1. home and garden
2. appliances

 Types of energy saving measures
Getting started with renewables
Instead of buying all of your energy from suppliers, you can install renewables technology (also called micro generation and low­carbon technology) to generate your own. And in some cases, you can sell the surplus energy you generate back to the grid. Why install renewables? There are lots of good reasons to use renewables. You will be: ●
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making use of secure, local resources reducing your dependence on non­renewable energy helping to reduce the production of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases creating new jobs in renewable energy industries saving and even earning money. Get started with our steps to consider Make your home energy­efficient To ensure you get the most out of your renewables technology, make your home is as energy­efficient as possible before you start. Think about: ● insulating, draught­proofing and double­glazing​
wherever you can ● reducing electricity use from​
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lighting​
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appliances ● saving water​
. Find out the options for your property The factors to consider for your property are: ●
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for​
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solar PV​
and​
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solar thermal​
: which way your roof faces for solar thermal,​
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heat pumps​
and​
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biomass​
: space inside and outside for​
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hydroelectricity​
: whether you have a stream or river running past for​
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wind turbines​
: what the average wind speed is Find a suitable renewables technology for your property with our​
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renewables selector​
. Decide what you want to achieve Most people want to save money and reduce their emissions, and it is becoming more possible to achieve both. There can also be other factors that might influence your choice. ● If you need to replace your boiler or central heating system anyway, installing a new biomass boiler or heat pump becomes more cost­effective. ● If you want to save the most carbon dioxide, consider wood­fuelled heating, a large wind turbine or a large solar PV system. ● If you want to do a bit for the environment but have limited funds, think about a cheaper option such as solar water heating. ● If you live in an isolated rural property with no mains electricity, you may get the most reliable off­grid supply from hydro if you have the resource, or from a mixture of wind and solar PV. Narrow the options Now you know which options suit your site and your needs, you can narrow down the options and consider: ●
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the size of the system what products are available the costs any issues about the installation It's worth talking to or visiting homeowners in your area who have installed similar technologies. If you live in Scotland,​
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visit the Green Homes Network page​
. Check planning and insurance Check whether you need planning permission. Many domestic generation systems are now classed as ‘permitted development’ ­ meaning they do not need planning permission provided they meet certain criteria. The rules are different for different technologies.​
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Find out more about getting permission​
. Check with your home insurance provider to make sure your policy covers the changes to your home, and make any adjustments you need. Some policies cover the more common systems such as solar PV. Work out what you can save All the systems detailed on our renewables webpage can potentially help you save money by reducing the amount of electricity or heating fuel you need to buy. How much you save and earn will depend on a number of factors, including technology, the size of the system, your location, and the size of your house. There is more information about savings on the pages for each technology and you can find out more about financial support available for installing renewables. Find an installer We recommend you use an installer who: ● is certified under the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) ● uses MCS­certified products. We also recommend that you get three quotes from different installers before deciding who to use. Search the renewables installer finder tool. Learn how to make the most of your system Research has shown that it's essential to learn how to use your new system – make sure your installer explains the system and its controls fully before they finish, and that they hand over any manuals that come with the system. This is a standard part of the installation process, and any competent installer should be happy to spend time talking to you. Renewable electricity
Generate your own electricity using renewables Find out about the different renewables technologies available and the most efficient ways to generate electricity, including advice on installation, maintenance and more. This section covers: ●
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Solar panels Wind turbines Hydro Micro­CHP Off­grid Home insulation
Insulate your home and find our how much you can save There are many simple yet effective ways to insulate your home, which can significantly reduce heat loss while lowering your heating bills. Read on to find out exactly how this can be done in every part of your house. This section covers: Roof and loft Cavity wall Solid wall Floor Draught­proofing Insulating tanks, pipes and radiators Heating and hot water
Saving money on heating In a typical UK household, more than half the money spent on fuel bills goes towards providing heating and hot water. And as fuel costs rise, having an efficient and cost effective heating system is vital. It’s one of the main steps you can take to reduce your carbon dioxide emissions. Understanding your system The first step to saving energy from heating is to understand your current system. Nearly all homes in the UK have either a central heating system – a boiler and radiators ­ or they use electric storage heaters. Central heating: boiler and radiators This is the most common form of heating in the UK. A single boiler heats up water that is pumped through pipes to radiators throughout the house as well as providing hot water to the kitchen and bathroom taps. Most boilers run on mains gas, but in areas where mains gas is not available, the boiler can run on oil, LPG (tank gas), coal or wood. Mains gas is usually the cheapest of these fuels, and it also has the lowest carbon dioxide emissions apart from wood. Some boilers also have an electric immersion heater as a back­up. Gas, oil and LPG boilers may be combination (combi) boilers, in which case they heat the hot water as it is needed and don’t need to store it. Otherwise, the boiler heats up water and it is stored in a hot water cylinder that then feeds the taps. If you have a system like this, you have plenty of options for energy­saving improvements: ● Replace your boiler​
with a newer, more efficient model. ● Fit better controls​
for your space and water heating ­ and use them to make sure your boiler only provides heat where and when you want it. ● Switch to a cheaper or lower carbon fuel or technology. Find out about​
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renewable technologies​
for generating electricity and heat. ● Make any insulation and​
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draught­proofing improvements​
that you can. ● Use chemical inhibitors to help maintain central heating system efficiency. Chemical inhibitors Using chemical inhibitors in central heating systems can maintain their efficiency – helping to save money on heating bills and reduce your energy consumption. Corrosion deposits in an older central heating system can cause a substantial reduction in the effectiveness of the radiators, and the system as a whole – up to a 15 per cent reduction. The build­up of scale in heating circuits and on boiler components can cause a reduction in efficiency too. Using an effective chemical inhibitor can decrease the corrosion rate and prevent the build­up of sludge and scale – preventing system deterioration and helping to maintain efficiency. Typically, it can increase boiler efficiency by approximately 3 per cent. Do you have a condensing boiler? Since 2005 virtually all gas boilers that have been fitted in the UK are more efficient, condensing boilers. Condensing boilers have bigger heat exchangers that recover more heat from the burning gas, making them more efficient. You can tell if your boiler is a condensing boiler with a few simple checks: ● If the flue is made of plastic, you have a condensing boiler. If it is made of metal you probably haven’t. ● If your boiler has a plastic pipe coming out of the bottom of the boiler, through the wall and into a drain, then it is a condensing boiler. ● If you have a gas boiler and it was installed after 2005, then it is almost certainly a condensing boiler. ● If you have an oil boiler and it was installed after 2007, then it is almost certainly a condensing boiler. If you don't already have an efficient condensing boiler, consider replacing your boiler with a newer, more efficient model. Combi or regular? Central heating boilers can be combination or regular. They heat the radiators in exactly the same way, but provide hot water for the taps in different ways: ● a combi (or combination) boiler provides hot water directly, whenever it is required, and does not need a hot water cylinder ● a regular boiler provides hot water when the programmer tells it to, and then stores it in a hot water cylinder until it is needed. So if you do not have a hot water cylinder, you have a combi boiler. A regular boiler is actually more efficient than a combi at producing hot water in the first place, but some heat is inevitably lost from the hot water cylinder, so a combi may be more efficient overall. Electric storage heaters Most UK homes that don’t have a boiler and radiators have electric storage heaters. These heat up overnight using cheaper off­peak electricity, and then give out the heat during the day. Electric storage heating is more common in flats, in rented property, and in homes with no mains gas connection. Electric storage heating is one of the most expensive heating options in the UK, and it also emits more carbon dioxide than most. It is also harder to control electric storage heaters than radiators, especially with older systems. If you have storage heaters, you will probably have a hot water cylinder heated by one or two immersion heaters. If you have a system like this, you have several options for improvements: ●
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Install new, more controllable​
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storage heaters​
. Fit thermostats and controls to make your existing system more efficient. Consider making insulation and draught­proofing improvements. Replace your system with an efficient boiler system. Non­standard heating systems Radiators or storage heaters provide the main heating in the vast majority of houses in the UK. However, a number of different technologies can be used instead, or in addition to, including underfloor heating, solid fuel stoves, range cookers, open fires, electric fires and gas fires. Home appliances
The most efficient products come in small packages Energy ratings labels on appliances are generally given to products based on size categories. The idea is to enable you to compare between two similarly sized products. This means two differently sized appliances with the same energy rating may use quite different amounts of electricity. For instance, an A rated 180­litre fridge freezer could cost only £39 a year to run, whereas a larger 525­litre fridge freezer with a better A+ rating would cost £51 a year to run. When trying to save energy, it is best to look for the product with the best energy rating for the size you require. Standby is wasted energy On average UK households spend £30 a year powering appliances left in standby mode or not in use. This is the energy used by certain appliances when they are not in use and not switched off at the plug. As well as standby power, other new additions to the average household’s collection of electrical goods such as broadband modems, broadband routers, digi­boxes and telephones remain using low levels of electricity when not being used. These are not items that we tend to think to turn off, but can gradually go on to consume a great deal of electricity over the year. For instance, a broadband modem router can consume as much as £9 worth of electricity if left on for an entire year. Fortunately there are a number of products available to help cut down your standby electricity consumption, such as standby savers that allow you to easily turn all of your appliances off from standby without having to reach for the plug. Recent regulations specify that all electronic products sold within the EU after 2010 cannot have a standby power greater than 1W. This means we won’t have to worry as much in future about the standby consumption of our products. But whilst the average standby consumption of new products is going down, households are being filled with more and more electronic gadgets, so it is still worth looking at your standby energy usage throughout your home. Kitchen appliances Cookers ​
are becoming more efficient. We recommend ovens that have an 'A' energy rating as they are the most efficient of all; hobs that carry the logo are highly energy­efficient too. A new A+ rated electric oven will consume 40 per cent less energy than a B rated oven. Microwave ovens​
often provide a much more energy efficient way of cooking items than in the oven. This is because microwaves oven use energy to directly heat your food, whereas electric ovens must also heat the air inside the oven. Dishwashers ​
can take up a significant chunk of your electricity bill, costing on average £41 a year to run. Over a year, it costs around £8 less to run a typical new dishwasher than it does an old, inefficient machine of the same size, and it will use less water. Fridges, freezers and fridge­freezers​
are switched on 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, so it's well worth finding models that are energy efficient. Typically choosing an A+++ fridge freezer over an A+ unit will save you about £190 in energy bills over the lifetime of the product. However, as the energy rating is based upon classification by size, a smaller A­rated fridge could use less energy than a larger A+ rated fridge. You can compare the total energy consumption of appliances by looking for their yearly energy consumption in kWh / annum displayed on the bottom right of the energy label. Kettles ​
are one of the most commonly used appliances in the kitchen. ECO kettles that only boil the amount of water required can use 20 per cent less energy than a conventional electric kettle. On average a UK household boils the kettle 1,500 times a year. Tumble dryers​
: drying clothes outdoors on a washing line or indoors on a rack costs nothing and uses no energy so it is the ideal way to dry your clothes. But if you need to use a tumble dryer, they use a great deal of energy, so choose one with a good energy label rating such as a B. This will cost less to run, helping you to reduce your energy bill. Choose one that has a sensor that tells when your clothes are dry enough, preventing your clothes from being over dried and the dryer running when it doesn’t need to. ● Gas tumble dryers are one of the cheapest and most environmentally friendly type of dryer to run. But this type of dryer can be slightly more expensive to install as it needs a gas connection. ● Electric heat pump tumble dryers are also very efficient as they recycle the heat from the ventilation tube back into the dryer, but take away the water vapour from the air. Washing machines​
an energy efficient machine will save you money on your electricity bill and, if you have a meter, your water bill too. Home entertainment Televisions, set­top boxes, digital TV recorders, DVDs and DAB radios combined are responsible for around a fifth of a typical home's electricity bill. Choosing the most efficient models helps to keep your energy bills down, so you save money and do your bit for the environment. Digital radios or DAB (Digital Audio Broadcasting) radios ​
have been one of the biggest­selling consumer electronic products in the last few years – with superior sound quality, a wide range of extra channels and rapidly falling prices. Digital radios generally consume more power than their analogue equivalents. Digital television recorders​
: recording your favourite shows doesn’t have to cost more in energy bills. In most homes, entertainment equipment accounts for about 10 per cent of your electricity bill. Televisions​
can be the most power­hungry of all entertainment appliances, particularly the larger ones. The larger a television is the more energy it will consume, regardless of its energy rating. For instance, an A­rated 22" LCD TV would typically cost £4 a year to run whereas an A­rated 60" TV would cost £33. Choosing a smaller TV generally means choosing a more efficient TV. ● HD and 3D TV​
: many homes now have cable HD TV and most televisions on the market are HD ready. HD TVs have more pixels per square inch of screen area and therefore tend to consume more energy than SD (Standard Density) televisions. Buying a smaller SD TV is likely to use less energy than an HD TV, but with the move towards HD broadcasting you might wish to consider how long into the future you are happy to continue using an SD TV. ● LED, LCD and plasma screen​
are most common forms of flat­screen TVs on the market. LED and LCD TVs are not as good for seeing the screen from sideward angles, but otherwise there is little difference between the picture quality of these and plasma screen TVs. However, plasma screen TVs tend not to come in smaller sizes, and generally use more energy than similar sized LED or LCD TVs. Energy­saving plugs and sockets​
come in a number of forms; they can come with timers or a single off switch. You can plug televisions and computing equipment into them to reduce standby power and make it easier for you to switch everything off with a single switch. On average a UK home spends around £30 a year powering electronic goods left in standby. You can save on your energy bills by ensuring that you turn this equipment off at the plug after when it is not being used. Computer equipment Household computers, printers, monitors and laptops on average make up around 9 per cent of electricity around the home. Choosing an energy­efficient computer can have a real impact on your carbon dioxide emissions and your energy costs. If someone else is in charge of buying your equipment, ask about buying a laptop instead of a desktop. Desktop and laptop PCs​
Laptops typically use 85 per cent less electricity over a year than desktop PCs do, so they're already the more energy­efficient choice. With smaller components and screens, laptops use much less electricity than desktop computers. Choosing a laptop over a desktop and reducing standby could save up to £17 per year. MarketWatch The MarketWatch programme, co­financed by the European Commission, aims to increase the level of compliance of energy­using products across the EU through the surveillance and testing of these products. The programme is supported by 16 partners, including the Energy Saving Trust, and aims to help consumers reduce their energy bills while also ensuring a level playing field for manufacturers and traders. What to do with your old appliances Making electrical items uses a lot of energy and valuable materials, including precious metals like gold and silver. Electrical equipment can also contain chemicals like lead and mercury. These chemicals can get into the environment and harm people or animals if items are not disposed of carefully. Items which have the image of a wheelie bin with a cross on them should not be disposed of using the general household rubbish collection. These items include everything from large white goods to energy saving light­bulbs. By keeping waste electrical equipment separate from other waste, the hazardous substances can be removed and other parts can be recycled rather than sent to landfill. Disposing of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) If you are buying new electrical appliances, retailers are obliged by law to either: ● Take your old appliances off you for free in store. ● Tell you where you can take your old item for recycling free of charge. Many retailers offer collection of old appliances from your home, although they are not obliged to do this. Alternatively you can take your old equipment to your nearest recycling point, or ask your local authority to collect your bulky items. Some may charge for this service.
Smart meters Smart meters are the next generation of gas and electricity meters. Together with their accompanying in­home displays, smart meters will help you keep track of the energy you use in your home, and will cut out the need for meter readings. By providing information about your energy use, these devices can help you to make informed decisions to manage your energy costs. The UK Government plans for every home and business in the UK to have a smart meter for electricity and gas by the end of 2020.