Reduce Fuel Bills - Renewable Energy Tips

Here are some simple tips to reduce energy consumption around the home:

Appliances:

• Try not to leave your television or computer on standby. Televisions in Britain alone waste £116* million worth of electricity each year just waiting to be switched on.
• Across the UK, mobile phone chargers left plugged in waste over £60 million of electricity and are responsible for a quarter of a million tonnes of CO2 every year.
• If the weather if fine, you could hang clothes outside to dry (or on a drying rack indoors). If using a tumble dryer, spin dry clothes first.
• If everyone boiled only the water they needed to make a cup of tea instead of filling the kettle every time, we could save enough electricity in a year to run nearly half of the street lighting in the country.
• Use the washing machine when you have a full load and choose 30°C cycles – this will save you 40% compared with a 60°C wash.

Lighting:

• Replace your light bulbs with energy efficient ones – each one can reduce your lighting costs by up to £100 over the lifetime of the bulb, and they last up to 12 times longer than ordinary light bulbs.*
• In most homes, lighting accounts for 10-15% of electricity bills. Reduce this by turning off lights when you leave a room.

Heat loss prevention:

• Close your curtains at dusk to stop heat escaping through the windows.
• You could reduce your heating bills by turning your heating down rather than opening windows to reduce the room temperature.
• With the right controls fitted to your central heating system, you could save up to 40% on your fuel bill – that's about £190-£240 off the average bill.

Other:

• Showers are more energy efficient than baths. In fact, you can have up to five 5-minute showers for the cost of one bath – saving water as well as energy.
• A dripping hot tap wastes enough hot water in a week to fill half a bath, so fix leaking taps and make sure they're fully turned off.
• When cooking, put a lid on the pans you’re using – this will keep all that valuable heat inside and also cut down on condensation. Add just enough water to cover your vegetables or pasta to save even more energy.
• Wait for cooked food to cool before putting it in the fridge or freezer.

* Source: Energy Saving Trust 2007

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