Energy saving

About 14 percent of your electricity consumption goes towards lighting. By using lighting efficiently and making conscious choices when purchasing new lighting, you can significantly reduce your energy bill.

Tips for saving on lighting:

• Replace your incandescent and halogen lamps with LED lamps. With LED, you can save considerably on lighting: an LED lamp is 90% more efficient than an incandescent lamp and 85% more efficient than a halogen lamp.
• Always turn off the lights when you leave the room, even if it is only for a short time.
• Make as much use of daylight as possible.
• Energy-saving light bulbs are just as efficient as LED lamps, so you do not need to replace these.

Modern appliances use less energy than older models. Consequently, older appliances can be massive energy consumers. It is therefore recommended to replace household appliances manufactured before the year 2000. When purchasing new household appliances, pay attention to the energy label. If possible, choose label A+++, as only that label is truly energy-efficient.

According to Milieu Centraal, an average household spends about 450 kWh per year on appliances left on stand-by mode. You can prevent two-thirds of this waste by turning appliances completely off rather than leaving them on stand-by. This saves you tens of euros on your energy bill. Sometimes it is difficult to completely turn off an appliance or unplug it from the socket. In such cases, you can install an energy-saving plug between the appliance and the wall socket. This completely eliminates the stand-by mode.

Saving on heating begins with a properly adjusted central heating boiler. The website zetmop60.nl provides a short instruction video for every type of central heating boiler, making it easy for anyone to do it themselves. Of course, you can also ask your maintenance technician to adjust the boiler for greater efficiency.

Other tips include:

• Set your thermostat one degree lower than you are used to when you are home. This saves an average of about €80 per year.
• Set your thermostat to 15 degrees one hour before you leave the house or go to bed. Please note: do you have underfloor heating? Then set your thermostat to 17 or 18 degrees, otherwise it will take too long to warm up.
• Do not heat your entire house. Turn off the heating in rooms you are not using, including bedrooms.
• Does your home have poorly insulated or uninsulated walls? Then attach radiator foil behind your radiator so that heat does not escape through the walls.
• Install draught excluders to seal gaps around windows and doors, reducing draughts in your home.
• A letterbox brush keeps out cold, dust, and moisture while keeping the heat inside the house.

Over 20 percent of your gas consumption goes towards hot water for the bathroom and kitchen. Easily save in the kitchen with the following tips:

• Use a small pan on a small burner and put the lid on the pan when cooking.
• Choose an electric kettle instead of a boiling-water tap
• Do not heat more water in the kettle than you actually need.
• Do not let the hot water tap run longer or harder than necessary.
• Reheat food in the microwave. This is faster and more energy-efficient than using the stove or oven.
• Check whether your kitchen tap has a water-saving nozzle.
• Defrost your freezer regularly. A 2 mm layer of ice consumes 10% more energy.

Over 20 percent of your gas consumption goes towards hot water for the bathroom and kitchen. Easily save in the bathroom with the following tips:

• Keep your showers to a maximum of 5 minutes.
• Use a water-saving showerhead. This reduces the amount of water you use while showering without you noticing any difference. 
• Do not let the hot water tap run longer or harder than necessary.
• For more tips on saving energy in the bathroom, visit the website of Milieu Centraal.

With a well-insulated house, you save a lot of energy and money. On the page about insulation you will find more information about this.