Switching to energy efficient products is good for both the planet and your pocket. You’ll be amazed at the amount you can save on your energy and water bills by making a few simple changes around your home.
Small changes = Big savings
It doesn’t take a lot of effort to enjoy the benefits of energy efficient technologies such as LED lighting and water saving products. The savings on even the small things can be well worth it – here is the maths.
Light savings
Ten conventional halogen light bulbs use around 600W (0.6Kw) per hour. If the cost of your electricity is 12.2p (unit price) these ten lights are costing 7.3p per hour to run. If you use your lights for 10 hours a day, you’ll spend 73p – that’s £5.11 for a week, £21.90 a month or £266.45 a year.
By replacing these 10 bulbs with 6W LED equivalents, the running costs will be reduced by 90% – so 7.3p per day, 51p a week, £2.19 a month and £26.65 a year.
While LED bulbs are more expensive to purchase, you can see the significant on going savings that will grow over time. If the average LED is £10, replacing ten bulbs would cost you £100. However, you would recoup this cost in around five months and still go on to save about £160 that year.
LEDs also have a long life expectancy and can last up to 10 years longer than conventional bulbs. This means you will continue to benefit from low energy bills for up to 10 years.
Water savings
A water hippo saves up to 3 litres of water every time you flush and with the average toilet using around 9 litres per flush, you will use a third less water. And at a initial purchase cost of just £2.50, the water hippo is an instant saver!
Here’s the maths:
- 1 cubic litre (1000 litres) of water in the north-west costs approximately £2.92
- 1000 litres is equal to flushing the toilet around 100 times.
So, if a family of four all use the toilet three times a day, that’s 12 flushes a day, 84 flushes a week, and 2,520 flushes a month.
2,520 litres of water is 2.5 cubic meters a month costing just less than £6 a month or £72 a year. However, by installing a water hippo in the toilet cistern, at least a third of that water would be saved, reducing the water bill to just £48.
The final figures
The maths adds up – by simply replacing 10 lightbulbs with LEDs and installing a water hippo in your toilet cistern, you could save £184 in the first year and £285 on average each year after that.
