Ofgem’s energy price cap is increasing from £1,277 to £1,971 on 1st April, adding £693* a year for people on their supplier’s standard variable rate tariff (SVR). If you’re on a prepayment meter, you could see an increase of £708from £1,309 to £2,017.
So, what can you do to cut your energy bill? Here are a few simple tips to save money and reduce your carbon footprint:
1) Washing your clothes at 300C instead of higher temperatures, uses about 40% less energy, saving you at least £75 a year — just ensure you have a suitable laundry detergent.
2) The average UK household spends £60 a year* powering appliances left on “standby” (50kgCO2e) – so switch it off at the plug!
3) Turning off appliances after use, such as laptops, TVs, printers and washing machines at the plug could save you roughly £45 a year.
4) Laptops typically use 85% less electricity a year than desktop PCs. Choosing a laptop over a desktop and reducing the time on “standby” could save up to £38 per year (25kgCO2e). Tablets have even lower energy usage: on average tablets use 70% less power than laptops.
5) Smart speakers generally cost around £8 per year (6kgCO2e) to run, with most of the cost from running them on standby. Do you really need them on 24 hours a day? Digital radios are similar to smart speakers and should be switched off when you leave the room, instead of leaving them on standby.
6) Three quarters of us admit we at least occasionally boil the kettle with more water than we’re going to use. Buying an ECO kettle that only boils the amount of water required can use 20% less energy than a conventional electric kettle, or even easier, just avoid overfilling and save £8 a year on your electricity bill (10kgCO2e)!
7) Microwaves are often a much more energy efficient way of cooking food than in the oven. Unlike ovens, microwaves only heat your food and not the air-space inside.
If you apply all the above you could cut your electricity bill by about £234, not bad for doing very little!
~Turn off the lights: do it whenever you leave the room and fit energy efficient bulbs. They’re more expensive initially but they use much less energy and replacing all bulbs in your home with these could save about £40 a year on your electricity bills, so they’re well worth it.
~Unplug your chargers: leaving your phone, tablet or laptop charger plugged in when you’re not using it drains money from your pocket — you’re just paying for it to waste energy by getting warm.
~Switch off your TV: when your TV is on standby it’s still using energy. It is calculated that UK households waste on average £30 a year powering appliances they’re not even using.
~Move your sofa: furniture pressed up against a radiator stops heat reaching the room, so move things an inch or two away and better air circulation will have your room getting warm and cosy much faster.
~Close the curtains: when the sun goes down, heat starts to escape, so drawing the curtains or closing the blinds, will help to keep the warmth in — especially if you have draughty, old-fashioned sash windows.
~Fit foil panels: it’s surprisingly easy to add reflector panels behind your radiators to bounce more of the infra-red heat rays back into your room – so less warmth gets lost through the wall.
Rural Britain leads the recycling revolution but could improve its uptake of green tech.
A poll of over 3,000 Brits (Institution of Engineering and Technology) found people living in villages and hamlets typically adopt more everyday green habits compared to those residing in cities and towns. 90% of rural dwellers recycle their plastic (versus 71% of urbanites), 56% recycle food waste (versus 44%) and 94% take their own bags to shops (versus 81%). If we are to hit the Government’s net-zero target by 2050, other incentives need to come into play to enable consumers to transition to greener lifestyles. According to the findings, rural regions also shoulder more environmental responsibility, with 63% believing it’s up to the individual to address climate change, compared to just 50% of those in urban areas.
However, when it comes to green tech, people in towns and cities take the lead, with 45% of residents having green energy tariffs, versus only 30% in rural areas. Urbanites tend to have a better understanding of and be more likely to have installed green technology in their homes. Looking at the technology they knew about, compared to rural dwellers a greater number of urban respondents have solar panels (32% vs 9%), battery storage (41% vs 8%), smart technology/digital assistants (42% vs 17%), heat pumps (36% vs 6%), alternative gas heaters (37% vs 4%).
National and international recycling habits
A UK and worldwide wide survey of people’s views on recycling and a range of green topics gave the following interesting results.
~Recycling: just 36% of Londoners recycle their food waste, compared to 86% in Northern Ireland and 80% in Wales and only 68% of Londoners recycle their plastic compared to 91% in Yorkshire and the South West
~Green consumption: 78% of Londoners take their own bags to shops but this rises to 95% in Wales and 94% in the South West.
~Green travel: Londoners lead the charge when it comes to electric vehicles with 35% of EV/Hybrid owners based in the capital, compared to just 1% in Wales and Northern Ireland, while about 49% of pure EV owners were based in London.
~Green Homes: East Midlanders tend to have the ‘greenest’ homes in the country, compared to the national average, with around half of those aware of the technology installing heat pumps (47%vs 19%), battery storage (49% Vs 23%), smart technology/digital assistances (45% Vs 29%) and four in ten with solar panels (38% Vs 18%).
It is interesting to see patterns in the way different areas and regions of the country have adopted environmental practices. Cities have always been tipped as being more progressive, which is demonstrated by the fact that people living in urban areas are more likely to adopt green technologies. However, urbanites are less likely to embrace and put more physical day-to-day green habits into practice.
If we are to hit the Government’s net-zero target by 2050, other incentives need to come into play to enable consumers to transition to greener lifestyles. The survey shows that the public know that change is needed and know what can be done – but they often require practical reasons to make that change.
Two of the biggest challenges we face – decarbonising heat and transport – will require changes to be made to our everyday lives and it is essential that people are engaged in the process and can see the benefits of green solutions so that we don’t leave anyone behind.
Global results: on a global basis the research showed contrasting adoptions of green habits across the world. Americans fall behind overall in the study, with just 42% believing we have an individual responsibility to address climate change, compared to 55% in the UK and 59% in Germany and the UAE. At 92% India leads the way on most green habits, including taking your own bags to shops, with the UK close at 87% and the USA at 58% coming in last. At only 39%, Americans are least likely to avoid products with unnecessary packaging for environmental reasons, compared to 49% in the UK and just 27% in the USA eating locally sourced meat for environmental reasons, compared to 37% in the UK.
The UK is improving its uptake of environmental measures but could do a lot better to help the UK meet it obligatory 2050 carbon reduction target.
GreenChew 
