Home truths

Can a busy family of five adjust their habits to reduce their home’s carbon footprint? Jill Starley-Grainger looks at just how easy it is to turn a house into an energy-efficient havenLiving in a 17th-century country home has its advantages. Plenty of space, a huge, open fire and bags of character have made the house a pleasure for the Stapleton family to live in.Unfortunately, 17th-century builders weren’t overly concerned with energy efficiency. (Nor, for that matter, were 20th-century builders.) That’s left the Stapletons with large annual gas and electricity bills, £1,000 and £640 respectively, as well as chilly rooms on cold winter nights.Rory and Jennifer Stapleton, along with their children Tim, Pat and Alice, have decided to help the planet and their bank balance by instituting some energy efficiency measures. Each one is taking responsibility for one room of the house.As deputy head at a local children’s nursery, Jennifer, 45, gets out of bed at the crack of dawn every morning. After a quick shower, she wakes the children, walks their dog, Jedi, feeds the cat, Domer, and sits down for a quick cup of tea before herding all the children out the door. Her job is a short 10-minute walk from home, and she finishes just after lunch. “When I get home, I do some housework, cook supper, then about 6.15 we sit down for dinner as a family,” says Jennifer. After dinner, Jennifer watches a bit of telly, such as Scrubs, Spooks or the news.The day starts later for Rory, 47, than for anyone else in the family. “My wife gets the children up and out of the house, then I emerge and enjoy a leisurely breakfast in peace and quiet,” says Rory. He spends the day selling and sourcing wine at his shop, The Jolly Vintner in Tiverton, Devon. “In the evenings, I get home about 6pm, then we usually eat as a family at the kitchen table. Afterwards, Jennifer and I might sample a new bottle of wine sent in from a supplier.” Otherwise, Rory spends about an hour on the computer in the living room before watching telly with the family.When Pat, 15, and Alice, 12, are not visiting friends or doing homework, they’re usually to be found playing games on the computer, listening to music or watching telly. Older brother Tim, 17, is studying Outdoor Leisure at Bicton College and working part-time at a restaurant, so he’s rarely home except to sleep.On the whole, the family are quite green. As Jennifer says, “We recycle, walk whenever possible, and I always try to buy our food from local shops and markets.” Unfortunately, despite the fact that their house has external walls that are two feet thick, it’s still not very energy efficient. They had secondary glazing put on all the windows last year, which has given them savings of around £80 a year, but just a few more measures could see their energy bills and carbon footprint plummet.KITCHENThe kitchen was renovated and fitted with all new appliances two years ago, making it a pleasant place for Rory to sample his favourite wines, currently a white Burgundy, St Veran 2005, £8.99, and a red Bordeaux, Chateau Ramage La Batisse 1998, £10.99.When the kitchen was being renovated, Rory and Jennifer were determined to reduce their carbon footprint, and they made a real effort to buy appliances that were A-rated for energy efficiency. Unfortunately, even two years ago, there were no A-rated tumble driers.A very old gas-powered Rayburn, similar to an Aga and with two burners and an oven, keeps the kitchen toasty. It isn’t used for cooking, though, but as the house’s boiler, providing heating and hot water throughout.Problem: The tumble drier. Other than the boiler, it’s the most energy inefficient appliance in their home.Solution: Ask the kids to hang up one load of clothes each a week. When it’s time to buy a new drier, Rory should choose an A-rated model, like the AEG-Electrolux T59800 Lavatherm, £565.Cost: £8 for an airing rackTime: Five to 10 minutes a loadSavings: £40 a yearProblem: The kettle. Despite their best efforts, the family often still overfill it.Solution: Instead of filling the kettle directly, they should fill the required number of cups with water, then pour them into the kettle. Next time the kettle needs replacing, Rory should consider the Eco Kettle, £33.25 from Your Tomorrow (www.yourtomorrow.co.uk). It boils the right amount every time, regardless of how much water you put in, offering savings of up to 30 per cent on the kettle’s energy use. Another option would be to ditch the electric kettle. The family in Yellow House (www.theyellowhouse.org.uk) replaced their electric kettle with an old-fashioned one used on the gas cooker, and their electricity bills dropped by eight per cent.Cost: £0Time: 0Savings: £10 a yearProblem: Their boiler is seriously inefficient, and the Stapletons have already decided to replace it. New boilers are typically 20 to 30 per cent more efficient than those from a decade ago.Solution: Install a new boiler, probably a condensing boiler, but this may require upgrades to other pipes.Cost: Buying a new boiler and having it fitted for a house this size will cost around £1,500, the Stapletons could save money by contacting the Energy Saving Trust on or visit www.est.org.uk/myhome/gid, who can advise if any grants or offers are available in their area to lower the cost of an energy efficient boiler.Time: N/ASavings: £250 a yearLIVING ROOMPat and Tim spend the most time in the living room, watching telly and playing computer games. Other than the Sky Digibox, which would have to be unplugged to take it off standby, all appliances are always fully switched off when not in use. Their television is a traditional CRT (i.e. the old-fashioned, box kind most of us still have), so it uses 60 per cent more energy than an LCD of the same size, but because it’s a hand-me-down from a friend, they’re scoring big points on the recycling front. They should swap to an LCD only when their current telly breaks.The living room is lit by six spotlights on the ceiling, one wall light and church candles. They also light the open wood-burning fireplace about three times a week in winter. Their sofa is a little too close to the radiator, reducing its efficiency, but their curtains, which they always shut at dusk to help keep the cold out, don’t touch the radiators, so if they move the sofa a little, the heat should flow freely around the room..Problem: Open fireplace. On the upside, unlike gas or electricity, the wood the Stapletons use is a carbon neutral fuel. On the downside, 75 per cent of the heat produced in any open fireplace goes up the chimney. Worse, while the area immediately around the fire is warmer, it actually creates draughts in the rest of the house, making other areas colder.Solution: Cut down use to no more than once a week.Cost: £0Time: 0Savings: £70. They’ll save £66 on wood, plus a little on the extra energy that’s used to heat the colder parts of the house.Problem: Lighting. The six spotlights and one wall light with candle bulb are burning up energy.Solution: In most homes, lighting accounts for 10 to 15 per cent of the electricity bill. Energy-saving bulbs use around 80% less energy, last eight to 15 times as long and cost from just £3 a bulb. For speciality bulbs, like the Stapleton’s spotlight and candle bulbs, they’ll probably need to look online.Cost: An energy-saving spotlight costs £4.20 per bulb as part of 10-pack of low-energy GU10 spotlights from Trade Lamp (www.tradelamp.com). An energy-saving candle costs £1.79 each as part of a five-pack from Trade Lamp, or £3.82 each from BLT Direct (www.bltdirect.com)Time: Five minutes to replace all living room bulbsSavings: £4.50 a year per bulb. Replacing all seven living room lights will save £31.50. Use the remaining four bulbs from the spotlight 10-pack in the kitchen for a bonus saving of £18. Total savings: £54 a yearBATHROOMWith five people in the house, the bathrooms get plenty of use, and Jennifer wants to ensure they aren’t flushing their money down the drain. Around 25 power showers and 10 baths are taken a week. The hot water tank next to the bathroom holds 110 litres of water, which isn’t quite enough, so the family split their bathing times in the morning and evening. An ordinary radiator warms the bathroom and dries the towels, while two spotlights, a glass block window and a small, hinged window offer light.Problem: Bath-time. A shower is usually better than a bath, but not if it’s a power shower.Solution: Jennifer could install a reduced-flow showerhead, but since their power shower comes with a low-flow setting, she should just ask everyone to use that, and it will give significant savings. The bathers could also consider showering instead of bathing, but only if their showers take less than 10 minutes.Cost: £0Time: 0Savings: £120 a year on energy bills. If they had a water meter, they’d notice savings on their water bill, too.Problem: Hot water tank. Its jacket is thin and falling down, and the pipes leading to it aren’t insulated.Solution: Jennifer can easily give the hot water tank a stylish new jacket that’s at least 75mm thick, and she should also insulate the pipes leading to it.Cost: £12Time: One hourSavings: £30 a yearBEDROOMBefore going to sleep, Alice usually spends some time with her snake Ozzy, listens to music and reads a book, such as The Giggle Treatment by Roddy Doyle. She also does much of her homework in her room, so it’s should be a warm, welcoming space. It’s essential for his survival that Ozzy’s tank is heated at all times, so in hindsight, for those interested in energy efficiency, reptiles might not be the best pets. However, nobody would suggest that Alice get rid of the lovely Ozzy just to save such a tiny amount of energy.A single, overhead 100w light bulb and a window provide the room’s lighting. If Alice had a lower-watt bedside light, and fitted it and the ceiling pendant with low energy light bulbs, she could save around £11 a year on the electricity bill.Alice is careful to fully switch the stereo off when she’s finished listening to it, and she unplugs her mobile phone as soon as it’s charged. “The bedroom is chilly at night, so I sleep under a thick duvet,” says Alice. Piling up the blankets is better for the planet than turning up the heat, but a couple of issues beyond her control are making her room cold.Problem: The radiator. The Stapletons think they keep their flat at an icy 15 degrees all year. In reality, their thermostat is probably giving an incorrect reading, indicating that it needs replacing. Worse, because the controls don’t have a timer, the heating is left on all day long, even when nobody is home. In addition, none of the radiators have individual controls.Solution: Fitting good heating controls, including a programmable room thermostat with timer and individual thermostatic valves in the bedrooms and hallways, could save the Stapletons 17 per cent off their heating bills.Cost: £7 for each thermostatic radiator valve, £40 for a room thermostat. Radiator thermostats are quite easy to fit, but room thermostats are trickier. Add on fees for a plumber and an electrician if you can’t do it yourself.Time: DIY: one to two days. Professional: 1/2 day to a day.Savings: £125 a yearProblem: Loft. Just above Alice’s room is the badly insulated loft, which sees a third of the heat in her room, and everyone else’s, wafting through the roof. On the plus side, Santa’s reindeer are kept toasty on Christmas Eve.Solution: Topping up their current 40mm loft insulation to the recommended 270mm will give big savings. Doing it yourself is easy, but many energy suppliers, such as British Gas (www.house.co.uk), will do it for you as cheaply, whether you’re a customer or not.Cost: From £250 for a three-bed semi-detached houseTime: Three hoursSavings: £250 a yearFAST FACTS• You’d have to cycle seven and a half miles to power an ordinary 100W light bulb for just 30 minutes. To power the equivalent energy efficient light bulb, you’d cycle just over a mile.• Don’t want to stick a turbine on your roof? Get your green energy the easy way by switching suppliers. Green energy suppliers, such as Ecotricity, promise to match the price of your regional supplier, so it won’t cost you a penny more, but you’re carbon footprint should drop significantly.• If your home was built between 1920 and 1980, you probably have cavity walls. If so, you’ll get the most payback from the least effort by having them insulated. It will take a professional around two hours, costs from £210 through energy suppliers and you’ll save £145 a year. Visit www.est.org.uk/myhome/gid to find out the best offers in your area.• Sticking up inexpensive foam draught-proofing around windows and doors will save you around £10-20 a year and costs just £3, but remember to replace it annually.• If you’re really keen to go green, consider more serious options, such solar water heating or a wind turbine. However, you need to research it carefully to determine which options are most suitable for your home, and you won’t see a payback from most of them for many years.