Reducing That Electricity Bill - Victory!

Good news came by snail mail today in the form of the electricity bill. Having carried out all the changes outlined in my previous posts, i have found that my electricity consumption has reduced by some 20% when compared with the same time last year.

The improvement is despite the fact that the weather is colder than last year, so it is harder to keep warm, dry clothes etc.

Really, my quality of life hasn't changed a lot. I still use the computer a lot and watch TV just as much, but focusing on the energy intensive issues, such as laundry, cooking, heating water etc. I managed to make a significant change.

Considering that about 34% of our electricity is currently produced from coal, it shows that many power stations could be shut done with out many changes to our lives (a 20% reduction in coal use for electricity, equates roughly to a 35% reduction in electricity CO2 emissions).

Summary of energy saving tips I used:

1. Never use a tumble dryer
2. Invest in a stand alone spin dryer (for occasional use after the washing machine)
3. Turn down thermostat on heater a few degrees and wear thermal underwear
4. Always use lids on the saucepans
5. Dry clothes naturally outdoors or indoors (making sure of adequate ventilation indoors and use appropriate room)
6. When using kettle, tip excess boiling water in vacuum flask for use again in kettle later.

Salvador Caetano

It is a great shame that the Waterlooville Caetano plant has had to close at a time when we need more public transport and jobs. The site had a long history of 'coach' building, starting with Wadham Stringers building buses and ambulances. In fact Wadhams are featured on the brass plaques now embedded on the pedestrian areas of Waterlooville and on the underpass mural.

The Tory run council now has planning proposals to develop the land for even more pointless shops and car attracting terror. I wonder if the Mayor would mind if one of these retail hell holes were built near his house on Hayling Island and that he had to walk through them on a daily basis?

Obviously the optimism of Salvador Caetano for the British coach building market was completely undermined by the typically destructive mindless British car driver.

Reducing That Electricity Bill - and other stuff

I have found wearing thermal underwear helps when trying to reduce heating bills. The trouble is when it is in the wash and you don't have any spare, you find out how much you miss it!

It just shows what a difference thermal underwear can make and you realise how ridiculous it is that all the buildings you visit must have the heating turned up just so that people wearing one layer of clothing (having driven around in their cars) can feel comfortable.

I'm looking forward to seeing the next electricity bill just to see how much it has dropped. It's not very often that one can say they are looking forward to a bill arriving!

Not much going on with the Wimpey MDA development, I suppose that is not surprising, it is good news in some respects but it also means i have less to report here!

Coalfinger

Waterloovilles fields about to be saved?

It's good news to see that the House of Commons Environmental Audit select committee has recommended that greenfield developments pushed forward by the government should be slowed down or halted completely. With a bit of luck and a building industry in serious trouble, our fields will remain.

Local Government Chronicle
Guardian

Why does turning the thermostat down 1 °C save money (and Carbon Dioxide)?

To many it may seem at first that turning down the thermostat on the central heating system a tad, as recommended by many government public information films, to be one of those crazy ideas with no founding in science or every day common sense. But when you consider the system as a whole (something that any eco friendly person should do) then you realise it is based on very sound science.

So where do people get the idea that it is crazy?

The reason is that people think of numbers in absolute terms from zero up. So 20°C is obviously greater than 0°C. Hence a 1°C reduction seems small in comparison, just 5% of the total. If that were how a thermostat controlled heating system worked then not much money would be saved.

But the science in that scenario is incorrect. In order to get an accurate estimation of energy saved, the 'heating system' should include the world outside your home. We must include the temperature outside the home in our calculations of energy saved.

So how do we do this?

First of all the minimum temperature possible in the home will be the same temperature that is measured outside it. So if the temperature outside is 14°C and we normally have the thermostat set to 20°C then the difference is 6°C.

In our scenario lets take the thermostat down by 1°C.

Since our temperature difference in the scenario is only 6°C, the percentage saving is now roughly 17%. This is more than triple the original perceived reduction for that particular set of circumstances. Obviously as the temperature outside the home drops further, less will be saved and if the temperature outside increases then more will be saved.

So the main defining factor is the temperature outside the home and the fact that the temperature range the central heating operates, is between the outside temperature and the thermostat setting. Since outside temperatures in the UK are not very often near 0°C, a 1°C reduction in the thermostat setting is often not as small as it seems.

Reducing That Electricity Bill - More tips

Lids on saucepans
This may not seem like a big deal, but putting the lids on your saucepans reduces the amount of heat/energy required to, say boil potatoes, to about 1/4 or 1/3 of that needed to do the same without lids. Once the water is boiling you can turn the heat right down. Saucepans with glass lids also allow you to see what is going on without having to remove them.

Use a vacuum flask
If you put to much water in the kettle and end up with some boiling water left over, you can put the remainder into a vacuum flask. Then when you need more boiled water later in the day, you can pour it back into the kettle and possibly add some cold water from the tap. This may at first seem like a waste of time, but the warm water will require a lot less energy to boil than fresh cold water from the tap. Of course ideally it is best to only boil as much as needed, but this isn't always possible since many kettles have a minimum amount of water that should be used with them.