Many of us have been working from home since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Research from June 2020 (PDF) showed most Scots felt their energy use increased during lockdown, and almost 60% of households were worried about their bills going up as a result.
As lockdown measures continue and cold weather means the heating is on for longer, you and your workmates might need some help to manage your energy costs while keeping warm at home.
Learn simple ways to stay warm at home
The good news is, we can help. As well as impartial advice to householders, we also offer fun and interactive online workshops for employers across Scotland.
Workshops are completely free and can be tailored to suit your workplace. And they’re a great way to connect with and support your colleagues, especially when many may be concerned about rising bills.
You and your workmates will pick up practical tips to reduce your bills and keep your home warm, like:
- Getting to know your heating controls, so you can get the best out of your heating system and make your home more comfortable
- Keeping the heat in by draught-proofing your home
- Making sure you’re not wasting energy – just turning your appliances off instead of leaving them on standby could save you £30 a year
- Finding out what support is available to help you make your home warmer and more energy efficient through energy saving home improvements
We’d love to help you and your colleagues stay warm this winter – email us to book your workshop. We also offer workshops on travelling sustainably (for essential journeys of course!), and saving water in partnership with Scottish Water. If getting everyone together for an online workshop will be tricky, our home energy e-learning is also full of useful advice on saving energy and money at home
Pick up tips to make the food shop go further
While we’re all cutting down on supermarket trips and many household budgets are getting tighter, it helps to make the food shop go further. Love Food Hate Waste workshops, delivered by Energy Saving Trust on behalf of Zero Waste Scotland, can help attendees save up to £437 a year by reducing food waste, through simple tips like:
- Menu planning, to make sure you don’t buy more than you use and don’t have to dash out for missing ingredients
- Storing food correctly so it lasts longer
- Using up leftovers and kitchen cupboard ingredients with crafty recipes
Interested? Get in touch to book a workshop.
Support for communities as well as workplaces
We also offer free online workshops for community groups on saving energy and water at home, travelling sustainably, and cutting food waste.
These are a great way to get your community group together remotely.
Find out more about our support for communities, and drop us an email if you’d like to book a workshop.