Energy Saving

Just like the rest of you, boil only what you need, which isn't always easy, any surplus goes into washing up bowl, it's usually still quite warm. Cold water run off from the hot tap is saved and used to rinse out the sink or water plants, in summer we collect it for the garden. I boil water in the kettle for use on the hob to save gas.

Solar panels proved a really good investment, P calculated that the system paid for itself in seven years and has now paid for all our energy for the whole 11 years since installment! P is looking into getting a solar battery so the system work during a power outage.
We use both the solar monitor and a smart meter IHD to judge best time for putting washing on and make sure we have a full load.

We have a reversible a small wall mounted aircon unit which does hot or cold, in the sun it can cool (absolutely brilliant) and in spring and autumn we use it before turning on the central heating. It also dries the washing really well as we don't have a tumble drier. Initially I considered it a 'big boy's toy but now wouldn't be without it.

We've far more wrinkles for saving water than saving energy, with just the two of us, we're not that extravagant

The elderlies next door are getting an air source heat pump installed, why I'm not sure, they're in their late 80s and will never see payback from the 20K investment, plus any refund by govt is over 7 years, I'm not sure they'll even see all of that! Not a route we're going to take I think.