Challenges

I had a grant that covered me for new wall loft and a new boiler a couple of years back and must say its kept me bills down! So anyone who has not insulated please do it save yourself some money now!

Have to say i purchased the remote control turn off thingies a while back to save as much money as possible. So this challenge is a simple one for us.

Thanks for the info about £50 off loft and cavity wall insulation. Incidentally, it was British Gas that came to remove my very (20 years) old boiler that was in my downstairs back room; installed a more energy-efficient one in the utility space instead. Consequently, the new location had meant changes to the pipe work, electrical wiring, a new chimney to extract carbon monoxide gas, etc. Although British Gas offered a refund of £200, the work was rather complicated...the total cost was 4 grand plus, which I paid with credit cards and still paying for it today. As it happens, I happen to qualify for free loft and cavity wall insulation (thanks to my local council for funding it); which all go to help with keeping the house that bit warmer. Unfortunately, I cannot afford double-glazing, which I had estimates for. £7K! No, cannot afford it. Heavy curtains, draught proofing, etc will have to do for now :-)

...forgot to mention employees from my local council actually came knocking on my door, to see if I would be qualify for wall cavity and loft insulation...yes! and for free too. Noticing the difference this winter - that bit much warmer. Rome wasn't built in one day, as the saying goes... :-)

every small effort counts towards the overall challenge, however miniscule. Been switching off all electric points at source, when appliances are not used; using energy saving light bulbs throughout house; burning wood/branches trimmed from trees in my garden + all paper products (recycling), as I happen to have a fireplace in my sitting room; hence, turning off radiators in rooms not used; also turning thermostat down by a number of degrees. Most utility companies tend to charge so much that, from last October, I have decided to wear more clothes (thermal, woollen), hat and gloves, and drinking cups and cups of hot water.

I have a couple of special multi-plug adapters that can be turned off with just one click so all the hard-to-reach plugs, or multi plugs like that of the tv, freeview, dvd etc can all be turned off with just one click when not needed or at bedtime. So no more crawling under computer desks or reaching behind the settee to turn them off. Thankfully our new bedroom TV actually turns completely off when I press the remote, rather than going on standby like my old one, cos its not easy getting out of bed when you're disabled! But isnt it annoying that they put standby lights on silly things, like cordless phones or a microwave, and clocks in things too. Why???

We have been doing this for years, in our home until the event of Freeview only the Fridge, freezer and cordless telephones were left on... now there is a Freeview plus box as well. How much has Freeview increased energy consumption in the UK I wonder. Not only do we save energy but substantially reduce our fire risk... a friend of mine had a washing machine that drew 5 watts when not bing used and this was of the type that has NO lights or LED displays.

I already do this, where humanly possible, as I have had "byebye Standby" remote control swithes for about 3 years. I therefore assume that I have done this challenge. British Gas have already done my loft and cavity wall insulation, as we old fogies get it free!

David MacKay is a bit wary of the "every little bit helps" argument and I agree with him. Whilst switching off appliances is sensible and a GOOD thing: if we continue to fly on holiday, keep buying new replacement stuff, own a car, drive to a gym, not insulate our houses, eating asparagus every week from Kenya, etc. etc. then the risk is that we "exhaust" our conscientious behaviour on fiddly small scale things of small consequence whilst continue to act as normal on the big things that really do matter.

we started doing this quite a while ago when we got energy meter from british gas it shows what electric you use daily and how much it costs, since we got that and started to turn everything off at the swtch that we dont use and lights off unless needed we have saved loads. we always turn the laptop off too never leave it charging overnight either