Everything you need is here on the Web, if you know where to look!
To that end, we've hand-compiled
a list of over 150 of the best pages of energy saving tips, helping you to
do everything from insulating your home to running your car more efficiently—and all on
one handy, uncluttered web page!
We've included several different guides to most topics, so you can
compare the advice and choose
the approach you like best.
Introduction
Maybe you don't care much for pollution, climate change,
disappearing species, and all the other things environmentalists
tell us are wrong about the planet. But there's one thing you
probably do care about: holding on to your money. It never ceases to
amaze me how much some people like to complain about tackling
environmental problems when the vast majority of steps we can take
save us money! Drive a more fuel-efficient car and it's like putting
money in your own pocket. Insulate your home and, after what's often
an amazingly short payback period, there's more money going in your
pocket again. Saving energy is like a pay rise that keeps on coming.
Whether you care about the environment or not, energy-saving makes
a huge amount of sense.
Energy is one of those ridiculous here-today, gone-tomorrow
things that we seem to love wasting our money on. Why? It's
absolutely baffling! Spend your dollars on gasoline for your
car, oil for heating your home, or electricity for keeping the
lights on and you'll have nothing, directly, to show for it at the
end. It's not like buying yourself the car or the house in the first
place. Add a bit more insulation to your home and you'll be just as
toasty as you were before, if not more so, but with the added
benefit of having extra money to spend on other things. Wasting
energy makes no sense at all unless, that is, you happen to have
shares in a utility company! Wasting energy is literally setting
fire to your money and waving it goodbye. If you have tons of money
to spare, well and good. But wouldn't you rather spend the
dollars you've slaved for on something you can see, touch, and hold
on to for just a little bit longer?
Saving energy sounds earnest and worthy, but it can actually be
a lot of fun if it forces us to live slightly differently and knocks
our lives out of the dull ruts they tend to settle into. Suppose,
for example, you decide to buy a bicycle and make some of your
journeys that way instead of taking the car. You'll save money on
gasoline, yes, and you'll do the planet some good. But you'll also
feel an awful lot fitter and healthier. And you'll have a great new hobby that
helps you unwind and enjoy the world at a slower pace. Or what about
switching off the television one night a week and getting
your family to play board games, go out for a walk, or cook and
enjoy a long evening meal together? True, the amount of energy (and
money) you save here is tiny, but the payback in life quality
can be huge. How about taking a camping holiday instead of flying halfway
around the world? It can be a great family experience!
Does all this sound like hard work and too much of a bore? Here's a game you can
play with yourself that will make it a lot more fun. Your first step
is to buy yourself a piggy-bank (or open a bank savings account) and
deposit any money you save into it. Compare your utility bills with
ones from previous years and, every time you make a significant
saving, put the amount you save to one side. It won't be long before
you've amazed quite a lot of money. When you've got enough, treat
yourself to a weekend break, some new clothes, or something else
you've always wanted. What does it achieve? It stops you wasting
money on energy you don't need, makes life a tiny bit more fun,
and—yes—it helps the planet too!
Further reading
The rest of the page is a list of carefully selected web links
exploring lots of different ways of saving energy and money.
From insulating your home to living off grid,
we've included several different guides to most topics, so you can
compare advice and opinions and make up your own mind.
We hope you find the information here helpful!
Last updated: 29 March 2010.
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Contents - what's on this page
Introductions
General, introductory articles
- Eco homes: A quick introduction to the ultimate examples of green living.
- Energy: Find out about the basic science of energy in our introductory article.
- Heat: The simple science of heat and how it travels.
Introductions from other sites
- ** Home Energy: This magazine and its website are a great resource for anyone interested in taming their home energy use.
- Energy efficiency: Lots of energy-saving tips from the Howstuffworks website.
- About.com: Save Energy: Some well-chosen sites recommended here, including tips for saving gasoline, introductions to alternative fuels, and more.
- Energy conservation: A basic introductory article on Wikipedia.
- Earth Easy: There are lots of energy tips on this website, which will appeal particularly to green-minded people.
Independent advice from governments and nonprofits
Some of the best energy-saving sites are produced by governments, but don't assume they apply only to the country where they're published; except for tax and financial advice, most of the advice applies universally.
- ** Energy Saving Trust: A nonprofit group that provides practical advice and information on saving energy and money.
- ** Energy Savers: Tips on saving energy and money from the US Department of Energy.
- ** Energy Star: Positive, practical action to save money and protect the environment from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy.
- ** Energy saving and generation: An introduction to saving energy, generating your own green energy, and grants from the British government's direct.gov site.
- ** Energy Wise: This great site from the New Zealang government explains how to save energy in your home, on the road, and elsewhere. It covers ratings and labels and helps you choose efficient appliances.
- Energy Saving Wales: Lots of information geared to Welsh householders, communities, businesses, and organizations.
- Energy Efficiency Programs: Energy effiency measures for households, communities, and businesses from the Australian government.
- Office of Energy Efficiency: The main source of information fro Canadian readers.
- Alliance to Save Energy: A well-established nonprofit coalition of business, government, environmental and community groups.
Heating
General
- Heat insulation: The science of how heat travels and escapes and what you can do to stop it.
- ** Insulation fact sheet: A clear and simple guide from the US government's Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Explains why you need to insulate your house, how insulaiton works, where to install insulation and issues with moisture and ventilation, how much insulation to add and where. Also available as an easy-to-print 33-page PDF file (1.2 megabyte download).
- ** Air Seal and Insulate with ENERGY STAR: A great practical guide to cutting air losses and heat leaks from the Energy Star site. See also the
map of recommended levels of insulation for different US states.
- ** Home insulation & glazing: Half of your heat is probably disappearing through your walls and roof. The Energy Saving Trust explains what you can do to stop it and includes a directory of heat-insulating suppliers in the UK.
- ** Ask The Builder: Insulation: Tim Carter has lots of practical insulation tips on Askthebuilder.com.
- Insulation and sealing air leaks: Only a fifth of homes built before 1980 are well-insulated. Details of how and where to insulate from the US Department of Energy's Energy Savers guide.
- Upgrading Your Home's Insulation: Don Vandervort offers a basic introduction to insulation and explains the concept of R-value.
- Simply Insulate: A practical guide to insulation, including how to figure out how much insulation you have already, how much you actually need, and where to apply more insulation.
- Thermal insulation: A basic overview of different types of heat insulation from Wikipedia, covering clothing, buildings, space travel, cars, and more.
- Building insulation: Another basic introduction from Wikipedia. See also Building insulation materials (A list of common insulating materials and their R-values).
Roof and loft insulation
- ** Loft insulation: An introduction from the Energy Saving Trust, with typical figures for what you could save by applying different amounts of insulation.
- ** Loft insulation: A practical step-by-step guide to improving your loft insulation from DIY Data.
- ** Project Guide: Loft insulation: An illustrated, step-by-step guide from Focus DIY.
- Loft insulation: A basic introduction from the npower energy company, including a ruler spelling out how much you need (though most of us can use a ruler without being taught how!).
- Loft insulation: how to: Another basic introduction, this time from Consumer Utility Services (CUS).
Cavity wall insulation
Energy-efficient heating and boilers
Insulate your body
Why waste your money heating your home when your body heats itself pretty well? Adding insulation (more clothes) to
your person can be one of the best ways of cutting your heating bills and environmental impact. Try wearing a thin merino base layer at home and you'll be able to turn down your thermostat by a couple of degrees or turn your heating off altogether.
- ** 12 Tips to Help You Choose Warm Clothes: Good, practical advice here from Ed Abbott.
- ** In praise of merino wool: Welsh clothing company Howies explains the virtue of natural merino base layers.
- 3M Thinsulate: A quick introduction to the value of clothing insulation. Click on Expert Advice and Cool Science for some interesting articles.
- Be cool, stay warm: Astronomer Peter Richards explains how to keep warm outdoors on cold nights (but some of his tips will apply indoors too).
Lighting
- ** Energy Star lighting products: The US government guide includes decorative light strings, CFL light bulbs, light fixtures, and LEDs.
- ** Energy Savers: Lighting: Lots more good advice from the US government, including types of energy efficient lighting, lighting controls that turn your lights on and off automatically, lamp and ballast replacements, lighting maintenance, and suggestions for when it makes sense to turn off your lights.
- ** Energy Efficient Lighting: A really good introduction to the different types available and a comparison of LED and CFL technology.
- ** Lighting: An Energy Efficient Future: James Cavallo provides an excellent introduction to energy-efficient lamps for Home Energy magazine.
- Fluorescent lamps: Our own simple introduction to how energy-saving CFLs (compact fluorescent lamps) work.
- Hybrid solar lighting (HSL): Cut your energy bills by combining daylight and artificial lighting in an automatically controlled system.
Appliances
Windows and glazing
General
- ** Glazing: The Energy Saving Trust explains energy efficient windows, including double and triple glazing, low-emissivity (low-E) glass, heat-reflective windows, and more.
- ** Glazing technical manual: A detailed technical guide to environmentally sound home glazing, how it works, passive solar, heat flow, different types of glazing, window rating schemes, and more.
- Double Glazing Brokers
and window-broker.co.uk: Using a broker is an effective way to avoiding cowboy sales firms and getting a good competitive quote.
- Vinyl Windows: Purchasing Quality: Tim Carter explains how to get the best vinyl (PVC) windows for your money on his dependably excellent Askthebuilder.com site.
Sash windows
DIY window insulation
- The Plastic People: UK-based firm Barkston will cut and finish different kinds of plastic to precise dimensions, allowing you to make your own instant double glazing at low cost.
- DIY Plas: An alternative UK supplier of secondary plastic glazing kits.
- Blindseal: A simple system for sealing around the edges of a roller blind to improve insulation.
Caulking windows
Draftproofing (draughtproofing) and air leaks
Measuring home energy use
- ** Energy monitors: These simple devices measure how much electricity you're using so you can eliminate your more wasteful appliances.
- ** Google Power Meter: Google isn't just a search engine! It can help you measure, monitor, and cut your energy use.
- ** Thermal imaging reveals heat leaks: This BBC News story reveals how a thermogram can reveal heat wastage and help you target your energy-efficiency measures to where they really count.
- Middle School Home Energy Audit: How to figure out your electricity consumption the old-fashioned way.
- What's your score?: The first step to cutting energy use is to measure what you use at the moment. This page from Energy Star tells you how to compare your usage to other people's across the United States.
- iMeasure: Test your energy score and try to beat your friends. A fun energy-monitoring project from Oxford University's Environmental Change Institute.
- Saving electricity with a home energy monitor: A guide from the UK government site.
- Energy monitoring: Photos of energy monitors on Flickr.
- Earth Pill: A database of energy consumption measurements made by people with home energy monitors.
Electricity monitors: Makes and manufacturers
These are listed in alphabetical order, not an order of preference. There are lots more brands available: just type "energy monitor" into one of the Google boxes at the top or bottom of this page.
Living off-grid
Possibly the ultimate in energy saving lifestyle!
Making and saving your own power
These are introductory articles from our main site:
Choosing more efficient transportation
- ** Fuel Economy: The US government's detailed site about improving the efficiency and economy of your driving by choosing a more fuel- efficient car.
- ** Better Transport: David McKay explains the science behind more efficient transport, including how vehicles waste energy and which forms of environmentally vehicle are best.
- Pedal power probe shows bicycles waste little energy: In this study reported by San Diego Earth Times, bicycles reach a staggering 98.6 percent efficiency!
Driving tips
- Fuel efficiency: Saving money by better motoring.
- Fuel efficient driving: A good set of practical tips from Earth Easy. This page is mainly about improving your driving style.
- Green Driving Techniques: Nottinghamshire County Council presents a list of tips, including how to prepare and maintain your car, how and when to your travel (for example, avoiding congestion at peak times), and how to drive more efficiently.
- Thrifty-Drive: Eco-driving with Scott: Christine and Scott Gable explain their simple green driving tips for About.com.
Alternative transport and fuel
Miscellaneous energy-saving tips
Work, offices, and businesses
General advice
- ** Energy Star: Buildings and Plants: Improving energy efficiency in the places where we work, study, and play.
- ** Office Energy Saving Tips: Lots of good tips from the City of San Jose, including many that are "fast and free".
- ** Energy Saving Trust: Business and Public Sector: Lots of advice here for companies, organizations, schools, hospitals, and so on.
- Flexyourpower: Energy Saving Tips for the Office: More simple tips for energy saving at work.
- Top 20 Energy Saving Ideas for Businesses: North West Builders Network suggest you can save 10-50% of your energy bills by following these simple measures.
- Tips for Saving Energy in the Workplace: Clackmannanshire Council offers tips on saving heating, lighting, power used by appliances, and water (which also costs money and energy).
Office appliances
Business transport
Energy labelling schemes
News stories about energy labelling
News stories about energy saving and efficiency
