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With energy prices climbing and showing no signs of wanting to come down any time soon, there’s more reason than ever to improve your home and prevent that money from being wasted. Heat that escapes through cracks in the fabric of your home, after all, is heat that needs to be replaced.
So, what’s the best way to make your house more energy efficient? Several methods stand out – and in truth, you’re going to have to use a combination of several of them.
Dimmer Switches
If you can turn down the lights just a little bit, then you’ll save energy. This is where dimmer switches come in handy.
Traditional dimmer switches use variable resistors arranged as rheostats (rather than voltage dividers). This allows you to limit the amount of current going into the bulb. In practice, modern LED dimmers work very differently, using something called pulse width modulation to send a stream of on and off signals. The more time that the LED spends in the ‘on’ position, the brighter we perceive it to be – even if we can’t actually see any flickering.
Fill your Dishwasher
If you run your dishwasher when it isn’t fully loaded, then you’ll have to run it more often. As a consequence, you’ll use more water, and more energy.
Cook with the Lid on
By the same token, cooking with the lid off a saucepan will allow the steam to escape, which will mean wasted energy. In some cases you’ll want a fast, rolling boil; in others, you can get away with a slow simmer and the lid on.
Don’t overfill the kettle
The more water there is in the kettle, the more energy you’ll need to use to boil it. Don’t put any more water than you really need in there.
Clean the Hob
Ceramic hobs will transfer heat to the pans much more efficiently when there isn’t a layer of grime caked to the surface. The same applies to gas ones, too – albeit to a lesser extent.
Bleed your Radiators
Over time, pockets of air will collect in your radiators – especially the ones at the very top of the house. Make sure that you bleed them frequently, so that they stay in good shape.
Unplug devices
Some devices will consume energy even when they’re left in standby mode. You can deal with this by unplugging them entirely when they aren’t being used.
Draw the drapes
Hanging a heavy sheet of fabric across a window is a great way to prevent the warm air in your room from coming into contact with the cold air by the glass. Keep them closed at night-time and draw them in the morning.
