Make Your Home Energy-Friendly

In our modern age, energy is rapidly consumed meaning that maintaining a household can be both expensive for the family and destructive to the environment. However, with these simple steps you can actively reduce energy costs and consumption and create a cheaper, healthier environment to live in.

Cut Air Conditioning Costs
If you use air conditioning units or you’re thinking of installing some, you need to keep them maintained to ensure they’re running as efficiently as possible. Make sure that you use a programmable thermostat to reduce energy consumption, which works by heating your house up during the day when nobody’s home. Another tip is to check that your SEER number is around 13 as its increased efficiency will cut running costs. Clean the filter regularly as negligence of your units will result in a surge in both price and energy use.

Have a Shower; Not a Bath
Figures show that a four minute shower uses 32 litres of water, whereas a bath can use over 80 litres of water. Furthermore, a hot shower uses 20% of the energy as a hot bath – need I say more? By having a speedy but effective four minute shower in the morning or evening, you can save yourself a heap of money and protect against the unnecessary wastage of energy. Next time you go to run a bath, think twice about running that tap for ten minutes!

Get Double Glazing
Double-glazed windows are a great way to decrease your carbon footprint as they can cut heat loss by up to 33%, and, in turn, save on fuel bills and condense co2 emissions. As well as making your home warmer and more comfortable, double glazing will push up its value on the market and make it more attractive to potential buyers, whilst providing added security for your family.

All Plugs Off
A simple yet effective way to conserve energy is to switch all electrical equipment off at the plug before you go to bed at night. Unplug all chargers and turn off your TVs, desktops and other electronics which may be left on standby. Don’t be fooled – ‘standby’ doesn’t mean off. It means higher bills and pointless energy use!

It’s as simple as that. Do all these things and find your home to be environmentally-friendly, energy-saving and cost-cutting!

Source image #1 : http://www.green-trust.org
Source image #2: http://www.emergencyplumberslondon.com