Saving Energy Outside

Zap Rating

Until relatively recently there was little energy use outside – maybe an outside light by the front door.

Now though people sell us all manner of products that consume energy outside the home - from high power security lights to patio heaters. So, what savings can be made here?

POSITIVE STEPS:

  Lighting

It’s nice to have a light outside to see your way into the house. But whether it’s a light outside the front door or a big security light, the biggest problem with outdoor lights is that it’s really easy to forget they’re on. They can happily burn away for hours or even all night (and day) without being noticed.

Often things like security flood lights can be huge Wattages – eg: like the 500 W monsters in the DIY stores. Leaving one of those on for 24 hours could easily cost £1.50 / day (do it for a year and that’s an incredible £500 to illuminate the shrubs!) and be responsible for phenomenal amounts of Carbon.

One common way around this is have a motion-activated light that only comes on when it picks up people’s movement. Coming on for only a minute or so saves massively over leaving a lamp burning for hours on end. There is a small standby power consumption, but compared to leaving it permanently on, you’re making good savings.



These days Passive InfraRed (PIR) systems are readily available from the DIY stores at pretty good prices, and once set up should give years of good service.

Take a look though at the Wattage of the system you get. Some flood lights are a massively wasteful 500Watt, but at the other end of the spectrum you can get some outdoor lights with built in PIR that take regular low energy bulbs. With an 8Watt CFL in one of those you could be making substantial savings every time a cat walks past it.


Stored sunshine:

Personally I love the latest development in outdoor lighting and that is Solar powered lights that incorporate a PIR detector. Just starting to come into the shops, these systems use a solar panel to charge up a battery during the day, then at night put the LED lights on whenever anyone walks nearby.

They’re not a flood light, but just a gentle light that comes on when you need it. And being solar powered, you’re totally off-grid meaning no wiring to worry about and absolutely ZERO mains consumption. Carbon-free lighting - Definitely a ZapCarbon winner !


 

Grass Cutting:

Short of letting your lawn turn into a meadow, how can we cut down on the energy used in cutting the grass ? Typically once a week for half the year we'll be powering up either a petrol or electric mower and chewing power at the rate of a kilowatt or two.

The alternative is a modern reworking of an old idea - yes, it's the good old push mower.

Sure, they need a little bit more muscle-work than the powered alternative, but if you've got a smallish patch they're just as quick - and surprisingly effective.       >> Click here for Zero Carbon grass cutting !

  Pond Pumps:

Sometimes when people measure their energy use they find an unexplained background consumption going on. Even switching off the fridge & freezer doesn’t get rid of it. Often I’ve seen this is because of pond pumps. These tick away nicely 24 / 7 and their power consumption can range from a few dozen watts to several hundred. If you’ve got a big pump it could easily be as much a leaving that 500W floodlight on.

The pump is there for a reason, but does it honestly need to be on 24 / 7 ? If not, there are savings to be had. Options are fitting a timeswitch to it – eg: so it’s comes on every other hour, thus halving consumption at a stroke. Or making a habit of simply flicking it off for certain periods, like at night time.
Alternatively, you could go for one of the growing number of solar powered pumps. These are completely off-grid, and are powered directly by the sun. What's more they pump hardest in the summer when you need aeration most.

 

  Patio heaters:

In the past when we were sitting outside after dark we'd put on a jersey. Then some bright spark thought up the “patio heater”.

Tell people in 2025 that we used to burn propane outside rather than putting another layer on and don’t expect too many laughs… Seriously though, if you avoid using just one cylinder of patio heater gas you’ll be saving 38kg of CO₂ being released into the air. Not a bad saving for putting on another layer !