Energy Saving

With the price of all forms of energy on the increase, this thread can be used to share any tips you have.

One thing we have started doing is when boiling the kettle. It is not always possible to boil just the amount needed. Any excess, we now put in a flask to keep it hot for later use.

I know how much water to put in the kettle for 2 cups having made that quantity for years. After boiling, I refill the kettle to the same level so that the still-hot element will warm the water a little and take less energy to boil the next lot. That's the theory anyway!!

We use smart plugs to stop vampire power usage.

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.

I've switched to using an electric toaster instead of the gas grill as I think (maybe mistakenly, I don't know) that the toaster is more energy efficient. Toast doesn't taste quite so good though. So says my mum, as I don't eat toast ATM.

Reflective foil behind radiators seems to really help them heat up quicker and lose less heat to the walls.

I don't use a conventional oven - gas or electric. I have an electric Aga but it uses far too much electricity so its been turned off for about 2 years. One day, I'll get round to selling it - meanwhile its a useful cupboard.
I have a 2 ring gas hob for frying/boiling and use a pressure cooker for most vegetables as its so quick.
For roasting I use a Halogen cooker (from the Free site) which is very quick too.
My microwave has a grill (never used it) and can be use as a fan oven too but I rarely do that.
So most of my cooking is done with gadgets that are very controllable and I'm not heating up a big area for a small item.
NB I'm not a cake maker or domestic goddess.

I had solar panels on my old house which reduced my electricity bill by half, to about 20/month average. We have panels here in the new house too, but they're not connected to the grid so we don't get any cash from that. They do feed a whole load of batteries in the garage though, but we can't figure out what we can use them for. We charge all our electrical tools there, but we can't think of any other uses.

We have fairly new appliances that use very little water, and we have electric shower that also doesn't use too much water.

We have an extraordinary amount of water butts in the garden, so always use that for the chickens, the dogs and all the plants outside. Even water that gathers in pots doesn't get wasted - it's used for watering plants. I compost everything that can - cardboard, egg shells, envelopes, you name it. Everything I can't use gets recycled, including bags that can only be deposited at large supermarkets. I have an ikea bag collector that is wall mounted in one of the cupboards, which I just take with me when I go shopping and empty it every now and again.

I couldn't live any other way, but I would quite like an air to air heat pump, but I would buy it in Sweden - they're so much cheaper there. My sister has one, and one pump easily keeps her log cabin at 15 degrees all year around, even when it's -30 outside. It's cheap base heating, but you'd still need central heating to top it up.

I dont have any tips to pass on but I have a question to ask, there is usually a wind blowing in this area and I have been toying with the idea of erecting a small wind generator and connecting that to a couple of car batteries or if I can pick up, a lorry battery, I do have a heating cable that would use DC power I also have a long scaffold pole which can be secured to a tree for hight, but would it be a feasible thing to do?

I dont have any tips to pass on but I have a question to ask, there is usually a wind blowing in this area and I have been toying with the idea of erecting a small wind generator and connecting that to a couple of car batteries or if I can pick up, a lorry battery, I do have a heating cable that would use DC power I also have a long scaffold pole which can be secured to a tree for hight, but would it be a feasible thing to do?

I would have thought it would be eminently doable by someone of your calibre. The main problems you might encounter would likely be turbulence if too near a building and it might blow away in a severe gale. You would need to know the current expected with your average wind speed to check how long it would take to charge them up and may be to be prepared to charge them from the mains if there was a very calm period and you had a crop needing warmth.

I'm sure there would be plenty of free advice from companies wanting to sell you any parts and probably videos on youtube. I don't know if batteries need any protection from being over charged.