Over the past year public interest in energy efficiency has skyrocketed, thanks in part to the media coverage of the climate crisis as well as the financial effects of the cost of living crisis. This has all pushed people to improve the energy efficiency of their homes to save the planet and cut down their utility bills at the same time.
If you want to get ‘green’ and improve your home’s efficiency, but don’t know where to start, worry not as we have collected 6 handy tips you can use to cut your utility bills and avoid wasting energy!
Cut Costs With Energy Efficient Lighting
Whenever you’re trying to improve your home’s energy efficiency, it’s usually a good call to start with your home’s lighting. Newer modern LED lightbulbs are much more efficient than old style bulbs and will use notably less electricity. These modern LED bulbs also have a much longer lifespan than other bulbs, meaning they need to be replaced less frequently which will also save you money in the long term.
Increase Thermal Retention By Insulating Windows
In colder months, windows are a prime area for heat loss, as cold air from outside leaks through your windows and hot air leaks out. By installing some thermal blinds from DotcomBlinds.com will help insulate your home’s windows, which will improve the thermal retention of your home and reduce heat loss through your windows.
Ensure All Your Large Appliances Are Running Efficiently
If you don’t regularly maintain your home’s electric appliances like fridges and dishwasher, you could be making them less efficient and more costly to run. By ensuring that your appliances are in tip top condition will make them run much better, for example: defrosting your freezer twice a year or even simply cleaning your dishwasher regularly can make them run more efficiently and use less power to use.
Insulate Water Pipes To Fight Heat Loss
The pipes that carry warm water from your boiler to your radiators and taps could be making your home less efficient. As it gets colder, these pipes become an area ripe for heat loss as the cold air cools the water inside them. This can be rectified however by simply insulating these pipes with a foam jacket, to help insulate them and avoid heat loss.
Ditch Your Oven For More Efficient Appliances
While ovens are a standard kitchen appliance, they’re not incredibly power efficient for what they do. Unless you’re cooking a large feast, most meals can be cooked in slow cookers, air fryers or on the hob, all of these are more efficient ways to cook than using an oven, as they need to heat less space, they use a lot less power than a full oven would need to cook.
Be More Strategic When Doing Chores
Our final tip for how you can be more green at home, is by making sure you do chores that involve appliances like washing machines or dishwasher with a bit more planning than usual. While running the dishwasher half full is fine when done occasionally, you’ll waste electricity by doing smaller loads of washing, so you should try to only wash full loads.
