Households cut energy use by a quarter

Loughton_Monkey

Cardew wrote: »

Unless you are on state benefits It has to be claimed initially at age 60 then it 'just comes'.

Apparently, this is not stricly true. I've never claimed it [but I did have to claim my bus pass].

You see, my wife got state pension at age 60, and later in the year, I also became 60. She got hers automatically, and somehow they pick up that there's also another 60 year old in the house. I personally wouldn't know how to go about claiming it. I have no meaningful relationships with DWP.

Loughton_Monkey

BobQ wrote: »

You could just donate it to the charity of your choice!:D

Actually, we do donate far more than the heating allowance to charities, and when we both die, they will cop for the whole lot. Were this to be soon, they would, between them, get a 7-figure sum. This decision was partly [but not wholly] driven by my "dimwit" [apparently] desire not to allow the government to take oodles of Inheritance Tax from me.

They would get less were I to start shovelling money back into government coffers. I did, however, spurn my 'right' to benefits when I returned from Asia in 2006, partly because the amount was too small, and partly because I can't park my Jag anywhere near the Job Centre here.

Despite that, I still receive my heating allowance with a clear conscience, while disagreeing with the idea. Similarly, if I can get into the cinema, a country show, or an exhibition at 'oldie' rates and save a couple of quid, then I gladly do so. I call this 'managing my money'.

Generali

Loughton_Monkey wrote: »

I believe that would be possible. What do you want me to do? Tell them I don't want my state pension either?

I don't claim it. It comes automatically, and I am convinced that if I sent it back, the over-paid muppets at DWP would spend more than £200 administering the return.

You should never look a gift horse in the mouth.

If I were you I'd use the cash to upgrade from Gordon's to Bombay Saphire.

OffGridLiving

Graham_Devon wrote: »

Theres quite a bit of stuff in the house that in the last few years consumes less electricity that the device it replaced.

Laptops consume far less energy than a desktop PC. Tablets consumer even less. TV's consume far less, especially LED TVs over CRTs. Even washing machines have become more energy efficient. In the past 5 years, even traditional lightbulbs have been thrown out.

So decline energy usage is expected. Just a shame a declining bill doesn't follow.

If you've kept up with technology it's not hard to save energy as it comes with usage. If you can cut back at the same time as using technological advances, even better.

I was thinking along these same lines too and looked at the electricity useage for an average home across the 50s/60s/70s against today and found that although we mave much more efficient appliances now, we also have many more of them and so any efficiency savings have been lost.

For example, instead of having one TV in the lounge shared by the whole family, each family member has a TV in the bedroom. Often these TVs have been recycled from being the main TV and so are not as efficient as they could be (i.e. an old CRT/LCD moved from the livingroom to a bedroom to make way for an LED smart TV. TVs have also gotten much larger and so use as much power as a less efficient smaller tv. We also have dishwashers, tumble dryers and central eating instead of gas fires that heat the whole house to 30C rather than just the room you sit in.

It's not all doom and gloom though, with the increase in prices people are starting to change their ways and turning down the thermostat, using the washing line and turning lights off in empty rooms. Even better is when high prices encourage people to install insulation and new windows/doors because these are a pemanent change rather than a temporary measure to save money.

We're currently trying to halve our utility useage by installing green technologies. Currently I'm sorting out our rainwater management so that we can install a rainwater harvesting system that will povide water to flush our toilets, water the garden and feed the washing machine. This should havle our useage, which will also halve the sewage bill. We're routing the overflow from the rainwater tank to astream, which means we can also reduce our surface water bill.

Once this i done, I'll be looking to reduce our electricity bill be half by installing solar panels.

toby3000

I was under the impression that new TVs used much more energy. I also think comparing a desktop to a laptop or tablet isn't fair, since I know lots of people that leave a laptop or tablet on 24/7, so I suspect the energy saving is minor.

Surely the bigger saving is improved insulation/newer boilers.

wotsthat

The technological advances are being overplayed. Yes modern stuff is more efficient and as a older white good/ PC is replaced there will be an incremental improvement.

A 25% reduction doesn't happen in 8 years by accident - people are making concerted efforts to reduce consumption.

kabayiri

As with many things, the easy wins occur first. Loft insulation; cavity insulation; switching things off; more efficient devices etc.

The challenge comes in the next few years. It seems likely that prices will continue to rise, and the ability to adapt even further becomes more challenging.

Here at chez Kab, the lighting is all LED, the boiler is A-rated, the walls have kingspan insulation in now. Even the glass has this tinted finish which is supposed to reflect heat back in. I'm sure things can be improved, but things like zonal heating mean heavy investment.

Looking longer term, global warming will of course mean more mediterranean conditions here

Loughton_Monkey

kabayiri wrote: »

......Looking longer term, global warming will of course mean more mediterranean conditions here

That sort of weather will be most welcome.....

.... and our economy will converge with that of Greece....

... bring out the tin hats...

RichardD1970

kabayiri wrote: »

Looking longer term, global warming will of course mean more mediterranean conditions here

Actually, "global warming" would cause the ice caps to melt, which would disrupt the gulf stream which keeps our climate temperate.

This would have the result of giving us a climate similar to that of Canada.

MacMickster

RichardD1970 wrote: »

Actually, "global warming" [STRIKE]would [/STRIKE]MIGHT cause the ice caps to melt, which [STRIKE]would[/STRIKE] MIGHT disrupt the gulf stream which keeps our climate temperate.

This [STRIKE]would [/STRIKE]MIGHT have the result of giving us a climate similar to that of Canada or might leave us with a climate similar to Spain or might make little difference at all. We can't predict the weather 3 days in advance so have no realistic chance of doing so with the climate, no matter how many predictions are made by the climate lobby.

Just thought that I'd put that right for you. You might want to read the Luddites thread.