Insulating and heating your home efficiently
Energy used in homes is responsible for more than a quarter of the UK's carbon emissions, and 80 per cent of this is for heating. Turning down your thermostat, good insulation and more efficient boilers can help tackle climate change, reduce local air pollution, cut fuel bills and can add value to your home.
Take control of your heating
You can cut out a surprising amount of wasted energy with clever use of your central heating controls. These can include:
- thermostats for heating and hot water
- radiator valves with thermostats included
- electronic timers
Taking a few simple steps can pay financial and environmental dividends:
- using the timer makes sure the heating is only on when you need it
- when you move house, ask the landlord or the people moving out to show you how the controls work
- if you're having a new boiler or hot water cylinder put in, ask the installer to talk you through the controls - and ask for a follow-up visit
- try turning the thermostat down by just 1 degree Celsius - you could save as much as 10 per cent on heating bills
Choose an energy-efficient boiler
More than 80 per cent of home energy use is for heating and hot water, so getting a more energy efficient boiler can make a very big difference. Look out for the energy-saving recommended label when you're choosing a new boiler - it can only be used on the most energy efficient products, usually the top 20 per cent of those available.
Insulate your walls and loft
The best place to start is to check the insulation in your walls and roof - more than half the heat lost in a typical home escapes by one of these routes.
- installing cavity wall insulation costs about £260 and could reduce fuel bills by up to £160 every year
- installation can take just a couple of hours for a typical three-bedroom house, and can be done from the outside
- your building needs to have cavity walls - you can insulate solid walls too, but this is a bigger and more costly job to do
- you can save up to £220 a year with loft insulation - it costs about £230 and is easy to install - you can even do it yourself
- even if you already have loft insulation, adding another layer to bring it up to 270 mm can make a difference to your home's heat loss
Other ways to keep the heat in
Walls and roofs are the biggest heat loss culprits, but you don't have to stop there:
- double glazing can cut heat loss through windows by half
- insulate your hot-water tank
- lag your pipes
- put draught-proofing strips round windows and doors - if you can feel cold air coming in, it means warm air is going out the same way
- if your home has a cellar space, under-floor insulation can help keep the warmth in
Switch to renewable energy sources for your heating
Renewable energy can sometimes be an option for both heating and powering homes and can make a significant contribution to reducing climate change effects. Follow the links at the end of this section to find out more on the practicalities of using different renewable energy technologies. The commonest methods are these:
- solar power uses the sun's energy either to directly heat water (solar water heating) or to generate electricity (Photovoltaic or Solar PV)
- wind power can be used to generate electricity using turbines
- running water can also be used to generate electricity using a turbine
- biomass (plant products or animal waste) can be burnt to directly heat your home or to heat water - the most common fuel used is wood, although plant oils, sugar cane and other crops can also be used (if you live in a smoke control area, you can get advice about what fuels you can burn from your council)
- ground source heat pumps make use of heat stored in the ground to directly heat homes or water - water is pumped through pipes buried in the ground and heat is captured and transferred to radiators or to a hot water tank
The wider issue
Energy used in the home is responsible for more than a quarter of the UK's carbon emissions. Reducing the amount of energy you use for heating is one of the biggest things you can do to help reduce climate change.
