To put it bluntly, the Energy Crisis is putting a lot of households in the UK under pressure. Prices are reaching new heights all the time, making it more expensive to heat a home than most people are used to. Homes with connected garages can experience particular difficulties, with garage spaces notorious for acting as ‘heat sinks’ for entire homes, amplifying heating bills overall. But garages don’t have to get in the way of energy-efficient homes.
This article will explain how making upgrades to the garage can not only support but also lead the charge in efficient home energy management. The improvements suggested in the piece will largely require some sort of initial investment, but they can enhance the overall home envelope and save money in the long run.
Using your garage as a thermal buffer
Attached garages act as thermal tone setters for the home. If the garage is cold, which it’s likely to be in colder months, adjacent rooms will lose heat through the shared wall. However, it doesn’t have to be this way. Enhancing the garage’s insulation and temperature control will help to enhance the home’s overall energy efficiency.
Some ways to do so include:
- Installing new, well-insulated sectional garage doors made from individually insulated panels that maintain temperature better than traditional up-and-over doors.
- Insulating the shared wall between your garage and your home the same way you would an external wall, e.g. with rigid foam boards. Similarly, rooms based above garages can have their floors better insulated to lower upstairs heating bills.
- Replacing or enhancing the internal door that leads to the garage from the house with/into something with a better seal. This helps to keep draughts at bay, preventing ‘wind tunnel effects’ impacting the house.
By protecting your garage better from the elements, then protecting your home better from the garage, you can enhance overall household energy efficiency.
Doing a garage energy audit
The most energy-efficient home appliances, such as fridges and other white goods, aren’t often found in the garage. You might have an old, inefficient “beer fridge” in there. Or perhaps you keep a seriously dated TV in there for watching while you do home workouts. Either way, these old items can be energy vampire appliances, meaning they should either be replaced with more efficient versions or simply done away with.
Using the garage as your home’s “energy brain”
Garages can also be a base for energy-efficient homes to house their most beneficial technologies. It doesn’t just have to be a space for cars, pool tables and rusty workout equipment.
- Store your lithium-ion batteries in a well-insulated garage to maintain their performance quality
- House a solar inverter and battery in your garage, then link it to your EV charger to reduce energy loss and use stored sun power
- Use the garage to hold modern smart fuse boxes, which allow you to better monitor your household appliances to see which are wasting the most energy
- If you’re transitioning to a heat pump system, use the garage to house the large buffer tanks and cylinders that are most likely too big for kitchen cupboards
- Centralise WiFi and energy monitors in the garage, connecting sensors to garage lights and the most efficient garage heater system you can find
Use your garage to centralise your efforts, enhancing your home’s overall efficiency.
While the garage is generally considered the downfall of most would-be energy-efficient homes, it doesn’t have to be that way. If you invest in smart technologies like energy-efficient garage doors, and use the space wisely, it can set the agenda for an entire property.
