contributing as much
to climate change as road and rail transport. Our
insulation, heating systems and many appliances are
becoming more energy-efficient, but trends towards
plasma screen TVs and air-conditioning are
offsetting the gains. When buying a home, ‘green
morals go out of the window when compared with
considerations such as location, image and parking
spaces’, to quote a developer. Prove him wrong.
Energy performance certificates and star-rating of
the sustainability of new homes are now in place.
All homes put up for sale now need a
Home Information Pack including an energy
efficiency rating and recommendations for its
improvement.
Saving energy not only helps to
reduce climate change, it saves you money. In Wales
householders waste £360 million a year - £120 per
person, figures that do not even take account of
massive price rises. The
Energy Saving Trust provides lots of
domestic energy efficiency information and you can
click
here
for tips from the South East Wales Energy Agency. An
OWL or similar meter will tell you a lot
about how much electricity you are using.
But take
care not to undo all the benefits of your energy
savings by spending them on goods or activities that
consume more energy.
Always turn off lights and
appliances, including computers and monitors,
when they are not in use (‘stand-by’ on the TV uses
a third of that uses if turned on – an average home
could save £130 a year by turning off all standby
products). Laptop computers use one-tenth of the
power of a desktop model.
 Turn down your central
heating thermostat by just 1°C, saving an average of
£50 on your bills, and set the timer to turn it off
half an hour before bedtime; draw your curtains even
if you have double-glazing; put a foil reflector
behind radiators on outside walls.
Microwave cooking uses much
less energy than a conventional oven.
Only heat as much water as you
need when it is needed, above 60°
(to avoid risk of Legionnaires Disease) but not so hot that you
have to add cold water; have a good jacket on your
hot water tank; avoid small loads and high
temperatures in the washing machine (30-40°
is usually enough) and dishwasher; avoid
using a tumble drier if you can (they are
spectacular energy users); shower rather than take a
bath; boil cooking water in a kettle.
When replacing appliances
consider the energy-efficiency rating (opt for
smaller LCD TVs rather than larger plasma sets); and
replace your light bulbs with energy-efficient ones
(they cost more to buy, but use only about 20% of
the electricity and last much longer). The
EU Energy Label
must be shown on all 'white goods', even on the
internet, and grades items from G (least efficient)
to A; the Energy Savings Trust logo is awarded to
goods that are rated even higher than A or to items
like the most efficient domestic boilers and TVs.
Replacing a 15 year old
boiler
could cut your energy use by nearly a third. The
Welsh Assembly Government's £500 voucher scrappage scheme
is to be limited to those over 60 with G-rated
boilers, but
npower is offering a similar deal for any gas
boiler over 10 years old. It will be worth checking
the energy rating of your present boiler
here. Condensing boilers
are usually recommended but their efficiency in
practice has been questioned unless properly
specified and installed.
Apart from these
economies, you should consider installing at least 270mm
(10ins)
of loft insulation (preferably recycled
newspaper or UK wool), and cavity wall insulation.
 Loft insulation will save the average householder
around £200 a year, so may pay for itself within a
year if the installation cost is discounted (see
next paragraph). Cavity wall insulation savings are
likely to be £130-160 a year. Double glazing may
save you £50 a year and draught-proofing another
£10-20.
Home Insulation Grants may
be available - watch out for the latest incentives
in response to rising energy costs. If you are on certain benefits,
allowances or tax credits, or are over 70, you may be able to have
the work completed free of charge (and central
heating installed where none exists, or central
heating repairs or conversions from solid fuel). Contact the South East Wales
Energy Agency
Energy Efficiency Advice Centre
on 0800 622 6110
or your energy supplier - discounts may be available
even if you are not in the above categories,
reducing the cost of loft or cavity wall insulation
in a 3 bedroom semi to around £200.
If the boiler for your domestic
heating system is more than 10 years old, it is
probably time to think about investing in a more
efficient new one, preferably a condensing boiler
that could reduce your energy use by nearly a third.
Which? magazine will help you make comparisons.
Community Action is
another way of getting involved in energy saving.
The Transition Town movement is driven by the need
to adapt to a peaking in oil production and reserves
- you can find out more about local Transition
groups and organisations like Friends of the Earth
here.
Electricity Supply
You can specify that your
electricity be generated from a renewable source,
such as wind turbines, by choosing the right
supplier. Despite the huge potential for reducing
carbon emissions, surprisingly few of us have yet
done so, and it may not be more expensive. Visit
www.greenenergyhelpline.com. Go to
www.electricityinfo.org to check how much
of suppliers’ power is renewable and to
www.greenelectricity.org
to check the green tariffs available. In a
competitive environment we cannot keep up to date
with advice on the 'best buys' but it is well worth
shopping around.
Two thirds of the energy
input into our centralised generation and
transmission system is wasted by the time it reaches
your home. You can
 generate your own
renewable energy by such means as solar water
heating, solar voltaic cells, small wind turbines,
biomass-fuelled boilers, hydro systems
and ground-source heat pumps. Visit
www.lowcarbonbuildings.co.uk to find out
more about these microgeneration technologies and
government grants that may help you meet
installation costs. Home insulation pays for itself
much more quickly than generating your own energy,
and should be your priority, but any surplus you
feed into the grid will soon earn you money. You will need to check whether
planning permission is required. Be sure that wind
turbines on your property will produce enough
electricity to justify the cost.
Micro CHP (combined heat and
power) units are about the size of a washing machine
and turn the heat that normally escapes through
flues into electricity. They are particularly suited
to older properties that are hard to insulate. For more information go to
www.chpa.co.uk and
be aware of the latest technological developments.
Water
Wales is less threatened by water
shortages than many other parts of the UK, but we
should still consider conservation measures -
climate change could soon lead to more frequent bans
in Monmouthshire on the use of hosepipes, car
washing, etc. Showers
usually use less water than baths; dripping taps
waste water (and energy if it’s a ‘hot’ tap); buy a
toilet that allows you to vary the volume of the
flush, or try reducing it by putting a water-filled
plastic bottle in your cistern; buy a water-saving
washing machine; collect rain water in butts
connected to downpipes for gardening or car washing.
|
