last updated 9th September 04
by 4ecotips.com

* If all the UK’s cavity walls were insulated tomorrow, we’d save over £670 million worth of energy every week. We’d also save 9 million tonnes of carbon dioxide being emitted into the atmosphere.

* As the days get increasingly chilly, closing your curtains at dusk will stop heat escaping through windows.

* Every year VCRs in the UK use £118million, and TVs £190 million worth of electricity just waiting to be switched on.

* About 85% of the electricity used by your VCR is consumed while it’s on standby. The unnecessary us of this energy makes your meter whiz, wastes energy and also harms the environment.

* Check out your hot water tank, if it is fitted with an insulating jacket, it will save you money. An insulating jacket only costs around £10 and pays for itself within months. Fit one that’s at least 75mm (3in) thick to save the most energy and money – around £10 - £15 every year.

* Carbon dioxide emissions would be cut by 2 million tonnes a year (enough to fill 11 million double-decker buses) if everyone in their UK put a jacket on their hot water tank.

* Around 20% of the heat in ther average British home is lost through ventilation and draughts.

* Stop drafts and heat escaping by draughtproofing the gaps around doors, windows and skirting boards with newspaper, beading or mastic sealant. The measures could shave £120 off your annual heating bills.

* Remember, if you added together the gaps around doors and windows in the average size house they would be equivalent to a hole in your wall the size of nine standard bricks.

* A fifth of all the heat lost from a home can be through poorly insulated window frames and single glazing.

* By trapping air in gap between two panes of glas, double-glazing creates an insulating barrier theat reduces noise, condensation and cuts heat loss through the windows by 50%. Best of all, it could shave up to £40 off your annual heating bills.

* If every UK household installed just one energy efficient bulb tomorrow, we’d save £80 million a year and enough electricity to power the UK’s street lighting for 7 months. We’d also save half a million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year.

* Switch your lightbulbs to energy efficient bulbs. For each bulb you fit you can save up to £7 on your annual electricity bill or £65 over the lifetime of the bulb – not a bad return
on an initial outlay of just £5 per bulb.

* Water needs to be hot but never scalding. For most people setting the cylinder thermostat at 60/140 is fine for bathing and washing.

* In just one day a dripping tap can waste energy and enough water to fill a bath. So fix leaking taps and make sure they are fully turned off.

* Turning down your thermostat by just 1oC could cut your heating bill by up to 10% and save around £30 a year. If we all did this now together we’d save over £530 million worth of energy every year. That’s over 7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions each year.

* Refrigeration and freezing appliances in our homes use nearly as much electricity as the amount consumed by all the offices in the UK.

* UK households use £1.2 billion worth of electricity on refrigeration every year. To help cut costs don’t leave the door open any longer than is necessary as cold air will escape. Avoid putting hot food into the fridge, defrost the freezer regularly to keep it running efficiently and economically, and check the door seals are working properly. If you absolutely have to put your fridge or freezer next to a cooker or boiler, leave a good gap between them.

* If everyone in the UK with gas central heating installed a condensing boiler we would save £1.3 billion on our energy bills every year – enough energy to meet the needs of over 4 million homes for a year – and carbon dioxide emissions by 17.5 million tonnes.

* Boilers should be serviced every year to ensure they are working properly. When your boiler needs to be shown the door make sure you replace it with a new energy efficient one. A high efficiency condensing boiler, for example, will save you up to 32% on your heating bills straight away, even more if you upgrade to modern controls.

* With a grant through the Energy Efficiency Trust, high efficiency condensing boilers usually cost no more than standard boilers. Best of all you can recoup the initial outlay for a high efficiency boiler within around four years. So get more information from www.saveenergy.co.uk/grants