Saving heat
Making hot water and keeping our homes warm accounts for 82% of overall household energy use – so improving the efficiency of our heating can make a big difference to the environment and our bills.
a. Heating our homes
Gas Central Heating
If you are buying a new heating system you should install an A-rated condensing boiler. A modern system should have both a room thermostat to regulate room temperatures and thermostatic radiator valves fitted to individual radiators which can be used to control the temperature in different rooms. The hot water tank thermostat should be set no higher than 60C.
Set the timers on your central heating and boiler to reflect the times you are at home – for most people, setting the central heating to come on 30 minutes before you get up and go off and 30 minutes before you go to bed is about right. Set the timer on your hot water according to whether your family prefers to take showers or baths in the morning or at night – it is a common myth that it is more economical to keep the boiler on constantly.
Ensuring that your boiler receives regular maintenance checks will help to minimise running costs. Gas heaters should have access to adequate ventilation to prevent the buildup of carbon monoxide, and gas central heating should always be installed by a registered heating engineer.
Electric Storage Heaters
Electric storage heaters are a less expensive way of using electricity to heat homes than fan heaters, oil filled radiators or radiant electric bar heaters. Storage heaters are best powered by electricity supplied at a cheaper, night-time rate, (although some tariffs also have a ‘mid-afternoon’ or ‘weekend’ boost) to store heat in special heat-retaining bricks. These then give out heat slowly and are designed to keep warm for the whole of the following day. You can get cheaper night-time electricity if you have an Economy 7 meter.
Modern, slim-line storage heaters often have a charge control (or an automatic charge control) which adjusts the amount of heat stored overnight. An automatic charge control does this by measuring the temperature in the room (or more rarely, outside the house) and if it is milder, stores less heat (saving money in the process). If the storage heater has a manual charge control, you will have to make this adjustment yourself.
Here are a few suggestions on how you can save energy on your heating bills:
| Actions | Typical Costs | Typical Savings | ||
| Lower your room temperature by 1°C Recommended room temperatures for comfort are 20°C (68oF) in living rooms and 16°C (60°F) in bedrooms. However, if you have young children or elderly people living in your house, you may need to increase these room temperatures by a further 1°C. |
£0 | Could reduce your overall heating bill by up to 10% (source: Energy Saving Trust) | ||
| Avoid covering your radiators with curtains. Most radiators work best by circulating hot air in a room. So fit your curtains so that they cover the whole window alcove, and if there is a radiator beneath it and your curtains are long, tuck the remaining curtain behind the radiator as this will encourage more heat to flow into the room where it is. |
£0 | |||
| Improve the circulation of heat generated by your radiator When your radiator warms up, its rear surface usually radiates heat onto your wall which in turn is lost through conduction. But there are solutions to improve the circulation of the heat. For example, a Radiator BOOster on your radiator could ‘suck up' the heat before it gets a chance to reach the wall and then distribute more evenly around the room. Alternatively, you could simply place a shelf above your radiator to encourage the flow of rising warm air into the room and away from the wall. |
Radiator BOOster = £19.99 each. Shelf = £20 (DIY) |
The manufacturers estimate that if a Radiator BOOster is installed on every radiator in the house an average household could achieve savings of up to £140 | ||
| Place reflective material behind radiators situated on outside walls Up to 70 per cent of the heat emitted from the back of a radiator is used to heat the wall behind it. This heat is then transferred to the outside of the wall where it is lost, particularly in older houses. Reflective material, such as the Heatkeeper Radiator Panels fit behind the radiator and convects warm air away from the wall. Unlike other reflective materials the Heatkeeper Radiator Panels are profiled to accelerate air flow and direct the heat back into the room. They can also be cut to size and are simple to install using double-sided tape which is provided in the pack. |
A 10 pack of Heatkeeper Radiator Panels can be purchased from around £20 |
Heatkeeper estimate that “an investment in Heatkeeper Energy Saving Radiator Panels will pay back in less than one year” | ||
b. Water Heating
Heating water requires large amounts of energy. Significant savings can be made by:
- Reducing wasteful loss of heat.
- Reducing the volume of heated water.
- Reducing the temperature so the water is only raised to the maximum required.
There are cheap and simple ways to do this without affecting your comfort. For example:
| Actions | Typical Costs | Typical Savings | ||
| Buy your tank a jacket Putting a cylinder jacket round the hot water tank can pay for itself within a few months, as long as you choose an approved British Standard (e.g. BS 5616:1985) 80mm thick jacket. However most new tanks are foam insulated during the manufacturing process and therefore do not need any further lagging. Exposed hot water pipes should also be lagged. Lagging your hot water tank and pipes can save up to one third of the cost of water heating. You should also lag hot and cold water pipes in roof spaces. |
From £35 | £20 to £40 per year | ||
| Take control As with space heating, your water heating system should have suitable controls. A gas or oil fired boiler should have a cylinder thermostat to measure the temperature and control the burner. An immersion heater should be set no higher than 60°C (140°F). If you want hotter water, mix in less cold water when filling your sink or bath. |
£0 | Taking better control of your heating controls and reducing your water temperature could save over 17% on your heating bill | ||
| Use a shower rather than a bath A five minute shower uses less than 50% of the water used to fill a bath, and it’s quicker. However, avoid power showers as they can actually fill a bath tub in less than 5 mins. If you want to achieve better water pressure, invest in an aerated shower head which doesn’t use excessive volumes of water. If you do have a bath, don't make it too full or too hot. A shower timer could help you keep your showers short. |
A typical bath uses up to 80 litres. A 5 min shower only uses only 30 litres |
Up to 50 litres of hotwater | ||
| Put a plug in it Avoid cleaning dishes under running hot water. Putting the plug in the sink or using a washing up bowl uses much less water. If you have a dishwasher, make sure it’s full before you turn it on. Your dishwasher may have a half-load setting – but that doesn’t necessarily mean it only uses half the energy and water. |
A running tap can use as much as 5 litres of water per minute | The average washing up bowl has a volume of up to 10 litres. An efficient dishwasher uses no more than 20 litres per cycle. |
||
| Stop the dripping Turning taps off properly and repairing ones that drip is well worth the money |
A new tap washer can cost as little as 50p | A single tap dripping once a second could waste 1400 litres of water in a year | ||
Consider installing solar-thermal panels
If you have a south-facing roof, you should consider installing solar-thermal panels for heating your hot water – and Good Energy will reward you with the UK’s only renewable heat incentive, a payment for the heat you generate. To find out more, click here. Typical costs are from £3,900. Typical savings are up to 70% of your water heating costs, plus a payment of around £85 per year from Good Energy’s HotROCs scheme.