What do you do to save energy?

[Millymollymandy]

Pelmetman how do you keep it so clean around your woodburner? Or has it just been cleaned for the photo? It looks like a photo from a wood burner brochure!

Every time we put a log in dust and stuff and bits of wood go everywhere not to mention wood ash dust. Thankfully ours is up on a huge granite plinth (about 6 foot long) and so most of the 'grot' sits there without too much actually going over the floor.

Back on topic, I too wonder whether it is cheaper to boil an electric kettle or put whistling bob on our bottle gas hob.

[pelmetman]

Hi MMM,
As you can see it is only a small log burner so we rarely burn logs as it is not easy to get them small enough, unless I have cut them myself. Most of the wood we burn is softwood off cuts from our pelmet and stool business, which tend to be quite small so do not create the dust cloud that chucking on a big log would, even so no one could say having a log burner is a dust free form of heating Although at night we burn boiler nuts to enable us to keep it in

As to which is the cheapest to heat a kettle, I would have thought gas, as it always seemed quicker to boil water on the stove when compared with electric, no doubt there will be someone with a more comprehensive answer

[Millymollymandy]

Well there'll always be dust unfortunately only when the wood burner is on it tends to be black dust! I'm glad I don't have any pale colour furnishings. Some of our wood is stored in the duck shed so that means bits of wood shavings and straw come in with the wood not to mention when we get to the bottom of the pile it's covered in dried duck poo!

My electric kettle boils much faster than our whistling one - although I think I have a speedy elec kettle so that means more electricity.

[liskeardjane]

wear more clothes - have less heating
if it's yellow..............
save bath water to water the garden, wash the car
only use the car for essential trips
commute by bike
go on camping holidays in the UK
heat the house with waste wood
wear recycled clothes
turn the lights off
dont leave things on standby

[Gert]

Pelmetman how do you keep it so clean around your woodburner? :

I was thinking that too

[liskeardjane]

I thought of more........
walk more
use the train
get a lodger - same house more people in it - less waste
wear clothes until they really are dirty
grow some of our food
don't water the garden with 'new' water
use solar charger for the shed light
use the scrap store to make things for the house such as chair throws
knit things
no tumble drier - use the line and shelia maid
drink tap water
compost everything
cook everything i can when the oven is on - batch cook
share bath with dearly beloved (we only have one a week)
have push down taps
have shower on a timer

[liskeardjane]

I've recently got my utility bills in order. (My youngest left home last year so now I can be a tight as a d.......... and no one will suffer but me) I am now paying £840 less a year in gas and leccy (will reduce it more) and £680 less for water by cutting back and having a meter! Being 'energy aware' saves me £1520 a year which would cost me £2026 before tax..........which is a months wages! So by worrying about the planet I have a spare month's wages a year! So I might be a miserly old greenie! but I'll be better off!

[Ratsny]

Love that pic Pelmetman! We used to cook on our woodburner but don't have one in our new house...

The latest thing we have done to save energy is to switch off our main hot water tank (it usually heats overnight - cheaper rate) - we just take half a bucket of warm water each from the kitchen sink (small tank in kitchen) to have a speedy wash in the shower box. Once a week we heat the main tank to give the kids a proper bath and wash our hair. In the summertime we will get dirtier and need more washes but we will be able to passively heat water via the sun.

Loving this powering-down, it's actually empowering!

[selfsuffclub]

One of the things I started doing recently is to unplug the cell phone charger after it's charged. Seems small but small things add up. The nice this is that my phone warns me about removing the charger when it's done.

Great idea to have automated messages that remind people to save energy!