Lessons from an important talk at Buriton’s B-earth Day event
The upper hall was packed on 22nd April when Christine Murphy from the National Energy Foundation gave a very useful and informative talk.
She explained that the main guzzlers of energy in most homes are heating, cooling, moving parts, screens on our devices and, using the least: sound systems and lighting.
But everyone can save money (and energy) by simply switching things off when they’re not needed or being used.
Christine suggested that everyone should check their insulation (recommending 270mm rockwool in loft spaces) and their heating controls (preferably controlling the heat in each room separately) as well as finding all those gaps which allow cold draughts and then fitting draught-excluding devices or materials.
Windows, doors, unused chimneys, pipework, floorboards, loft hatches and letterboxes can all be cold, draughty culprits.
She also had some other general tips for saving energy:
- For cooking, the pecking order is microwave, hob then oven; it’s important to use lids on saucepans; and it’s efficient to cook in batches and then chill or freeze spare portions
- It’s cheaper to run a full fridge than an empty one – but make sure that it’s defrosted
- For washing clothes: do a full load, at lower temperatures and dry clothes on washing lines; try to avoid tumble dryers as much as possible
- Manage moisture in your home: high humidity spaces are much harder to heat and contribute to mould and condensation
- Draw the curtains at dusk and make sure heat is not trapped between the window and the curtain
- Use LED low energy light bulbs
- Reduce the power of your shower if possible to 7 litres per minute flow, and take shorter showers. Avoid the water running continuously
- Boil only what you need when making a cuppa
- Choose efficient appliances when replacing them and don’t leave things on standby
- Make sure that the air can circulate around radiators, don’t block them with furniture and add reflective panels onto the inside of external solid walls
- Use a smart meter, energy monitor or plug monitor to discover the energy hungry appliances in your home so that you understand your energy use better.
Christine also recommended advice from the Centre for Sustainable Energy and from the Energy Saving Trust’s website.
A copy of Christine’s talk can be downloaded at the bottom of this web-page.
Also at the community’s B-earth Day event, yet more households signed up for one of Buriton’s thermal imaging surveys: to help people cut spiralling energy bills and combat climate change.
Anyone living in the parish who would like to have a survey done should contact parish clerk Petra Norris on 0794353605 or email buritonparishcouncil@hotmail.co.uk
