Climate Week - npower encourages homeowners to find out more
As Climate Week (21-27 March) gets underway, npower is encouraging homeowners to pay a visit to its stand at the Ideal Home Show to find out how to make their homes more energy efficient and better manage their impact on the environment.
Exhibiting at the show for a third year, npower will be showcasing the latest eco-friendly home technology developments including electric vehicle technology, solar panels and the company’s green energy tariff.
Centre of the stand is a Tesla - the fastest electric vehicle in existence, along with home and city charging points for electric vehicles.
Nicola Hadcroft, creative services manager at npower, comments: “Climate Week is all about highlighting the innovative technology that is coming to the market to help make homeowners’ lives easier. The Ideal Home Show is the perfect place to showcase what npower is doing to make a difference.
“By encouraging people to take responsibility for their energy usage and being more accountable, we can work towards a more sustainable future and help homeowners tread more lightly on the planet.
“Even by making small improvements such as fitting a smart meter or energy efficient light bulbs can make a difference, whilst bigger innovations, such as installing solar panels are a viable investment for the future.”
Homeowners who are not looking to install new products in their home, but still want to make their energy usage more sustainable can also sign up to npower’s green energy tariffs including npower Juice and npower’s National Trust Green Energy. Both tariffs match the amount of electricity you use with electricity generated from 100% renewable sources. This is then then fed back into the grid. The tariffs cost the same as standard electricity and are just one of the ways homeowners can reduce their energy bills and go green.
npower’s top tips for going green during Climate Week
1-5: Quick and easy steps to make a difference
1. Install energy efficient light-bulbs - Energy efficient light bulbs use up to 80% less electricity, making them a quick and easy way to do your bit for the environment and save money in the process.
2. Go green - If you really want to ‘go green’ sign up to a green energy tariff to see the electricity you use matched by 100% renewable electricity that is then fed into the grid.
3. Turn down your thermostat - As the weather gets warmer, don’t forget to turn your thermostat down to heat the house to an appropriate level. Just one degree can make a big difference to your energy usage.
4. Draught excluders – Filling in draughty gaps in your doors and windows will make regulating the heat in your home easier, bringing down your bills and saving you money.
5. Smart meters – Keeping an eye on your energy usage through a smart meter can help you to target the appliances using the most energy and help you to adjust your habits.
6-10: Long-term solutions to sustainable living
6. Loft insulation – In the same way that we all lose most heat from our head, houses lose most heating from their lofts, so make sure you’re keeping the heat in with the right thickness of loft insulation. Not only will this keep you warm in the winter months, but it will also keep your home cool in the summer.
7. Thermostatic radiators – Now that spring is here, there’s no need to heat the whole house all the time. Instead, install thermostatic radiators to heat only the rooms you need to be warm in the evenings.
8. Upgrade your boiler – Older boilers might be less than 60% efficient meaning that for every £1 spent on gas heating 40p is wasted, particularly if your boiler is more than ten years old. Consider installing a new A-rated boiler for maximum efficiency.
9. Drive electric – 2011 is the year of the electric vehicle with many new models coming to market. Electric cars not only have no pollutant emissions and lower overall emissions but they’re also more reliable and generally cost less to run.
10. Generate your own energy – With the days getting longer and warmer, now is the perfect time to be thinking about installing solar photovoltaic (PV) panels on your home. Not only will you benefit from making your own electricity for years to come, but you will also earn money from Feed-in-Tariffs, which pay per unit of energy generated, regardless of whether you use it or sell it back to the grid.
For more information, visit the npower stand 1H16 at the Ideal Home Show, Earls Court until 27 March. Alternatively visit npower.com