An energy expert has shared some ways householders can reduce their heating bills - including a radiator hack that will save money.
Katy King, deputy director of sustainable future at innovation firm Nesta, has explained how people can lower their bills as well as carbon emissions at the same time. She said: "We focus on household energy use, that's one of the biggest sources of UK carbon emissions - if you can change your energy use in your home that's the big one.
"You can turn down your thermostat by one degree - so if you go from 19 degrees to 18 degrees you can save around £150 on the average energy bill over the year. That would be 268kg of carbon, the equivalent of one quarter pounder beef burger a day for five months, it shows how your heating has quite a big impact on the environment.
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"We've really focussed on things that are free or low cost, and you only have to do them once and then you get the savings. With the boiler one, you can set it and forget it, you could fit a water-efficient showerhead - then can save about £90 on how much hot water you're using, it costs about £10-20. Once you've installed it, you don't need to think about it.
"People tend to think certain actions are more effective, like turning off lights - which actually save about £25 a year. We think having to do something every day and having everyone do it, you're unlikely to make that £25 saving, but changing your shower head or lowering the thermostat you're more likely to make it as you can set it and forget it.
"You can also turn down your radiator valves, most people have a valve with one to six, or one to five, so you can turn them up and down. It's a little known fact that around three on that dial means your room is heated to 18-20 degrees, so if you put it to six it means it will keep heating the room to 30 degrees - turning it down can save you £70 a year. We don't recommend zero, the lowest should be one or you'll get damp or mould.
"The final thing would be draft-proofing, that's quite a broad range of things but if you can block up any drafts that's obviously a very effective way to save money - if you add a chimney draft excluder you can save £90 a year, if you seal gaps between skirting boards, that could save you £65 a year."
Nesta explained that the typical gas boiler in the average home has the same impact as seven London to New York flights per year, so turning it down can prevent a chunk of carbon emissions entering the atmosphere, reports The Mirror.
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