大象传媒

Your Central Heating

Look around your house - can you see a radiator that's blocked by something like a sofa or bookcase?

If it's blocked, the heat isn't coming into the room, and your thermostat is calling all the time for extra heat. The radiator is emitting the heat required, but it isn't getting there because it's being blocked.

If your curtains cover your radiator, they're covering up the hottest part - and, again, blocking the heat from coming into the room.

If you put wet washing on your radiator to dry, you're not only blocking heat from coming into the room - but you're also emitting a damp atmosphere which creates mould. This damages your room - and it's bad for your health too.

So use a tumble drier - it's far far more efficient and cheaper to use.

The location of your room thermostat is also important. Is it close to a doorway? Are there drafts? Is it old?

If you use a timer on your boiler, take a look at the times. If, say, you get up at 7am, and set the heating to come on at 6 so you have a nice warm house, that's too early. Half an hour is fine.

And what time do you set it to turn off? If you leave the house at 8.30, why have the heating on until 8.30?

Another thing to look at is buying a small, inexpensive optimiser system. It's like a timer - you have outside and inside air sensors. You set what temperature you want your house at - and it works out how long you need your heating on to bring it to that temperature.

Your Insulation

Thermal insulation inside your walls is great - but you can't do that in many buildings. Loft insulation is important too. But take another look at your heating.

Look at your hot water supply's insulation jacket. Is it old? Is it ineffective? Has it slipped off the boiler so you can see the cylinder?

Don't forget - the cylinders are normally put into cupboards or small areas - and behind it there's often an outside wall. In winter, the boiler's heating the outside wall.

If you don't want the expense of getting a new insulation jacket and getting it fitted correctly, use old clothing, towels or a duvet. Push them behind your boiler and use them as insulation.

When you heat your water, you probably set the temperature way too high. Think of when you run a bath... you fill half with hot water, and then put in lots of cold water to cool it down so you can use it.

Think of the energy you're using to do that. Turn it down. 54-55 degrees celsius is more than enough to give you all the hot water you need. Why throw money away?

In Your Kitchen

Look at your cooker. You do 4 or 5 vegetables for your main meal - so you've got 4 rings all blasting away. When you prepare your vegetables, you put them in your pan and you fill it with water. Look at all the energy that's required to heat all that water.

Cover the vegetables, and don't too much water in. They'll still cook.

And why use 4 burners when you can use just one? You can buy steamer pans with multiple layers - and cook 4 or 5 lots of vegetables at the same time. You even get better-tasting food as a result.

Look at your kettle too. How many people fill the kettle right up, when they're only making a small pot of tea - a couple of cups?

The lime in the water builds up in the kettle - and then you throw the water away. Look at the energy and water you've wasted. And the more the kettle scales up, the longer it takes to boil - so that wastes energy too. So de-scale your kettle once a month - and you'll save even more money.

Your Fridge/Freezer

When you go into a kitchen showroom and look at nice kitchens with fridge/freezers hidden under the worktop, there's one thing they don't tell you: it will cost you more.

The ventilation that's required to keep a fridge or freezer efficient isn't there. You need air circulation around the back of the unit - and if that isn't there, your machines are working harder. You're decreasing the life of the unit - and increasing your operating costs.

If you've got a garage, put your freezer out there - because it'll give your freezer more space for ventilation.

Look inside your freezer too. How much empty space is in there? You can't freeze air - so if you fill your empty spaces with old newspaper, bags of water, clothing, you freezer will work much more efficiently.

Your Tumble Dryer

Do you use one of those special cloths or balls in your tumble drier to make your clothes smell nice?

Well, these products are impregnated with resin that gets into the air inside the machine - and can block the machine's air filter. And this means the machine has to work harder.

Check your tumble drier's filter - take it out and drip some water through it. If the water doesn't go through, that means your filter's blocked - which is dangerous, so give it a good wash.

Another subject is lighting - which is the biggest money-wasters in the home.

If you have an old T12 strip light (about an inch and a half in diameter), that's costing you money.

It would be worth buying a T8 high frequency fitting - which lasts longer, and saves energy.

If you don't want to go that expense, look at the fitting. If there's a little starter can in the side, you can replace your T12 tube with a T8 and it will work.

Look at all your lightbulbs in your house. Don't use Tungsten Filament bulbs - use CFLs (compact fluorescent lamps) which last up to 7 times longer.

And if you've got outside lighting with sensors, look at how long they come on for when they're triggered. If it's 15 minutes, that's probably too long - 8 or 10 minutes is fine.

Consortiums

Get together with all your friends, relatives and neighbours to form a consortium.

You calculate all your energy uses - gas, water, electricity, oil, everything - for all of you.

Then go to the suppliers and argue with them - tell them what you use, and see what kind of discounts they'll offer you.

If there are enough of you, that's a really powerful bargaining tool.

If they don't play ball, just go to another supplier.

Go for a 12 month contract - and get a guarantee that the provider won't put their prices up.

You can all make substantial savings over the course of a year.