Low and No Cost Improvements

Low and No Cost Improvements

A “low and no cost” improvement to your household is something that you can do to improve your living costs. Hopefully, in reading this, you are already making energy efficiency your No.1 priority in reducing your energy costs. You can be assured that you will see a reduction in your energy bills, but do not expect anything astronomical as of yet! This article will look at and give some examples of minor changes to either, your behaviour towards energy efficiency which you may not have yet considered, or low cost changes such as lighting and draught sealing.

It would be a good idea to record any changes that you have made, this then allows you to give yourself a well earned pat on the back when you can see the progress you have made. An example evaluation of a local pub has been provided at the bottom of this article on savings, investments and paybacks as an example of how you can do this to your own home or business.

Most households either have a gas or oil fuel supply, combined with an electricity connection.

Low and no cost solutions at this stage will only be applicable to the electrical consumption of a household. However, measures into making your home more insulated against outside temperatures can start with basic draught proofing including looking into space heating. Due to the necessity of using energy for cooking, it is difficult to reduce energy use and reduction of use is not as substantial as that for electrical appliance and space heating (See Diagram). Despite this there are ways of reducing energy use during cooking.

Lighting your home

Lighting forms 20% of a household’s average electricity bill. Presently there are many energy efficient light bulbs of all different shapes and sizes for you to replace your existing incandescent light bulbs. Despite the myths and people’s misconception (which are now proven to be incorrect), energy efficiency light bulbs are a must have if you want to begin cutting down your energy bills [2].

This is because energy efficient light bulbs use around 80% less energy than old incandescent ones, and it does not cost a fortune to replace all your old lights with them.

Draught Proofing

Dwellings require controlled ventilation in order to keep the air inside dry and fresh. Air should be free to circulate around the entire house in order to exchange stale air for fresh air, therefore minimising stagnant areas of the house where damp and mildew can form. Draughts, however, are uncontrollable, and this results in the house exchanging too much air with the outside. This is most noticeable in the winter, as cold air from the outside leaks in and reduces the temperature of your house, therefore you require more heating to keep your house warm and effectively “throwing money out of your windows”.

Draught proofing is a relatively low cost improvement that can be made to your home and, depending on the situation from house to house, could save you a few hundred pounds in your heating bill. It is important to remember not to attempt doing any higher cost improvements until you have done all you can on the lower cost improvements.

“Do it yourself” draught proofing materials should cost around £100, and to get a professional in you would probably be looking to double this figure.

Areas to look at draught proofing are:

Chimneys & Fireplaces
Doors
Floorboards & Skirting
Loft Hatches
Pipeworking
Wall Cracks
Windows

As well as this, look at key holes and letter boxes. There are purpose built key flaps and draught proof letter boxes available from most DIY shops.

Play the Energy Companies

Energy companies (distribution) do not directly supply electricity and gas to your house. The national grid deals with the transportation of the electricity, whereas the distribution companies are the “go-betweeners” and instigate the selling of energy to a household. Like any business company of this size, they are all in competition with each other to get the highest profits. In order to do this they offer “amazing” deals to try and tempt more people to switch to them. Sometimes this can actually result as being the cheapest solution in the short-run, however, further down the line the prices are slowly increased, and this is why you should always take time to check what you’re currently paying for your energy. Often there is a company cheaper than all of the rest to provide you your energy. In doing this you are effectively “playing the energy companies at their own game”. Every 5-6 months have a look at one of the many price comparison websites and see if there is another energy company out there that will give you a better deal, after all, the energy ineffectively comes from the same pot!

However, when doing this be careful to look at what you are signing up to carefully, some companies in their small print state that you will have to pay a “get-out” fee so that you can switch. Others will give you money for joining their energy company, so it could work out that you do not actually lose money due to this.

Other websites, such as the ones below, will offer to do this and switch between the companies for you, for free. It is often the case that customers are on old tariffs (which they may be paying a lot more money than they could be) or just stick with the same energy company year on year.

Price comparison websites:

Or why not use ESW’s own comparison tool to compare green energy providers in your area?

General tips and changes in attitude

Is your cylinder thermostat set to 60⁰C?
Can you turn down your heating by 1⁰C? If so that may cut your energy bills in heating by 10% Having your heating programmed at a low temperature throughout the day will also keep your heating as efficient as possible. Your main living area should really be set to 21⁰C and all other rooms at 18⁰C.
Free heat when the sun retreats? Capture a few hours worth of free energy by closing all your windows just before dusk. Closing curtains on the north side of you house will act as insulation allowing the suns energy to come through the south side and not allowing much escaping through the south side!
Turn your lights off when you’re not going to be in the room for a while.
Standby is a big no. Some appliances can use around 20% of the energy when just on standby. Switch them off, the pennies add up. Other appliances may have internal clocks which may still draw out energy when not in use.
No half measures with your washing machine…Fill it up! You will use less energy and water for one big load rather than two small ones. Also, try to use your tumble dryer as least as possible.
Only boil as much water as you need in your kettle.
Fix your dripping taps, especially hot ones.