A room-by-room guide to becoming more energy efficient, helping your household save energy and enjoy #SmarterLiving with Electric Ireland
Fancy cutting your carbon footprint or saving a little money around your home? Whatever your reasons, we are here to point out a few small changes that can make a big difference to the energy efficiency of your home.
LIVING ROOM
When relaxing, people spend most of their time in the living room. To make smarter savings every day, we’d recommend:
- Switching your TV off at the plug every night – leaving your TV on when you're not watching can use 20% of your household energy.
- Keep curtains above radiators as they will absorb the heat and stop it from circulating around the room.
- Turn lamps or lights off when leaving the room to control consumption and use dimmer lights where you can.
- Cover any unused chimneys to keep the heat in and the draught out.
KITCHEN
When it comes to the kitchen, there are lots of simple ways to reduce your energy consumption and save money in the process. Check them out below.
- Use the right size pot for what you're cooking, using a big pot for a small amount of food will take longer to heat up.
- Use lids on pots. This contains the heat and speeds up the cooking process.
- Turn off the rings when the food is almost cooked, and the residual heat will finish the job.
- Microwaves use less energy than the oven so ‘ping’ cook when you can.
- Check the energy rating when buying a new appliance. We’d recommend spending a little more upfront on an A+++ rated appliance to save on electricity bills over time.
BATHROOM
While we don’t spend as much time in our bathrooms as other rooms in the house, it can still eat up a lot of energy. Check out our Smarter Living tips for a more energy efficient bathroom:
- Only use the ventilation fan when needed and turn it off after use. Leaving it on for hours will only increase your electricity bill.
- Switch out baths with showers. A shower typically uses 20% of the energy compared to a full bath.
- Don’t leave the hot tap running. Why not put a plug in the sink and use only the water you need so you avoid money going down the drain!
We hope you found this room-by-room tour informative. For more #SmarterLiving tips on how to create an energy efficient home, tune into NEA’s FREE Efficiency Webinars, supported by the Consumer Council (CCNI) this January (10th, 19th and 27th), - available to book via Eventbrite.