Go green to beat the energy crunch
7:00am Saturday 16th August 2008
Nearly 16 million people across the UK will face a £250 increase in their energy bills this year - but with our tips, you can keep your costs down and prepare for what could be a very cold winter ahead. We talk to energy specialists about how to reduce your consumption and go green in the process.
By Kate Hodal The sun has disappeared behind heavy clouds, summer's nearly over, and to make it all worse, some 16 million Britons are facing a £250 increase in their energy bills this winter.
British Gas's plans to raise its fuel bills by 35% - increasing its price rise by 45% already this year - will turn the average household's dual fuel bill into a hefty £1,322 price tag. Coupled with the credit crunch, an energy crisis just seems plain unfair.
But by taking a few simple steps in your own home, you could actually cut your yearly bills by nearly £300. So for those families who have been wondering whether they'll have only enough money to heat the house or feed the kids come December, help is at hand - and it promises to not only be cost-effective but eco-friendly, too.
The UK Government will fund families aiming to go green by providing up to £2,700 to households on certain benefits. This scheme is known in England as Warm Front, in Northern Ireland as Warm Homes, in Scotland as Warm Deal and the Central Heating Programme and in Wales as the Home Energy Efficiency Scheme. For full details on how to apply for a grant, see www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/what_can_i_do_today/energy_saving_grants_and_offers.
:: GET THE BASICS RIGHT Patrick McCool, who runs his own energy-assessment company, Make My Home Green [www.makemyhomegreen.com], says draughty British houses are incredibly heat inefficient.
But before recommending throwing money into expensive double-glazing and thick carpets, he says that little steps across the house can add up to a very eco-friendly whole. It's just all about getting the balance right.
"There's a lot to do in the house before you worry about things like renewable energy - solar panels and wind turbines and the like," McCool says.
"Nearly half of our emissions in the UK come from buildings, with 27% of that from domestic buildings, so we need to start looking at our properties differently in how we heat and cool them.
"Most houses in the UK perform really badly in terms of energy efficiency and it's relatively simple to make them work a lot better - you just need to know what to do."
:: GIVE YOUR HOUSE A HAT We've all heard that we lose most of our body warmth through the top of our head - but the same can be said for our homes. Around 15% of a house's heat is lost through the roof - but by insulating your loft with 270mm of insulation materials, you could save £150 on your heating bills, according to government agency The Energy Saving Trust.
"The number one thing you should do - before anything else - is insulate your loft," agrees McCool.
"Most people have some form of loft insulation, but by making sure you have enough you'll save loads of the heat in your house."
Depending on how much you want to spend, insulation can range from cost-friendly Rockwool (made from glass fibres), to sheeps' wool, to hemp, to Warmcel (made of recycled newspapers, see www.naturalinsulations.co.uk), to Eco-wool (made from recycled plastic bottles and stocked at B&Q, www.diy.com or www.eco-wool.co.uk).
"The ultimate is to use sheeps' wool, which is naturally sustainable and excellent at insulating your walls in winter against heat," McCool says.
"It absorbs all the moisture from the cold air outside and then, in the summer when it's hot, the wool gives off the stored moisture and helps to cool the house. It's a great insulator and definitely worth the money."
Once you've done the loft, the next step is to take a look at your walls, as homes lose nearly 50% of their heat through both the loft and walls when uninsulated.
The EST says around 33% of that heat loss is due to warm air escaping through the walls, so insulating them will save you around £120 a year and keep you warm come autumn.
While putting 100mm of wall insulation against a standard brick wall might shrink a room ever so slightly, McCool says it's well worth the hassle.
"It will transform a solid brick wall into a modern cavity-insulated one - and you'll definitely notice the difference in warmth."
:: TURN THE THERMOSTAT DOWN We've all heard that turning the thermostat down just one degree can slash 10% off our energy bills - so why aren't more of us actually doing it?
"The average house is heated to three degrees warmer than it used to be 20 years ago," says Edwin Lloyd, who started My Greener Home [www.mygreenerhome.co.uk], a site dedicated to lowering energy bills, in response to his escalating fuel costs a few years ago.
"We're used to going around in t-shirts and shorts in the house, when really we should get used to long-sleeved shirts and jumpers."
Lloyd recommends energy meters, like the Wattson [www.diykyoto.com, or www.mygreenerhome.co.uk/wattson-energy-meter-54.html], to help families understand where exactly their energy is being used in the house.
"You put a transmitter into your electricity supply near your fuse box, which connects wirelessly to a digital display that you can carry around room to room to see what energy is being used where," he says.
"People don't realise where their money is going until they see the energy meter jump up once they turn on the kettle or the hi-fi. It makes them think about what they're doing more."
:: TURN OFF THE AIR-CON We know it's been a humid summer, but really - do you need to blast your house full of cold air? The HFCs (hydrochloroflurocarbons) that keep our air-conditioning units cool will be phased out of cars from 2011 by EU legislation, but no such plans have been made for home or office units as of yet.
HFCs don't deplete the ozone, but they are potent greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, ammonia and hydrocarbons) that exasperate global warming.
Luckily, there are alternatives: air cons with natural refrigerants that use naturally-occurring gases to cool your home, says Nick Cox of Earthcare Products [www.earthcareproducts.co.uk], which supplies eco air conditioners to businesses.
"Any air-con unit will use energy, but a low global-warming refrigerant will use hydrocarbons such as R-290 that have a global warming impact 1,000 times lower than conventional refrigerants and will save you 10-15% more energy," he says.
"The best manufacturer is De Longhi's 'ECO' version [www.delonghi.co.uk]."
:: CHANGE YOUR LIGHTBULBS The EST reckons that lighting your house accounts for around 15% of your electricity bill. By switching to energy-saving lightbulbs, you could save nearly 80% on your bills per bulb.
"There are good quality bulbs for every type of fitting now, including the halogen spotlights that are so popular now," says McCool.
"People frequently have sets of five or 10 in their bedroom or kitchen, which is equivalent to putting on a 500 watt security light every time they walk over to their bed. It's not necessary and when they're dimmer the room has a much nicer atmosphere."
:: DRAFT-PROOF THOSE WINDOWS Vamping up your rickety sash windows with double-glazed ones could save you around £110 a year - depending on how you vamp them up, that is.
"It can cost about £1,000 to double-glaze a window," warns McCool, "which is quite a lot, but I got a company called Quattro Seal [www.quattroseal.com] to do mine.
"I had these old sash windows that they sealed with silicon gel, which has made a huge difference in terms of the draftiness in my front room and only cost about £80 per window.
"If that's too much money for you, try investing in some heavy, floor-to-ceiling curtains - you'll be surprised at how much that helps too."
:: For more tips on how to save money and turn your home into an eco-friendly, cost-effective haven, see the Energy Saving Trust's website www.energysavingtrust.org.uk