Modern appliances and houses waste a great deal of energy. However, by changing a few habits, you can quickly start to reduce this and begin to save money, without having much impact on your overall lifestyle. Here are some of the things you can try:

Heating and Hot Water

• Turn your heating thermostat down to around 18 to 20°C. Do this in steps of 1 degree at a time, so that you get used to it;
• Programme your heating and hot water so that they only come on when you normally need them and reduce the amount of time they are on. If you need extra heat, use the "extra hour" function;
• Set your hot water thermostat to around 60°C (not less as this can lead to legionella);
• Have a shower instead of a bath;
• Fix leaking hot water taps and make sure they're fully turned off!
• Close your curtains at dusk;
• Wear jumpers or sit under a nice fleecy blanket to watch TV.

Cooking

• Keep lids on your saucepans;
• Steam vegetables above your pans, to save using another hob;
• Use an electric toaster in preference to an electric grill.

Electrical Appliances

• Turn off the lights when you leave a room;
• Switch off appliances at the plug when you're not using them;
• Switch off chargers as soon as the device is fully charged;
• Wash clothes with a full load at 30 or 40°C;
• Hang out washing, instead of using a tumble drier;
• Only iron essentials - if clothes are hung out, they need less ironing;
• Only boil the water you need, providing you cover the kettle element;
• Defrost your fridge and freezer frequently;
• Keep your fridge/freezer in a cold place - eg the garage if possible;
• Let hot food cool down before putting it in the fridge;
• Let frozen food thaw naturally instead of using a microwave.

Every 1W device that you leave permanently on or on standby, costs you around 80p per year. Some common examples are:

If you permanently left all this on, you’d waste around £120 / year and emit nearly half a ton of CO₂.

For a relatively small investment in technology, you can make a big difference to your energy bills and carbon emissions, without having to alter your lifestyle. Some examples are:

• Buy energy saving light bulbs. They are now available to fit most situations and over its lifetime, each bulb can save you around £40;
• Top up your loft insulation. This costs only around £250 but phone your energy supplier because grants are available, so that many people can have it free;
• Make sure your cavity walls are insulated. This costs around £500, but again there are grants available from your energy supplier;
• Get your gas boiler serviced once a year - you should do this from a safety point of view anyway, but it also keeps it running efficiently;
• Add at least 80-160mm of insulating jacket around your hot water cylinder;
• Draft proof any single glazed windows and check that seals on your double glazing are still effective.

Medium cost measures include the following:

• Replace old appliances, particularly fridges or freezers with new A++ rated ones - likely to pay for themselves in around 4 years;
• Upgrade your heating controls so that you have thermostatic radiator valves, a hot water thermostat and a room thermostat;
• Upgrade old boilers to an A rated condensing boiler - they will reduce your gas bills by at least 20%;
• Use a laptop instead of a PC - uses about 75% less electricity;