Energy-efficient renovations: everything you need to know

Energy efficiency is about using less energy to achieve the same or better results. In a home, this means wasting very little energy, while, at the same time, ensuring that your living space always functions well and looks and feels great. LED lighting, good insulation and smart thermostats are some ways you can lower energy consumption without sacrificing comfort.

By making energy-efficient renovations, you can cut your utility bills, reduce your carbon footprint and contribute to a more sustainable future. Simple changes, like sealing draughts or installing energy-efficient windows, can make a big difference.

By making your home more energy efficient, you reduce your carbon footprint and your energy bills, which is particularly helpful with the rising cost of living. Upgrading to A-rated appliances, improving your home’s insulation and ventilation and using smart technology and LED lighting can all help to reduce energy wastage without sacrificing comfort. Your energy-efficient home renovation may also qualify for financial incentives, such as government grants, and could boost your home’s value.

Your home could benefit from energy-efficient renovations, like loft and cavity-wall insulation, energy efficient glazing, energy-efficient heating and hot-water systems, LED lighting and draught excluders. Installing a smart meter can also help optimise your energy usage, while renewable options, like solar panels and a heat pump, provide long-term cost savings and other environmental benefits.

Careful planning is key to a successful energy-efficient renovation. By assessing your current energy use, you can select the best products and materials to help you reduce it further.

Before starting a renovation project, carry out an energy audit to identify areas of inefficiency, such as poor insulation, outdated appliances or draughty windows. A professional assessment or a DIY approach, using a smart meter, can quickly highlight where you might be able to improve your home’s energy efficiency.

Once problem areas are identified, set yourself some goals. They could be to reduce your heating costs or increase the flow of natural light into your home. A structured plan for your energy-efficient renovation project will help you ensure long-term energy savings and reduce your carbon footprint.

Selecting the right sustainable, durable materials is crucial for maximising your energy efficiency and creating and maintaining a greener home. High-quality insulation, energy-efficient glazing and draught-proofing reduces heat loss and improves your home’s thermal performance.

Incorporating renewable energy sources into your renovation will further enhance your home’s energy efficiency and sustainability. Solar panels generate clean electricity and a heat pump will heat your water and heating system much more sustainably than a traditional gas or oil-fired boiler. Combining these green technologies with energy-efficient construction materials will help you create an ultra eco-friendly home.

Energy-efficiency certificates and labels recognise and reward homes and home appliances with a low energy consumption. They are part of a drive to make building, renovating and maintaining property more sustainable and can make homes that have them easier to sell.

An Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rates your home's energy efficiency on a scale from A (most efficient) to G (least efficient). This certificate provides an indication of how energy-efficient your renovated home is and where further improvements can still be made. Find out more about EPCs at the Energy Savings Trust*.

• The rating system runs from A to G.
• A is the most energy efficient and G is the least energy efficient.
• The EPC shows how much energy a building is likely to use and how it can be made more energy efficient.
• When you sell your home, you must provide an EPC.

By renovating your home to certain standards, you can significantly reduce your energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, limiting your impact on the environment.

You can significantly reduce your energy bills and by showing that your home is more energy efficient, you may also increase its value when you sell.

As a homeowner, you can also benefit from grants and other financial incentives designed to encourage people to make their homes more energy efficient. You can find out more on the UK government website**.

As well as being more energy efficient, the upgraded insulation will make your home feel warmer in winter and cooler in summer, so it’s more comfortable all year round; the improved ventilation will optimise your indoor air quality too, contributing to your general wellbeing.

Building regulations are regularly updated to encourage house building and renovation to be dome more sustainably.

• In the UK, building control directives now include many regulations linked to improving the environment and energy efficiency and cover insulation, heating and ventilation. Your architect can ensure that your plans meet the latest requirements. There are also plans to phase out certain infrastructure in homes over the next few years, such as gas boilers. Although there is no set date to ban gas boilers in existing homes, if you want to future proof your property and your boiler needs replacing, consider a greener alternative, such as a heat pump.

You can make lots of tweaks to your home while renovating to make it more sustainable and improve your EPC rating, the key areas to focus on are insulation, ventilation and heating.

When you upgrade the insulation in your home, you stop heat leaking and make your home much more energy efficient.

• Roof insulation - the Energy Saving Trust estimates that when you go from 120mm of insulation to at least 270mm of insulation in your attic it can save you around £20 a year in Great Britain and £25 a year in Northern Ireland.
• Wall insulation - the Energy Saving Trust claims that about a third of all heat lost in uninsulated homes seeps out of the walls. If you have cavity walls in your home, where the walls are built in two layers with a cavity between them, you can fill that gap by injecting insulation into it, making a saving of around £240 a year in Great Britain and £270 in Northern Ireland, according to the Energy Saving Trust. Solid walls can also be insulated from the inside or the outside. When you insulate a solid wall from the inside you need to redecorate, so if you’re going to redecorate anyway, it’s a good time to do this.
• Ground floor installation - While you’re renovating, it’s also worth insulating any uninsulated ground floors or any other floors above an uninsulated space, like a garage. You can lay insulation underneath a concrete floor if you’re replacing it, or on top if you’re not and you can insulate underneath a wooden floor.

Discover more about how to improve the thermal comfort of your home

According to the BEAMA Report on Indoor Air Quality in the UK*** we spend up to 90% of our time indoors, with approximately 60% of that time spent at home. There are two problems with this, first, indoor air can be up to five times•••• more polluted than outdoor air and second, we should all get outside more!

It is, therefore, essential to ventilate your home well so that the air is regularly refreshed. This will reduce humidity and harmful toxins and promote good health.

To minimise indoor pollution, consider installing extractor fans and vented windows. All VELUX roof windows include a ventilation flap with a filter, which ensures constant natural air renewal, even when the window is closed.

Find out why it is essential to ventilate your home and how VELUX roof windows can help.

You can make significant energy savings by replace your old oil or gas boiler with a more environmentally friendly boiler or a renewable heating system, with heat pumps currently being the most popular and practical alternative on offer in the UK.

Once your renovation is complete and your home is super energy efficient, you can measure your energy savings to see how effective they are. The best way to do this is with a smart meter, which will help you compare your energy consumption patterns from before your renovations and after. This may even help you identify where you can make further cuts.

It’s important that you regularly monitor and maintain your new energy efficient operations to ensure they remain on top form. Insulation should be checked for damage from time to time, while your heat pump and solar panels require regular servicing to function efficiently. You should clean or replace HVAC filters in your extractor fans at regular intervals too to maintain optimum airflow and efficiency. Finally, check the seals on your windows to make sure that they are not leaking any heat.

With regular maintenance checks, you can ensure that your energy-efficient renovations continue to benefit your home and your family for years to come.