Category: Building

How to save energy – 15 ways to draught-proof your home

Stop draughts to save energy - thick curtains are great for draught proofing leaky windows

Why should I draught proof my home?

Energy use in homes causes more than 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions[1], so saving energy at home is a high-priority climate change action. Check out our ideas below for some low-cost, efficient ways to stop draughts.

Draught-proofing is one of the most cost-effective insulation methods, with a payback time of just a few years and an instant improvement in living quality, so it’s worth doing sooner rather than later.

How can I stop draughts at home?

Badly fitted double glazing, wooden doors, and cracks in walls and floors let the cold draughts in and the heat out. Fortunately, it’s easy to spot where the problem areas are because you feel cold when you go near them!

The solutions to draught problems vary in effectiveness, cost and appearance.

  • Draught excluders are an old-fashioned but effective solution. Draught excluders can be brush strips or tubes of fabric stuffed with insulating material which you fix to the bottom of your door to block the cold draught. They can be used on external doors, or internal doors if the room on the other side is unheated.
    However, Which? magazine found that the most effective way to prevent draughts under a door was simply placing a towel along the gap!
  • Weather sealing strips are foam or brush strips that you cut to size and stick in place around the edge of the frame. They’re cheap, but they aren’t a permanent solution and the glue could mark the frame.
  • Keyhole covers stop draughts by swinging into place to seal the keyhole shut when it isn’t in use.
  • Letter boxes can be draught-proofed with a brush strip, or sealed up completely and replaced with an external box.
  • If you don’t use your chimney, fit a chimney draught excluder or have the chimney professionally capped. Chimney draught excluders are either inflatable bags or natural products like wool (which prevents heat loss while allowing airflow). Remember to remove the draught excluder if you decide to use your fire!
  • Use a flexible filler to block gaps in skirting boards, floors and around pipework. For larger gaps, use expanding foam.
  • Use cement or Polyfilla to seal cracks in walls (but get a professional to check larger cracks in case there are structural problems).
  • Seal up old, unused extractor fan outlets with bricks and mortar.
  • If you can’t upgrade your windows, or your landlord won’t do it, consider using window insulation film to seal the gaps at the edges of your window. You stick the clear plastic sheet to your window, then use a hair dryer to shrink it so it clings tightly to the frame. It’s cheap and should be removable, but the downside is it makes the glass look cloudy and you may end up with creases. (Carefully check the specific product you buy and follow the instructions to ensure it’s fully removable.)
  • A cheap, temporary solution to heat loss through windows is to tape bubble wrap to the glass.
  • Hang thick, well-fitting curtains. Curtains lined with cotton interlining (batting) are most effective, but expensive if made professionally. However, you can take them with you if you move, so they are a good long-term investment.
  • Wooden shutters can be as effective as curtains at keeping the heat in, depending on which aesthetic you prefer
  • Old, badly-fitting wooden doors can be replaced with modern composite doors with a low u-value (the lower the number, the better).
  • Replace blown double glazing with a new, air-tight unit. You don’t have to replace the whole window – you can fit new glazing into the existing frames to keep the cost down.
  • The most expensive but effective solution is to upgrade your windows from single to double or triple glazing.

When fitting draught proofing, remember some ventilation is necessary for all houses (even Passive Houses) otherwise you may have problems with mould and condensation. Do not block intentional ventilation (like trickle vents, air vents and extractor fans).

Draught-proofing is just one of many ways to save energy at home – don’t forget to check out our other ideas!

[1] Hannah Ritchie, Max Roser and Pablo Rosado (2020) – “CO₂ and Greenhouse Gas Emissions”. Published online at OurWorldInData.org. Retrieved from: ‘https://ourworldindata.org/co2-and-greenhouse-gas-emissions‘ [Online Resource]

Image credit:
Cottage window with thick curtains: photo by Rob Wingate on Unsplash

Categories: Uncategorized, Building, Energy Use

How to Save Energy – get better wall insulation

save energy - make your wall insulation better

Why should I insulate my walls?

Energy use in homes contributes a staggering 10.9% to global greenhouse emissions[1]. Properties can lose one-third of their heat through the walls[2], so that’s a huge opportunity to save money, save energy and stop contributing to climate change. Installing wall insulation is an effective, do-it-once-and-forget-about-it climate change action that keeps on working, and there may even be grants available to help with the cost.

Can you insulate cavity walls?

In the UK, most houses built since 1920 have cavity walls. Some, but not all, cavity walls can be insulated, usually with mineral wool, polystyrene beads, or polyurethane foam.

Cavity wall insulation should be suitable for your property if:

  • Your external walls have an unfilled cavity between the inner and outer layers
  • The cavity is at least 50mm (2 inches) wide
  • The cavity is clear of rubble (it may not be, as the “cavity” was often a convenient place for previous generations of builders to dump waste)
  • The brickwork or stone is in good condition
  • The walls are not exposed to driving rain (rain that falls hard and fast, and is forced into the fabric of the building by strong winds)
  • The property is not at risk of flooding
  • The masonry or stone surface inside the cavity is fairly smooth (otherwise the insulation won’t fill evenly and you’ll get damp patches)

If you have a cavity wall that can’t be insulated, you may still be able to add insulation on the inside – see the solid wall section below for more details.

For more information on cavity wall insulation, visit The Energy Saving Trust (cavity wall insulation).

Can you insulate solid walls?

In the UK, houses built before 1920 are likely to have solid walls, i.e. a single wall made of just one material, usually brick or stone. Heat loss is slowed down by changes in materials, so walls made of just one material are likely to leak heat faster. Adding a layer of a different material slows this “thermal bridging” effect.

Not all solid walls can be insulated. Adding insulation to very old properties can prevent them from “breathing” and cause problems with damp, condensation and mould. If you’re thinking about insulating an older property, take advice from a reputable company – ideally one that’s been around for a long time and specialises in older buildings.

If they’re suitable, solid walls can be insulated on either the inside or the outside of the wall. Unfortunately, fitting solid wall insulation is more expensive and disruptive than installing cavity wall insulation.

Fitting solid wall insulation on the inside is disruptive and expensive because the extra thickness of the insulation forces you to move the positions of electrical sockets and doorframes.

Fitting solid wall insulation on the outside means the depth of the window reveals and the eaves will be reduced, which can look a bit strange (not that that should really be a consideration when the climate is at stake!). Depending on where you live you may also need to get planning permission, as you will be changing the external appearance of your property.

As a result, solid wall insulation will be least disruptive and costly if it’s done at the same time as other work, e.g. internal decoration, roof repairs or an extension. Landlords will probably want to do the work between tenancies to avoid disruption to tenants.

For more information on solid wall insulation, visit The Energy Saving Trust (solid wall insulation).

Insulation for new builds and extensions

If you are building from scratch, there’s a huge choice of modern, sustainable insulating boards and natural products available, including sheep’s wool, recycled insulation, straw bales, hemp, cork, wood fibre, recycled newspaper (cellulose) and cotton (recycled fabrics).

Check out Homebuilding and Renovation and GreenSpec for more details.

Grants to fund insulation upgrades

Grants for insulation may be available through government schemes, your local council, or your energy supplier. The grants and rules change often so we recommend searching for “insulation grants” followed by the name of your country, county or energy supplier, to find out what’s currently available.

How can I encourage other people to improve their wall insulation?

As energy prices remain high, it’s a great time to talk to friends, family and colleagues about improving their insulation.

Look for information about grants that may be relevant to them, even if they aren’t relevant to you; for example, grants for low-income families, landlords, or people who live in council properties.

If you’re good with forms, help other people make their grant application. If you’ve already gone through the process, help them avoid any delays or pitfalls you experienced.

If you’ve had insulation fitted, look back through your energy bills for the year before you got insulation, and note down how much energy you used. The number of units or kWh is most useful, as that isn’t affected by price changes. Then collect the same information for the year after the insulation was fitted. Hopefully, you should see a significant reduction in the amount of energy you used, which is great evidence to give to other people who are thinking about it.

Improving your wall insulation is just one of many ways to save energy at home – don’t forget to check out our other ideas!

[1] Ritchie, H., Roser, M. and Rosado, P. (2020) Emissions by sector. Our World in Data. Available at: https://ourworldindata.org/emissions-by-sector (Accessed: March 22, 2023).

[2] Cavity Wall Insulation (2022) Energy Saving Trust. Available at: https://energysavingtrust.org.uk/advice/cavity-wall-insulation/ (Accessed: February 5, 2023).

Photo credit: Chris Barbalis on Unsplash

Categories: Building

How to save energy – insulate your pipes and hot water tank

copper pipes with foam insulation

Why should I insulate my tank or pipes?

Insulating your hot water tank (cylinder) and pipes is probably the cheapest and easiest way to improve the insulation in your home.

Why should you bother? Well, an uninsulated cylinder or pipe constantly radiates heat, so it’s like having a big, unnecessary radiator in your cupboard, loft or basement. The more heat you lose, the more energy your boiler uses trying to keep the water up to temperature, so it costs you money for no good reason.

How do I insulate my pipes?

Insulating your hot water pipes is a genuinely simple DIY job:

  • Pipe insulation is a foam tube with a slit all the way along it. You can buy pipe insulation in any DIY store, or try this economy pipe insulation from Screwfix.
  • You’ll need a Stanley knife or a strong pair of scissors to cut it to length.
  • Then just pop it around the pipe, like in the picture above.
  • Corners are a bit more difficult, but you just need to cut a chunk out of the foam tube so it bends to match the pipe.
  • Then fix it in place with duct tape.
  • Even if you don’t do the tricky bits like the corners, you’ve still made a difference.

How do I insulate my hot water tank?

Insulating your hot water tank is pretty easy too:

  • A tank jacket is a very thick glass fibre “blanket” with a flame-retardant cover. You can buy tank jackets in any DIY store, or try this cheap, 80mm thick hot water cylinder jacket from Screwfix.
  • It’s easiest if you buy one that comes in several pieces, so there are gaps for all the pipes that come out of your hot water tank.
  • Look for one that’s 80mm thick so it’s really efficient.
  • Wrap the tank jacket around the tank.
  • Secure it with cable ties.
  • Tape up the gaps with duct tape.

Job done!

Image credit: Kate Spencer

Categories: Building, Cheap, Energy Use, Quick & easy, Saves money, Water

Build a cycle route as part of every new development

Top 10 climate change actions - change how you travel

Why do we need new cycle routes?

Every new housing development brings thousands of new people to an area, and most of them will leave every day for work, school or household tasks. These activities add thousands of daily journeys to local roads, most of which are done in petrol or diesel cars, creating pollution at the local level and contributing to climate change globally.

Developers and landowners make millions from new edge-of-town developments, and councils quite rightly make them contribute significant amounts of money to help fund local infrastructure that will be stretched as a result of the new housing.

We think that, as part of planning permission, some of that money should be set aside to build cycle routes. The cycle routes should run from each new development to the centre of town, the bus station and the train station, and from the centre of town to the retail parks, industrial estates and business parks. This would effectively connect people to everything they need, reducing car use, reducing local and global pollution, and improving health.

How can I help get more cycle routes built?

  • Write to your local council and your political representative to demand that new developments are only granted planning permission if they add to the sustainability of the local transport system. While one letter won’t change anything, trust that your letter will eventually be one of thousands, evidence of a groundswell of public opinion that they can’t ignore
  • Encourage other people to write as well
  • Comment on planning applications for major developments
  • Encourage other people to comment too. Share the link to the planning application, your suggestion for a cycle path, and the reasons why, in relevant social media groups. (Feel free to use the wording above.)
  • To help promote cycle paths in your area and nationwide, join and support Sustrans. Sustrans delivers and manages the National Cycle Network, a UK-wide network of traffic-free paths connecting cities, towns and countryside

How can I contact my MP or political representative?

In the UK, you can find out who your MP is and how to contact them on They Work For You.

In the US, you can find out who your representative in Congress is here.

Image credit: photo by Mitchel Boot on Unsplash

Categories: Building, Influence, Travel & commuting