Ideas for improving home efficiency

ATDub

Hi,
Just wondering what are the most common options people recommend to increase overall energy efficiency of your home (and any schemes that support them). Have some spare cash and would like to invest it in my home, but not sure where to begin.
Any suggestions on things to look in to (whether it be insulation, solar panels etc) would be appreciated, and in particular any info on government grants (or am I just dreaming on this front)

I am looking to do something sustantial and have a reasonable amount of money to use- really I'm looking to invest money with a view to re-couping the costs over a number of years, and from that point on having reduced bills/running costs and generally feeling like I'm doing my bit Thanks for any advice
Cheers!

RayMort

We just added spray foam insulation to all of our exterior walls, wrapped the hotwater tank in an insulating blanket - thinking of converting it to "on-demand". I like your idea of solar panels, another thing to think about is windows and window treatments to keep in/out heat.

Capt'n Midnight

ATDub wrote: »

really I'm looking to invest money with a view to re-couping the costs over a number of years, and from that point on having reduced bills/running costs

you need to concentrate on payback time

300mm attic insulation , extra insulation on the hot water tank

insulating walls etc depends on what you have already


other stuff has longer payback time

a conservatory might be an idea ?

dathi

seai .ie have all the information about grants for energy improvements for your house the main ones are atic insulation at least 300mm of rock wool /glass fiber.fill the cavity in your wall with beads, insulated drylining, or external insulation on your walls . then you could upgrade your boiler to a new condensing one and fit proper controls so that you can let the boiler heat the hot water independent of heating the house. after that you could look at solar water heating as for the sugestion of a conservatory thats just a big room that sucks heat out of your house and costs you money not saves it.

gman2k

Pick the low hanging fruit first;
Change your electricity/ gas supplier to the cheapest provider.
Service your boiler,
Perhaps upgrade your boiler to a modern efficient type,
Insulate your attic (diy job), seal attic hatches properly,
Insulate exposed hotwater pipework - again diy
The think about wall insulation, whether cavity fill or external insulation.
Retrofitting solar DHW to existing houses can be very expensive, and the payback time will be very long.

BryanF

Get some impartial advice if your doing any major refurbishment, try over at the construction & planning forum. There are too many products available that don't always go together. Take a holistic approach to any 'overall energy efficiency' measures (past the usual light bulbs that is), This will prove the most valuable in the long-run from an environmental and cost perspective.
good luck with