10 Free Energy Saving Tips

10 Free Tips to Conserve Energy in the House

1. Many people keep their thermostat too high. Check it and if its above 20ºC turn it down. Lowering your thermostat by just 1ºC will knock 10% off your heating bill.
2. Much of the heat loss from a house occurs through the windows, particularly if they are single glazed. So keep your curtains closed at night, even in empty rooms and also ensure that the curtains don’t hang over the radiators as that will just funnel all your heat out the window.
3. Close room doors to separate heated from unheated areas of your home, and minimise the area you are heating. There is no need to spend money heating rooms nobody is in.
4. Turn the lights off when leaving a room.
5. Switch appliances off rather than leaving them on standby. This will save up to 20% of your appliances’ energy use.
6. Make better use of the timers on your immersion or boiler so you can control when the heating comes on and goes off. This means you have heating and hot water when and where you want it.
7. Adding an unheated conservatory or sunspace to the south face of your house increases passive solar gains and provides an insulating effect.
8. Space and water heating account for over 70% of energy used in the home. Therefore, incorporating renewable energy (e.g. wood fuel, solar energy or heat pump systems) can help reduce energy costs whilst at the same time reducing harmful greenhouse gas emissions.
9. Wood is a renewable fuel which can directly replace the need for fossil fuels. Instead of coal or peat, wood log gasification boilers or wood log stoves. Wood is a carbon neutral indigenous resource to Ireland.
10. Using renewable sources of energy like wood and solar energy to heat our homes reduces our reliance on polluting, imported fossil fuels like oil and coal.