Things can creep into the house when you least expect it. Critters, bugs and sometimes – the occasional burglar – but really what you want to worry about creeping in and out of your home is the hot or cold air. The outside world can get in from time to time and when the cold air filters in, you might find that you are consuming extra energy just to stay warm. Your house should never be colder on the inside than the outside in the winter. 

You need to stay warm in the winter and cool in the summer, and if you consider the energy efficiency you can ensure that you aren’t spending too much to keep your house the temperature that it should be. The good news is that there are plenty of energy measures that you can take to make your house more efficient. To learn more, read on because we’ve got ten suggestions for you!

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1. Make sure that you have an insulated roof. You might have heard the thing where heat is lost through the roof – and it’s true. Heat rises so if you don’t have enough insulation in your loft or roofing space, you’re going to find that it’s rushing through your house faster than you can pay for the heating. Add insulation into the roofing space and you can trap that heat before it escapes.
2. Don’t forget the walls. The walls are just as leaky as the roof, which means adding cavity wall insulation where you can. You can bet that it’s a cost-effective option to retain the heat in your home! Solid walls allow twice as much heat to escape as the hollow ones, and solid insulation is more expensive than foam, but it’s worth it if you want to save your money and save energy all in one fell swoop.
3. Call in the window companies! Insulating your windows is straightforward and very beneficial, especially if you want to improve the energy efficiency of your house. It’s a good idea to upgrade your windows to energy efficient ones especially in the winter. It’ll help to keep the drafts at bay and allow you much more peace and quiet, too. Your windows will help you to keep your house efficient – so don’t forget about the windows!
4. Get a boiler service. Calling in an engineer to service the boiler is so important. You want to have an expert come in and ensure that your boiler is working at maximum capacity. Inefficient boilers are a source of expense in the home. Did you know that 55% of your energy is taken by your boiler? The rest of your appliances take up the rest of the energy. You need to remember that boilers are being created and are more energy efficient every single year so if you haven’t replaced your boiler in a decade you should probably look into that and make it easier on your budget.
5. Think about installing solar panels. A good way to be more energy efficient is to install solar panels on the top of your home. It’s a significant expense but it’s one of the most effective things that you can do to save money for your home in the long term. It’s a renewable energy source, so you’re going to be able to use as much as you need without too much of an issue. 

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6. Talk to your energy provider. Sometimes it comes down to talking to your energy provider to ask them for a deal – and you can get one if you ask nicely! Often, people believe that they will be told no but it’s not the case! There are plenty of energy providers who would be more than happy to work something out with you as long as you’re paying something. You need to bring down your utility bills given the cost of energy is shooting through the roof at the moment! Speaking to your provider you can then bring down your energy usage as it’ll be cheaper, too.
7. Consider your usage. When you think about your general consumption, how much are you using? You need to make sure that you’re turning off the lights and lowering your consumption as much as possible so that you can make your home more efficient. Bleeding the radiators and ensuring that you do this yearly will help you to improve their efficiency, too. Even something as easy as lowering the thermostat will help you out! 
8. Add drapes. When was the last time that you thought about the cold air leaking into the windows? You adding blinds and drapes will help you to keep the cold out and the heat in. You can also use low cost sticks on insulation covers and these will keep the windows from condensating through the winter months. Ideally, you could replace your windows with better efficiency options but it’s not always as easy to do that. 
9. Turn off the plugs and appliances. When you’re done with the toaster, make a point of turning off the appliance at the plug and then do that for EVERYTHING. Electricity is being used in everything when things are left plugged in. Laptops and chargers, cell phone chargers and washing machines are huge energy users and once you unplug them, you prevent the stream of electricity from happening.
10. Choose to wash cold. Cold washing your clothes may feel unnatural but actually it’s going to help you to keep your energy efficient! The only thing that you have to remember is to use a detergent that works for cold washing and not just hot washing. Otherwise, you’ll be washing more than once and it’s important that you avoid this or it defeats the object!

Energy efficiency is so important and you should be doing all that you can to save energy and save money as much as possible along the way. Now you know ten ways that you can improve the efficiency of your home, you’re going to see a change!

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