We’re all responsible for the energy we use in our homes. Whether you’re a homeowner, private or social renter there is countless measures that you can apply to reduce how much energy you use and how much money you spend.
Older homes within Scotland handle heat and moisture differently compared to more modern types of building structures, it’s vital to understand how your property works in order to change for the better.
On average, about 25% of heat loss is through the roof, 35% through the walls, 15% through the floor and 25% from windows and draughts.
If you compare what you do to yourself to keep you warm when you go out, it’s really easy to understand how these measures work for your property. If you take loft insulation for an example, when this measure is applied to your property it reduces the heat loss through the roof, this is exactly the same when it comes to wearing a hat outside to keep you warm; heat rises even when it comes to your body. Firstcall highly recommends getting loft insulation installed into your property because this is one of the cheapest energy efficient measures that you can implement in your home, you can see saving around £240 per annum (based on a detached house with no loft insulation).
The first thing you need to do in order to reduce your energy and fuel cost is to determine what problems you have been getting with your property, for example drafts – drafts are probably one of the most easiest problems to fix and is one of many measure that the home-owner can actually do themselves. If you are wary in what your property needs carried out in order to keep your fuel cost down, it will be worthwhile getting an EPC (Energy Performance Certificate) carried out on your property as this shows recommendations to establish what measure will be the most effective to your property.
You might want to think about getting a Greendeal assessment carried out on your property as this includes an EPC assessment within the report as well as an occupancy assessment; the reason that Firstcall recommends getting a Greendeal assessment carried on your property is that it opens up Scottish Government cashback funding for a verity of energy efficient measures. To see exactly what energy efficient measure are eligible to claim and the amount of cashback you can get for them click here.
There is a few energy efficient measure that you can actually carry out yourself and they are, Loft Insulation, Draft proofing and LED lighting all are very easy to carry out yourself and are fairly cheap to obtain the material. Draft proofing is self-explanatory when it comes to installing it as well as LED lighting. LED lighting isn’t like how it was 5 years ago; there is no need for any special light fixtures and they are at the same brightness as inefficient blubs. LED light bulbs now come in a wide variety of standard light fixings compatible with all fixtures, installing LED light bulbs is as easy as taking out your old light bulb and putting in your new LED bulb. When installing loft insulation be wary of the gaps in-between the joyces (The timber beams) for obvious reasons for more information regarding self-installation of loft insulation click here.
There is also measure that you can apply that will reduce your energy bill and they don’t even cost you a penny to implement them, these measures are as what follows:
- Switching off Appliances – You can save around £30 a year just by turning your appliances off standby mode. Almost all electrical and electronic appliances can be turned off at the plug without losing their programming. Check the instructions for any appliances you aren’t sure about. Some satellite and digital TV recorders may need to be left plugged in so they can keep track of any programmes you want to record.
- Kitchen Care – If you use your Kitchen appliances correctly, you can make savings around £50 a year if you follow these steps:
- If you use a bowl to wash up rather than a running tap you could save £30 a year in energy bills.
- If you fill your kettle with the amount of water that you need you can save around £7 a year.
- Cutting back on your washing machine use by just one cycle per week can save you £5 a year on energy, and a further £8 a year on metered water bills.
- Spending Less Time in the Shower – Spending one minute less in the shower each day will save you around £10 off your energy bills each year, per person. With a water meter installed in your property this will save a further £15 off of annual water and sewerage bills. If everyone in a four-person family did this, it would lead to a total saving of £100 a year.
- Turn off your Lights – Turn your lights off when you’re not using them.If you switch a light off for just a few seconds, you will save more energy than it takes for the light to start up again, regardless of the type of light. This will save you around £15 on your annual energy bills.
In total these steps can save you around £195 a year from just using your appliances effectively if you even turned down your thermostat by just one degree you can save between £85 and £90 a year, simple steps that make a big difference. Firstcall have been in the business for almost 10 years now, we understand what the consumer wants and that is value for money, getting the best product at the cheapest price.
If you are looking for dramatic savings within your home you might want to look into getting a new boiler fitted, if you swapped from a G-Rated gas boiler to A-Rated condensing combi boiler you will save upwards of £300 a year and the boiler itself is 30% cheaper to run.
Also wall insulation is another energy efficient measure that will make dramatic saving, depending on type of building structure that you have will differ in the type of insulation that you will require.Cavity wall insulation is where the cavity of you property is filled with beads or fibres to insulate the cavity, reducing heat lost through your walls.
Solid wall insulation is completely different when it comes to insulating your home; insulated boards are fixed to either the exterior or interior facing of the wall to greatly reduce heat lost. In comparison to each other solid wall insulation will save you more than cavity wall insulation, a typical detached house will save £275 a year from cavity wall insulation where solid wall insulation will save £455 a year on fuel bills.
Some of these measures above do cost a lot of money but in a couple of years’ time they will pay for them self and then some, benefiting you in the long run. Firstcall are here to get the best for our customers we hope that this information will help you in the future.
