Tips for the most energy efficient home – words Alexa Wang
There are lots of very expensive ways to make your home more energy efficient. If you are totally refurbishing a house for example, stripping it right back, then it can be relatively easy to insulate the house as you go.
You can get insulation boards for instance that double up as plasterboard to attach to your walls. That way you can get great insulation and save money on expensive plastering.
If though you want to make your home more energy efficient and you don’t have lots of cash to splash about what can you do? Well here’s a few ways you can make your home more energy efficient without breaking the bank.
Slowly replace your appliances.
Manufacturers of appliances are improving their energy efficiency at a staggering rate. Older fridges and washing machines, for example, might prove to be energy guzzlers compared to the latest designs. So, as you naturally replace them over time buy the most energy efficient machine you can. Gradually your energy use will drop down purely based on the efficiency of your appliances.
Lightbulbs
Okay so now we’re on a roll. It’s the same with lightbulbs. As you replace them go for the most energy saving versions. LED bulbs are now pretty cheap. They last far longer and use less energy. They come in all shapes, sizes and grades of luminosity as well now so no excuse not to use them.
Smart Meter
Yes, I know a smart meter in itself won’t make you home more energy efficient but it will make you use less electricity. Well if you’re anything like us it will. As soon as we got one and started to realise how wasteful we were being it made us change our ways. When you can literally see with your own eyes how much it is costing you it has a big effect on your behaviour.
Check your boiler
Boilers themselves are being produced to run more efficiently in recent times. Yes, buying a brand new boiler could cost you thousands. But why not get the boiler overhauled as we did. We have a monthly maintenance contract so we didn’t have to pay anything extra. We just told them if was running badly, which it was. They replaced some of the most important parts including the hot water pump. You could do this yourself by getting parts through a company such as Complete Pump Supplies. Once they optimised the system it was running almost like a new boiler. Not only was it saving us money it was using a lot less energy and working a lot better for those morning showers.
