Top Tips To Improve Energy Efficiency In Your Home

Improving energy efficiency at home is crucial to saving money and reducing your carbon footprint.

Using less electricity, gas, and other fuels can significantly lower your greenhouse gas emissions and contribute to a healthier environment. This not only benefits you and your family but also increases the value of your home and improves your overall standard of living.

In this property blog, we look at some simple changes like turning off lights when not in use or investing in energy-efficient appliances and what renovations you can do to lower energy costs and improve the value of your property. Remember, every effort counts towards a more sustainable future.

Lifestyle Changes

The simple changes you can make today to reduce your energy use at home include:

• Use natural light
• Switch off lights
• Power down tech
• Use LED lights
• Use the sun to dry washing

Today, our homes use more power and that use costs us more money. We don’t need energy crises to remind us we need to look at how we use power. For example, the UK energy crisis is challenging switching to low-carbon energy sources. However, we all can make some lifestyle changes to reduce our personal use of power.

Use natural light

Open the curtains or roller blinds as soon as you rise, and don’t close them until it’s necessary. This action could save you hours every day in lighting costs.

Switch off

Ensure lights are not left on in unattended rooms, and turn off appliances and power down technology rather than leave them on ‘standby’. Power is still consumed in the standby mode.

Use LED lights inside and outdoors

LED lights are low-power, and they need changing less often. Did you know LED lights can last 50,000 hours? At best, you may get 2000 hours from a traditional bulb. Using LED lights inside and outdoors (if you’re not using solar-powered lighting) will save you money, so make the switch today.

Dry your washing and air your clothes etc outside

While the dryer can air your linen and clothes – it uses energy. Use the wind and sun to air and dry your washing on a nice day. Our grandparents used an outdoor clothesline, and drying the washing outdoors was free.  It can be for you too, use a portable clothesline on nice days and finish the drying process with the clothes dryer – it will take less time and therefore costs less.

Insulate your walls and ceilings

During the colder months of the year, many households use a lot of energy to heat up rooms. If your walls, ceilings, and roof are not properly insulated, you can lose a lot of heat in a room and end up with huge electricity bills (or a chilly room in winter!). Insulating your walls can help to prevent heat from escaping from your home, so you don’t need to keep your heater on all day.

In hotter months, insulation is essential, too, and you can go beyond wall and roof insulation by using plants like creepers or trees to help shade your house from the outside. Insulation keeps your home cool in summer and warm in winter, and you’ll use your air conditioner or heater far more sparingly.

Spend-To-Save Home Renovations

Invest in eco-friendly, energy-saving appliances

Using the right appliances in your home is an easy way to take a big step towards energy conservation and efficiency. You can buy eco-friendly, energy-efficient kettles, refrigerators, dishwashers, microwaves, washing machines and clothes dryers.

It’s also a good idea to replace the bulbs in your home with LED bulbs – while these are more expensive, they’re well worth it as they use a fraction of the electricity and last far longer.

Upgrade your fittings

The fittings in your home, such as air conditioners or water heaters, can be upgraded, too, to save energy and money. Energy-saving air conditioning systems that do the job for a fraction of the price are available.

Your water heater is incredibly important to upgrade if you plan on reducing your energy use, as it is one of the top electricity users in your home. Opting for a tankless water heater helps to save energy as it only heats water when needed. While this slightly reduces your water’s flow rate, it is well worth the money saved (and water saved, too!) Check out the Water Heater Reviews Site for more information and guidance on finding the best water heater.

Switch to solar panels

Fitting your home with solar panels is one of the best ways to save energy, save money, and increase the value of your home. Just a few solar panels on your roof can generate a fair amount of clean, safe electricity that is eco-friendly and cost-effective in the long run. There have been huge advancements in solar energy generation and storage. You can do your part for the environment and your pocket by using solar-powered appliances or panels in your home.

Summing Up

Taking steps towards energy efficiency doesn’t have to be expensive – you can do little things like allowing for natural light in your living space, insulating your home with thick curtains, reducing water pressure in your shower heads, and minimising the usage of your water heating system.

Keeping track of the difference in these little changes will allow you to set realistic goals for the future of energy usage in your household. Monitor your energy efficiency and encourage your family to do the same for yourselves and your carbon footprint.

These home energy efficiency tips can help save you money, with the added benefit of being eco-friendly and increasing the value of your home when it comes to selling it.