NZL Energy Efficiency Advice

NZL is on a mission to make a project that will thrive in community benefits for residents of Leiston and the surrounding area alongside with supporting our aims of achieving emission reductions to progress towards a net zero future.

As a global context, addressing climate change requires action across multiple sectors where this multi-involvement will be critical in reaching a net zero future. These differing sectors as well as driving global emissions also drive your personal emissions from the utilisation of these sector services therefore reducing your carbon footprint can significantly play a part in addressing these emissions and one area you can get greatly involved in is reducing your household emissions.

Current research has identified that 40% of the UK’s emissions are derived from households. For average carbon footprint emissions, emissions sourced from heating your homes is the largest category indicating a key area where your emission reduction contributions can play a significant part both for the UK and the NZL project.

How is Energy Efficiency Measured?

Energy efficiency can be measured with an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC)

EPC = a performance rating indicating how energy efficient a property is on a A-G scale with A being the most efficient and G being the least efficient.

  • One of the reasons why currently energy efficiency improvements are critical is because more than 62,000 properties in Suffolk are thought to have the worst EPC grades of E, F and G therefore a clear improvement is needed for supporting Suffolk’s net zero contributions for the UK.
  • Additionally, 28% of homes in Suffolk are suggested to be experiencing fuel poverty.

Benefits of becoming energy efficient

  • Reducing your energy usage can lower your energy bills, which can alleviate financial pressures and anxiety on your bills.
  • Energy efficiency upgrades can support fuel poverty relief which long term could increase health benefits.
  • Becoming more energy efficient can support lowering your carbon footprint which supports per capita reductions for Leiston and can make contributions to sustainable development.
  • Energy efficiency upgrades can be an opportunity to decarbonise your homes energy system (both in heating and / or electricity) which will improve your households EPC and support in bring out the benefits listed above.

What are the key methods to becoming energy efficient?

There are a variety of ways you can become more energy efficient which can provide you with an extensive amount of benefits as well as supporting our net zero journey:

Insulation – heating measures

Draught-proofing – heating measures

Renewables – energy system improvements

Insulation – Heating Improvements

Insulation in your homes is a critical way of reducing heat loss and heat escaping from your homes.

There are many ways of insulating you homes depending on your homes brickwork type and where you are currently losing the most heat! Even the smallest measures of insulation can have significant impacts to your homes and click on the link below to find out where to get started!

Draughtproofing – Heating Improvements

Draught-proofing is one of the easiest and cheapest methods to cutting your energy costs.

These measures have an overall aim to stop cold air entering into your home and prevent warm air escaping. Click the link below to find out the different examples of draught-proofing

Renewables – Energy System Improvements

Upgrading your energy system in both heating and electricity is a great way to decarbonise your home and improve your energy efficiency.

Now more than ever is the perfect time to switch over to renewables and click on the link below to find out more about renewables and funding opportunities to support these home improvements!

Other energy efficiency measures

LEDs – these can use up to 90% less energy and last up to 25 times longer than traditional incandescent bulbs

Smart or Room Thermostats – Thermostats can help control your heating that is suitable for you helping reduce energy wastage. Additionally Room Thermostats helps avoid heating unnecessary rooms.

Bleeding radiators in your homes

Turn down the flow temperature of your boiler

Boiler upgrades – boilers need replacing every 15 years with a potential replacement being a new efficient boiler or a low carbon heating system (such as a biomass boiler or a heat pump). Furthermore, upgrading your boiler to an A-rated boiler in efficiency can save you hundreds of pounds.

How can you get involved?

  • Spread the word about the benefits you can get from becoming energy efficient to your friends, family and neighbours
  • Click here to find out about current pilot schemes available to residents which can support your energy efficiency improvements