How to Make Your Home More Energy Efficient

There are many reasons you might want to make your home more energy efficient, but the biggest benefits are reduced bills and a smaller carbon footprint. If you’re wondering about the best ways to improve the energy efficiency of your home, read on for our tips.

Upgrade your window dressing

It’s been reported that around 30% of your home’s heating energy can be lost out of the windows. So, a good way to improve the energy efficiency in your home is to upgrade your window dressings.

Window shutters are perfect for adding an extra barrier to your window. They’ll keep the warm air in, adding an additional layer to your window which can stop the warm air from escaping through the window. Plus, shutters will keep cold drafts out of your room, so you won’t have to turn the thermostat up to keep warm.

Another option to make your home more energy efficient is with thermal made-to-measure blinds. Like shutters, these will add an extra insulating layer to your windows, helping to keep the warm air in and the cold air out. Often, conservatories can lose a lot of warmth in the winter, and people find they can’t use this room. However, adding blinds for conservatories can help to reduce heat loss and help make this room cosy even in cold weather.

Kingswood At Home will design, create, and install your bespoke, made-to-measure blinds and shutters to help insulate your home this winter. We have a range of stylish blinds and shutters to suit all interiors. Plus, as each window dressing will be specifically made to fit your window, we can keep gaps to a minimum, reducing drafts even further. Contact us to find out more, visit our showroom, or book a free consultation with our design team.

Insulate your loft

Adding insulation to your loft is a cost-effective way to make your home more energy efficient. It’s estimated that around 25% of heat is lost through an uninsulated loft. Adding the right insulation to your loft can reduce this massively.

Insulating your loft can cost around £400 to £600, depending on the size of your home. It’s estimated that you can save anywhere from £150 to £380 annually on your energy bills, so, correctly installed loft insulation will end up paying for itself many times over during its 40-year lifetime.

Use energy-efficient appliances

Switching to energy-efficient appliances can help to reduce your heating and electricity bills and add to making your home more energy efficient.

Switching to energy-efficient light bulbs can save you between £15 and £4 per bulb per year on your bills, depending on the bulbs you use. LEDs are the most common type of energy-efficient light bulbs and are the most energy efficient. The alternative is CFLs, but these can’t be used with dimmers.

You can also extend your energy-efficient electricals to other appliances. When shopping for new electrical goods, make sure to check the labels carefully. Many include ratings, with A+++ being the most efficient and G ratings being the least. The size of the appliance will also affect how much money you can save on your bills - for example, a large fridge with an F rating will probably still cost more to run than a smaller fridge with a G rating.

Install solar panels

Solar panels can be expensive to install, but they’re a great way of making your home more energy efficient. Depending on the size of your home, installing solar panels can save you between £365 to £850 per year on your energy bills.

On average, installing solar panels will cost around £2,500, but can increase or decrease depending on the type of panels you get installed and the size of your home. Even so, many people see the panels paying for themselves in just a few years.

Insulate your walls

It’s estimated that around a third of heat is lost through the walls. Whether you have cavity walls or solid walls, adding extra insulation can help to reduce heat loss, making your home more energy efficient and saving you money on bills.

Insulating cavity walls is relatively easy, with a specialist company injecting the insulation by drilling holes in the walls. Adding insulation to solid walls can be more complicated and costly, but you could see even bigger savings, as more heat is usually lost through solid walls.

Insulating your cavity walls can result in savings between £500 and £145 per year on your energy bills, depending on the size of your home. Insulating solid walls can save you between £710 and £195 per year, according to the Energy Savings Trust.

Upgrade your boiler

An inefficient boiler can be a big drain on your bills. Although it can be costly to replace the entire boiler, doing so will be a big step in making your home more energy-efficient. It’s estimated that heating and hot water account for over half of our energy bill spending, so replacing an old boiler with a newer, well-maintained boiler can really save some money.

Replacing a gas boiler can cost around £4,000, but people can see savings ranging from £85 to £630 per year, depending on how big your home is and the boiler you use.

Kingswood at Home design, build, and install bespoke, made-to-measure shutters and blinds to help make your home more energy efficient. We also create bespoke wardrobes to maximise the storage space in your home. Contact us to see how we can transform your interiors.