Saving Energy in Your Home – 5 Top Tips for Going Green

Saving Energy in Your Home – 5 Top Tips for Going Green

Going green and saving energy and money at the same time should be something that all homeowners strive for. With that said, many homeowners waste so much energy when a few changes could save them money and the planet.

In this post, we will look at 5 top tips of saving energy in the home.

1. Install Insulation.

Insulation in the walls and the loft can save up to 60% in lost heat energy in the household. Installing the insulation isn’t cheap, but once it’s in you can expect to save on your energy bills year after year. The cost for insulation can range from £300 up to £1000 depending on the size of your home.

The above figure sounds quite high, but you could then expect savings of £300 per year on your energy bills, depending on the size of your home you could see a return on your investment within 1-3 years.

2. Add low flow fixtures in the bathroom.

Your bathroom is the biggest culprit of water wastage in the house. It doesn’t have to be that way though. Using specialist fixtures known as low flow fixtures will help reduce the amount of water waste your home uses per year.

Low flow fixtures work like traditional taps and showerheads with one main exception, that exception being they restrict the rate in which water comes out of them, and this results in less water being used.

There are many bathroom suppliers out there that specialise in eco-friendly bathroom products so there is no excuse to excess water wastage.

If you already have low flow fixtures and your home is still using a lot of water, you could try limiting the amount of time that you leave family members use the shower for.

You should also check to see if there are any leaking taps in your bathroom and get them fixed straight away. Leaking taps can waste hundreds of gallons of water a year.

3. Switch from normal bulbs to LED bulbs.

LED bulbs are much more efficient than your standard bulbs. LED bulbs can be up to 90% energy efficient meaning that 90% of the energy going to the bulb is being released as light energy rather than heat energy. Traditional bulbs, on the other hand, are 20% efficient. 80% of the energy that goes to a traditional bulb is wasted as heat. What a waste of electricity.

4. Turn down the thermostat on your boiler.

No one likes a cold shower so you don’t have to take this tip to the extreme. Simply lowering your boiler’s thermostat slightly will save you in energy costs.  Lowering the boiler thermostat has two effects. Firstly the water doesn’t have to warm up as much (which saves energy) and people who take colder showers are less likely to stay in the shower as long.

5. Stop using the dryer.

I love the dryer at home, it’s so convenient but it’s a massive energy resource hog. When I use the dryer, you can see our home’s energy usage spike considerably on our smart meter. When you turn the dryer on you have to power up the powerful motor inside to make the drum move which is energy-intensive.

My tip would be to only use the dryer when necessary. When you can, hang clothes up outside and let nature dry your clothes for you. You could also invest in a clothes horse to hang your damp clothes up in the bathroom and let them dry naturally.

Conclusion.

There are many ways of saving money and energy in the home, above were 5 of my favourite.  Do you have any energy-saving tips that you could share? If so please leave them in the comments section below.

Guest Article.