Felt ill when looking at your energy bills recently? There are some pretty painless and simple ways to cut down your energy usage significantly
1. Turn down the heating thermostat and use the programmer
You’ll not notice a 1 or 2 degree change, but each degree will cut bills. You can also work out when you need your heating most – say, when getting up in the morning or when sitting down after the evening meal-and set the heating to come on only when you need it.
2. Install solar panels for your home
Although this method involves a significant outlay, it should be regarded as an investment not only adding value to your home but also for supplying free electricity as well as a 25 year guaranteed government grant.
3. Turn down the thermostat in rooms you are not using
If your radiators have a thermostat then turn it down or off unless you are going to use it. We have a spare bedroom that is not used very often (and also luckily faces south so it is warmed by the sun-well, sometimes) so we have turned off the heating, and turned it down in another room that is not used for most of the day. Its only worth doing this if you close the door !
4. Check your hot water cylinder
Set your heating cylinder at 6O degrees centigrade and no higher and ensure that it has good lagging. If you are continually using power to keep the water unnecessarily hot you will waste energy.
5. Wear Woolies
This is one my mother would have favoured but is an important issue in these times of energy wastage. If it’s really not cold enough to put the heating on, then put on a cardigan or wrap yourself in one of those cheap snuggle blankets whilst you are watching the TV. Nowadays the women of a younger generation can often wear clothes exposing lots of skin. Heat is lost quickly and can lead them to put up the heating. Wrong! Put on a pully or cardi.