Energy saving tips: Checklist to save £100s

Using solar lights instead of electric lamps indoors could help save small amounts on your electricity bill. While solar lights are generally kept outside, where they harness the sun's energy, solar lights can still be used indoors.

You can leave them outside during the day to charge, then bring them inside in the evening. This is harder in winter, when there is less sunlight, so make sure to position them in the best place to get the most sunlight – away from trees, buildings and anything else that may cast a shadow. 

You could also try charging the lights during the day through a window. This should work, providing lots of light comes through, and you don't even have to open the window. 

The average mobile phone can take about three hours to fully charge. So if you're guilty of plugging your mobile phone in overnight, you're likely wasting some energy unnecessarily.

Instead, top up your mobile's battery throughout the day, and always unplug it when fully charged. It's also worth looking at some of your settings, such as screen brightness, battery saving mode and airplane mode – these can all make the charging time much quicker (and the battery last longer). Better still, turn off your phone completely when charging it. The less power your device is using, the quicker the charge time.

Modern tumble dryers usually have an easily accessible filter that catches dust, fluff and lint from your clothes. Over time this can build up to form a thick layer on your filter, which means your dryer has to work harder to do its job. Try and clean this filter before every load of washing goes in. 

To save even more energy, you could try to completely avoid using the tumble dryer if you can. 

Reflective panels behind radiators could help cut energy use. These are sheets of reflective material that you place between the back of the radiator and the wall so heat doesn't escape through the external wall. 

You could do this yourself with tin foil, though it won't be as effective as actual reflector panels, as foil can crinkle, rip and oxidise more easily, reducing its effectiveness.

Radiator fans – sometimes known as radiator boosters – are an add-on to your radiator that help redirect heat across the room, helping to prevent heat from rising and escaping.

They're fairly universal in size and simple to install on most standard radiators, and you can even pick them up and slot them on different radiators depending on where you are. However, they are electric, so will use small amounts of energy to work. 

You also can't use them if you have storage heaters or oil-filled radiators.

To keep your fridge running at maximum efficiency it's a good idea to give the condenser coils a clean. These are usually located on the back of the fridge and will usually have some kind of grate or cover over them.

It's a good idea to turn the fridge off first, just in case. Then you'll likely need to pull the fridge away from the wall (if you can) and find a screwdriver to remove the panel covering the coils. 

Once you see the coils, you'll want to clean the dust off gently, to avoid doing any damage. 

Many freezers have a fast freeze button (also known as super frost or super freeze). It's there to quickly freeze fresh foods that you put in your freezer and stop the overall freezer temperature from rising. It's a useful function, but generally doesn't need to be switched on all of the time.

Check if yours is on and only use it when needed, as the freezer will likely work harder when activated, consuming more energy. 

If you have the time, batch-cooking dinner for the next few days or for the week ahead is the most energy efficient way to cook.

You can double or triple portion sizes, or cook multiple different meals at once, freeze anything you don't use, then portion that out over the coming days.

Just remember to defrost each portion in the fridge overnight so you're not using the microwave to defrost food.

Don't waste energy by boiling water in a giant pan. It only needs to cover the food, not drown it.

But if you're just using a pan to warm liquids like soup or custard, it's actually better to choose a bigger one, as a larger surface area will heat up quicker and so use less energy.

It may not make a huge difference, but after you've finished cooking, you could consider leaving the oven door open, to help warm up your home (though even with door closed, it will still heat your kitchen, just more slowly). But do make sure the open door isn't a hazard for small children and pets. And always make sure the oven is switched off.

According to Waterwise (a non-profit aimed at reducing water use) the average shower uses 12 litres of water a minute, while power showers use even more. So a five-minute shower is likely to be using 60 litres of hot water versus the 80 litres it takes to fill a bath. That's potentially thousands of litres of water saved a year (assuming you wash more than once a week...), as well as the energy saved from heating all that water. According to the Energy Saving Trust, swapping just one bath a week with a 4-minute shower could save you £9 a year.

If you can tolerate it, you could go full Wim Hof and have a cold shower. It will not only reduce your energy usage, but it's said to have many physical and mental health benefits as well. And let's face it: you're likely to spend less time under a cold shower than a warm one, meaning you'll save on water too.