10 ways to save on your energy and water bills provided by The Energy Saving Trust. By following the tips below you could save over £100 per year off your energy bills.
- Wait until you have a full load before turning on your dishwasher or washing machine.
- Every minute you cut off your daily shower could save you between £5 and £10 off your energy bills each year.
- If everybody in a four person family replaced one bath per week with a five minute shower, you could save between £5 and £15 per year off your energy bill. This saving would be even greater if you use an electrical immersion heater.
- Using a bowl to wash up twice a day rather than leaving the hot tap running could save around £25 a year on a household’s gas bill.
- Don’t use hot when cold will do – for example, rinse plates and wash vegetables in cold water.
- Choose eco setting or lowest temperature setting when using your washing machine.
- Insulating your hot water cylinder is one of the simplest and easiest ways to save energy and money in your home. Putting a 75mm thick hot water cylinder jacket on your hot water will save around £35 a year. By insulating any visible hot water pipes you can save around £10 more off your annual gas bill.
- A dripping tap wastes around 5,500 litres of water a year. If you are on a water meter fixing the tap could save you over £18 a year.
- Your roof collects about enough water to fill 450 water butts every year. You can use this for your garden, your house plants, or even to wash your car.
- Using a bucket and sponge to wash your car generally uses about a tenth of the water you would use compared to washing with a hosepipe.
More information and tips, a fun game where you can see yourself on screen, and a way of helping do your bit to help the environment (and Facebook or Twitter your friends about it) are available on www.thegreatbritishwaterfight.com You can even soak your friends.