Beyond shrinking your bills, reducing your household energy use helps to limit the amount of carbon emissions, which will help the environment. Not sure where to begin? Here are 5 energy-saving tips to kick-start your sustainable journey.

1. Do Laundry with Cold Water

Did you know that 90% of the energy a washing machine uses goes towards heating water? Only 10% is used to generate electricity for the washer motor! So one way to save energy is simply washing your clothes with cold water. Washing with cold water also helps to preserve the colour of your clothes.

2. Unplug All Electrical Appliances

It’s not enough to switch off your electrical appliances when you are not using them, you should remove all plugs from the socket to keep energy consumption to the minimum. This is because our appliances consume energy even when they are switched off, due to a phenomenon known as standby power that enables them to turn back on quickly by constantly drawing power from the electrical grid.

3. Reheat Your Food with Smaller Appliances

Ovens consume a huge amount of energy. So if you aren’t whipping up a huge batch of food, why not consider smaller appliances? For example, an air fryer or toaster oven can reheat a portion of frozen pizza or bake a single portion of mac and cheese just as well.

4. Opt for Dimmable LED Lights

Where possible, opt for LED lights as they use 75% less energy than normal bulbs. If you install dimmer switches, you can make your home even more energy efficient by controlling the amount of light, and also prolong the lifespan of the lightbulbs.

5. Opt for an Induction Stove

Unlike their gas counterparts, induction stoves are more energy efficient as they use electromagnetic energy that prevents energy loss when heating kitchen utensils.

You can consider installing one induction hob first, instead of 2 gas ones, if you’re not ready to make the leap to fully using induction stoves at home.