12 Ways to Save on Home Energy Bills

If you’re planning a self-build, renovation or extension, chances are that energy bills and home efficiency will be at the top of your design priorities. With utility bills on the rise, everyone is looking for new and inventive ways to save money.

From simple DIY projects to stop draughts, through to fitting high performance windows and making the most of renewable energy, there are lots of options to create an energy efficient home. These measures will help to keep your bills as low as possible, and there are energy-saving options suitable for all budgets and projects.

Whether you’re building from scratch or working on an existing property, here are 12 ways to minimise the need for heating and grid energy in your house.

1. Fit High-Performance Windows & Doors

Draughty old windows and doors, or low-quality products, could compromise your building’s thermal envelope.

Heat can pass through glass more easily than a solid wall, but even if you’ve got double or triple glazing, poor installation could mean cold spots are making spaces feel chilly. Getting products with proven high performance will help to keep your rooms airtight all year round.

When buying new windows and doors, look at the product’s U-value – a measurement of heat loss. The smaller the number, the better performance.

Windows and doors on new builds must have a U-value of 1.6 W/m2K to meet the Building Regs. For existing homes, new products need to be 1.4 W/m2K, but you can go much lower.

For Passivhaus standard, for example, you need to meet 0.8 W/m2K. But remember that products will only perform as expected if they’re installed properly.

Doors and windows can be a weak spot for letting heat leak out and cold draughts in, so opt for a high performing product with low U-values, such as a new front door from Urban Front

Read More: Glass Types Explained: Triple Glazing, Low-e, Safety Glass & More

2. Make Use of the Sun

The sun is a natural and free source of heat readily available to use. Solar gain is when warmth from the sun permeates through the fabric of a building and heats your rooms – something you’re sure to have witnessed when sun shines through a window on a hot day.

And because the height of the sun in the sky changes through the seasons, you can make use of this free heating during colder months and keep unwanted warmth out in the summer.

This is usually achieved by combining south-facing glazing with a shading mechanism (such as a roof overhang or brise soleil) to keep direct light out when the sun is high in the sky during hotter weather.

Solar panels on your roof are another excellent way to utilise the sun’s natural heat. Solar thermal will heat your hot water and solar PV will generate electricity.

Nicola and Chris Pelmear’s home benefits from a host of clever eco features. Shown here are their solar PV panels and movable external shutters, which stop sunlight from overheating the inside

Read More: Complete Guide to Home Solar Electricity

3. Insulate your Home Effectively to Save Money

Making sure the walls, floors and roof of your property don’t release precious warmth is key to ensuring the fuel you pump into your central heating system isn’t going to waste.

If you’re working on an older building, retrofitting insulation could help to create a warmer and more comfortable environment.

There’s wall insulation (external, internal or cavity), suspended floor insulation and loft insulation to consider – but upgrading every part of your home would be a major and expensive job, plus you’ve got ventilation to consider.

New homes must meet the insulation standards set out in Building Regs (which have recently been updated to ensure even higher energy efficiency targets) but many self builders aim above the recommended levels to create ultra-high performing buildings.

4. Consider Smaller Rooms

Homes of the past were often built with small rooms, one reason being that this helped to warm rooms quickly and cool them easily.

So, while open-plan living is great for creating a social environment, heating a larger area is likely to take longer compared to a compact room.

If you’re in a new highly insulated and airtight house that benefits from solar gain and underfloor heating, then perhaps large spaces aren’t an issue. But if you’re thinking about knocking through walls in your period home, consider how this will impact both your heating system and subsequent energy bills.

5. Aim for an Airtight Home

Having a good level of airtightness in your building’s envelope is important for creating a house that doesn’t need much heat to reach a comfortable temperature.

Controlling how much air is escaping is about focusing on the smaller details. It occurs mainly at the junctions between different elements of the building and particularly between materials.

Open chimneys or ventilation bricks are of course free air passages to the exterior. Leakage can also occur through penetrations in the building fabric, such as from services like drainage pipes and cables.

While airtightness is important for retaining heat, we all need fresh air to breathe. Mechanical ventilation and heat recovery systems create pathways for ventilation, helping to push unwanted toxins and odours outside, whilst not allowing any valuable heat to escape.