← Energy H61-06 · Module 6 of 7 · Pages: 19 · Worksheets: 6

Saving energy

Find where your house and homestead lose electricity and heat, and cut your bill and your firewood with measures that mostly pay for themselves in one season

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Whole series: Energy, €39

Saving energy

In short

  • Measure first: a plug-in meter and the main meter show where the electricity goes. The biggest users are usually water heating, an old freezer and electric heating.
  • The loft and draughts are the biggest heat losses: loft insulation and draught-proofing doors and windows save roughly 10–30 % of heating fuel.
  • 1 °C lower in the house saves roughly 6 % of heating fuel.
  • Cylinder at 60 °C, a shower instead of a bath and a low-flow aerator cut the electricity for hot water by a third or more.
  • Stoves and boilers need air: draught-proofing must never cut off the air supply to a fire (CO).

What's inside

Chapters

  1. Measure first
  2. Lighting and standby
  3. Fridge and freezer
  4. Water heating and hot water
  5. Cooking, washing and drying
  6. A house that holds its heat
  7. Heating and cooling wisely
  8. Water, pumps and animals
  9. When to use it: tariffs and the sun
  10. Common mistakes
  11. Printable checklist

Worksheets

  • Electricity savings calculator
  • Heating fuel savings
  • Room-by-room house survey
  • House sketch
  • Meter log
  • Shopping list and calendar

Fields and checkboxes can be filled in with Adobe Acrobat Reader (desktop and mobile), and the calculator adds up by itself. Filling in may not work in some browsers. A print version comes with the screen PDF.

This guide in other languages:

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