We’re Optimal Monitoring. We help businesses save a fortune from reducing energy overuse and carbon reduction. In these cash strapped times we want to help at home, where we can. So here’s eleven tips or hacks to help you reduce the impact of the energy price hikes coming down the pipe without making you less comfortable.
Heating
- Turn it off for an hour mid evening when the house/flat is up to temperature. You won’t feel the difference (airports and other big buildings do this all the time).
- Bung up all drafts around doors and windows; blankets, towels etc. won’t look good but will dramatically increase warmth.
- Turn heating off a hour before bedtime. The house will cool slowly and stay warm until you’re tucked up in bed.
- Reduce the heat in rooms you use infrequently by 2C from your frequently used rooms, so spare bedroom at 19 if lounge is 21. Don’t turn off all heat in unused rooms, you can’t insulate one room Totally from another.
Cooking
- Microwave where you can. Two minutes in a micro uses much less power than one hour in an oven.
- Fill the oven when you use it. Spuds on top shelf, joint in the middle, veggies on the bottom. Then you won’t need the hob as well.
- Only fill the kettle with the water you need, don’t boil water to chuck away.
Hot Water
- Only heat water just before you need it. Set timer for one hour before morning showers/baths and two hours before evenings and off at all other times, most tanks only take around 40 minutes to heat up. N.B. Don’t reduce boiler temperature. You must maintain 65C manifold temperature to protect against legionella.
- Shower not bath. Showers use about 12L of water, baths use 60L.
Lighting
- Change bulbs to low voltage LED’s in the rooms you light most- there is a cost to this but it’s small and you use 5W instead of 50W of power.
- Don’t leave lights on in empty rooms.
We hope this helps in some small way and if you run a business and want to see how our technology can help you do this on a much bigger scale at work visit us at www.optimalmonitoring.com
