More than ever, we are all looking for ways in which we can save energy and money whilst ensuring our homes work for us. We asked some of the team at Sero Life to share their thoughts, because we can only save the planet if we do it together!
Mix it up, change the habit
Running the dishwasher and washing machines overnight (a more carbon efficient time) can help, you can do this by setting a timer so you can still get that early night!
Wash your laundry at 30oC to save energy and wait until the washing basket is brimming before running your machine (you’ll need socks by then too!). Reducing laundry and dishwasher cycles by one a week could save around £16 a year.
Tumble dryers are one of the most energy-hungry appliances in a home (this is excluding pets and kids!). Try ‘part drying’ clothes for 20 – 30 mins in the tumble dryer and then hanging them up to finish them off. It uses considerably less energy than fully drying them.
When making a cuppa, only boil the water you need (offering to make a round is totally up to you). It costs around 4p to boil a full kettle of water, or 2p for half and even less for only one mug – it doesn’t sound like much per cup, but you could save around £20 a year by only boiling what you need.
Heat Smart
Optimise your heating timer – think about what time you get up and what time you go to bed and plan your heating times around this. Schedule your home to work for you.
It depends on how much time you spend at home, but with home working looking like it’s here to stay, it could be better to use a set back temperature of 16-180C rather than ‘off’ when you don’t want your heating on. This is much better for the building too.
Turning thermostats down by just 1 degree can help you save on average £60-£80 a year (let the thermostat battles commence!).
Be Tech-Savvy
Switch off to save. Turn your TV’s, laptops and games consoles off standby to save on average £35 per year.
A water efficient shower head will reduce amount of hot water required, saving up to £30 a year. Taking a shower instead of a bath can help save hot water too – a five-minute shower uses a third of the water of a bath. If you have children, they can share a bath for added saving, although the amount of water left in at the end depends on the kids.
Switching to efficient LED lightbulbs – these typically use 90% less energy than older style bulbs.
There are now a huge range of smart devices available for your home, like smart bulbs or smart plugs - these are coming down in price and can be a great way to easily cut power to devices when they’re not needed. They can be Google & Alexa compatible, and they do an Apple Homekit compatible version too. You can turn them on/off remotely and set up time schedules too, all through your phone - you can even use them to charge the cordless hoover overnight, although they won’t actually do the hoovering for you, sorry.
Share the love…
Enjoy nights in with family and friends. You could have one or two nights a week where you have dinner with a local friend or relative, taking it in turns so the energy for cooking and heating is split between both homes. This also doubles the conversation and halves the washing up.
If you have any energy saving tips you would like to share with us please get in touch hello@sero.life.