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Consumers

CIPHE shows the way to cut carbon footprint – and save on heating bills

An authoritative document about saving energy in the home has been produced by the Chartered Institute of Plumbing and Heating Engineering. The white paper, entitled Taking Control of Carbon, is designed to help householders cut both carbon emissions and their hot water and heating bills.

It will be launched by MP Kevin Brennan, the new Minister for Further Education, Skills, Apprenticeships and Consumer Affairs, at an All-Party Parliamentary Building Services Engineering Group lunch at Westminster on Monday June 29.

The CIPHE document points out that heating and hot water account for 84 per cent of energy use in the average home. At the same time, however, 80 per cent of homes do not have basic heating controls, 12.5 million homes have boilers which do not switch off, 8.5 million homes do not have a room thermostat, and 30 per cent of condensing boilers do not have room thermostats.

If homes were more energy efficient, householders could save up to £300 on their heating and hot water bills, says CIPHE. Just applying the minimum standard of controls to UK homes would also save more than 2,000 million tonnes of carbon dioxide and more than 600 million tonnes of carbon every year.

The eight-page document outlines control systems householders should look out for to maximise the efficiency of their heating and hot water systems.

It rams home the message that reducing the energy used doesn’t mean being colder at home – it just means controlling energy use better, nor does it mean getting a new boiler – just improving the way the existing one works.

It offers three main ways of cutting energy consumption:

1. heat only the parts of the home that are being used;

2. use a programmable room thermostat to heat only when people are at home;

3. convert fuel to heat more efficiently by fitting controls that allow condensing boilers to condense.

CIPHE points out that energy used at home accounts for more than 25 per cent of total carbon dioxide emissions in the UK.

“The statistics are quite shocking,” said Chief Executive of CIPHE Blane Judd. “But this picture can be changed, and I’m delighted that this document raises this hugely important issue and puts practical solutions into the public domain.”

“I hope we will see not just industry professionals, but households across the UK respond to the carbon problems that exist and take positive steps to save energy and reduce emissions.”