Cutting down on using heating

[Oaktree1233]

I was just thinking that if everyone used slightly less heat than in previous years this will ultimately be good for everyone. I’m trying to use far less heat not just due to cost but also because it’s using gas. I think that it needs to become more acceptable to bundle up in jumpers and blankets. Obviously, the ill and vulnerable or people with small children can’t do this as well. AIBU.

Im trying to think what we can do to lessen energy use. I’m waiting for more efficient solar panels to be marketed in the next 2 years but am really keen to get them. It would be good if there were more Government grants to make everyone go solar - think how much energy that would produce.

Gas combi boiler, semi detached house. Fairly well insulated I think with good double glazing. Only need the heat around 17 or 18 to get a good heat and it holds its heat fairly well, occasionally boost it to 19 if terribly cold out. As others have the standing charge is absolutely criminal 66p on electric and nearly 40p on gas how can they justify it

I’d love to be more energy efficient but thanks to everything going up in cost and crap wages it will take us ages to save for new windows, solar panels, wall insulation ( although not always suitable in older properties)

We have an energy efficient new boiler with smart thermostat, carpets upstairs and in lounge and curtains to help keep heat in. Radiators work fine.

We use minimal heating and only to 18/19 for a handful of hours a day.I find it quite drying at high heat constantly. But I would not use it less! The house would be damp and mouldy. We recycle, drive little, and other small things for the environment but in the reality of it all it’s not us causing it all is it. Businesses with lights on all the time even when closed, advertising boards use electric screens… I could go on.

My dad has lung issues cold air affects his lungs causing him to cough more. There will be many many people in the same situation where the cold air is the problem that layers don’t solve.

I was just thinking that if everyone used slightly less heat than in previous years this will ultimately be good for everyone.

I agree OP. That's why I'm embracing the record temperatures around the world recently. Not having to put the CH on is great!

But seriously, log burners are a boon. I fed it with nothing but bits of pallet wood yesterday and the sitting room got up to a toasty 24⁰c.

I think that's a labour policy and possibly lib dems? I agree, I think insulation is the only real way forward.

After last year's energy price hike, I imagine most are now using the minimum amount of energy that they are comfortable with. I'm a low user of energy (I wfh but wrap up) but I also have a pretty energy efficient boiler and my house doesn't get damp luckily.

I'm the same, I can't stand it when the air is cold. I live in a 1930s end terraced maisonette with no insulation and it's always cold in winter. It doesn't help that I have to sit next to the outside wall when I'm working but there's nowhere else for me to go.

We've cut our energy use due to cost and also environmental factors, but not to the extent we're absolutely freezing, have a damp house or can see our breath. For us, we've found the right balance and know we're doing out bit (even though it's tiny in comparison to everything else).

Breathing in cold damp air is very bad for you never mind kids or elderly and vulnerable .

We do what we can to recycle, reduce power use, use the bus instead of driving, reduce food waste and reduce longer distance car journeys. Then we put the telly on. Celebs and politicians telling us how to live, not to fly whilst going by private jet, Princess Anne visited our town last month, coming in by helicopter, billionaires going into space for fun. It doesn't stop us trying to reduce our carbon footprint, but it does puss us off. Oh, and I will be keeping our house warm over winter.

@Lincslady53

The hypocrisy of some hectoring celebrities can be breathtaking. They have massive carbon footprints, but no, the melting of the icecaps is all down to the little guy who takes his family to Mallorca once a year.

I pulled up a wealthy friend who made out he was concerned for climate change. When I repeatedly asked how many plane trips he took last year all I got after much wriggling was "only one long haul". Oh, so the other 10 flights don't count?

When these people say "What are we going to do to reduce energy use?" what they really mean is, "What are you going to do?"

@Oaktree1233
What is your annual usage? Ours is 1100kwh electric and 3300kwh gas, well below the average. Why should we cut our usage?

I’ve gone from using the portable AC last Monday, to central heating this Monday! 28 degrees living room temp to 19. Bedrooms were cooler and daughter was cold so put the heating on for an hour to take chill out. We are in a flat, so I’ll use a lot less than I used last year as gone from 5bed detached to 2bed flat, so much warmer here. So happily be using less but will be warmer as that house (my ex’s) is impossible to keep warm. The bathroom has so much damp, so if less is used I dread to think what it will look like. Don’t care as my kids not staying there now, thanks to dad bringing a new family back from overseas working!

Gosh, that's incredibly low.

That's why I object to this 'everyone should use a bit less than last year'! I cut our usage last year, as I'm sure many others did, because of the doubling of the price cap. It's not going much lower unless I was to just stop using heating completely.

Similar here
1897 electric
4804 for gas

Still costs too much!

AvengedQuince/ 2023shady, do you mind me asking how many people are in your home?

Do you mean you burnt bits of old pallets? You want to be careful. Some contain nasty chemicals that turn into gas when burned.

Log burner. Local, air dried logs. Almost carbon neutral.

@Pleaseme

Chopped up pallet wood basically. Wouldn't go near the chemically treated stuff (MB) but they all seem to be the heat treated stuff (HT) nowadays. Chimney sweep said crack on.

Two people, semi detached house

Yeah, I was wondering if maybe we weren't too dissimilar on a per person basis - but even then, being a family of five, we still use far more.

Heating is about the size of the house, climate, and how well insulated, not the number of people. Our house is relatively easy to heat, but we also have the thermostat set quite low and heating only on in the evening if we are leaving the house in the day.

I'm in a council property. It has solar panels but tenants do not get Anything from it. The council make money from it 😥. Last winter I had my heating on for 3 days for around 4 hours each of them days. I was to scared to put it on.

Well, in our case the size of the home is relative to the number of people who are in it.
If we were atomized into five, single dwelling properties, I imagine that we would use far more on aggregate despite having quite low energy costs individually on paper.

I meant we could have four people in the house (a couple with two children would fit comfortably) and it would cost the same to heat as with two people.