George Clarke's top tips

The original Restoration Man, George Clarke, offers his 5 Top tips on making your home greener

George Clarke, architect and presenter of Channel 4's Home Show and Restoration Man, offers his top tips on making your home greener to help reduce your energy bills. 

1. Appliances – Take a look at your boiler, heating and plumbing and make sure they are up to scratch. CO2 emissions come from old boilers so keep your boiler serviced and upgrade it to a more efficient model when you can. You should think of renewing your boiler every 10 years or so.

2. Install underfloor heating – As an architect who likes using space efficiently; I would always avoid using radiators where possible. They don't just look ugly, they are energy-inefficient. Underfloor heating offers a more even distribution of heat throughout the room, and can also be more cost effective in the long run. You will find the heating is on for longer, but because you’re covering more surface area, it allows you to run your thermostat at a lower temperature because your boiler doesn’t have to work so hard to heat up the room.

3. Insulation – Lots of high-quality insulation would be the best start as you will recoup your investment on energy bills very quickly. Walls leak up to a third of the heat produced in your home, and up to a quarter of a home's heat can escape through the roof if it's badly insulated. If your downstairs areas is often not warm enough it is probably because most of the heat has escaped to rooms upstairs. Putting insulation in all walls and floors stops heat moving from one room to another in the house and keeps the heat where you want it most.

4. Double Glazing – When you look at the potential energy savings, every house in the country ought to be double-glazed. This will reduce heat loss by half and that applies to old houses as much as new ones.

5. Gadgets – Replace old-style bulbs with energy-saving ones, buy an eco-kettle and only turn on your TV when you are actually using it.

 

To hear more of George Clarke's views on restoration, pick up a copy of Home Sense at your local branch.

 

George Clarke is appearing at Grand Designs Live, which takes place from 7-9 October 2011, at Birmingham’s NEC

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