When people think of projects to improve the energy efficiency of their property, they may immediately consider the feasibility of installing solar panels on their roofs, giving little thought to smaller additions around the home.
This can sometimes have an inverse effect on energy efficiency; the perceived high price and people’s misassumptions about the inefficaciousness of panels (bloody English weather!) nips any efforts in the bud before they’ve got started.
Whilst it’s great to dream big, rest assured that there are more manageable, affordable ways to make sure your house is energy-efficient, even when you’re on holiday. Here are 7 of them.
INSTALL MOTION-SENSITIVE LIGHTING
Installing motion-sensitive lighting in your house can eliminate energy waste from your lights by only activating them when they’re necessary. With this technology, you can install new sensors or add sensors to your current lighting system to ensure that energy isn’t wasted in your chosen rooms through lights being left on when unoccupied.
Motion-sensor lighting can also be used to illuminate the outside of your property when someone approaches the house. This is useful for the homeowner fumbling around in the dark with their keys, but also as a security measure to deter would-be intruders (or, more likely, curious urban foxes).
For those who are keen to keep lights on whilst on holiday as a preventative security measure, to give the impression your house is occupied, motion-sensitive lighting is a much more energy-efficient way to do so.
SMART SPRINKLERS
We all worry about our plants, flowers and lawns while we’re on holiday. And speaking of outsourcing tasks to robots that you might usually ask of your neighbours, another smart energy-efficient investment is a smart sprinkler system. These represent a much greener (in more ways than one!) method of watering your garden, as they take into account the temperature, recent rainfall and more, to ensure water isn’t wasted, keeping your plants healthy while you’re on holiday.
Read: How robots can help you around the house
INSTALL A TANKLESS WATER HEATER
Understanding the difference between tank and tankless water heaters is crucial when considering the best option for your home. Water heaters are different to boilers in the sense they heat the water for your home (for cooking, cleaning and washing) but don’t provide central heating as boilers would.
Energy Saver, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) consumer resource on saving energy and using renewable energy technologies at home, recommends buying a tankless water heater as an energy-efficient option, as they provide heat only on demand.
They go on to say that tankless water heaters ‘’don’t produce the standby energy losses associated with storage water heaters, which can save money’’. Read more about that here.
The advantages of this ‘on demand’ nature are particularly pertinent when you’re away from home on holiday, keeping your home’s energy usage as low as possible.
What’s more, tankless water heaters are relatively inexpensive to install. There is no need to worry about installation either because most of them can be attached to your home’s natural gas line or electric circuit.
CONSIDER PROGRAMMABLE OR SMART THERMOSTATS
Having a programmable or smart thermostat can make your home more energy efficient by optimising the heating and cooling of your home. These modern thermostats work by controlling the temperature in your house automatically, responsively and even remotely, able to sense when a room is occupied or not, and gradually learning your preferred ambience in each room.
All of this can save on wasted heating and cooling, as your temperature controls are optimised. The remote control nature of this can be particularly useful for those on holiday during the winter months who are keen to keep their pipes or central heating from freezing.
CHECK YOUR DOOR SEALS
Most people don’t think about checking their door seals. Yet, sealing up your home can have a big effect on how much energy is needed to keep the inside of your house warm or cooled.
Known as draught-proofing, you can pick up weather stripping at any hardware store for not too much money, and it only takes a few minutes to put on. Check around your doors and windows for any gaps that let air in or out of your house, then buy some caulk and fill them shut so you can stop wasting money from lost energy.
According to the Energy Saving Trust, this could save you around £30 a year, which certainly isn’t to be sniffed at.
USE WINDOW TREATMENTS OR DOUBLE (OR TRIPLE) GLAZING
Around a quarter of a home’s energy is lost through its windows. Accordingly, window treatments are another option for increasing the energy efficiency of your house, and are growing in popularity. While curtains are good at keeping heat in your home when they’re drawn in the evening, they’re rarely deployed during the day (unless you prefer to live in dingy darkness, that is).
Investing in different window treatments or double glazing is worth investigating as the money will be recuperated fairly quickly in energy savings. As stated in a government report on double glazing published in 2016, you could save £150 by replacing your single glazing for double, due to the warmth kept in and energy saved domestically. It should be noted that, soon, triple glazing will be industry standard, and would make an even more worthwhile long-term investment.
USE LED LIGHTING
One of the most important and practical changes you can make is to switch all of your lights over to LEDs. This has been a big change in the lighting industry over the past few years, and it will continue to grow as prices go down and quality rises.
LED lighting uses less energy than any other bulb on the market, which means that you will be able to perform your everyday tasks without worrying about whether or not you remembered to turn off all of your lights. Whether you want to replace your light bulbs or install outdoor lighting for safety purposes, LED lights are the best choice overall for your home’s energy efficiency.
THE BOTTOM LINE
Improvements like these are often forgotten when people consider projects aimed at improving their home’s energy efficiency. They shouldn’t be; small improvements like changing old light bulbs for new ones or adding window treatments can mean huge savings on your bill month after month. By implementing these changes, you can significantly boost your home’s energy efficiency.