The Ultimate Guide to Saving Energy at Home

Put bluntly, we’re currently living through an energy crisis. Every homeowner in the UK and indeed across the world is feeling the impact of this crisis, with bills on the rise while temperatures continually drop throughout the winter. Understanding how to save energy at home is a vital part of staying on top of your bills, with smart practices also making it easier to stay comfortable throughout the year. Methods for home energy saving can vary from simple daily practices, all the way to making permanent changes to your property. This article will explore alterations you can make to your behaviour and household as a whole to ensure you get through this ongoing crisis as long as it goes on.

How to save energy at home by maintaining the temperature

Heating your home in the UK is going to be the biggest energy drain in your home (and cooling if you’re one of the rare households with an air conditioner). If you can maximise efficiency on this front, you can make massive savings on energy and bills.

Draft-proofing and insulation

Managing drafts and temperature transfer is one of the best ways to maintain consistency. You can do this through using weatherstripping on exterior and interior doors, installing double-glazed windows and ensuring attics, walls and floors are properly insulated. You can take this a step further by installing new doors throughout the house, along with the garage, which can be a significant source of heat leakage.

Smart thermostat use

Use a smart thermostat to program the temperature to drop when people are asleep. Similarly, you can also just adjust your behaviour to ensure you don’t crank things up too harshly when it gets cold; this will just waste energy.

Radiator use improvements

Make sure to leave space for your radiators, not blocking them with furniture, curtains or clothing. Also, shut your blinds tight at night to seal in any heat generated throughout the day more effectively. You can also use smart radiator valves to ensure their usage is optimised with the thermostat. If you’re constantly wondering, “How can I save energy at home?”, the odds are, you need to start with temperature control in the property. The same applies to your hot water usage, so take shorter showers and use your taps considerately when washing dishes. Top tip. It might seem more efficient to use a space heater, but these can drain energy even more than considerate radiator use.

Energy-saving tips for home appliances and electronics

Appliances and electronics might not be as much of a drain on your energy as heating or other HVAC systems, but they can cause ‘phantom drain’, meaning they continue to draw power even after they’ve been switched off. Some quick tips for reducing energy drainage from appliances and electronics include:

Unplugging devices and turning them off at the socket
Using power strips and turning them off when finished
Checking your fridge to make sure it’s at a reasonable temperature, without being so cold as to inflate the energy usage
Washing your clothes on cold and hang drying them; it’s better for your cottons anyway!

Switching to LEDs

Along with all these tips and tricks for saving energy at home, there’s an obvious fix that you should have already done at this point; switching from incandescent bulbs to LEDs. They’re just as effective and they use up to 90% less energy, so there’s really no excuse not to use them at this point. With all these guidelines and tips, saving energy at home should be more straightforward than ever. Yes, some techniques require more extensive investment, but there are also plenty of cheaper changes, so take them bit by bit and handle the crisis at home.