Does spring inspire you to be green too?

I consider myself an urban person.

I enjoy going to work in the city and sometimes I use the car for that. When it’s nice weather during weekends, I make a trip in the wild green outside the city.

I’m aware that I am contributing to the environment’s pollution. And it’s costing me money!

One day, at a friend’s suggestion, I played with an online water energy calculator. I had a shock. Being away from home most of the time, I thought I was living a life without much energy waste. It was clearly not true!

I started reading about this subject and making plans for better energy efficiency in my home. Summer is the best season to make important changes in your home and I have already decided that for me this summer will be it!

Here’s what I’m going to do:

High efficiency boiler

My gas boiler seemed to account for half my annual energy bills.

As I live in an old house, the boiler has been there for over 20 years, so it is time to replace it with a new A-rated high efficiency boiler.

Between a condensing boiler and a combi boiler, I finally chose the first – powered by mains gas.

Natural gas emits the lowest amount of CO2 in the air (194 g/kWh), compared to other fuels (electricity for example produces 511 g/kWh).

Insulation

I’ve learned that insulation is a must and it refers to almost any barrier that your house puts between the inside comfort and the outside temperature: walls, windows, doors, roofs and conservatories.

I chose to work on the double glazed conservatory and on a warm roof solution. The insulating materials are rated through R-values: the higher the R-value, the better the insulation.  An insulated window can have an R-value even 10 times greater than a single-glazed window.

Insulation isn’t just about keeping warm in winter; it’s about keeping cool in summer too. Get ideas about keeping your home cool from a website such as Anglianhome.co.uk

Making home improvements can seem like a big undertaking, but it needn’t be difficult. If the boiler requires some specialists to install it, the insulation can be partially made by anyone who has a little “do it yourself” spirit.

And in the medium to long term, the money will grow in my wallet while the CO2 gets lower in the air!

Are you making an eco friendly improvements to your home this year?