Ways To Save Electricity
Every year electricity gets more and more expensive. Read on to find out how you can save electricity and money with this handy selection of energy saving tips. Electricity Usage Monitors The basic figures contained within a monthly or quarterly electricity bill do not give you much …

Energy Efficient Eco Kettle
If you enjoy a nice cup of tea or coffee, but you want to save electricity then look no further than a new eco kettle. The term eco kettle covers a wide range of products which heat water efficiently, only heat the amount of water that …

Heat Pump Tumble Dryer
We have looked at ways to save electricity when it comes to clothes drying before - Save Electricity with a Spin Dryer, gas tumble dryers, and drying clothes indoors. Obviously in the ideal world we would all hang our washing outside to dry, but anyone living …

Use A Chest Freezer As A Fridge
One of the biggest power consumers in the home is the fridge. Turned on constantly, opened frequently, filled with warm items needing to be cooled, and not generally very efficient, a fridge can often be responsible for a large chunk of the electricity consumed in …

Save Electricity with a Spin Dryer
Tumble dryers are one of the biggest consumers of domestic electricity. Most people are unable to hang their washing out to dry 365 days a year, but there is an alternative - an 'old-fashioned' spin dryer(also spelt spin drier). In a previous article we looked …

Gas Tumble Dryers
The domestic tumble dryer is one of the biggest users of energy in the home together with cookers, central heating, washing machines, and dishwashers. In previous articles we have mentioned how hanging washing out to dry is the best way to save electricity, and using a …

Drying Clothes Indoors
Other than an electric oven or heater, the tumble drier (dryer) is one of the biggest energy hogs in most homes. With unreliable weather here in the UK, it can be impossible for days and weeks on end to hang washing outside to dry. It …

Run Washing Machines With Solar Hot Water
Ten or more years ago, the majority of washing machines were fitted with two inlet pipes - one hot feed and one cold feed. The hot water needed to wash clothes was therefore typically drawn from the domestic boiler, and the cold water (for rinsing) …

Kill A Watt
The Kill-A-Watt Electric Usage Monitor (manufactured by P3 International is an essential piece of equipment for anyone interested in saving electricity in the home. While many appliances are marked with wattages, they rarely state how much energy they are wasting when in standby mode. The …

Energy Efficient Ecolectric Toaster Review
The ecolectric toaster from Morphy Richards is one of the first toasters in the world to be designed to be energy efficient and made from materials which can be recycled. Even the packaging is 100% recycled and 100% recylable. Ecolectric Toaster Although this two-slice toaster is designed …

Tefal Quick Cup Eco Kettle
The Quick Cup is a new energy efficient kettle from Tefal. Unlike a standard kettle, the Tefal Quick Cup acts as a water dispenser providing either (just below) boiling hot or cool filtered water at the touch of a button. Tefal Quick Cup The Tefal Quick Cup …

Low E Double Glazing
Low-E glass (low emissivity) is a type of insulating glass which helps to keep homes warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer. How Does Low-E Glass Work Low-E glass has a special metal coating on one side - either Pyrolytic (hard coat) or sputtered (soft …

Eco Kettle 2 Chrome
The original energy efficient Eco Kettle is one of the most popular 'eco' products on the market reducing the amount of electricity used to boil water by ensuring that you only boil the water you need when you need it. The next generation Eco Kettle 2 …

Eco Kettle 3
After the original energy efficient Eco Kettle, and the next generation Eco Kettle 2 - Chrome launched in August 2009, the new improved Eco Kettle 3 is now (June 2011) available. The new Eco Kettle 3 features the same dual chamber design as Eco Kettle 2 …

Wash Most Clothes at 30 Degrees
Retail giant Marks and Spencer have joined supermarket clothing retailer Asda in recommending that the majority of the garments they sell should be washed at 30 degrees Celcius rather than 40 degrees Celcius. Studies have shown that this small change reduces electricity consumption by washing …

Floorboard Gap Insulation Seal
With the recent fashion for tearing up carpets and exposing stripped wooden floorboards an old problem has reared its ugly head - cold draughty floors. Up to 15% of the heat in a home can be lost through the floor which at current electricity and …

VPhase Voltage Optimiser
In the UK, the voltage of mains electricity supplied to homes is approximately 242 VAC (Volts AC), but household appliances sold within the European Union (including the UK) must be designed to operate reliably when supplied with a voltage within the European statutory range - …

External Solid Wall Insulation
Every home should have thick loft insulation as an energy saving start point since so much heat will otherwise escape through the roof. If the home has uninsulated cavity walls then cavity wall insulation is the obvious choice. However for older homes build with solid …

Desert Refrigerator Power Free Cooling
The Desert Refrigerator (aka Pot in Pot Cooling System) is an ultra-simple cooler which requires no power supply. Used in the third-world to keep perishable goods fresh, there is no reason why the desert refrigerator cannot also be used in the power hungry western world …

PowerSafer
Many televisions, DVD players, games consoles, HI-FIs etc continue to use electricity even when they are switched off using the remote control and left in stand-by mode. A significant amount of energy (and money) could be saved if everyone physically turned off or unplugged these appliances …

Ewgeco Energy Management System
Ewgeco is a product which mixes the benefits of a wireless power meter (see Efergy Elite, Wattson, Eco-Eye, and Owl for examples) and a smart meter. However, in addition to monitoring electricity usage, it also monitors water and gas consumption giving a full picture of …

Bye Bye Standby Power Saver
Bye Bye Standby is a wireless system designed to completely shut power off to all appliances plugged into one of its Smart Sockets. The Smart Sockets are controlled by a battery-powered wireless Green Switch. Vast amounts of energy are wasted when people leave appliances on …

Loft Insulation
Loft Insulation (or Roof Insulation) is an absolutely essential part of an energy efficient home. Heat rises, and it passes through roof tiles very easily. If your attic or loft is not well insulated you will be sending enormous amounts of expensively heated air through your …

Radiator Insulation Products
A large proportion of the heat output by a central heating radiator goes into heating the wall on which the radiator is mounted. In the case of internal walls this is not a great problem since the heat in the wall will be slowly released …

Smart Electricity Meters
Currently in the UK the vast majority of people are on fixed electricity meters - devices* which simply measure how much electricity has been used. These are used by the supplier to calculate how much you owe them for the electricity you have consumed - …

Cavity Wall Insulation
As much as one-third of the heat lost through an uninsulated home escapes through its walls. UK homes built after the First World War typically have external walls made up of two layers with a gap (cavity) between them. These are therefore called cavity walls …

Review of Savasocket 6
Over the years we have reviewed a large number of standby savers - devices designed to cut the power to devices in standby to save energy and money. In this article we will review the Savasocket 6 Gang standby saver. Savasocket 6 Pictured above the the Savasocket …

Spin X Spin Dryer
If you are lucky enough to live under glorious sunshine then you are already blessed with the best way to dry clothes - a clothes line. However, if you live under grey and rainy skies you probably have a tumble dryer. Few white goods are …

Passivhaus Super Efficient Home
The idea of a passive house originated in Germany (Passivhaus) and is defined as a building in which a comfortable interior climate can be maintained without active heating and cooling systems. The first terrace of four passive houses (pictured above) was completed in 1991 in Darmstadt., …

Maximising Air Conditioner Efficiency
Air conditioning is one of the major uses of electricity around the world - particularly in the Far East, Middle East and southern USA. While it has historically been unpopular in Europe because of the moderate climate and running costs, air conditioning is becoming much …

Saving Energy to Reduce Carbon Emissions
The graph pictured above and published to accompany a Financial Times article entitled Advantages of Frugal Fuel on November 5th 2009 is well worth studying in detail. It shows the relationship between the financial costs of various 'green stimulus measures', and the total reduction in …