Useful statistics

There are many things that we can do around our homes to save energy and reduce our carbon dioxide emissions. Take a look at how much energy and carbon dioxide we could save if we all made energy saving choices.

Insulation

With around 50% of the heat lost in the average home through the walls and loft, there is a massive opportunity for us to save a huge amount of money and reduce our carbon dioxide emissions significantly:

• If everyone in the UK installed loft insulation up to 270mm thickness, the equivalent financial saving would pay the heating bills of over 950,000 families for a year.

• If everyone in the UK that could, installed cavity wall insulation, we could cut carbon dioxide emissions by a huge 7 million tonnes. That's enough carbon dioxide to fill nearly 40 million double-decker buses or fill the new Wembley stadium 900 times!

Find out more about insulating your home

Electrical appliances

In the UK we spend a massive £2 billion a year powering washing machines, tumble dryers and dishwashers and a further £2.2 billion a year on fridges and freezers. This produces a mammoth amount of carbon dioxide but there are solutions to reducing these emissions in the shape of Energy Saving Recommended products.

• If everyone in the UK upgraded their old cold appliances to an Energy Saving Recommended product, energy wastage would be cut by over two thirds and enough carbon dioxide would be saved to fill 24 million double-decker buses. There would also be enough electricity saved to run the UK's streetlights for 6 years

Reduce carbon dioxide emissions by using Energy Saving Recommended products.

Find out more about Energy Saving Recommended products

Don't leave appliances on standby

Did you know that over £900 million worth of energy is wasted by leaving appliances on standby, so do your bit and don't leave your TV or other appliances on standby, and switch off chargers at the wall if they are not being used.

Lighting

In the UK, we spend £2.4 billion lighting our homes, and with lighting accounting for 10 - 15 per cent of our electricity bills there are substantial savings to be made by using energy saving light bulbs:

• If every household installed just one energy saving light bulb, the electricity saved in a year could power the Blackpool Illuminations for nearly 900 years and there would be enough carbon dioxide saved to fill the Royal Albert Hall 1,980 times!

Save on electricity bills by using energy efficient bulbs.

Find about more about energy saving lighting

Further sources of information :

• CE 30 Domestic heating by gas: boiler systems.
• CE 101Domestic energy efficiency primer.
• Energy Efficiency Commitment BREDEM calculation of energy saving matrix, BRE.
• Domestic Energy Fact File, BRE.
• Family Expenditure Survey, 2003-2004, ONS.