Page last updated at 15:57 GMT, Monday, October 19 2009
Ways to Save Energy
To get indepth advice about energy in the home you can go to
the Energy
Saving Trust website or call the Energy Savings Trust
Advice Centre on 0800 512 012.
Electricity
You may now borrow one of these currentcost
counter-top electricity display monitors from
any Eastleigh library at no cost. The monitor is
easy to use - just clip on to your mains wire, and plug
the monitor in. It will show you the amount of
electricity you are using at any one time and has been
shown to be very effective in reducing consumption - and
bills! Pop into your local library to find out more, or call
Eastleigh Borough Council's Home Energy Conservation Officer
on 023 8068 8274.
Heating
If
your home is not insulated, you are wasting energy. Heat is
leaking to the outside through your walls, roof, floor, doors and
windows.
New homes are built with high standards of
insulation. Older properties may have no
insulation. Your loft insulation may have been put in
many years ago when standards were much lower. It
is well worth adding an extra layer to keep your bills down.
Take steps to reduce heat loss from the roof
and walls as this is where most heat escapes. The cost of these
insulation measures means you quickly recoup your investment
through savings on fuel bills.
As can be seen from the picture, quite a small
amount of heat is lost through the windows. This
means double glazing is not the most cost effective
way of saving
energy.
To calculate your carbon emissions you
can use the Government's Emissions
Calculator
Loft insulation
The majority of the houses
in the Borough have some loft insulation fitted. For many
homeowners this was put in many years ago when standards of loft
insulation were much lower. As the current standard
is now 10 inches of loft insulation, it is worth
checking if yours was done some time ago.
There is a range of insulation materials available.
The most common, found in DIY stores or offered by installers
under grant scheme, are:
- Blown mineral wool / blown mineral fibre (from professional
installers only) - usually installed where access is limited
- Mineral wool quilt
- Loose fill e.g. warmcell (recycled newspaper)
There are more environmentally friendly alternatives, such as
insulation made from sheep's wool, which are likely to cost
you slightly more.
- Visit our grants page to find out
more.
Cavity Wall Insulation
Over 5 million
homes in this country have cavity wall insulation, with the
potential for many more homes to have it installed. The
Energy Savings Trust have published a Information
Guide to give you more information about
this.
There are various ways that you may able to get financial help
for cavity wall insulation and other heating works. Visit our
grants page to find out
more.
The Cavity Insulation Guarantee Agency (CIGA) www.ciga.co.uk is a
government backed agency and trade association. It approves
installers on the basis that they guarantee their work for 25
years. Through this scheme any defects in materials or workmanship,
in connection with the installation by a member installer, will be
rectified without charge to you. The CIGA website also has a useful
frequently asked question
section about cavity wall insulation
Example: a typical 1970's semi detached
house.
For this type of house investing £500 in energy efficiency
measures would save £200 on the annual fuel bill. This means that
the occupant would recoup their investment in just 2 1/2
years.
New Central
Heating Boiler
If you are looking to replace
your boiler, it is now a legal requirement under Building
Regulations that you install a condensing boiler, unless you can
demonstrate that this is impracticable or unreasonably expensive in
your particular case. Ask your Gas Safety Registered
installer for information about how to appeal. These
high efficiency boilers are typically 88% efficient, compared to
standard new boilers which are around 72% efficient.
The Energy Savings Trust has published a Heating
Guide , which includes information about
condensing boilers, programmers and more.
When replacing a gas fired boiler, always
use an installer registered under the Gas Safety
Register to do the work.
See the
Government's Direct website for more
information on boilers and the Gas Safety
Register.
Improve heating controls
Without heating
controls it is hard to control the level of heating in your
home. You can cut your central heating costs by up to 17% by
controlling these four things:
- Room temperature
- Temperature of stored hot water
- On/off times for heating and hot water
- Switching off the boiler when heating is no longer needed
| |
Full Controls
(room thermostat, cylinder
thermostat, timer, TRV's)
|
Thermostatic Radiator Valves |
Room Thermostat |
| |
|
|
|
| Costs recovered in |
2-5 years |
5-10 years |
4-7 years |
The EST Heating Guide (download through link above) contains
more information.
Low energy lights
Low energy lightbulbs
last up to 12 times longer than a standard light bulb and use far
less energy, saving around £10 a year on electricity
bills for each bulb fitted. A 20 watt low energy bulb is as
bright as a 100 watt standard bulb.
The best place to fit these bulbs is where lights are left on
for long periods such as the living room, hallway and
landing. Low energy bulbs cannot be used where an
electronic timer or dimmer switch is fitted.
These light bulbs are now widely available in DIY stores and
supermarkets and come in many shapes and sizes. Both Bayonet
and screw fittings are available. Energy companies often run
offers where low energy bulbs are available at a greatly reduced
cost. Look out for these offers with your next gas or
electric bill.
Windows
While windows themselves lose heat
quickly through the glass, as the overall area of window is small
compared to other surfaces of your house (such as the walls), they
only account for 5-10% of the heat lost from your home.
The EST Heating Guide (download through link above) contains
more information.
Double glazing has become very popular in recent years. As
it is relatively expensive and the amount of heat saved fairly
small, you may not wish to consider it for energy saving reasons
alone. Good draught proofing and thermally lined curtains can
significantly cut heat loss and will cost much less.
Double glazing is popular for other reasons such as
security, noise reduction and reduced maintenance. You need
to weigh up all these factors before replacing your windows.
Under current building regulations, when replacing windows
they must be fitted with low emissivity glass (sometimes
called 'low-E' or 'K-glass'). You should look for a
FENSA registered
installer to make sure the windows are fitted to building
regulation standards.
Further things to consider:
- uPVC (plastic) windows do not last forever.
They represent a large waste disposal problem as they do not
break down. The manufacture of uPVC also uses large amounts
of energy.
- A number of manufacturers offer timber framed double
glazed windows which are a more sustainable alternative.