Beat the Energy Suppliers with an efficient Garden Room

The world oil price has plummeted by more than 50% since last June and wholesale costs to energy suppliers have been slashed. During the years of rising oil prices and costs, retail energy prices were very quick to respond, but are proving woefully sticky on the downtrend as energy retailers drag their heels and boost their profit margins.

Whilst those of us not locked into a fixed price deal may be nimble enough to switch away from the greedy top six energy suppliers, it is unlikely that the retail price and our bills will ever fully reflect the slide in wholesale costs. And before we know it, oil prices will be on the up once more.

Improving the energy efficiency of an entire house, especially if it is large and/or old, can be prohibitively expensive, not to mention disruptive and messy. Another way of cutting your day to day energy usage, particularly if you live in a household which frequently has only one member at home for large parts of the day, is to build an energy efficient home from home in your back garden. So whether you have an elderly relative living with you; regularly spend a day or two a week working from home, or one of you is full time parenting pre-school children, you can switch off the lights in the main home, turn the heating off or the thermostat down, and escape to a warm and cosy cocoon until the rest of the family is due home.

New buildings present a very real opportunity to achieve significant energy avoidance savings over the long term, especially when a comprehensive systems approach to energy efficiency is used. Conservation of fuel and power is a fundamental design element of Garden Escape buildings, including the high insulation values of every product used such as our double glazed, Low-E glass. Intelligent, site specific design will ensure maximum penetration of natural light into the room, but when the sun’s not up to the job we have a range of energy efficient lighting to choose from (including smart controls) to ensure you have perfect lighting whatever the weather or time of day. Likewise, we offer a choice of low energy heating options, including an ingenious air-source heat pump (which doubles up as an air conditioning unit on hot days) which extracts heat from the atmosphere, rather like a fridge in reverse.

Whilst not currently a requirement for domestic buildings, all commercial buildings in the UK that use energy to condition the indoor climate now require an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) whenever they are sold. The idea is similar to the energy labels that we are used to seeing whenever we buy a new fridge or washing machine, and allow the purchaser to get a clear indication of the energy running costs of a new building as part of their investment decision. The rating indicates the energy efficiency of the fabric of the building itself as well as its heating, ventilation, cooling and lighting systems. Ratings range from G (for the least energy efficient buildings) up to A for the best: our most recent buildings for schools have been awarded an A rated EPC.