Earth Notes: Saving The Planet @Home
Site updated 2026-05-15 08:38 GMT.Want to do your bit at home to improve your quality of life, save money, cut down on waste and carbon pollution, and get the planet back how it used to be?
Did you know that the majority of your neighbours are undertaking energy saving actions every day
? That is also one of the most powerful messages to encourage people to save.
On Earth Notes
Featured: Home Heat Pumps: Barriers to Installation (2022) (frugal microgen)
A case study in the friction in specifying and installing a heat-pump in the UK, even for a savvy early adopter. #heatpump #netZero #futureReady
What gets in the way when you do decide to go heat-pump? How will the UK government meet its goals of hundreds of thousands installed per year?
On GB/UK Solar PV FiTs and Plug-in Solar (2026) (frugal microgen tech)
Veolia Southwark IWMF Visit (2026) (meet tech)
On Website Technicals (2026-05) (blog site tech)
Octopus Heat-pump Journey (frugal microgen research tech)
General Bibliography (dataset research short tech)
On Solar DHW, Sunamp, PV Divert (frugal microgen tech)
Octopus Heat-pump Journey (frugal microgen research tech)
Veolia Southwark IWMF Visit (2026) (meet tech)
Kingston's Efficient Homes Show BITESIZE (2025-09) (frugal meet)
Random: On Website Technicals (2018-08) (blog site tech)
Tech updates: PWA revisited, auto lazy loading, jumpy AutoAds, more content pyramid, CRP and efficient canonicals, custom 404.
Net utility (electricity) CO2 emitted this year over first 4 months: 56kg
LIVE GB Grid Carbon Intensity (mobile), live grid-tie PV generation and off-grid PV electrical system stats, heat battery top-up control.
Main FEEDS site, podcast, data.
SECTIONS dataset, frugal, microgeneration, podcast, research, review.
OFFLINE Download to your computer before a long journey with poor connectivity. Unpack and read offline. (Also see Zenodo.)
Things That We've Done
We've crunched our carbon footprint. We've become a SuperHome. We've pondered other changes that we might make. But most of all there's been quite a lot of fun learning. Maybe it is my wannabe engineering mindset, but I have made a hobby out of conservation and data watching. I have had fun out of 'tuning' life a little. The rest of my family largely lets me get on with it.
See a full list of articles under search at the top of the page, and here's some actions to start with that we took...
- made my home study/office carbon-neutral including reducing energy consumption from my Internet-facing servers at home from over 600W to about 2W
- switched our electricity supply to a "100% green" tariff with Ecotricity so that what we do consume is as green as possible
- cut our electricity consumption and added grid-tied solar PV microgeneration to the point where we are net exporters to the grid
- weatherproofed/weatherised our home amongst our other conservation measures such as using (OpenTRV) thermostatic radiator values and aerogel insulation and upgrading to energy-efficient appliances
- built a little off-grid solar system that provides lighting and mobile phone charging and power for my Internet servers consolidated onto a single Raspberry Pi that postpones work until the sun shines
- toyed with wind power (turbines) and found that wind does not really work for most of us urbanites
- built a compost heap or three and we grow a tiny amount of veg in our postage-stamp garden...
Things That You Can Do
Effective changes that can be made at home are based on lowering energy/resource demand...
- Saving electricity (and gas) in all sorts of ways, including,
- Lighting: low-energy light bulbs (eg CFL / compact fluorescent and LED preferably at 60 lumens per Watt (60lm/W) efficiency or better). If rewiring, then look at 12V light circuits connecting to PV/battery systems.
- High-efficiency white goods (eg fridges) and other electrical goods at home and at work. Look at energy consumption in use, eg per wash or while on, and in 'standby' mode if you won't be turning them off at the wall. Choose an energy supplier that provides 'green' energy and supports renewables.
- For cooking: investigate CO2 savings with induction cookers and microwave ovens.
- Clothes washing: alternate ideas with drying (eg on a line), and low-temperature (cold/30°C/40°C) washing and do full loads. Also, simple changes in habits and textiles (wool is brilliant compared to cotton for whole-life costing as well as washing/drying/ironing). Re-use fashions!
- Low water-use toilets, showers.
- Insulation and thermal capacity (over-cladding buildings).
- Close curtains at dusk to retain heat (and on hot sunny days to keep the sun/heat out).
- Turn down your heating thermostat 1°C for up to 10% saving. 18°C to 21°C is about right during the day (and hypothermia is only really a risk when temperatures at home are as low as 5°C, but spending more than two hours at 12°C raises blood pressure), and nearer 14°C at night when sleeping. Only heat rooms that you are using. Use a timer (or something smarter) to avoid heating when no one is home! Wearing the right clothing helps keep you comfortable at lower temperatures.
- Don't have your hot water thermostat set higher than 60°C/140°F, and 'instant' water heaters avoid losses from a tank for new systems.
- Don't leave gadgets and appliances on standby/charging, turn them off (maybe with a smart power-strip or trailing adapter) or unplug them. You might trim as much as 30% off your electricity bill.
- Check your mains electricity use at home with tools such as the Kill-a-Watt meter, or just read your supply meter daily or weekly. Gas too.
- Minimise the electricity you use at times of peak grid load (eg 4pm to 9pm in the autumn/winter in the UK) since more carbon-intensive and expensive fuels may be burnt in 'peaking' plants, and the grid is under most strain too. Intensity at peak time circa 2009 was ~0.6kgCO2/kWh, as much as 50% over typical levels.
- On the flip-side, make good use of energy when it's abundant such as saving up computing work until the sun is shining for low-carbon results.
- Reduce, re-use, recycle (including electricals).
- See some thoughtful tips at MoneySavingExpert.com.
News
- : Nine in ten UK home buyers now on the hunt for solar panels, home batteries or heat pumps amid energy uncertainty:
93% of buyers say energy uncertainty is shaping what they look for in a home. E.ON Next data reveals sales for solar panels and batteries (+182%), air source heat pumps (+129%) and EV chargers (+18%) have soared between February-April this year. ... 70% of prospective buyers say energy technology is now a non-negotiable when choosing a property, while over two thirds (68%) admit they wouldn’t have been looking for these features a year ago.
- : GB grid: from the NESO Energising Progress newsletter:
... zero-carbon sources provided a record 98.8% of our electricity between 3:30 – 4pm. The same day, gas reached a historic low of 1.2% of the energy mix at transmission and distribution levels. Solar also got in on the action when it provided a record 14.8 GW at 12pm
(and over 15 GW the next day). - : Government approves UK's largest power-producing solar farm: 800 MW Springwell Solar farm with storage, due to go live .
- : in the half hour from , solar PV generation on the GB grid hit a new record of 14.4GW.
- : Analysis: Record wind and solar saved UK from gas imports worth £1bn in March 2026.
- Archived news...