EPC Rating, LED Bulbs & any other things we should do?

jumeriah64

Morning all, just finishing a 3 bedroon semi renovation project for a daughter and so far we have managed to install LED lighting in absolutely every location from attic to security lights to bathrooms, bedrooms...the lot...surprisingly successfully given past experiences with LED a few years back.

The new gen smart meter confirms that we have made huge reductions, great news.

But does anyone know if this is taken into account when we request the EPC assessment? I would have thought wall to wall LED lighting should be a big tick.

To note we have done the following:

- Cavity wall
- Condenser boiler
- 350 mm attic insulation & over boarded entire attic
- insulation fitted into kitchen ceiling
- has Upvc windows doors etc
- Has a latest version BG smart meter installed

Interested in what else we should consider to do to get best rating....just for the sport of it as much as anything.

Advice from MSE folk appreciated as always. Many thanks

Sosumi

jumeriah64 wrote: »

Morning all, just finishing a 3 bedroon semi renovation project for a daughter and so far we have managed to install LED lighting in absolutely every location from attic to security lights to bathrooms, bedrooms...the lot...surprisingly successfully given past experiences with LED a few years back.

The new gen smart meter confirms that we have made huge reductions, great news.

But does anyone know if this is taken into account when we request the EPC assessment? I would have thought wall to wall LED lighting should be a big tick.

To note we have done the following:

- Cavity wall
- Condenser boiler
- 350 mm attic insulation & over boarded entire attic
- insulation fitted into kitchen ceiling
- has Upvc windows doors etc
- Has a latest version BG smart meter installed

Interested in what else we should consider to do to get best rating....just for the sport of it as much as anything.

Advice from MSE folk appreciated as always. Many thanks

Since you ask…

Wear overcoats, woollen stockings and thick sweaters indoors this winter, invest in an arctic-grade sleeping bag and duvet, never cook, eat only cold food, turn down the thermostat to half a degree above the temperature at which your pipes will freeze, wash yourselves and your dishes with unheated water and never, ever turn on the television (unless Martin Lewis is on, of course), use your washing machine or have a bath.

Martin will be proud of you. It is character-building and will do you good. :snow_laug

jumeriah64

Sosumi wrote: »

Since you ask…

Wear overcoats, woollen stockings and thick sweaters indoors this winter, invest in an arctic-grade sleeping bag and duvet, never cook, eat only cold food, turn down the thermostat to half a degree above the temperature at which your pipes will freeze, wash yourselves and your dishes with unheated water and never, ever turn on the television (unless Martin Lewis is on, of course), use your washing machine or have a bath.

Martin will be proud of you. It is character-building and will do you good. :snow_laug

Like it! :rotfl: .... will give the team a briefing shortly and see how they feel about that.

D_M_E

B&Q, for one, sell an insulation board which is about 10mil thick and can be used to insulate walls.

You could also fill any cavities in the internal walls with insulation, and if there is one, put extra insulation on the hot water tank.

Wear overcoats, woollen stockings and thick sweaters indoors this winter, invest in an arctic-grade sleeping bag and duvet, never cook, eat only cold food, turn down the thermostat to half a degree above the temperature at which your pipes will freeze, wash yourselves and your dishes with unheated water and never, ever turn on the television (unless Martin Lewis is on, of course), use your washing machine or have a bath.
posted by Sosumi

I had to laugh at that, but why pay about £150 a year for a tv licence just to watch one programme?

EDIT - Thermostatic valves on all radiators - cost about £10 or so each - is another big plus for the EPC rating.

Sosumi

D_M_E wrote: »

Sosumi wrote: »

Since you ask…

Wear overcoats, woollen stockings and thick sweaters indoors this winter, invest in an arctic-grade sleeping bag and duvet, never cook, eat only cold food, turn down the thermostat to half a degree above the temperature at which your pipes will freeze, wash yourselves and your dishes with unheated water and never, ever turn on the television (unless Martin Lewis is on, of course), use your washing machine or have a bath.

Martin will be proud of you. It is character-building and will do you good. :snow_laug

I had to laugh at that, but why pay about £150 a year for a tv licence just to watch one programme?

I'm certain that "Typical", himself, would regard that as a justifiably worthy exception to the rule and if you write to him nicely he'll probably let you into some crafty (if somewhat dubious) ruse his offshore accountant has hatched up to set the cost of it against tax.

jumeriah64

D_M_E wrote: »

B&Q, for one, sell an insulation board which is about 10mil thick and can be used to insulate walls.

You could also fill any cavities in the internal walls with insulation, and if there is one, put extra insulation on the hot water tank.

I had to laugh at that, but why pay about £150 a year for a tv licence just to watch one programme?

EDIT - Thermostatic valves on all radiators - cost about £10 or so each - is another big plus for the EPC rating.

Hi DME, yes will revisit the hot tank, had not thought about that. The radiators all have thermos on them, should have mentioned.

Is good advice, many thanks for that.

footyguy

jumeriah64 wrote: »

Morning all, just finishing a 3 bedroon semi renovation project for a daughter and so far we have managed to install LED lighting in absolutely every location from attic to security lights to bathrooms, bedrooms...the lot...surprisingly successfully given past experiences with LED a few years back.

The new gen smart meter confirms that we have made huge reductions, great news.

But does anyone know if this is taken into account when we request the EPC assessment? I would have thought wall to wall LED lighting should be a big tick.

To note we have done the following:

- Cavity wall
- Condenser boiler
- 350 mm attic insulation & over boarded entire attic
- insulation fitted into kitchen ceiling
- has Upvc windows doors etc
- Has a latest version BG smart meter installed

Interested in what else we should consider to do to get best rating....just for the sport of it as much as anything.

Advice from MSE folk appreciated as always. Many thanks

The smart meter does not reflect in the EPC assessment as it does not save energy. Any reduction in usage you have experienced is smply because you used less energy, perhaps because of the other things you have done or because you are constantly watching the meter and so turn things off, not because of the meter itself.

Things like cavity wall insulation, double glazing and low energy light bulbs are what will be reflected in the EPC assessment.

jumeriah64

footyguy wrote: »

The smart meter does not reflect in the EPC assessment as it does not save energy. Any reduction in usage you have experienced is smply because you used less energy, perhaps because of the other things you have done or because you are constantly watching the meter and so turn things off, not because of the meter itself.

Things like cavity wall insulation, double glazing and low energy light bulbs are what will be reflected in the EPC assessment.

Oh for sure, I mention it just to show we can see the impact of the LED's.....there's no doubt that having 100% LED has made an amazing difference....more than I could have imagined.Cheers

footyguy

jumeriah64 wrote: »

Oh for sure, I mention it just to show we can see the impact of the LED's.....there's no doubt that having 100% LED has made an amazing difference....more than I could have imagined.Cheers

Energy saving lightbulds such as LEDs typically use about 20% of the energy of a conventional light bulb.

So for an average room with a 100W lightbulb, then an energy saving lightbulb would be about 20W, a saving of 80w per hour.

In most houses, I guess only a couple of light bulbs are on for extended peiods (e.g. lounge & kitchen/diner?) So that would save say 160W per hour for probably about 5 hours per day on average - so about 0.8kWh per day (on average - about 10p)

Or put another way, the equivilent to an electric shower being on for an extra 5-6 mins a day

If lights really are saving you a significant about of energy either (a) you don't use much energy on anything else (big consumers like cooking, heating, hot water, etc) or (b) you have an abnormal amount of bulbs (possibly of a decorative nature rather than functional) which are all left on. So you'd save even more if you just turned them off completely

matelodave

It sounds as though you are moving into the realms of diminishing returns. ie spending loads more than you are saving especially if you've already halved your energy bill. To halve it again will probably cost twice as much

My last EPC, after insulating the loft, fitting an air source heat pump, underfloor heating plus various other improvements (we already had cavity wall insulation and double glazing), did improve from G to D but some of the recommendations in it were just plain stupid costwise and we'd only get it up to C.

We've got mostly LED lighting but only where it counts, in the kitchen, lounge, bathroom and study where the lights are in use for a significant amount of time. Spending £8 on a lamp in the spare room that gets turned on for a few minutes at a time when we go in there once a week or so in the winter, isn't cost effective.

jumeriah64

footyguy wrote: »

Energy saving lightbulds such as LEDs typically use about 20% of the energy of a conventional light bulb.

So for an average room with a 100W lightbulb, then an energy saving lightbulb would be about 20W, a saving of 80w per hour.

In most houses, I guess only a couple of light bulbs are on for extended peiods (e.g. lounge & kitchen/diner?) So that would save say 160W per hour for probably about 5 hours per day on average - so about 0.8kWh per day (on average - about 10p)

Or put another way, the equivilent to an electric shower being on for an extra 5-6 mins a day

If lights really are saving you a significant about of energy either (a) you don't use much energy on anything else (big consumers like cooking, heating, hot water, etc) or (b) you have an abnormal amount of bulbs (possibly of a decorative nature rather than functional) which are all left on. So you'd save even more if you just turned them off completely

Yes is a weird analysis window....the house is being renovated so there are zero appliances in use bar lights and the odd drill etc. So you can actually get a slightly unique measure of the lights impact.

I guess its also a rare example in that there really are zero lights other than LED.... in outhouses, bathrooms, external, internal, the lot....we even have an LED flouro tube in the attic which is a bit over the top.

When the apps go in then for sure we will see degradation of that picture. Mind we've sourced some new TV's...2016 Panasonics which we managed get from the factory shop on ebay at good money very high efficiency ratings. As for the rest on the usual white goods suspects, they are as rubbish efficiency wise as any others.