Energy is becoming more expensive. It’s time for people to pay more attention to their heating system, and look at ways to use less energy and save their hard-earned cash.
Fortunately there are a number of ways to do this, and installers can help their customers by offering simple, effective advice.
The golden rule for energy efficiency is ‘insulation before installation’, because we don’t want to waste the heat we produce by letting it escape out of the doors, walls or windows.
There are also cheap and easy measures that can make a big difference to energy bills, like heating controls which – according to the Energy Saving Trust - could slash up to 30% off energy bills, yet a whopping 8m homes in the UK are operating without any.
Additives like inhibitors, cleansers and de-scalers are also low-cost ways to keep heating systems running efficiently, so as little energy as possible is used.
Alternatively people could look for a new, clean way to power their homes. Renewable technologies like heat pumps, biomass boilers and solar thermal systems are becoming more popular because they’ve got very low carbon emissions and are less prone to fluctuating fuel prices.
Plus the domestic Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) is launching next spring, which gives an added incentive for people to switch to renewables, because they can make money as a reward for generating renewable energy.
As an industry we need to work hard to help prepare homes so they can keep heating costs down. Government initiatives like Green Deal and the RHI are in place, which help people afford energy-efficient improvements to their homes, but education is still the key.
More energy-conscious people will lead to lower energy bills, more work for installers and a healthier environment, so let’s make that priority number one.
Tim Pollard is head of sustainability at Plumb and Parts Center.
