Insulation

More than half of the heat lost in a typical home escapes through the walls (35%) or the roof (25%). So when you are looking to implement ways to reduce your heating bills these two areas are a great place to start.

Installing loft and cavity wall insulation will not only reduce the volume of heat escaping from your property, but according to Directgov this will save an average of £180 per annum on your heating bills (although this figure rises substantially if you do not currently have any insulation).

Get in touch with your Local Council and ask whether they can provide you with free insulation or if they have any special deals – even if you have to pay it is money extremely well spent!

Loft Insulation: The government recommends that 270millimetres of insulation will save both energy and money being wasted. If you have good loft insulation you can save up to 25% of your heating bill.

Cavity Walls: If you are fortunate enough to have cavity walls, they can normally be filled with a special insulation material – the process is unsurprisingly known as cavity wall insulation. However, if your property does not contain cavity walls you are able to insulate solid walls either internally or externally but the process is more expensive.

Hot water tank: Uninsulated hot water tanks lose a lot of heat and for between £5-10 you can purchase an insulation jacket that can go around the tank and substantially reduce heat loss. Typically this saves up to £15 per annum over a non-insulated hot water tank.

Windows and Doors: Measures to reduce heat loss and energy wastage from windows and doors can range from simple steps such as not leaving windows and doors open unnecessarily, to fitting draught brushes and excluders to the bottoms of doors.

However, the most efficient (yet expensive) approach to reduce heat loss in a home would be installing double glazing windows – the measures are all dependant on how much energy you want to save and how far you are planning ahead. But as 25% of heat can escape through windows and doors this is another high priority for insulating your home.

Boilers and Heating Controls

An efficient boiler would make a sensible long-term investment for many households. If your boiler is between 10-15 years old it probably means that your current boiler is not energy efficient. Modern condensing boilers capture far more ‘usable heat’ from its fuel than a non-condensing boiler. The Energy Saving Trust state that you can save up to a third of your energy bills if you update your boiler from non-energy efficient to energy efficient.

Installing efficient energy heating controls – especially those that allow you to set the temperature for each individual room, or allow you to set different temperatures for different times of the day – are a great means to reduce your energy usage, and can usually be installed for a relatively small investment.

Turning down the dial

Reducing your heating and hot-water temperatures by just a small amount can make a vast difference in both your energy consumption and your energy bill. By turning down your thermostat by just one degree can save you up to 10% of your heating bills! Try turning your thermostat down to 17-19^oC  and see how much money you can save, or putting on a jumper instead of turning the heating up.