energy efficient home improvements

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We're in the process of buying our 'forever home'. Is that even what they're called these days? We're hoping this will be the final move for a good long while!

We have about £30k in the bank, which we can use to pay off more of the mortgage, do home improvements to make the house as energy efficient etc as possible, or a bit of both.

One thing high on the list is solar panels, we're also planning to look at the insulation in the loft. What else should we be looking at with our budget or planning to do long term? It's had new windows about 3 years ago, gas boiler is about 5 years old, electric everything else.

If it is an older house then cavity wall insulation may help. It made a big difference to our house but if the house is modern it will not be relevant.

Insulation probably gets you the most bang per buck.

You do have to be a bit careful about cavity wall insulation though.

I think if you are going solar then it makes sense to move as much onto electric as possible to try to take advantage of that. For example if you have an electric car. I would not replace a 5 year old boiler with a heat pump until the boiler was much older.

If you are interested in increasing the value of the house you may want to look at what your EPC recommends. Normally on the EPC it will give you a rating and suggest things to do to improve. You might find the suggested things are not the best things to do in terms of efficiency vs. cost. But may bump your house up to the next grade in terms of energy efficiency. Which adds value.

You may also find it is worth waiting to see whether the new government proposes any new subsidies for energy efficiency. Of course the flip side is that if you wait they may take them away ...

Definitely Solar Panels. But do be careful which supplier you use. There are some very dodgy ones out there. I went to Checkatrade and found an excellent company. Do consider having the best quality panels and Also have a battery installed. I had an Electric Vehicle charge point installed at the same time. Didn’t have an electric vehicle at the time but have since purchased one. Very glad I did because now I have special overnight rate of 0.07pence . I can charge the car and use the washing machine/tumble drier very cheaply overnight. I also send back energy to the Grid and I’m paid 0.15pence for this.
Best thing I ever did. The company I used was Tech4energy - I would highly recommend them. Superior in every way but not the cheapest.
I haven’t looked back since having the panels installed. Also consider loft insulation - I didn’t need this as I have a loft conversion.
Hope the move goes well.

Oh this is so helpful!!! Thanks so much <3

good thoughts here, thank you! To be fair not so much thinking of increasing the value right now as we're hoping to keep it for a loooooong time, but thinking about how we can live in the most environmentally friendly way, be energy efficient for the planet and also for us!

Absolutely recommend solar panels - it’s the single biggest impact you can make on both your energy bill and your household emissions. Make sure any installer is MCS Certified (https://mcscertified.com/find-an-installer/) so that you can easily get paid for your export and shop around for the best export rates (15p/kWh flat rate available or more with some of the battery tariffs).

insulation first and if you get solar panels, definitely get a battery as well. As a rule of thumb, I think you need minimum double battery storage to solar panel capacity. We have just under 4kw of solar panels and then installed 8.2 kw of battery storage last year. my supplier now does 9.5kw for a similar price which would have been better option. would say prices are either reducing or staying steady.