You're cosy and warm under the duvet, comfortable and relaxed dreaming about basking in the sun on a white, sandy beach. Suddenly THE MOST IRRITATING noise you have ever heard brings you harshly to reality..... Your alarm clock. Gingerly sliding one leg from under the duvet you realise, to your horror the house is freezing and, sadly, winter has arrived. The time has come..... the heating will have to be switched on.
As a sustainable, carbon friendly enterprise, we have come up with a few tips on how to save money and energy and still keep your home cosy and warm, whilst doing a little bit for the planet at the same time.
Watchfully Warm
One of the obvious ways to save money is to work out your current energy spend and rationalise what is necessary. You can easily do this by taking an online home energy check on the Energy Saving Trust website at www.energysavingtrust.org.uk. Plus look at installing a Smart meter.
Foil the Cold
It may sound a little "Starship Enterprise" but putting tin foil behind the radiators can make your heating more efficient as it reflects heat back into the room, rather than allowing it to escape through the walls. In the meantime, turn down radiators in spare rooms, there is no point in heating the guest room! Also if you're cooking up a casserole or pie in the oven leave the oven door slightly open when you've finished cooking, you can make use of the heat until the oven cools down. Every little helps.
Dont Lag Behind
Lagging pipes and putting a jacket on old-style boilers, plus getting your walls and roof insulated can make a big, money saving. The Energy Saving Trust has some interesting stats to support the benefits of insulation:
45% heat loss through uninsulated solid walls.
25% heat loss through the loft/roof space.
20% heat loss through windows & doors.
That mounts upto a lot of wasted energy. Plus when you insulate there are Eco friendly options; certain Glass Mineral Wool has approximately 55% recycled content and some Rock Wool contains 20% recovered waste material. EPS Bead is CFC, HFC, and HCFC free. When insulating the loft; blown Cellulose is manufactured from recycled newsprint. Go to www.nationalinsulationassociation.org.uk/householder to find out more info. Also hunt out those niggling draughts around windows, doors and even the letter box and get busy with draught excluder tape, it can make a significant difference to the warmth of your home http://www.diy.com/nav/build/insulation/draught-excluders .
Clock On
Before turning the heating up dramatically work out the timer on your boiler so you can wake up to a warm house, you won't have to rocket the temp gauge up, when you get up. At the other end of the day set it to start 20 minutes before you arrive home from work so you can come into a warm, welcoming house.
Why not consider that wearing shorts in October maybe part of the reason why you feel so chilly. Pack the summer wardrobe away and pop on an extra layer of clothing. Put a blanket/throw on the bed instead and there's something very comforting about a snuggly hot water bottle. Plus good news, Beanie hats are officially cool and as your Grandma will tell you, you lose an awful lot of heat through your head. Make a hot drink, snuggle up on the sofa or better still take up exercise, running or cycling, it certainly helps sluggish circulation! All of these tips mean you can reduce the thermostat a couple of degrees saving you money, this could ensure that hiking up the central heating is a last resort. With all the money you will be saving, perhaps your dream of laying on a sun drenched beach may become a reality.
Our friends at 10:10 have some great tips on how to cut our carbon footprint http://www.1010global.org/uk/about