Confused about energy efficient products?

Sometimes it's easier to pay someone else to do a job that you might have done yourself. Like repairing the garden shed, or carrying out an energy management assessment. To find out about saving money on fuel bills, which essentially is what energy management is all about - or at least what I view it as, you can put in hours of research, and still be confused. It's better, in my case in hindsight, to go to someone who knows how to do it, whose job is to do it, and who'll give you all the information you need on energy efficiency for free.

Governments around the world are all telling us to be saving carbon, to reduce carbon footprints, and that means making everything we use more energy efficient. So it makes sense then, to fund carbon saving projects that help ordinary people purchase and install products so they use less energy in the home, and get more from the energy they do use.

So it's better than paying someone to fix a shed when you could be getting paid for the job you're good at doing. Because while it's their job to do energy management, most of the time you're not going to be paying for their assessments and advice. Find out for yourself - search online about it.

Paying for the products that make your home more energy efficient may be where the good news ends though, because energy efficient products can be more expensive on the outlay. Even if the running costs are considerably lower, they are saving carbon but not saving you money at the point of purchase. This is where green rebates come in, and if you don't qualify for one, then there's always the consideration of applying for a green loan.

A green loan can enable you to borrow money to purchase energy efficient products for your home as part of a wider carbon saving projects campaign. Paying off the green loan often costs less than the extra you would have been paying if those old inefficient products were in use in your home.

Energy management is easy, once you've got someone else to do all the measurements, assessments, and recommendations. Given that after installation you're likely to be saving a significant amount of money due to less energy usage and whence lower running costs, it means you've saved financially on a range of aspects of introducing better energy efficiency in your household. And you've saved time too.

Finding out about all of this online is quick and easy. Just let the energy management web site know some basic facts like how many rooms you have in your house, your electricity supplier and your water heating source, and they'll work out where to start with their energy management assessment.

There are some things you could do yourself, like fixing your shed, get proper ceiling insulation, but when it comes to finding out how to install energy efficient products and saving carbon then you're better off speaking to energy management professionals.

Sarah Maple writes about energy management and renewable energy. The Green Project has been set up to give you and your community the best advice and recommendations on ways to make your home more energy efficient to reduce energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions.