Leaseholder Energy Efficiency November 2011 Contents: Energy Saving Tips Insulation White Goods Heating Grant Funding Fuel Switching Chris Moorhouse KNH 1
ENERGY SAVING TIPS Turn your thermostat down. Reducing your room temperature by 1 C could cut your heating bills by up to 10 percent and typically saves around 50 per year. If you have a programmer, set your heating and hot water to come on only when required rather than all the time. Is your water too hot? Your cylinder thermostat should be set at 60 C/140 F. Close your curtains at dusk to stop heat escaping through the windows and check for draughts around windows and doors. Always turn off the lights when you leave a room. Don't leave appliances on standby and remember not to leave laptops and mobile phones on charge unnecessarily. If possible, fill up the washing machine, tumble dryer or dishwasher: one full load uses less energy than two half loads. Only boil as much water as you need (but remember to cover the elements if you're using an electric kettle). A dripping hot water tap wastes energy and in one week wastes enough hot water to fill half a bath, so fix leaking taps and make sure they're fully turned off! 2
Use energy saving light bulbs. They last up to 10 times longer than ordinary bulbs, and using one can save you around 45 over the lifetime of the bulb. This saving could be around 70 over its lifetime if you're replacing a high wattage incandescent bulb, or one used for more than a few hours a day. 3
INSULATION Cavity wall insulation Around a third of all the heat lost in an un-insulated home is lost through the walls. Cavity wall insulation is a way to significantly reduce the amount of energy you need to heat your home and could save you around 120 a year on your fuel bills. KNH: Over the last 30 years programmes have been run to fill all cavity walls that could be filled. Solid wall insulation If you have solid walls you can either insulate them with external or internal insulation, saving you around 410 a year on your energy bills. KNH: A 8 M programme to clad non-traditionally built properties is due to be completed by 2013. Insulating traditional solid walls (i.e. brick, stone, narrow cavity) is the next challenge. Loft Insulation Insulating your loft could save you around 155 per year on your energy bills if you don't have any insulation there at the moment. If everyone in the UK topped up their loft insulation to 270mm, around 520m would be saved each year! KNH: All lofts will have a minimum of 100-150mm of loft insulation (equals 80% of the savings possible). A programme to top up these to 270mm is under way. Floor insulation Insulating beneath floorboards will reduce heating bills and improve the comfort of your home. You could save around 50 a year by insulating your floors. Gaps and cracks around floors and skirting boards are easy to fill yourself using a tube of sealant - reducing heating bills by around a further 20 a year. Draught proofing Using strips and excluders to draught proof around leaky door and window frames can save around 25 a year on heating bills. If everyone in the UK draught proofed around doors and windows, we'd save nearly 200m per year! 4
KNH: New windows and doors will usually have dealt with this. If you decide to draft proof further beware of the ventilation requirements of your property and gas appliances. Tanks and pipe insulation Both tank and pipe insulation keep your water hotter for longer by reducing the amount of heat that escapes. If everyone in the UK fitted a hot water cylinder jacket that was at least 75mm thick, there would be enough carbon dioxide saved per year to fill 7 million double decker buses! KNH: New heating installations will have adequate insulation. DIY insulation is available from i.e. B&Q Glazing Double glazing cuts heat lost through windows by half and installing the latest double glazing could save around 130 a year on your heating bills. Double glazing works by trapping air between two panes of glass creating an insulating barrier that reduces heat loss, noise and condensation. KNH: Recent window replacement schemes used high efficiency double glazing. Property Energy Rating The energy efficiency of a property can be measured using an assessment called SAP (Standard Assessment Program) this is on a scale of 1-100, a bit like miles per gallon in a car. It provides a guide energy use, cost and carbon emissions. Since 2009 all new leaseholders and buyers should have received this assessment. KNH: The published latest average SAP ratings are Private Sector 51 SAP, Social Housing 64 SAP and KNH 73 SAP. 5
WHITE GOODS Home appliances account for a significant chunk of your household energy bills and CO 2 emissions, so it's in your interests to look for these energy logos when buying appliances. It's your guarantee that these products are the most energy efficient in their category, will cost less to run and help lower CO 2 emissions. Washing machines A AAA rated washing machine: A for energy efficiency, A for spin efficiency and A for wash performance. You can also save energy by washing at lower temperatures; washing clothes at 30 o C instead of a higher temperature can use around 40% less electricity. Modern washing powders and detergents work just as effectively at lower temperatures so unless you have very dirty washing, bear this in mind. Tumble dryers If you can, try drying your clothes outside, but if you do need to use a dryer, an Energy Saving Trust Recommended one will be the most energy efficient option. Also remember if drying indoors you need to ventilate to remove the excess moister in the air, and don t dry cloths directly on the radiator or fire. Dishwashers It costs around 22% less to run a cycle on an a efficient dishwasher as it does on an old, inefficient machine. It will save you around 11 per year on your electricity bill 6
and 47 kilograms of CO 2. They can also less water, even compared to hand washing. Refrigeration products Fridges and freezers are the hardest working appliances in the kitchen - they are on the go 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, so if your fridge or freezer isn't energy efficient it's costing more to run and is responsible for a higher amount of CO 2. If everyone in the UK upgraded their fridges and freezers to high efficiency models, we could cut our energy use, saving about 688 million and the equivalent CO 2 emissions of over 470,000 homes. Kettles Kettles are one of the most used appliances in the kitchen. Energy Saving Trust Recommended kettles or instantaneous water heaters have to meet strict testing, ensuring that they demonstrate a 20% reduction in energy consumption over that consumed by an average kettle. If every household in the UK used these kettles, we would save over 160 million of energy a year. This is enough electricity to power 70,000 homes for a year and enough CO 2 to fill over 950,000 double decker buses. Televisions The latest integrated digital televisions (IDTVs) have the capacity to receive digital signals without the need for a set top box, so they use one power supply instead of two. Unlike many set top boxes, IDTV's can be switched off without losing their settings and so don't have to be left on standby. A Recommended IDTV can save around 4 a year and 17 kilograms of CO 2 each year compared to a similar TV and set top box and are the most efficient in their class. Also be aware of the difference in running costs between LCD and Plasma screen TVs, this can be significant. Set-top boxes Between 2008 and 2012, every television in the UK will be switching to digital television and will need to be compatible with a digital signal to be able to receive broadcasts. If you are planning to replace your TV set, you can buy an IDTV; if not, you can purchase a set top box to receive a digital signal. An Energy Saving Trust Recommended standard set top box can use up to a third less energy while in onmode than a typical set top box and therefore will cost about 30 per cent less to run. 7
Desktop and laptop personal computers DEFRA estimate that there are around 12.2 million desktop computers in the UK, and around 17.3 million laptop computers. As the UK has around 26.6 million homes, domestic computers (desktops and laptops) now out-number households. Choosing an energy efficient desktop or laptop computer can have a real impact on reducing carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions KNH: We can supply free power down devices that can switch off TVs and computer peripherals when they are in stand by mode. 8
HEATING Boilers account for around 60% of the carbon dioxide emissions in a gas heated home. By replacing an old G rated boiler with a new high efficiency condensing boiler and improving your heating controls, you will significantly cut your home's carbon dioxide emissions and could save as much as 300 a year. The current lifespan of a boiler is around 12 years and fitting an A rated high efficiency condensing boiler with the correct heating and hot water controls can make a huge difference to your heating bills over time. Potential Savings Old Boiler Rating Annual Saving ( /yr) Annual Saving (kgco2/yr) G ( < 70%) (12 year old boiler, permanent pilot). 300 1,220 F (70% - 74%) 200 810 E (74% - 78%) 150 610 D (78% - 82%) (installed 1998-2003) 105 420 What is a high efficiency condensing boiler? A high efficiency condensing boiler works on the principle of recovering as much as possible of the waste heat which is normally wasted from the flue of a conventional (non-condensing) boiler. High efficiency condensing boilers convert 86% or more of their fuel into heat, compared to 65% for old G rated boilers. Heating controls Heating controls will keep your home at a comfortable temperature, making it warm when you want it but switching off when you don't. They include: a programmer, a room thermostat, a combined programmable room thermostat, a cylinder thermostat and Thermostatic radiator valves (TRVs). 9
GRANT FUNDING There is a number of grant funding schemes currently available and currently under review by the new government. As a result the current situation can be confusing and fluid. Therefore if you need to know if you qualify for grants the best option is to visit the Energy Saving Trust (EST) grants site (see below) Boiler scrappage scheme (Kirklees Council) Boiler Scrappage Scheme - 400 for anyone to replace a G rated boiler goes live late 2011. Feed-in Tariff Scheme (FITs)? The new Feed-in Tariff (FIT) scheme, sometimes referred to as Clean Energy Cashback, is available through licensed electricity suppliers. The scheme is intended to encourage the uptake of small-scale low carbon technologies up to 5MW, through tariff payments made on both generation and export of produced electrical renewable energy. Renewable Heat Incentive? The 2010 Energy Act provides broad enabling powers for the introduction of a Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) in Great Britain. While the scope of the incentive is still being decided, the incentive is designed to promote the generation of renewable heat through a range of technologies from the domestic to the commercial scale. Green Deal The Green deal is the Coalition Government s initiative to support the implementation of energy efficiency measures to households and businesses without needing to meet any upfront costs. This programme will be backed with a totally new finance mechanism designed around the needs of people and business. The Green Deal, which is expected to be available from Autumn 2012, will be open to homes and businesses and will involve a 3-step process: Step 1 an independent energy survey of the property, giving clear advice on the best energy efficiency options, such as loft or cavity wall insulation. Step 2 Green Deal finance to be provided by a range of accredited providers, which will be repaid through savings on energy bills, making properties cheaper to run from day one. 10
Step 3 Homes and businesses will then receive their energy efficiency package. Only accredited measures will be installed by appropriately-qualified installers, overseen by Government, giving consumers confidence that the deal they are getting is high-quality and will save them money. 11
FUEL SWITCHING Changing your energy supplier or tariff can result in significant savings, and now thanks to recent changes made by Ofgem (the energy regulator) it is much simplar and reliable. See Switching leaflet Why Switch example (Nov 11) Electricity: assume 3000 kwh a year with NPower in Yorkshire, pay on receipt Annual cost: 472 Potential cost A: Potential cost B: 415 (12% saving) pay on receipt, EDF 390 (17% saving) DD with EDF Gas: assume 15000 kwh a year with BGas in Yorkshire, pay on receipt Annual cost: 722 Potential cost A: Potential cost B: 689 (5% saving) pay on receipt, E-On 648 (10% saving) DD with E-On Potential cost Combined gas and electricity: 949 (21% saving) DD with EDF Note: Duel fuel is not always the best option. You may also wish to consider other factors such as Nector points or on-line billing You do not have direct internet access, ask a relation, friend or use the library. 12