With winter starting to gaze in our general direction, it’s time to refresh our memories about all the ways we can save on energy usage throughout the colder months. Thanks to the drop in temperatures, our bills usually start to rocket thanks to increased use of heating and electricity during the dark evenings, but there are plenty of ways to minimise the impact this has on our bills.
We’ll focus on heating and hot water in this first part, though there will be plenty of extra energy saving tips in Part 2 as well.
Save Energy with Heating
Let’s tick off some obvious ones first. Wearing an extra layer or two before turning up the heating is a very good thing to do. Try several thinner layers instead of just one big one and you might be surprised just how long you can hold off turning that heating up.
Once the heating is on, make sure your furniture isn’t right up against any of the heaters or radiators in the home as they will block the heat. If you have a radiator under a window, make sure the curtains are tucked behind the top of it so the heat can reach the rest of the room.
Any unused rooms should have their radiators turned right down and the doors closed to save from unnecessarily heating them. However, don’t turn the radiator off completely as that can encourage damp.
Try cheeky little tricks like turning the thermostat down by one or two notches. You’ll be unlikely to notice the difference until your bill arrives costing as much as 10% less than it would otherwise. Better yet, turn the heating off completely overnight and use a hot water bottle to keep you warm during the night instead. If cold mornings frighten you, then use a timer to turn the heating on a half hour or just long enough to add some heat to the house before you need to get up.
Save Energy with Hot Water
Any homes that use an immersion heater can greatly benefit from having the temperature of the heater turned down a notch or two (though never below 60 degrees). As with the central heating, you’ll barely notice the difference in your day to day life, but it can have a significant impact on your bills.
Also don’t leave your hot water on overnight as that is unnecessary energy expenditure. Use a timer to make the heating come on for a couple of hours in the morning when you need it. If you have an electric shower, then you can make good savings by ensuring you spend no more than a few minutes in it each time. It’s tempting to stay in there for longer, I know, especially during winter. But electric showers consume a lot of energy so there’s plenty of money to be saved with quicker showers.
Look out for Part 2 of this blog which will focus on ways to save energy in the kitchen and the rest of the home.
