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Many of our residential buildings have a single, shared connection to the energy grid. This means a lot of your energy costs are shared with your housemates and neighbours. You’ll get the best results by working together to keep the whole building’s consumption as low as possible.

Cooking

Team up with your housemates to cook shared meals.
Batch cook larger quantities, to last multiple days.
When using the hob, heat pans on appropriately-sized rings. Don’t use a ring that’s bigger than the pan.
Always use lids on pans.
Turn the gas / temperature down as soon as the water in a pan boils.
Using a tagine or pressure cooker will cook your food faster.
When making tea, boil the water in a kettle and keep what’s left over warm in a thermos flask.
After making coffee, keep it warm in a thermos flask.

Keep your air fresh

Dry air heats up faster than humid air. Letting fresh air in will result in dryer air, and therefore lower heating costs.
Turn up the ventilation when showering, cooking or having visitors round.
Always keep your air vents open.
Regularly open a window to let more fresh air in.

Heating

Put on a warm sweater and thick socks and/or use a blanket when on the couch.Turn your radiators to low, or off.
If your heating is controlled via a thermostat, reduce the temperature
by one degree. At night, and also during the day when nobody’s home, set the thermostat to 15 degrees.
Only heat the shared living room or kitchen.
Only turn on the heating in the bedrooms when it is freezing outside.
Stick radiator foil on the walls behind your radiators.
Bleed your radiators once a year. Watch the video to find out how:

Curtains

Hang curtains on the windows and close them when it’s dark.
Leave curtains open during the day, so the sun can heat your home.
Make sure no curtains are hanging in front of your radiators.

Showering

The shorter the shower, the less hot water you use. This can make a big difference! Try to shorten your showers by one minute.
Shower colder than you are used to. This is also good for your health.
Get a water-saving shower head. This uses less hot water per minute, but cleans you just as well.

Light

Turn off lights when they’re not needed.
Choose the right bulb for the situation. Not everywhere needs to be brightly lit.
Use LED bulbs. These consume less power.
If you’re hanging Christmas lights, make sure they’re LED bulbs.

Laundry

Wash at a maximum of 40 degrees. Use the eco mode if possible.
Don’t use the washing machine until you’ve got a full load. Combine your washing with your housemates’.
Whenever possible, dry your laundry on a rack, instead of using a dryer.

Fridge and freezer

Regularly defrost both the fridge and the freezer (a 2mm layer of ice increases energy consumption by 10%). Or buy a fridge/freezer that doesn’t need defrosting.
Make sure your fridge/freezer has an alarm that goes off if the door is left open.
Do not set the freezer temperature any lower than -18° The best temperature for the fridge is 4°C.

Electronics

Do not leave electrical appliances on standby. Switch them off completely.
Use a power strip that has a switch, so you can turn off all devices with just one button.
A laptop uses 30% less energy than a desktop computer.
Remove chargers from electrical sockets when not in use / your devices are fully charged.

New electronics purchases

Before buying a new device, always check its energy rating. Whenever possible, choose devices rated A or AA, especially if they’ll often or constantly be in use.
Choose an A++ refrigerator.
When it’s hot, use a fan instead of an air conditioner. Air conditioners consume a lot of electricity.

Need advice?

If you’d like some advice on ways to reduce your energy bill, an energy coach can help.

Contact Energiebank Rotterdam:

rotterdam@energiebanknederland.nl

010 – 466 67 22

energiebankrotterdam.nl

It might be a good idea to do this together with (some of) your housemates or neighbours.

Energy saving tips

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