Boilers and Water Heating

Overall water usage is covered in a separate section, but it is important to think about your boiler or hot water heater when considering ways to reduce your carbon footprint. The most obvious way to reduce carbon emissions caused by heating water is to use less hot water. Pay attention to things like how long you are in the shower and if you leave the water running when you are washing dishes. These are easy ways to cut your carbon footprint and fight global warming.

You can also have a quick look at how hot your boiler is heating your water. Reducing this by 2-3 degrees will give you big savings for your carbon footprint, and will hardly be noticeable to you. There is no need to have your boiler set any higher than 50 degrees.

From the time the hot water leaves the boiler to get to your tap or shower, it is slowly losing heat and wasting energy. To fight this, consider insulating your water pipes so that the water in them stay hotter for longer. You can find more on this in the water usage section.

Buying a New Boiler

For those ready to invest in a new boiler, there is now new technology that allows them to heat far more water with the same amount of fuel. Better yet, for the same amount of hot water they will use much less fuel, reducing your carbon footprint. New boilers have an electric ignition which gets rid of the need to have the pilot light burning 24 hours a day. You should also be sure that you are buying the correct size for the hot water needs of your household. In terms of your carbon footprint, the sizing and installation are just as important as product quality.

Not quite ready to buy an entirely new boiler? What about buying an inexpensive boiler ‘jacket’? This is essentially insulation for your boiler so that the water it has heated stays hot for longer, meaning that it doesn’t have to heat as much total water. This results in less carbon emissions and more savings on your monthly bill.

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