Making homes energy efficient homes

AHarvey

AHarvey

AHarvey

Soldato
Joined
6 Mar 2008
Posts
10,092
Location
Stoke area
With news of gas prices rising by 9% I was wondering what steps people have taken to make their homes more energy efficient?

What changes did you make? What costs were involved and how much do you think you'll save?

Any advice or links to informative sites?
 
I bought myself a nice 46" LED tv, cost £999 saves £200 a year in elec. But I only bought it cos its sexy, the energy saving is a bonus :)

One tip i can give is be a complete standby nerd, switch off everything you dont use, it saved me a fortune but the bill has been creeping up again as i havent been as vigilant as i was. Those remote controlled socket things are handy for hard to reach plugs like behind the TV etc.

Edit - Insulate your house better.
 
I'll be surprised if that's true.

edit: Bennie if you're going to give advice you should do so without just making up the savings.
 
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SpeedFreak said:
I'll be surprised if that's true.

edit: Bennie if you're going to give advice you should do so without just making up the savings.
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New TV uses 87w when on (thats on the default settings, when calibrated properly it can use less), old plasma used 483w, assuming an average of 8hours use a day with the cost of my electricity at 16.9p/Kwh the saving is £195.41.

edit: SpeedFreak if you're going to be a smug git you should really do a bit of research first.
 
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No need for me to be smug, I pay about 10p per kwh and there is no chance in hell you're old plasma consumed 483 watts. Peak maybe, but the average would be closer to 250. If you want to save money I suggest you find a new electricity supplier. For reference my plasma would consume about £150 worth of electricity if used 24/7 365 days a year.
 
I have just fitted insulation under my floorboards (suspended ground floor), financial cost: £50ish, time cost: a few days work, hardest bit getting the floorboards up and putting them back down.

I'm also plugging a few draught spots (front door is biggest culprit) and putting a stove in, should cut down on draughts from the chimney and obviously provides an alternative source of heat
 
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LED bulbs are a good start, they only downside atm with them is the cost, the 9watt ones are £20+ each.
 
SpeedFreak said:
No need for me to be smug, I pay about 10p per kwh and there is no chance in hell you're old plasma consumed 483 watts. Peak maybe, but the average would be closer to 250. If you want to save money I suggest you find a new electricity supplier. For reference my plasma would consume about £150 worth of electricity if used 24/7 365 days a year.
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I cant change electricity supplier as NIE have monopolised the Northern Irish electricity supply. And just because your plasma costs less to run doesnt mean mine did, i have an energy monitor which told me how much my tv was using. We are talking about a 10 year old Phillips plasma here btw, not exactly cutting edge technology compared to todays plasmas.
 
Turn everything off except your fridge/freezer when you go out of the house.
Don't leave things on standby when your in the house, turn it off.
Make sure all doors are shut to contain heat.
Make sure walls/lofts are insulated as much as possible.
Only put as much water in sink/kettle as needed.
Don't keep running the water tap.
Turn heating down few degrees, wear more clothes.
Change to a laptop rather than a desktop if you don't need the power, saves a lot of money this alone.
Change all lighting to LED, Halogen bulbs and make sure they are lower wattage.
Make sure you buy energy efficiant products that's classed as eco friendly devices.

* If I can think of more I will add more so keep checking back, this is how I save energy and keep bills low.

My full usage year bills just come in and for my gas/electric for 12 months used everyday with the above methods was just over £500. This is with BG DF.
 
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Telescopi said:
So now you just need to put the heating on more :)
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Gas is cheaper to heat the house with than electricity though :D

SpeedFreak said:
No need for me to be smug, I pay about 10p per kwh and there is no chance in hell you're old plasma consumed 483 watts. Peak maybe, but the average would be closer to 250. If you want to save money I suggest you find a new electricity supplier. For reference my plasma would consume about £150 worth of electricity if used 24/7 365 days a year.
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My friend measured his big Plasma screen and found it drew 750W :eek:

My dad had one returned to his shop because the customer didn't realise how much it was going to add to their bill, and found it was doubling the amount they had to put on their PAYG meter.

They are shockingly thirsty compared to LCD screens. Yours must be tiny if it only draws ~150W

On topic, I think the single most effective thing you can do is to double the amount of insulation in the loft. If you don't use the loft much just roll out another thick layer of fibreglass insulation on top of what's already up there.
 
I have a 50" and this pulls between 200w & 221w watching a film, using a plug in energy monitor.

My PC:

Running a 480 gtx and done some testing with a plug in power meter.

615w with Prime & Fur Mark running
405w with Prime running
503w with Fur Mark running
272w Idle
 
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Wood burning central heating? Wood burning ovens? A friend of a friend is a kitchen installer and apparently it's quite the rage now. I myself have wood burning central heating. Apart from having to buy wood (around £100 for the duration of the winter) as I'm too lazy to go get it myself, my heating is free year round.
 
regulus said:
Wood burning central heating? Wood burning ovens? A friend of a friend is a kitchen installer and apparently it's quite the rage now. I myself have wood burning central heating. Apart from having to buy wood (around £100 for the duration of the winter) as I'm too lazy to go get it myself, my heating is free year round.
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Yep, its a guaranteed "A" rating on an Energy Performance Certificate which is why its proving popular. They are a very eco friendly way to heat your home :)
 
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