Getting started
You may already have looked at pages of gleaming solar panels, batteries and other tech, but some investments will work much better than others, so take these preparatory steps before spending anything much.
These will make all the difference in bringing your Net Zero carbon in as close as possible to Net Zero Cost - working for your wallet as well as your planet.
What's your masterplan for your home?
Everything is cheaper if you do it in line with your wider home investment plans, because doing it once is cheaper than doing it twice. So get your extension super efficient when you build it, not later. Plan your solar panels and loft extension together!
So if you have any refurb plans, even if they may be a few years in the future, sketch these out and factor them in.
What you can do right now
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Refurb or bolt-on? >
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Make sure you have a smart meter >
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Get to know your energy bills >
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Rough out what investment might make sense >
Step 1: Refurb or bolt-on?
What are your plans for your house? If you already have a big refurb planned, then you'll want to integrate your net zero plans with these - go to our refurb page. But you don't need to do a big refurb to get to net zero. All the most important measures, which cut carbon and costs more for a lower investment, can be "bolted-on" to your house - ie added with minimal disruption. In particular, this includes solar panels and a heat pump. We found the big expensive fabric measures, like new windows, were not critical in our net zero achievement, and only worthwhile to enhance the wider appeal and value of the home. So if you're just bolting on, read on...
Step 2: Make sure you have a smart meter.
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These are essential for you to understand and track your home energy use, and are available for free in the UK. If you don't have one already, contact your energy supplier to ask for one to be fitted. This could take a few months. A smart meter will enable you to see your energy consumption (and production!) by year, week, day, even down to the half-hour. Most energy suppliers have an app which will display this info for electricity and gas (they don't cover oil use). There is also normally an In Home Display (IHD) which gives the same information.
A smart meter enables you to:
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Track when and how much you use, so you can spot what uses the most.
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Make use of the new time of use electricity tariffs. These allow you to get cheaper power by using it at off peak times, and also make more from exported solar power.
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Know your maximum daily heating consumption in cold weather, ("coldest day figure") which is vital information if you are looking to install a heat pump.
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Bring an end to meter reading visits and estimated bills
Problem with your smart meter? It's possible that you already have a smart meter, but it doesn't work properly, or the IHD doesn't work. Older smart meters, known as SMETS1 were installed up to about 2019, and often went dumb if you changed energy suppliers. Modern SMETS2 meters don't do this. If you're not able to get your smart meter data up on an app, or if the IHD isn't working, contact your energy supplier and work through the problem with them. This may require some patience!
Step 3: Get to know your energy bills
You need to know how much electricity, gas or oil you use in a year, and what it costs. This is the prize - when you get to net zero, this is what you'll save, and you may well find yourself making net income from energy. This will also give you an idea whether you are a high, medium or low user. In the UK the average house uses 12,000kWh per year of gas, and 2,900kWh of electricity (figures from OFGEM). Your energy bills will normally tell you how much gas and electricity you've used in a year.
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If you've just bought the house, you won't have a year's bills. But you can estimate your electricity consumption by looking at your previous home, as electricity use is more related to the habits of occupants. Gas and oil for heating on the other hand, are more about the thermal performance of the house itself. If you can't get this from the previous owner, you will have to look at the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) which is required by law for a house sale. Be aware that the heating numbers on the EPC use a standard algorithm and are often massively wrong - by a factor of 2 or 3 sometimes, in my experience. But they're a start until you get your own data.
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Rather like gardening, it's a good idea to live in a house for a year to understand its strengths and weaknesses and how you live in it in the different seasons. This will also give you a year's energy data.
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Explaining energy bills You may be used to thinking of your energy bills in terms of cold hard cash, but the vital currency for your trip to net zero is the kWh - or kilowatt-hour. This is the energy used by a one-bar electric fire for one hour (though try and avoid ever using such a thing! ) Your bills will give gas and electricity usage in kWh, although for gas old bills or meters may also refer to cubic feet or even therms (which are still used in the US). But bills will always convert these to kWh. By working in kWh you can compare gas, oil and electricity and compare year on year progress despite changing energy prices. Most energy providers will also ask you for kWh consumption figures to give you a quote.
Step 4: Consider what investment may be worthwhile for you
When you know what you spend, you can decide what investment may be worthwhile for you. If you're spending £1500 a year on energy, investment of £15,000 to get to net zero would pay back in 10 years, equivalent to getting 10% on your savings*. You may think longer or shorter term than this. But having an investment budget in mind is a critical part of helping net zero pay you back, by avoiding overspend.
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Remember that the investment budget you're thinking about here is just the extra for net zero, the stuff you wouldn't have done otherwise. So you might plan new windows costing £12,000 for standard ones, but if you get high performance triple glazing they're £15,000 - your net zero targeted investment is £3,000, And you can work out if each investment is worthwhile by looking at the likely energy cost savings (see Refurb).
And you can prioritise them. Some measures will pay back more quickly than others, in both carbon and financial terms, and you may want to prioritise these. For example, in our case we found that solar panels were going to save much more carbon and money than an electric car, and cost less, so we prioritised the panels.
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Once you have an investment budget you can develop an outline investment plan. Of course there's nothing to stop you updating this if your priorities or budget change. There's more about this on our Financials page.
* Remember to factor in any borrowing costs, which will increse your payback time. You may wish to stage your investment so that you can fund it from savings.