We’re in the last few weeks of the competition now.  Looking back to the start I can really see what a difference our family has made to our energy consumption.  We’ve changed our lifestyle and on the way have educated friends, family and colleagues.

Woooosh….! Where has the time gone?  August 15th and the 99 days have simply flown by!   Watt ever will I do in the coming weeks when I no longer have to email off meter readings, weigh-in sheets or internet blogs; our lives will be so empty!!  You might say we will be drained of all our energy!!

Now the energy challenge has finished there will be several changes to the way we live daily. It has been interesting to understand where all the energy goes and where we were wasting money. We seem to have got into a better routine now without thinking about it. More things get switched off when not in use such as the microwave and the oven clock. The kids have to be reminded now and again but understand now why we nag them!!
 
Unfortunately we never had the loft insulation fitted in time for the end of the challenge but will hopefully get it done soon.
 
Without doubt our biggest sin was (and still is) the tumble drier, however when we can we have dried out side or on our new rack. Will buy some "tumble dryer eco-balls" and see if we can reduce energy when we have to use it.
 
Finally would just like to thank EON for their advice and help over the last few months.
 
Thanks
 
The Griffiths family

We are really happy to have had this opportunity to take part in this challenge, and I do believe we have changed our day to day habits to allow us to save energy and hopefully money. We have really made use of the Energy Monitor we were given to keep an eye on how much energy we were using and also as a check for when we are leaving the house or going to bed to check we have left nothing on. We have also become really aware of how appliances vary in the amount of energy they use and try to use the most efficient appliance; for example, we use the combination oven facility on the microwave a lot more than our conventional oven.

We have all learnt how to change our bad habits and to monitor the energy we are using ensuring that we are no longer wasting any unnecessarily.

By following the “diet” and cutting down on “sins” we are all energy healthier. We have changed our lifestyle habits and we are now much leaner, trimming £’s off our bills.

We've just had our bill for this quarter and it is & £150 less than the same quarter last year. As energy prices have increased since last year this is great and all the changes have definitely paid off.

Here are some of the ongoing things we are using to help keep costs down.

Meet Joanne and her family on their video diary.

The press coverage has been really exciting and we have had lots of neighbours, family & friends asking about the competition and for tips to help them reduce their bills too. The kids loved the extra attention and were even asked at school to talk about what they had learnt. We have all been able to share tips and hopefully educate others.
 
The Energy saving monitor has been a great tool, we could have sold it several times over after showing friends how it works. We also have a remote control device that allows us to switch off the tv, sky, lamp, & hi fi  off at the plug rather than to standby. Some of the other ways we have reduced energy are : 
 
Switching all bulbs to energy saving, switching off tv’s, computers, games consoles, chargers and lights when not in use. Not using the dryer, washing at lower temperatures or on energy cycles and only using dishwasher when full. We all have showers now rather than baths, make sure that the tap is switched off when cleaning our teeth and when cooking meals use a pan with steamer using one ring.
 
My husband Phil drinks lots of coffees during the day and the kettle uses a high amount of electricity. He was half filling it but has changed his ways and now only uses what is needed (I did try to get him to reduce the coffee but this was the next best option !!!)
 
It’s getting harder now, as it is colder at night and getting darker earlier but by closing curtains, adjusting radiator controls and turning down the thermostat we can control what we use and limit our usage to an acceptable level.
 
It’s a great feeling now knowing that we are only paying for any energy used rather than for any being wasted. I hope that the kids new habits will continue with them as they get older to ensure they reduce energy and help the environment by cutting CO2 omissions.

Things seem to be going OK, the kids are now used to switching lights and telly off when leaving rooms and there is always a brother or sister ready to point out the others "sin". One of the biggest successes is the efficient washing cycles, which are quicker and have a lower temperature and no one can notice the difference. We are still having daily battles with the drying of the washing and are being forced to use the tumble drier now and again. The heating has gone back on timer but we have started putting it on early in the evening, then switching it off for a while and back on again later. We are still waiting for the loft installation to be fitted but hopefully this will be done before winter really arrives. All the lights have been fitted with energy saving bulbs and the last ones fitted seem to have got over the "warm up period" we found we got with the original bulbs.
 
Overall we must be doing something right, as although the lights and heating are on a lot more as the nights draw in our electricity usage is better than what is was during the summer.

Greetings Watt-Watchers!
Following on from my last blog the daughter has as you already know moved and now so has our son!  As of last Sunday he returned to Reading University for his last year of study.  That now means we really can start saving megawatts of energy!!
Just think of it: 
No TV left on during the day
No extra mobile phones left on charge
No central heating on during the day
No more empty hot water tank
No more endless kettle-fulls of water being boiled for hot drinks etc etc

I think you get the idea!

However the outside air temperature has decreased and the heating is programmed to be on each morning & evening even without our two children in the house!  Yes we have taken to putting on extra jumpers and yes we do try to draw the curtains at dusk to conserve heat but we have also tried the following that you too may like to try and save a few megawatts of your own!
1. Obviously check the thermostat setting.  With the extra jumpers on could you reduce it a little more?
2. When does your heating and hot water come on and go off?  When did you last check these in the heater programmer?  Could you not set it for a little less time each day to save more energy?  Does the heating stay on when everyone is out of the house?
3. Has your boiler been serviced lately?  I believe that heating systems are a bit like cars in that they are more efficient if they are regularly serviced!
4. Tumble driers:  yes they are Super sins but a necessity in most busy households.  Does your machine spin the clothes on the fastest setting before going into the drier to remove as much water as possible?  When was the last time you cleared the clothes fluff out of the filter?  I vacuumed ours out last week and it made a big difference to the time (and the energy it used) it took to dry the clothes!
5. Radiator thermostats.  Have you had them fitted?  Are they being used or just set to maximum? 
6. When we started using our central heating again I spent a few minutes going around bleeding all the air from the radiators to improve their efficiency: far more efficient to have a radiator full of hot water rather than trapped air!
The energy meter continues to attract lots of attention! We are doing our best to get it down and keep it to a low number but that isn’t always possible when the tumble drier comes on!

Right well I wish you all luck in keeping your own bills low!  Keep reducing those watts!
All the best
Steve

Over  half way through the competition now!  The time is really going by fast.  I think we’ve come a long way as a family and am impressed with my husband’s initiative too!

He has started a competition between the 2 of us. Who can make the most energy efficient dinner.  This kicked up because we noticed how much electricity our oven uses. So now we try to microwave, steam veg on top of boiling rice, etc.. Anything to avoid using the oven!

We managed to keep the heating off until middle last week.  It dropped to single digits and we just couldn’t take it. But we only turn it on for max a half hour at a time.

We have booked for our cavity wall insulation which will be done on the 22nd of October.  I can’t wait to see how much effect it will have. Now it seems the heat just goes the minute you turn the heating off.

Had to use the drier once, but that was only because the clothes were taking ages to dry on the horse.  I hung them on the horse for a day and then in the drier so the drying time was halved. But I have felt so guilty since I used it so have been trying to make up for the extra use by sweeping instead of hoovering and trying to get out of the shower that 1 minute sooner.

I thought of a few tips that may help everyone.

We found toasters use a lot of electricity, so defrost bread before toasting.

Use candles for light at night when watching TV.  Also works to heat up the room!

When visitors come round (postie, etc) don’t leave the door open when chatting; shut the door and go outside to save the heat escaping.

Bad habit of mine has been to remove makeup in the shower. Now I wash it off before, hence less showering time!

Take care!

 A good week for energy saving!!! Still ensuring all the basic energy saving tips are still used, ie. turning all appliances off standby, using less water in kettle and saucepans, using lids on pots for our cooking, showers instead of baths, and trying to have quick showers too. We have also only had to have the heating on one night again this week, but it is getting a bit colder now, so may need it on more in the coming weeks.
 
We had some good news this week as well, our direct debit with E-on has been adjusted from £94 per month to £74, so we're really pleased with this, makes the effort of Watt Watching even more worthwhile!!!

Posted 10 October 2008 14:53 by Deborah Cummings
0 Comments
Filed under: Reduced bills

This year's Energy Saving Week takes place from 20th to 26th October. 2008 is the event's twelfth year.

Energy Saving Week is designed to promote energy saving action among householders. Our Watt Watchers have been busy watt watching and have some energy saving tips to share.

Read Deborah's, Steven's, Nancy's and Gareth's blog posts and let us know if you have anymore tips to add. Michelle and Joanna will be updating us next week.

We have been super virtuous in our energy savings!!!This week we went and bought the eco-tumble drier balls in preparation for the wet winter weather and the inevitable use of the tumble drier. They are supposed to help save 20% in energy!!!! Here's hoping they do! All else has gone well, still ensuring all the basic energy saving tips are still used, ie. turning all appliances off standby, using less water in kettle and saucepans, using lids on pots for our cooking, showers instead of baths, and trying to have quick showers too. We have also only had to have the heating on one night, but it is getting a bit colder now, so may need it on more in the coming weeks. Oh, and we also bought a draft excluder sausage dog for the front door to stop the cold draughts, although our 1 year old son loves it and keeps picking it up and moving it!!!!!

We started of feeling confident about being able to save energy, however when we start to look at what savings we have made they become cancelled out by your energy sins.

The energy audit visit was interesting we have always made sure that the main telly was not left on standby but upstairs every one was on standby, and the PC room well is standby city. The energy monitor is fantastic I wish we had one along time ago, we spend more time now watching that than the telly, even my daughter keeps checking what it says and is turning lights off. We keep turning things on to see what is using the most energy (the tumble dryer is now banned)

After coming back from holiday we had so much washing to do luckily we had sunshine so able to put it out on the line, however we did manage to save some of our energy as a family member offered to put some laundry in their washing machine for us result!

The debates in our house are becoming entertaining as to who is the worst offender for wasting energy. It's 6 and two 3's really but that wouldn't be admitted to by the gadget man of the house.

A 3 min shower is my current challenge and try using the washing machine at 30 for more loads I'm not convinced it will wash as well with PE kits and the like also we need to stop leaving all chargers left plugged in all the time.

Until next time happy Watt Watching
 

I live near Swadlincote, Derbyshire with my Fiancé Adrian and our 2 children Jasmin 7 and Joshua nearly 4. We both work full time Adrian is a plastic Fabricator for a firm based in Tamworth and I am a Trainer for a Global IT Solutions organisation.

I have recently completed my Studies at New Collage Nottingham for CIPD Certificate in Training Practice qualification. My hobbies include spending time with friends and family, shopping, visits to the Spa and reading (not quite so much after the amount of reading done with my studies.)

In the past we have tried to be energy efficient by using energy saving light bulbs in some of the rooms and trying not to leave lights on when not in the room and not leaving the telly on standby. We don't always think of saving energy as much as we should.

I hope that this competition will be a good opportunity for us to reflect on our current lifestyle and educate the family about saving energy.

Things have started OK, became a bit obsessed in the first couple of weeks with the monitor but agree with Joanne and Nancy that every house should have one. We went round the house and un plugged things that weren't in use and reduced our background consumption from about 150 watts to 65 ish. Not sure if this is any good but a step in the right direction.
 
We soon came to see what the big users of electricity are i.e. the tumble drier, washing machine, cooker and kettle. So we have tried to reduce the energy used with these by reducing the temperature to 30 degrees on the washer which has been fine, only part fill the kettle for a cup of tea (had a few small measures to begin with but have got the hang of it now) The biggest change is trying not to use the tumble drier and now spend most weekends running in and out of the house in between the showers. However have now bought a clothes horse and some racks for the radiators to help with the drying.
 
We have also requested a survey and hope to have some more loft installation installed before it gets too cold. During the survey we realised how bad we were prior to the challenge and only had 3 or 4 low energy bulbs fitted, so have fitted about another dozen.
 
The kids have been good with helping as I think they have been taught the basics at school and are keen to do their bit, although do need reminding about leaving things on now and again.