Energy saving tips for you this Christmas!

5th December 2014

Day 1 of the EAUC Sustainable Christmas is Utilities

• When you go to visit friends and family, remember to switch your heating and hot water off, don’t leave appliances on standby etc. Turning appliances off costs nothing, yet saves you money.

• If you have a programmer or timer, adjust your heating and hot water timer according to your holiday plans. If you are out of the house all day then your heating shouldn't need to be switched on. By setting the heating system to come on for as short a time as possible you will save money.

• Christmas lights can be energy intensive. Switching to LED Christmas lights from traditional Christmas lights will cost you nearly six times less to run. . If all 26 million UK homes swapped one string of standard fairy lights for LED lights, during the 12 days of Christmas alone, collectively they would save enough carbon dioxide to fill 188,000 double-decker buses (over 26,000 tonnes of CO2). Financially, it would save nearly £9.7m – that’s enough to pay the weekly energy bills for 400,000 homes. A simple money saving tip is to always remember to turn Christmas lights off when you go out or go to bed. If you’re forgetful, try using a timer switch so that they automatically turn off over night.

• When putting your oven on, consider cooking several things at once to make the most of the energy. If you are baking a batch of mince pies on the top shelf, a tray of vegetables could go on the middle shelf for roasting and a load of jacket potatoes could go on the bottom shelf to make efficient use of the heat. Similarly, make sure you use the correct settings on your appliances. There’s no point using the large hob to for a tin of beans!

• Keep your doors and windows closed to keep the heat in!

• Exercising keeps you warm and fit! Double winner if you’re partial to a mince pie…

• Get your Christmas jumper out! Wear that embarrassing jumper, resist the urge to cringe and watch your heating bills fall.

Utilities is a Framework within Learning in Future Environments (LiFE)

> Check out more resources on “Utilities” on the Sustainability Exchange