Do A Home Energy Audit Together
Spend an afternoon going room by room finding draughts and waste - lower bills, lower emissions, and it costs nothing.
- Cost
- Free / Under £20pp
- Time
- Half-day
- People
- Solo / Duo, Small Group (3-6)
- Where
- Home
- Bring
- Nothing in particular
Why this matters
Household heating is a major source of emissions, and much of it escapes through gaps that cost a few pounds to seal. The barrier is knowing what to look for. Doing it as a group means one person's knowledge covers several homes at once - and the savings are real and immediate, which is unusual for anything climate-related.
How to do it
Go round each other's homes in turn, or do one together and take notes for the rest. Having several people looking is genuinely better - people are blind to their own house.
What to check: - Draughts: letterboxes, keyholes, under doors, around window frames, unused chimneys, loft hatches, gaps in floorboards and around pipework. Draught-proofing strips cost very little and pay for themselves quickly. - Loft insulation depth. This is one of the biggest single factors and lots of homes have less than recommended. - Hot water cylinder jacket and pipe lagging, both cheap and frequently missing. - Radiators: bleed them, check nothing is blocking them, and consider reflective panels on external walls. - Boiler and thermostat settings. A lot of systems run hotter than necessary. Look up the correct flow temperature for your boiler type. - Standby power - the devices left on constantly. - Lighting still on halogen or incandescent bulbs. - Curtains and where heat is escaping through glazing at night.
Then check what support exists. Most countries have grants, free insulation schemes or subsidised assessments, often income-linked, and they're chronically underclaimed.
Take photos and write an actual list for each home, prioritised by cost and impact. Otherwise it's an interesting afternoon that changes nothing.
Then go and help each other fit the draught strips.