Energy Efficiency at Home

Top Ten simple tips for saving energy in the home

Turn your thermostat down. Reducing your room temperature by 1°C could cut your heating bills by up to 10 percent. You could save around £40 per year.
Is your water too hot?Your cylinder thermostat shouldn’t need to be set higher than 60°C/140°F.
Close your curtains at dusk to stop heat escaping through the windows.
Always turn off the lights when you leave a room.
Don’t leave appliances on standbyand remember not to leave appliances on charge unnecessarily or leave unused chargers switched on.
If you’re not filling up the washing machine, tumble dryer or dishwasher, use the half-load or economy programme.
Only boil as much water as you need in the kettle (but remember to cover the elements if your kettle is electric).
A dripping hot water tap wastes energy and in one week wastes enough hot water to fill half a bath, so fix leaking taps and make sure they’re fully turned off!
Use energy saving light bulbs. Just one can save you £60 over the lifetime of the bulb - as they last up to 10 times longer than ordinary light bulbs.
Complete an Energy Savings Trust Home Energy Check. Just answer a few simple questions about your home and they’ll give you a free, impartial report telling you how you can save up to £250 a year on your household energy bills.

For more simple tips on saving energy go to www.energysavingtrust.org.uk

Electrical Appliances

Have you ever wondered how much your fridge costs to run a year? Or how much electricity the latest ’must have’ widescreen televisions use? The truth is that few people really understand the actual cost of electrical items in their home.

An energy monitor is a device you can attach to your electricity meter that shows you how much energy you’re using in real time. It shows how much your electricity use is going to cost every day and every month, unless you alter your behaviour. You can use an energy monitor to check you haven’t left things on when you go to bed or leave the house or check older appliances that may not work as well as they once did and can cost a lot of money to run - it’s not intended to stop you using your energy responsibly, just to stop wastage. It can’t save you money on its own but it can really help you change your habits. Review a range of energy monitoring systems at www.electricity-monitor.com or www.energymonitorworld.com

If you want to check out the energy use of a product before you buy, a website called Sust-it compares the running costs of 1000s of standard electrical products currently on the market. They also have an energy calculator allows you to work out the running cost of any of your existing home electrical items using a range of electricity tariffs. Go to www.sust-it.net for more information.

The Energy Saving Trust Recommended scheme has been running since 2000 to identify the most energy efficient products on the market. The scheme has been developed as an easy and instantly recognisable way for consumers to identify Energy Saving Recommended Products. To find out more go to the Energy Saving Trust website.

Insulating your property

Diagram of % heat loss from parts of a house Figures show that a house without any insulation loses around 25% of its heat through the roof and 35% through the walls. With a changing climate and rising costs of fuel bills, it pays to insulate your property.

The most cost-effective measures are loft insulation - 270 mm (10"-11") and draught-proofing which you can choose to do yourself or employ a installer, and cavity wall insulation, which requires a specialist contractor.

Insulation discounts and grants are often available for householders on benefits or low income and for the able-to-pay sector too. To find out more, click on the link above or contact Arun’s Energy Efficiency Officer on 01903 737755, or e-mail energy.efficiency@arun.gov.uk. Alternatively contact the Energy Saving Trust Advice Centre on 0300 123 1234.

Heating your property

Boiler with controls Boilers account for around 60% of all domestic carbon dioxide emissions. Replace your old, inefficient boiler by fitting a new high efficiency condensing boiler with thermostatic heating controls, you will significantly cut your home CO2 emissions and could save around £200 a year. If you are not sure what type of boiler you currently have, visit the boiler efficiency database for guidance. See our energy grants page for details of any financial assistance available for the repair or installation of a boiler.

Solar water heating systems use heat from the sun to work alongside your conventional water heater. Solar water heating can provide you with about a third of your hot water needs. The average domestic system reduces carbon dioxide by around 350kg per year, depending on the fuel replaced. There are a number of effective alternatives to fossil fuels that can meet your energy requirements and reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

To find out whether a solar panel would be suitable for your house and find out more about other renewable energy systems that are available, check out our renewable energy advice pages.

Useful contacts

Jo Brooks

Arun District Council Energy Efficiency Officer

01903 737 755

energy.efficiency@arun.gov.uk.

Energy Saving TrustAdvice Centre

0800 512 012

www.energysavingtrust.org.uk

You can also visit one of Arun’s Energy Efficiency Information Points at:

Bognor Regis Town Hall
Wellbeing Annexe - Bognor Regis
Arun Civic Centre, Littlehampton