| The Big Drinkers | | | |
| A thirsty second-hand chest freezer
(using over 100 kWh per month!) | A new more efficient chest freezer
(using about 20 kWh per month) | £400 purchase £25 disposal | Adexa have a wide range of appliances reduced prices |
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| Immersion heater with a sporadic & costly fault (wasting 30 kWh a day) | Got the professionals to fix the faulty part (took 3 visits as the fault was sporadic) | £350 parts and labour | Data monitoring was vital in identifying the problem |
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| Lights | | | |
| 156 lights with halogen (R7S) lightbulbs and old, inefficient fluorescent tubes | Use LED lightbulbs.
We used these replacements for our old fluorescent tubes, using one-third of the power:
link
We used these replacements for our R7S halogen capsules, reducing energy use by 95%!
link | £12 for our halogen bulb replacements; £12 for our fluorescent tube replacements
| Note: we did a special fundraiser for this, and raised £900 over a month |
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| Unnecessary high voltage lights | Disconnected the circuit so they can’t be used | £0 | |
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| Lights being left on (despite signs) | Automatic sensors fitted in the ladies toilets to turn lights off. | | A donation enabled the change to sensors in the ladies toilet |
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| Food-related Appliances | | | |
| Single skin Urns | Double and triple skinned urns | £90 each | We’re buying them when existing urns breakdown |
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| Fridges & freezers working extra hard & inefficiently | Aim to maintain space around appliances. Put 5cm wood behind appliances to keep distance from wall.
Reposition appliances so 5cm gap on either side | £0 | Check the manual for your appliances, it might recommend how much clearance to leave. Many people don't realise that cleaning the radiator on the back of their fridge/freezer can help it to run more efficiently too |
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| Heating | | | |
| Wall heaters in the high-ceiling office | Chair heaters (plus a boost from 1 infrared heater when v cold) | 3 x £50 | We tested a range of options and found that ones which were pressure sensitive were most efficient |
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| Heat escaping down the corridor & out of the front door | Door signs
Habit changing so team proactively closes doors. | £0 | |
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| Heat being lost along pipes | Insulate pipes (pipe lagging is very cheap and easily fitted by volunteers) | £1-£2 per metre | |
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| Subtle Energy Drainers | | | |
| Urns & heaters left on when no longer used | Add a time limited plug to switch item off after 2 hours | £8 each | We found these were very usable |
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| Electronic magnets holding kitchen hatch open | Change button to an on/off switch so the circuits are not left 'always on' | £5 | |
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| Various electrical items running for 24/7, and we just ignored it | Switched off an insectocutor and the faulty security lights running all through the night) | £0 | Making sure things are off when they don't need to be on is a great way to save without spending much. Inexpensive timer-switches might help |
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| Some older equipment running our site-wide wifi was very power hungry | Replaced with new, simpler equipment that was less power hungry | | |
