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Improving the energy efficiency of your home
We are often asked if there is anything that can be done to improve a property's rating on the
Energy Performance Certificate. This is an important question, because given the cost of heating a
property, having an energy efficient property is a real selling point. According to a survey by
the Energy Savings Trust, buyers will pay as much as £10,000 more for an environmentally friendly home,
and 70% of buyers say energy efficiency is an important factor when choosing a home to buy.
So with this in mind and with the help of the
Energy Savings Trust,
we have compiled a short guide on how to improve the energy efficiency of your home.
- 1. Check your loft insulation
- Around 26% of heat in an uninsulated home is lost through the roof. Most homes have some insulation, but often not enough. Boosting it to the recommended thickness of around 270mm of glass mineral wool or its thermal equivalent could save you around £30 a year on your heating bill.
- You can mix and match different types of insulation: roll-out blanket insulation (to fit between and over joists); insulation board (for boarded lofts) and rafter insulation which is ideal if you want to use the loft for extra living space.
- 2. Lag your pipes
- Make sure your hot water pipes and hot water cylinder are properly lagged -
especially pipes that run under floorboards and in the loft.
- This will help to keep the water hot and reduce your fuel bills. It's also a good
idea to lag cold water pipes, to stop them freezing in winter.
- 3. Cut out the draughts
- Around 11% of the heat in an uninsulated home is lost through gaps around doors and windows.
- Draughtproofing is an easy and inexpensive way to reduce this. You can choose from a wide variety of excluders, ranging from easy-to-fit self-adhesive foam strips to more durable rubber and brush seals. You should also fit keyhole covers and a draught excluder over your letterbox.
- 4. Insulate your walls
- Over 30% of the heat lost from an uninsulated home goes through the walls.
- Most homes built after the 1920s have external walls with a small cavity between them. Cavity Wall insulation is a quick and cost-effective solution - reducing heat lost through your wall by around 60% and saving around £90 on your annual heating bill.
- Homes with solid walls can be drylined with insulation and plasterboard, or insulating plasterboard, to keep the heat in.
- 5. Check your windows
- 20% of a home's heat can be lost through windows. Double glazing is the most efficient way to prevent this. If you can't do this, then applying secondary glazing film to your windows is a cheap and quick way and reduces some of this heat loss.
- 6. Choose energy efficient appliances
- When buying a new appliance, from a washing machine, fridge, freezer to a cooker, the first thing you should look for is the energy rating. A is the most efficient; G the least (often using over 20% more energy).
- The single biggest consumer of energy in most homes is the boiler. If it's more than 10 years old, then it probably isn't very energy efficient.
- A modern condensing boiler could cut your heating bills by as much as a third - or by as much as 40% if you fit the right heating controls. Look for a boiler with an A or B rating.
- 7. Change your bulbs
- One of the easiest and cheapest changes you can make is to use energy saving lightbulbs. They last around 10 times longer than ordinary bulbs and could save as much as £60 over that lifetime.
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