Are you frightened by the sight of your latest gas bill? Are your teeth chattering while reading this blog post? Maybe you can solve your problems without spending a fortune.

No matter how long you keep the heating on, a great amount of heat is lost through windows and doors, especially if they are outdated.

The Doors

The advantages of double glazing are well known, but it is often forgotten how much an insulated door can improve the energy efficiency of your house. According to the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), insulated doors are one of the highest cost effective ways to save money on energy bills. In order to understand why, just try standing next to your front door and place your hands on the sides, you will feel the difference in temperature compared to the rest of the house. This is where the heat is literally being blown away. If it feels like you are in the North Pole, you need an insulated door.

But how can we distinguish an insulated door from a normal one? When you buy a new door, ask to see the Energy Rating Certificate, whereby doors are given a U Value, which represents the amount of heat loss and shows you how efficient the door is. It is expressed in units of watts per square metre per degree Kelvin, or W/m2K. The lower the value, the more efficient the door is. And therefore the more money you can save on energy bills. 

The Law

New standards introduced in 2010 require suppliers to produce doors with a maximum U Value of 1.8 W/m2K (1.6W/m2K in Scotland). All our composite doors have U Values lower than 1.0W/m2K.

Thanks to the Green Deal initiative, homeowners will soon be able to pay for energy efficient doors with no upfront costs, and paid for via savings on the energy bill.

So remember, if you are trying to decide which door to buy, ask to see the energy rating score before you buy. If you have any more questions regarding door energy efficiency ratings, you can read our post "Energy Efficiency - Knowledge is Power" or give us an obligation free call on 0800 787 9253. 

Energy bills have been rising over the past decade and research done by Ofgem has indicated that customers on the cheapest duel fuel deals have seen a doubling in their annual bill over the past 7 years.

The average dual fuel bill in the UK currently sits at £1200 per household.  We would all like to spend less on energy bills and by following these simple steps maybe we can save some considerable money in the long term.

1.  Use Less

Ok this sounds simple but we all know if you use less gas and electricity then you will spend less on the bill each month.  One way to do this is to know how much you are currently using by having a ‘Smart Meter’. A smart meter will display the current rate of consumption for the gas and electricity that you are using. By closely monitoring which appliances use the most energy you will be able to see where you are wasting energy. Smart meters can identify those appliances that use energy when they are on ‘stand by’.

2. Insulate More

If you have a super insulated house it will cost a fraction to heat it. The fact is that the UK spends far too much on heating buildings that are poorly insulated. Start at the top of your house and work your way down. Do you have loft insulation installed? Is it the right thickness? Loft insulation is a quick and cheap way to save on your heating bills. If you have a flat roofed property these too can be insulated to help save you money.  Check if your property has cavity walls, by insulating them you can save money and increase the internal ambient temperature of your home.  Are your external doors draft proofed? Properly insulated doors are one of the highest ways to gain a good Return On Investment on your heating bills. 

3. Generate Your Own Power

If you can generate your own energy you won’t have to buy energy off generate the power companies.  There are many ways to make electricity and hot water. You could install a ground source heat pump or an air source heat pump to generate power in your own home. Both systems take either the ambient air or ground temperature and increase it, much like the way a fridge works but in reverse, instead of making things cooler they make them warmer. If you have the space and money you could also consider solar power which can both heat and light your home.

4. Shop Around

Switching energy supplier is the quickest and most cost effective way of saving money. If you haven’t switched supplier in the past 18 months then there is most probably a better deal to be had. ‘Switching’ has become a massive market in its own right and there are a multitude of websites to help you switch.

5. Modernise 

If your main source of heating is a gas boiler, how old is it? New boilers are far more efficient at heating and will pay for their costs faster than you think. How do you light your home? If you are still using incandescent light bulbs, things have moved on. Modern LED lights use a minimal amount of electricity, up to 80%.  Lighting control allows you to better manage when your lights come on and off, do you really need a light coming on every time a pet walks across the garden? Could you benefit from a new composite door? Also look at the way you control your heating. Do you have thermostatic valves on all the radiators? By controlling the heat in each room you can add to your savings.

There are ways to save thousands of pounds on your energy bill, but everyone’s needs and budgets are different.  By measuring closely what you spend on your energy bills, you can highlight the areas that you need to concentrate on. Hopefully within in this post we have shown you things that you can adapt for your individual needs. 

There is a lot of hype over the government’s new Green Deal, which has been billed as the largest home improvement scheme since the Second World War. The scheme will create new jobs, improve the nation’s energy efficiency levels and create a better future. But how will this affect you and how can you benefit from it?

Fundamentally, the Green Deal has been created to improve our homes and commercial buildings, making them more comfortable and energy efficient. On a larger scale, this will help to reduce the nation’s carbon emissions. 

Let’s look closer at the Green Deal and try to answer some of the most common questions. 

Will the Green Deal cost me a lot of money?

The idea behind the Green Deal is to make it financially viable for all property owners to benefit from better insulation. With the Green Deal, it will be possible to get an upfront loan which will cover the cost of home improvements. This will range somewhere between £6k and £10k per property, although this will vary depending on the work carried out. The repayments of the loan will be added to the property’s energy bill. 

Will my bills be too expensive with the added loan repayments?

The people behind the Green Deal have created rules and structures which will protect property owners from paying back more than they can afford. The Green Deal’s “Golden Rule” states that improvement measures must provide savings which are equal to or more than the cost of the loan. In other words, your energy bills cannot increase. This means you will have a warmer, better insulated home, without paying any more money for it. 

What can I use the Green Deal funding for?

Insulation

Britain is said to have some of Europe’s most poorly insulated property. For this reason, the Green Deal will primarily provide funding for energy insulation. This will include loft insulation, wall insulation, double glazed windows and energy efficient exterior doors. 

Energy Generation

The government are keen for British property owners to start generating their own power. People often laugh at the idea of using solar panels in the UK, but believe it or not, we actually have more than enough sunlight to generate a substantial amount of our home energy needs. It is also possible to sell this power to the National Grid. As well as solar panels, other micro generation systems will be available such as air and ground source heat pumps. 

Who will install the improvement measures?

To protect consumers of the Green Deal scheme, the government have created a training and accreditation system which all Green Deal installers and assessors must complete before they can carry out any Green Deal work. 

Where can I get a Green Deal loan?

Trusted and reputable high street brands like Tesco, B&Q and Marks and Spencer will provide Green Deal loans and it is likely that many other companies will get involved as the Green Deal kicks off. 

I’m interested in Green Deal improvements, but we plan to move house soon, then what?

The Green Deal loan is unique in that it is attached to the property, not the person who takes out the loan in the first place. This means that if you sell your house, the bill will be passed to the new owner, who will benefit from the energy efficiency improvements. This also applies to rental properties, where only the current tenant will pay the loan repayments. 

What is the main reason I should get involved in the Green Deal?

As energy costs continue to increase, we all need to find ways to cut our energy bills. The Green Deal offers a sustainable way to reduce your energy bills and create a warmer, more comfortable home for yourself and your family, without having to use your own money. 

Yale door supply highly effective, energy efficient doors which will be available to purchase with Green Deal funding. To learn more about how a composite door will make your home more energy efficient, you can read more about our energy rating system or speak to one of our friendly advisors today on 0800 787 9253.