It’s getting colder…tips to keep warm!

The temperature has definitely dropped over the last couple of weeks. Luckily this winter there is a lot of useful information out there about how to reduce our energy usage. Anyone else finding it a bit overwhelming with all the information available through? I am also finding it to be conflicting in places.

For those who haven’t seen it yet, I have found the site Get Energy Savvy really informative and great at the myth busting. I have learnt a lot about radiator valves, who knew they were so important to our heating bills!  Unfortunately, I have very old radiators, with no valves, so not something I have been able to implement. However, I would highly recommend reading the article if you don’t know 100% what the valves are there for and how they work – I didn’t! There’s lots more information on the website, including information on air fryers, instant boiling taps and the importance of oiling our UPVC windows! Mark Thompson, the brains behind this website, will also be delivering a talk on reducing our energy at the Sustainable Winter Fair on 10th December so don’t forget to book a ticket if you don’t want to don’t miss it.

I am currently going through a house renovation. The plan is, as well as increasing the size, we will make the house more sustainable and energy efficient.  In the new year we will be installing an air source heat pump, but at the moment we have no central heating, brr!  We have disconnected our Gas forever, which makes me very happy, and when I updated my carbon footprint I did a little celebration with the amount of carbon savings we’ve made as a household, over 2 tonnes!  If you want to take a look at your household’s carbon footprint and ways to reduce it then you can take a look in the free tool here.

We have obviously been very lucky with the mild October and start of November, so it has been relatively easy to survive without heating since September.   However, working from home all day with the temperature now starting to drop, and the condensation and mould starting to appear around our windows, we are looking for low carbon ways to keep warm. 

I took a look at Gikis 5 tips to stay warm when working from home.  A daily routine now, is tip number two; dress to stay warm and use a hot water bottle and a blanket on your knee. I’ve also been wearing my recycled cashmere handwarmers I got from Leif on our Winter fair last year, which have been a lifesaver.

This is not technically about keeping warm but something I haven’t really done before is tip number four; switch off lights and devices when not in use.  I have always switched off lights (with my Mums voice ringing in my head ‘it’s like Blackpool illuminations in here’) but at the end of the working day I traditionally have always put my laptop to sleep, not fully shutting down.  We’ve never really turned the TV off at the wall at night either, as my other half said it ruins all of the settings on a smart TV.  However, it’s now been two weeks of me switching it off at night and I can confirm that this is a myth! 

My next project is to turn the Wi-Fi off at night but I need to do some more research on this as I hear it could slow down your connection overall.  If anyone has any advice on staying warm and reducing energy while working from home let me know. My cheat way is to pop to a cafe and use their heating, it’s also my favourite!