According to the Energy Saving Trust, the average UK home could save up to £356 a year on bills by making small changes to the way they use energy. With the steadily rising cost of household bills and current climate concerns, more and more people are starting to implement ways to save energy at home.
Have you been thinking about implementing some changes yourself? It can be hard to know where to start with saving energy at home. That’s why we have compiled this handy list of ways you can save energy in every room of your house!
We’ve split these ideas into categories so it is easier for you to find the perfect tips that fit your lifestyle:
- General energy-saving ideas
- Utilities
- Bedroom
- Bathroom
- Kitchen
- Living Room
- Garden
General energy-saving ideas
In this section, we’ve included any tips that aren’t specific to one room so they can be implemented throughout your entire home!
Heating and Insulation
- Draught-proof your windows and doors. Your home can lose lots of heat through draughts around doors, windows, floors, and your chimney. There are a range of ways you can draught-proof your home to keep the heat in. These can be done through professional methods or simple DIY tricks, depending on your budget. It’s estimated that draught proofing your home could save you up to £80 on your annual energy bills.
- Ensure your home is fully insulated. This helps to keep the heat in during winter and the cool in during summer.
- Move your furniture so that it isn’t blocking or covering radiators. This allows the heat to fully fill the room.
- Turn the radiators off in the rooms you don’t use often.
- Use your central heating timer. Programme it so that it heats your most used rooms at the most used times. This ensures that you aren’t wasting any energy when rooms aren’t being used.
- Turn the thermostat down by 1°C. It’s estimated that this simple change could save you 10% on your energy bill
- Consider investing in a smart meter. These allow you to track your energy usage easily from your phone or tablet, meaning you can see what energy is going where and adjust your usage.
- Consider installing thermostatic radiator valves. These control the temperature of a room by sensing the air temperature and adjusting the flow of hot water into the radiator. It’s estimated that you could save up to £291 a year on energy bills using these.
- Double-glaze your doors and windows. These keep the heat in during winter, and keep it out during the summer. If you’re working with a tighter budget however, you could consider investing in double glazing in the room you use the most. Another option is to use window film on single-glazed windows for the same purpose.
- Bleed your radiators. Air can build up inside your radiators, preventing the hot water from circulating properly, causing your radiator to use up more energy trying to heat the whole room. If your radiator is hot at the bottom but cold at the top, it most likely needs bleeding.
- Clean your radiators. Dust and dirt can prevent heat from escaping the radiators. Therefore if they are regularly cleaned, they are able to circulate the warmth more effectively.
- Move your furniture away from external walls. This helps to keep you warmer by moving away from air coming in via outside walls and windows.
- Install rugs or carpets on floors. These help to lock in the temperature better by minimising the loss of heat.
- Install reflective radiator panels behind your radiators to direct heat into the room.
Lighting and Appliances
- Turn off the lights when you leave the room or are not using them. Even if you get into the habit of switching them off when you’re only leaving for a short time, this can help reduce your electricity costs.
- Replace all bulbs with LED bulbs. LEDs are much more energy efficient than traditional lightbulbs.
- Check the energy ratings on your appliances and consider upgrading them to more energy-efficient models. Since new labelling of appliances was introduced in 2021, it is now easy to see the energy rating on appliances.
- Calculate how much energy your appliances are using. This can help you see exactly what is eating up your energy and where you need to make improvements.
- Clean lightbulbs and lampshades to allow for the best possible light output.
Energy Management
- Only heat the house when you’re home.
- Consider a water meter to track your water usage. This allows you to gauge where you can make improvements in your consumption of water.
- Check if you’re eligible for any financial support or grants: you can check this on your local government’s website or with your energy provider.
- Consider implementing solar-powered devices to save big and go green.
- Audit and track your energy use to see where your energy is going.
Energy Saving Ideas for Utilities
- Use your washing machine on a 30°C cycle instead of higher temperatures. Your clothes will still be clean, but at a reduced cost. It’s estimated that washing clothes once a week at 30°C can save up to £29 per year.
- Avoid using the tumble dryer. Dry your clothes outside when you can, or use a clothing rack. This simple switch could save you up to £50.
- Only use your washing machine on a full load. Or, use a half load setting for smaller loads.
- If you have a combi flow boiler, turn the temperature down to 60°C or below.
- Fix leaking or dripping taps. On average a dripping tap can use up half a bathtub’s volume of water in a week!
- Use the eco function on your appliances if included.
- Check the insulation on your water tank. A fully insulated water tank could save you £50 a year.
Energy Saving Ideas for Bathroom
- Keep your shower time to four minutes. Speedier showers can save up to £60 in your energy bills per year.
- Consider taking more showers instead of baths. Even just swapping one bath a week with a four minute should could save you £9 a year in your energy bills.
- Invest in an energy-efficient shower head. These are great for reducing the amount of water you use and can save you up to £20 a year!
- Turn the tap off when you brush your teeth or shave rather than leaving the water running.
Energy saving ideas for kitchen
- When making a hot drink, only boil the amount of water you need rather than overfilling the kettle.
- If you use a dishwasher, consider only running it when it’s completely full to save on water.
- Try to run the dishwasher one less time each week for extra savings!
- Consider investing in an air fryer or slow cooker rather than using the oven as often.
- Give meal prepping a try. This involves cooking as much as possible to save energy. It also gives you more time throughout the week as you won’t spend as long cooking in the evening! Simply store in your fridge or freezer and reheat in the microwave.
- Defrost the freezer regularly. The more ice in a freezer, the harder it has to work, and the more energy it uses! Defrosting your freezer regularly ensures that it is working efficiently.
- Keep your fridge at 5°C and your freezer at 18°C.
- Clean behind your fridge and freezer. When the condensing coils get dusty, it can create extra heat by trapping air, meaning that your appliance has to work harder and use more energy. Keeping them clean ensures that they are working efficiently and using the correct amount of energy.
- Choose the right-sized pan for your cooking. Pans that are too big take up more energy to heat and stay heated. Instead try to use pans that fit your portion well so that less energy is needed.
- Keep saucepan lids on when cooking. This causes food to heat up faster, saving you time and energy.
- Keep the oven door open even after you’ve finished cooking. This allows the residual heat to circulate the room whilst it is cooling down.
- Keep your hob clean. Any food or grease present on your hob will absorb the heat, making it less efficient and use up more energy.
- Wash your dishes by hand (but make sure you don’t keep the tap continuously running).
- Wash dishes and fruit in a bowl so that your water isn’t continuously running.
- Use the oven for multiple items. The top shelf of an oven typically cooks at a higher temperature than the bottom shelf.
- Try to avoid opening the oven door as much when cooking because this allows extra heat to escape.
Energy Saving Ideas for your Garden
- Save water by using a rainwater barrel to collect water for your garden.
- Use a watering can instead of a hose.
Energy Saving Ideas for the Living Room
- Don’t leave your devices on standby. By turning TVs, smart speakers, and gaming consoles off at the plug it is estimated that you can save around £45 per year on your bills.
- Switch your TV to energy-saving mode to save extra energy.
- Turn down the brightness on your TV.
- Use dimmers on lights to control brightness and help save energy.
Energy Saving Ideas for your Bedroom
- Invest in an electric blanket. These work out cheaper than central heating because they are heating the space directly around them rather than the entire room. To learn more about electric blankets, read our full blog on the energy they can save you here!
- Don’t charge your devices overnight. Once you’re asleep, your devices likely reach full charge hours before you wake up, wasting extra energy in the hours you're asleep. Instead, aim to charge your devices periodically throughout the day.
- Use a duvet that is suited to the season. Opt for a lighter duvet in the summer, and warmer, heavier duvet in the winter.
- If you aren’t charging any devices, remove your chargers from the socket. Chargers still use up energy even when they are plugged into your socket but not charging anything!
- Try to use lamps more instead of the big light.
Fair for You - Helping you save energy and cut down on costs at home
At Fair for You, we are committed to helping you save energy and cut down on your household costs. This article is just one of a whole series we have on our blog where we cover a range of topics to help you save money on your bills.