No one would question that it’s the right thing to go for energy efficiency in the items we use or purchase. However, beyond the immediate satisfaction of knowing that we have made a ‘good purchase’ and hopefully helped the planet in the long term, big, unfathomable scheme of things, can we actually benefit or get some kind of financial return within our own life times? Or is it actually more pricey all the way through?
Let’s explore through a couple of different items, beginning with household appliances.
Which? recently released some pretty compelling research which suggests that it is can be worthwhile going for those fancy A++++ items. They found that consumers could save £336 a year – more than £3,000 over a decade – on their energy bills and help reduce their carbon footprint just by switching to more energy efficient appliances when their old white goods need replacing. Obviously, the case is strongest for items which tend to be high energy consumers, such as tumble dryers, compared to say, ovens, and perhaps the best way to reduce energy on drying is to use an alternative system (the air, whether inside or out!).
How about electric cars? Well, these are newer types of machines and rather more sophistic than your average white good, so it doesn’t seem as though the picture is clear cut. It looks as though it depends on the model you get and how you use it as to whether the significant upfront high cost is mitigated by lower costs later on. May be you should bank on getting non-financial value in the form of smugness when the rest of the world is queuing for fuel during shortages, or whatever fuel-related calamity we are facing in that moment.
And finally, solar panels. Don’t go thinking that you’ll be able to benefit from a subsidy or good feed-in tariffs – those are no longer part of the equation. However, the cost of the panels themselves has dropped a fair bit, whilst energy costs have gone up lots, so there’s other incentives for going for it. However, it requires patience: it can take anywhere between 11 and 27 years to recoup the costs of installing panels for a typical home, perhaps longer than some people might be staying in that same property (depending on area, moves might happen every 10-25 years).
But you know what? To me, the biggest challenge would be having to go through some hardcore and pretty extensive research to work out which might be the best option, balancing all the different variables under consideration. That’s why I’m sending thanks to all those helpful people who write product reviews!
