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Probably the main savings are to be made from the way you use your electrical appliances, how efficient they are and what appliances you decide to do without. In the eco living section are suggestions for saving electricity, and they seriously add up as we have found in our own house. I have also made a few tentative suggestions about some appliances that a lot of us could manage without. For example I am planning in this project to ensure there is a drying space for clothes both inside and out so there is no need for a tumble drier.
Electricity meter
Without a doubt the first thing to get is an "energy saving" electrical meter and, although all it does is record the amount of electricity you are using, it makes you stop and think and change your habits. Everyone I know who has put one in has reduced their electricity consumption just because they now think about what they are doing. There is now one in this house.
Appliances
Although electrical appliances now come with a grading, I am not convinced about how rigorous the testing is. However, it is the only guide when getting new appliances (and I don’t think appliances should be replaced for the sake of it unless they are terribly inefficient). So far I have had to replace the oven, the hob and the washing machine because they were broken. I have bought A rated appliances, although I have made a “lifestyle” choice in changing the oven to a single electric oven from a double gas oven. This is a minus on the carbon footprint front because gas has less emissions per kWh than electricity and ovens are big power eaters, but I much prefer electric ovens for cooking. A mistake in retrospect, but at least it is a single oven.
Fridges and freezers are some of the biggest power users in the house as they’re on all the time. I have replaced both the fridge and freezer with with second hand appliances, slightly newer but I am unsure of their ratings. The washing machine is fine and can be set to a 30 degree wash. The rest of the electrical appliances are up to the tenant.
Lightbulbs
Changing lightbulbs to low energy bulbs is of course one of the simplest changes to make – in theory at least. The main problems are the vast array of energy saving lightbulbs on the market, that some of them are not very good and that new products are coming on the market all the time. Another problem is their length and that they do not always fit neatly into existing fittings.  I had difficulty finding new light fittings because most now take halogen GU10 bulbs - for which there is no good, cheap or well-fitting energy saving equivalent. I am not impressed by the LED lights available, though they may well be the answer in the future. I had to search the internet hard to find good looking non-GU10 lights which could take standard energy saving bulbs. However, the good news is that energy saving light bulbs are getting better and better (see eco living section) and it is perfectly possible now to get excellent replacements for most fittings.
Buying electricity
There are not many options for power supply: buy it or produce it yourself. In terms of low carbon impact in buying electricity, the best is to sign up with a green energy supplier. All I could do here was to encourage any tenant or future buyer of the benefits although unfortunately most green energy tariffs tend to cost a little more.
Producing electricity
In terms of generating your own electrical needs, there are not too many options in a house like this. Wind turbines or solar photovoltaic (pv) panels are the only practical solutions, unless you have your own home gym linked to a generator and are prepared to work out hard for many hours a day! I tend to think power is better generated in a centralised system on a local basis rather than on an individual basis because of the efficiency and resources required to produce so many small systems - but that is probably some way down the line in coming. In the meantime, if you can, I think you should generate what you are able to.
Wind turbines
Wind turbines have not even featured in my thinking because they are not worthwhile on a small scale. They produce very little energy unless you have an ideal site, and they are not cheap to put in.
Solar pv A large domestic solar pv array
Despite the debate about whether they are worth installing, there is nothing more satisfying than watching your electricity meter going backwards. However, it is not cost effective at present by any stretch of the imagination and electricity prices will have to go up a long way before it pays for itself (of course, they will go sky high eventually). Parity Projects estimated for this house that the payback period for solar pv would be about 22 years, though I think that is optimistic because the price they based it on is much less than the quotes that I have had (though this is partly because I am not eligible for grants as a landlord - owner occupiers can get them). However, it makes a lot of sense if you are concerned about carbon emission reduction because conventional electricity has such high CO2 emissions. And, as of 2010, the government is giving big incentives to new installers of pv which will reduce payback times considerably.
Within my budget, I could barely afford to install even one renewable energy technology. If I had taken up a deal I was offered, the solar pv actually would have worked out a little cheaper than the solar thermal system (which would provide hot water) because I would have had to put in a new boiler and cylinder for the solar thermal. The CO2 savings are roughly equal taking into account the additional savings from having a new boiler. Based on current energy costs the payback period is nearly half for the pv panels than for the solar thermal system. This is purely because of the high cost of electricity compared with gas but it could well change once gas prices rise, which I am sure they will do.
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Power and lighting