10 Easy Ways to Save Electricity
With energy prices looking set to rise in the not too distant future and a lot being made of the size of our carbon footprints at the moment, saving energy is both important for our wallets and for the environment. Here are ten simple steps to saving the pennies.
- Always turn off the lights when you leave the room. It is a myth that more energy is used by turning on a light bulb than it is when it's running, so there's no problem with turning them on and off loads of times.
- Turn all the electrical appliances off that you can, don't leave chargers in the plugs or televisions on standby.
- Close your curtains at dusk to stop heating escaping through the windows. A large proportion of the heat in a house escapes out of the windows, and the curtains provide an extra layer of warmth. Having said that, don't pull your curtains in front of your radiators, as you'll only end up heating the fabric and not your room.
- Make sure that you fill things like the dishwasher to a maximum. In fact, a modern dishwasher is more fuel efficient than washing everything by hand, providing you fill the dishwasher up to the maximum, that's a pretty good incentive.
- Get your boiler serviced. British Gas, the UKs largest boiler installer recommends that a boiler should be properly serviced once a year as they can become less efficient over time. The same applies to radiators which can be overlooked but should be maintained and, if old and irredeemably inefficient, replaced (give the British Gas website a look for both radiators and new boilers).
- Turn your thermostat down. If you can turn the heating down by just one degree, you could save up to 10 percent on your energy bills. Make the most of boilers that have programmers.
- Use energy saving lightbulbs, and if you happen to have received a shed load through the post lately, save them away just in case. An energy saving light bulb will save you as much at £40 over the course of it's lifetime in comparison to a normal bulb.
- Only boil as much water as you need, or, alternatively boil as much as you want and put the rest in a thermos, whilst this might appear a little bizarre, if you're not too fussed about having your water boiling hot when it comes to making a cuppa, it's an effective idea.
- Dripping hot water taps waste a lot of energy, and in just a fortnight will use up the same amount of hot water as a bath. Make sure all your taps turn off fully.
- Buy a good jumper, and you won’t mind turning your heating down a notch or two.