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Your Home
Energy efficient home improvement

Making energy efficient improvements to your home is the most cost effective way of reducing your home’s fuel consumption. This section details ways in which you can improve the use of energy in your home. This includes larger renovation projects, such as loft insulation and draught proofing, and smaller things like purchasing energy saving appliances. Every change you make will help cut down your energy bills, as well as cutting down your household’s CO² emissions.

Section 1: Your Home
Energy efficient home improvement

Energy Efficient Renovations:
Renovating your property to make it more energy efficient requires careful thought and consideration. Ask yourself the questions:

What would save me the most money in the long term? Will I need professional help? Can I do the renovations myself? When would be the
best time to renovate my home? What will the costs be?

This section outlines improvements you can make to your home that will save you money in energy bills, and reduce your household’s carbon footprint.

Cavity wall insulation:
Installing cavity wall insulation could significantly reduce the amount of energy used to heat your home, with the average household reducing their heating costs by 15%. Between 2002 and 2005 about 800,000 homes installed cavity wall insulation; and it is estimated that these households will collectively be reducing their output of carbon dioxide by some 400,000 tonnes a year.

So, what is cavity wall insulation?
The majority of houses built after the 1920s have external walls made of two layers with a small air gap or ‘cavity’ between them. Filling this gap with an insulation material will stop heat escaping through the walls, will create a more even temperature in your home and can also work to reduce the amount of heat building up in your home during the hot summer months.

If your cavity walls aren’t filled, you will be spending a lot more on heating your home, as the heat is lost a lot faster through walls that aren’t insulated. If you have cavity walls, insulating them could save you about £120 a year on your fuel bills. Cavity wall insulation is quick, clean and quite cheap to install. It usually costs around £500, and with the savings you make on your heating bills, it can pay for itself in around four years. Financial help may be available to help cover the costs of insulation – see Section 2

Loft Insulation:
If your loft isn’t insulated you could be losing as much as 15% of your heating costs, and with fuel prices increasing the way they are, this is something you will want to avoid. Insulating your loft is a simple and cost-effective way to reduce your heating bills, and you can easily do it yourself. Government grants and funding may also be available to help pay for your loft insulation - see Section 2 The insulation works like a duvet on a bed, trapping the rising heat from the house below. If you install the recommended 270mm depth of loft insulation, you could save around £155 a year on your heating bills. If everyone in the UK topped up their loft insulation to 270mm, around £560m would be saved.

Draught Proofing:
In a typical home 20% of all heat loss is through ventilation and draughts. If you can feel cold air coming in around the windows and from under doors, it means warm air is escaping Draught proofing your house is simple: just fill the gaps to decrease the amount of cold air entering your home. It is an easy, cost effective way to reduce heating bills.

There are various ways this can be done, and a range of materials available, from brushes, foams and sealants to strips and shaped rubber or plastic. You can easily make the home improvements yourself, as most materials are available from DIY shops. On average it’ll cost you about £100 to draught proof your entire house, and can knock as much as £25 off the average household’s annual heating costs, meaning the home improvements will pay for themselves in four years. The Draught Proofing Association: http://www.dpaa-association.org.uk/ can offer advice on what’s best for your home. And you may be eligible for financial help to fund your home improvements - see Section 2 each year, enough money to pay the annual fuel bills of around 530,000 households.

Solid Wall Insulation:
Solid walls lose even more heat than cavity walls; the only way to reduce this heat loss is to insulate them on the inside or the outside. External wall insulation will help create a more even temperature in your home, help prevent condensation on the walls and ceilings and can also reduce the amount of heat building up inside your home during the hot summer months. External wall insulation can be costly, but you’ll quickly see the rewards in your heating bill. By adding a weather-proof insulating treatment to the outside of your wall, the average household could save about £380 a year on their energy bills. The renovation will pay for itself in around 12 years, but is a worthwhile long-term investment.

Solid walls can also be insulated by applying internal wall insulation, which is considerably cheaper than external wall insulation. There are several types of internal wall insulation, including insulation plasterboard laminates, wooden battens in-filled with insulation or flexible linings.

Plasterboard laminates usually consist of plasterboard backed with an insulating material. The laminates, which are fitted directly to the inside of the wall, reduce the amount of heat which can pass through the wall and outside. With these installed, the average household could save around £360 a year on their heating bills. Flexible insulating lining can also be used. It is cheaper and can be bought in rolls like wallpaper which you can hang yourself, at about £42/m². The savings an average household can make on their annual fuel bill with flexible insulating linings are a lot lower than plasterboard laminates - normally around £130 a year.

Double Glazing:
Double glazing can cut heat loss through windows by 50%. It works by trapping air between two panes of glass creating an insulating barrier that reduces heat loss, noise and condensation. Having Energy Saving Recommended double glazing installed can save around £110 a year on your heating bills. Fitting double glazing is a professional job, and so will cost a lot more than other energy efficient home improvements.

Energy efficient appliances
Energy Efficient Appliances:
As a nation, we spend more than £12 billion on home electronics, such as plasma TVs, games consoles and home cinema systems every year, making the Brits the biggest spenders on gadgets in Europe. The increase in electronic equipment and appliances in our homes has put a huge demand on our energy supply. Domestic appliances account for 47% of total domestic electricity consumption, according to the Energy Saving Trust.

And more than a fifth of the average UK household’s annual electricity bill is spent powering consumer electronics and computer equipment alone – with a staggering £2.7 billion spent overall each year. Fridges, freezers and fridge-freezers account for 18% of the electricity bill in a typical house. Washing machines, tumbledryers and dishwashers account for a further 14%. And cooking appliances like hobs 15%.

Making sure you choose energy efficient electronics and appliances when buying something new could not only help to cut down the amount of energy your household uses, but also your bills too.

Washing Machines:
When buying a new washing machine, you will need to think about a few things, such as how often you do a load, which speed and temperature wash you normally use, and the overall costs. You could pay £250 for a washing machine thinking it’s a bargain, but remember the cost of running it could way exceed that figure.

An energy efficient washing machine will use a third less electricity for each wash, which, over its lifetime, could save you more than the cost of the appliance. To work out the average running cost per year, multiply the kWh consumption per wash of the machine by the average number of washes you do a year, and then multiply that by the cost per electricity unit (you can find this on your most recent electricity bill).

For example, if you had an A rated energy efficient machine that used 1kWh of electricity, and you did an average of 104 washes a year (two a week), and your electricity was priced at £0.20 per unit (kW) then your machine would cost £20.80 to run a year:

1kWh x 104 washes x £0.20 = £20.80

Laundry appliances and dishwashers give the consumption per wash, so you need to multiply the kWh consumption figure by the price of your electricity per unit, and then by the number of washes you do per year to get an annual cost.

Fridges and Freezers:
Fridges and freezers are switched on 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, so if they aren’t energy efficient they’ll be costing more to run and will be adding to your household’s carbon footprint. Energy Saving Recommended fridges and fridge freezers use over 60% less energy than one that isn’t Energy Saving Recommended. This will give savings of up to £34 a year for a fridge freezer and £12 for a fridge.

Lights:
One of the quickest and easiest ways you can immediately start saving energy is by switching to energy efficient light bulbs. Priced from around £3, they typically last 12 times longer than ordinary bulbs, and could potentially save you a staggering £7 per year per bulb. With the average home containing 17 incandescent bulbs, you could save up to £120 a year by swapping them over. And you won’t have to replace them as often. Advances in technology mean that energy saving bulbs are now available in a wide variety of fittings, shapes and sizes. These range from traditionally shaped bulbs to round and candle-shaped varieties, with small or medium screw andbayonet fittings. Nowadays, there are even halogen and dimmable energy saving bulbs on the market. And thanks to the invention of ‘soft tone’ bulbs, you can enjoy a warm glow rather than a cold light.

Home Entertainment Systems:
Wherever possible you should try to combine products, as these products will use less energy than two separate products. The latest
integrated digital televisions (IDTVs) have the capacity to receive digital signals without the need for a set top box, so they use one power supply rather than two. Unlike many set top boxes, IDTV’s can be switched off without losing their settings and so don’t have to be left on standby. An Energy Saving Recommended IDTV can save around £5 a year on your electricity bills.

Between 2008 and 2012, all TV transmissions in the UK will be switching to digital: www.digitalchoices.co.uk and all TVs will need to be compatible with a digital signal to be able to receive broadcasts. If you want to replace your TV set, you should buy an IDTV; if not, you can purchase a set top box to receive a digital signal. An Energy Saving Recommended standard set top box consumes 50% less electricity than a typical set top box and therefore will cost half as much to run.

Always remember to switch appliances off properly when you’ve finished using them, rather than leaving them on standby. Almost £700 million worth of energy is wasted in the UK every year by people leaving appliances on standby.

Energy efficient appliances: Follow our simple money saving tips for buying energy efficient electronics:

Under the Energy Saving Recommended scheme only products that meet strict criteria on energy efficiency can carry the logo, so it’s important to do your research before buying any new appliance. There is no need to settle for a product you don’t like just because it’s more energy efficient – many of the latest and most sophisticated electronics carry the Energy Saving Recommend logo.

If you’re buying an appliance from an electrical store, ask a sales assistant about how much energy the product uses, if it is Energy Saving Recommended, and if it has any energy efficient features, such as automatic standby, which will turn the appliance off if it isn’t used for a certain time; or screen blanking, which allows you to listen to digital radio through your TV without using excess energy.

Combining electronics, such as TVs with DVD players or digital set top boxes, means fewer products and less energy usage, which is good for your pocket in both the immediate and long terms. And finally, remember to look for the Energy Saving Recommended logo on any appliance you buy – it doesn’t just appear on appliances like fridges, but TVs, lamps, and hairdryers – anything electronic.

Heating and boilers
Heating and Boiler Energy Efficiency:
The current lifespan of a boiler is around 15 years, so choosing a heating system with a condensing boiler and heating controls could make a huge difference over time. With energy prices now higher than ever, your pocket will certainly feel the difference.

Condensing Boilers:
Condensing boilers are currently the most efficient on the market, as they waste the least amount of energy. They convert more than 90% of the fuel they use into useful heat compared to around 60% for a conventional boiler. By law, all new gas boilers fitted in England and Wales must be condensing ones.

Make sure your installer is CORGI registered and ask about condensing boilers. They will be able to tell you which one would best suit your home. Over half of your household’s CO² emissions come from your boiler, so therefore choosing the right boiler is very important. Fitting a new condensing boiler will not only reduce your home’s CO² emissions by more than 800kg a year, but it could also save you up to £140 a year on your energy bills.

For more information on condensing boilers, visit the Energy Saving Trust website www.energysavingtrust.org.uk. Compare the efficiency of different boilers at www.boilers.org.uk. Log onto: www.boilerchoices.co.uk to compare boiler insurance and all the options available to you.

Heating and boilers
Central Heating Controls:
It’s not just your boiler that can help you cut your energy costs – simply controlling your heating more effectively can reduce annual fuel bills by about 17%. Your boiler doesn’t know when you will or won’t need hot water, or at what temperature you’ll need it, so by having central heating controls fitted you can keep your home comfortably warm, without wasting energy, saving you around £80 a year on your heating costs, and reducing your household’s carbon footprint by 500kg of CO².

Central heating controls allow you to change the temperature of individual rooms, so you’re only heating the rooms you need to, as well as letting you turn your heating and hot water on and off as and when you need to. The control system should also prevent your boiler from providing heat unnecessarily, although if you have an older central heating system you may have to upgrade the controls to get the maximum benefits.

There are several different types of controls, including time switches, room thermostats, and thermostatic radiator valves (TRVs).

Time switches, or programmers, are probably the most energy efficient type of controls, as they let you set a time to turn your heating and hot water on and off automatically – saving youenergy and money. For example, if there is no-one at home between 8am and 3pm, heating hot water and your home during this time would be pointless. Room thermostats automatically switch your heating off once it reaches your chosen temperature, and back on again if the temperature drops below your chosen temperature. A room thermostat should be fixed to the wall of one of your most frequently used rooms, such as the hall way for example, and should be away from draughts, direct sunlight and other sources of heat. TVRs enable you to control the temperature of each room separately, and cut your heating bills further by reducing the flow of water to the radiator as the thermostat reaches its set temperature. They are most efficient in rooms that aren’t used a lot, such as spare bedrooms, and in rooms that tend to overheat quickly, like kitchens and conservatories.

Energy efficient appliances

Energy Efficient Labels There are a range of energy labels on household electronics and appliances that have been created to help you compare the efficiency of products within each category. Only the most energy efficient products will carry the Energy Saving Recommended logo, so remember to look for the logo to guarantee you’re getting the most efficient product you can. Search for products using the Energy Saving Recommended database at www.energysavingtrust.org.uk. Appliances are also labeled with other stickers and logos, as they all use different amounts of energy.

The SEDBUK Label: Boilers have a rating displayed as the SEDBUK label. This is the Seasonal Efficiency of Domestic Boilers in the UK and provides a basis for fair comparison of different boiler models by arranging boilers according to their efficiency. SEDBUK rates boilers from A to G. Only the most efficient boilers carry the Energy Saving Recommended logo.

The BRFC Window Energy Rating: The BRFC Window Energy Rating is a voluntary scheme used by the glazing industry, in which the whole window (the frame and the glass) is assessed on its efficiency at retaining heat. The BFRC Window Energy Rating contains bands from A to G. Only the most efficient windows also carry the Energy Saving Recommended logo.

The European Union (EU) Energy Label: The European Union (EU) Energy label, found on all appliances, tells you the appliances exact energy consumption (in kilowatt hours [kWh]) under normal conditions.

Energy consumption must, by law, be shown on all fridges, freezers, fridge freezers, washing machines, tumble dryers, washer dryers, dishwashers, electric ovens and light bulb packaging. So if you can’t find the label, ask the retailer for assistance, it is their duty to tell you.

The EU energy label rates products from A, (the most efficient) to G (the least efficient). For refrigeration the EU energy label goes up to A++. As part of its drive for improved energy efficiency, the EU is removing the least efficient models from sale, to reduce running costs for consumers and CO² emissions. Since September 1999, manufacturers have had to stop manufacturing fridges, freezers and fridge freezers energy rated D or below.

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