Reduce! Reuse! Recycle!
Here’s some simple ideas to make your home a little greener and also, a little more economical to run:
- Insulate the roof as this is where the vast majority of the heat in your home will be lost.
- Only turn the heating on as and when you need it and vary it according to the temperature. But try and keep your home warm enough to avoid burst pipes.
- Fit draught excluders on windows. It’s really easy to do and makes an immediate impact.
- Only turn on your washing machine when you have a full load which will save power and water.
- Insulate your letterbox against draughts.
- Turn off any lights you don’t actually need on and use energy efficient bulbs which last much longer.
- Bleed your radiators regularly which lets air out of the system and makes it more efficient.
- Turn down the water thermostat just a little as we usually have it set far too high.
- Recycle as much as you can.
- Use more energy efficient electrical items.
- Use less water by using a dual flush toilet.
- Have a shower rather than a bath and you could save over 300 litres of water a week.
- Don’t over-charge your phone – only plug it in when it really needs recharging.
- Buy an LCD (liquid crystal display) TV which is much more energy efficient than an older CRT (cathode ray tube) TV.
- Don’t leave electrical items on standby as they still use about half the energy used when the appliance is on.