Green Up Your Home

With the cost of heating and lighting you home getting ever more expensive, now could be a great time to get green. Even if you’ve not yet woken up to the need to do it for the environment, rising costs may yet be the push that gets you started. If you are looking to improve your current home then there are some fairly simple, low budget, areas in which to start. Insulate, insulate, insulate; both loft and walls will leak heat out of your home. There are many insulation companies which will do both areas for less than £500 for an average sized home. With around 66% of heat loss attributed to the roof and a third of total heat loss down to ‘leaky’ walls, it’s definitely worth looking at these two areas before any other. The pay back should be realised reasonably quickly which is always a great incentive. Double glassed windows are another favourite replacement which will also contribute to improved insulation characteristics of your home.

The heat generation source in most homes is still the trusty old gas boiler. Although boilers have been superseded by many alternative forms of heating, a modern replacement gas boiler will generally be vastly more efficient compared to its old counterpart. Many gas boilers now offer between 95% - 98% efficiency; contrast this with an old one at perhaps 70%, it’s easy to see that savings can be made on fuel bills while being greener at the same time. In addition thermostatic radiator valves are well worth fitting as they will allow you to control the temperature  in various rooms and therefore target heat where you most need it

If you are considering a bigger investment in green technology or perhaps renovating or building a house, there are plenty of options to hand. Solar PV (Photovoltaic) and Solar Thermal are popular options. Although the UK market has been hit by reduced government tariffs, solar can still be a great choice. Solar PV can contribute to electricity normally taken from the National Grid, and/or pump back into the grid and as such earn you payments in return. Solar Thermal on the other hand will produce hot water for use in the home. You do need to conjure with the costs (upwards of £10,000 for PV & £5000 for thermal) and weigh up the options as neither is cheap. Look at the payback periods and do your sums. Have a few professional companies assess your roof for year-round performance. They should be able to project how shadows from trees / chimneys / extensions and the general direction of the roof will affect how well solar will perform.

Air Source and Ground Source heat pumps can be used in conjunction with Solar PV to supply a constant stream of warmth to the home. Instead of warming up the house in order to allow it to cool over night, as is often the case with gas boilers, heat pumps provide heat all of the time, 24/7, but at more ambient levels.

Wind Turbines are much less common choice but is another option to explore for those in windy places. Small systems can cost as little as £1,500 but there is little data available to suggest how much energy they will produce for the average home.

This article is free to republish provided the resource information below and article links remain intact.

Paul Coupe is Online Marketing Manager for Quote4Removals.
http://www.quote4removals.com