Projects for Home Energy Savings
Reducing your home energy consumption can be simple to apply. Here we suggest home energy projects that cost almost nothing and have big savings, others pay for themselves many times over within the first year. Renewable home energy technology may be expensive, but are a buffer against higher fuel bills and in some cases you can generate income by selling your surplus energy back to your energy provider.
If you are planning to upgrade your home with a new kitchen or an extension, making home energy efficiency upgrades in parallel with work being undertaken is usually more cost effective than having work done at a later date.
Draught proofing
Unless your home is very new, you will lose some heat through draughts around doors and windows, gaps around the floor, or through the chimney. The most significant savings in home projects is draught-proofing your home to retain warmer, help alleviate many causes of damp and lower your home energy bills.
Professional draught-proofing of windows, doors and blocking cracks in floors and skirting boards can cost around £200, but can save up to £25 to £35 a year on energy bills. DIY draught proofing can be much cheaper. Installing a chimney draught excluder could save around £25 a year.
Heating control
More than half the money spent on fuel bills goes towards providing heating and hot water, making this an area where significant home energy savings can be made. Installing a room thermostat, a programmer and thermostatic radiator valves and using these controls efficiently can create savings between £75 and £155 a year. Reducing your room thermostat by just one degree for savings between £80 and £85 a year.
Smart technology helps you control your heating and understand your energy use. It also allows you to control your heating remotely via a mobile app so you can manage the temperature of your home from wherever you are, at any time. Whatever the age of your boiler the right controls will let you set your heating and hot water to come on and off when you need them, heat only the areas of your home that need heating and set the temperature for each area of your home.
The Importance of Green Building
Green building is one of the most significant opportunities for sustainable growth at both national and global level. The built environment impact on all of us, on our economies, social dynamics and the natural environment.
The design of buildings, whether residential or commercial, has a place of importance in the quality of our comfort and health. The manufacturing, design, construction and operation of the buildings in which we live and work are responsible for the consumption of many of our natural resources. Conventional builds use a third of all raw materials, produce a third of all greenhouse emissions and create a third of all waste. Conventional buildings use almost forty percent of all energy and twelve percent of potable water. Green building practices reduce this energy consumption significantly and in some cases, totally.
Green building design has significant importance in schools, improving the students ability to learn as well as creating ecological awareness. In business, our workplaces influence employee productivity and health as well as business success. In hospitals, green designs have proven importance in patients' recovery periods, reducing their stay and the cost of their care.
Green buildings reduce the negative impact of building on the environment while at the same time showing respect for its social and economic value over its entire lifespan, from design and construction, through use and maintenance, up to renovation and demolition, largely through integrated operations from idea formation to final construction.
The importance of green building can be seen in three major areas: economic benefits, environmental benefits and social benefits:
Economic Benefits
Reduction in operating costs
Green buildings minimise energy consumption at every stage of a buildings life span from idea formation to final use. Green buildings can be new or renovated and are more comfortable, less expensive to maintain and better for the environment through the reduction of carbon dioxide and other carbons into the environment. At the same time, those using the building learn how to efficiently use energy resources elsewhere, to save both energy, money and the environment.
ICT technologies are also incorporated in green builds to improve communication through smart grids that distribute energy depending on the place and time of energy demand.
Adding and retaining financial value
Green buildings attract sales and rental premiums, help reduce capital expenditure and mitigate the risk of regulations requiring costly alterations to buildings. Energy and water efficient buildings also save money during the lifetime of the property for the tenants. Green buildings have a higher selling value and provide every company with a better market image.
