It’s hard to turn on the news without being bombarded with information about how much we’re harming the environment. Endless doom-laden predictions about how much damage we do each time we turn on a light, get in a car, or have a bath. With all these pessimistic prophecies it’s all too easy to give up on environmental concerns or attempts to make your lifestyle more energy efficient, to write it all off as a task too big to handle. In reality, the complete opposite is true. With forty percent of all the United Kingdom’s carbon emissions coming from its households it seems clear that, concerning the environment at least, the solution begins at home.

The first step is to work out what the problems are. There are many ways to calculate how energy efficient your home is, one option being filling in an online form like the "Energy Savers" one provided on the British Gas website. You simply enter details such as the cost of your heating and electricity bills and the size of your house. The website will then calculate how energy efficient your home is and provide you with a couple of tips on how to improve it.

One extremely effective way to improve your home’s energy efficiency is to make sure your heating system is running at maximum efficiency. The most common form of heating system comprises of a boiler, radiators and interconnecting piping. The boiler heats the water and pumps then circulate this water through the pipe-work, to the radiators, and then back to the boiler. There are several ways to improve your boiler’s efficiency.

1. Arrange to have your entire system power flushed. This removes all of the debris and lime-scale from your radiators and pipe work; meaning that hot water can flow freely around the system and warm the house. The more freely the water can move, the less the boiler has to work, thus making your heating system more effective.

2. Fit thermostatic radiator valves to all suitable radiators. These allow you to vary the radiator temperature in each of the rooms in your house so you can turn those you don’t use down and those you do use up. By not wasting energy and money heating a room your barely use your making sure that you’re getting the most effective and economic use out of your boiler.

3. Sometimes people keep the same boiler for years, a decision which means they may have an outdated, ineffective system. The best way to check if your system could do with updating is to call in the experts. Gas Safe Engineers are employed by many companies such as British Gas; they receive regular training and are well qualified to advise you on your boiler, and fit a new one if required. You can find out more information on the Gas Safe Register (formally Corgi) on British Gas’ website.

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