If you are looking to save money and help reduce your carbon footprint here are some ideas on how you can easily achieve this:
1) Insulation
One of the easiest and most cost-effective to avoid heat loss and to save money is to make sure your house is insulated properly. Approximately 25% of heat loss in a house would escape through the roof in uninsulated properties. The legal requirements for new buildings is 270mm and if you were to improve a non insulated property to this level you could save up to £155 a year on your heating bill and reduce your carbon foot print by around a tonne.
If your loft space is already insulated check how thick the layer of insulation is. By topping up loft insulation from 50mm to 270mm can save you around £45 a year and 300kg of CO2 emissions
If you have cavity walls that are not insulated, insulating these can result in huge savings on your fuel bill. It is quick and easy to carry out and reduces heat loss through the walls by up to 60 per cent. cavity wall insulation costs around £500 but saves around £120 on heating bills a year, so it is likely to have paid for itself within around four years.
Two cheap but effective methods that everyone can implement are draught-proofing around doors and windows and fitting a hot-water tank jacket. Fitting sealant foam or strips around leaky door and window frames and a brush on the letterbox will cost around £90 to do yourself but will save around £25 a year - and no more cold draughts. Fitting a 3-inch thick hot water cylinder jacket will only cost around £12 but save around £30 a year, paying for itself in under six months. Wrapping insulation around the pipe work will cost around £5-£10 but save you £10 a year on heating bills and around 65kg CO2
2) Double Glazing
Double glazing reduces heat loss through windows by creating an insulating barrier of air gas between the layers of glass. Single-glazed windows are accountable for around 20 per cent of heat loss in an unisulated home and by fitting 'Energy Saving Recommended' double glazing, you could save approximateley £110 and 720kg of CO2 a year as well as reducing noise and condensation.
3) Replace you old boiler
If your boiler is more than 10 years old it is more than likely that it is a non-condensing boiler. Replacing an old boiler with a new condensing boiler can save you upto £130 a year and upto 875kg of CO2. This is achieved by the boiler using a heat exchanger to recover heat from the waste gases and so allow over 90 per cent of the heat generated to be used in your home and hot water, where as an old non condensing boiler will only use 60 percent of the heat generated to heat your home and hot water.
5) Install solar panels
In addition to only heating your water when you need it, you could be heating it and a much more environmentally friendly way byy installing thermal solar panels on your roof. These solar thermal panels capture heat from the sun and transfer it to the water to heat it. This is then stored in a hot water tank or a thermal store and drawn upon when needed. Once installed the solar panels will require very little maintenance and cost no more onceinstalled.
6) Wind turbine
Wind power is a relativeley untapped energy source. You can tap into this unused resource by installing a wind turbine. Only 0.5 percent of the UK's electricity needs come from wind energy. For more information on wind turbines you can visit the Wind Energy Association website on www.bwea.com
7) Get energy saving light bulbs
Energy saving light bulbs are the cheapest and easiest way to save money and help the environment. Energy saving light ulbs use up to 80% less electricity than standard light bulbs but still give off the same amount of light. By using these bulbs you will save money and by using electricity you will be reducing the impact on the environment aswell.