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Give your home energy use an eco-boost

Discover the forecasting tools that will let you know when you can power your home with renewable energy rather than fossil fuels

27 November 2023

You might already know that there are cheaper times of day to use electricity – with tariffs such as Economy 7 offering lower prices overnight – but did you know that there are greener times of day, too? Or even greener days of the week?

Late at night until early morning – usually 11pm until 8am – is often considered ‘off peak’ and a more eco-friendly time to use energy. This is because there’s lower demand during off-peak times, and a greater portion of the total energy mix can come from renewable sources such as wind turbines or solar panels.

But this isn’t always practical if you can’t (or prefer not to) run appliances such as washing machines or dishwashers overnight.

The good news is that there are days of the week that are greener than others, as wind and solar power are in greater supply when the weather is blustery or sunny, so you can still use appliances during the day when the carbon intensity is lower.

Carbon intensity is a way of gauging how clean our electricity is, and is measured on a scale that looks at how much carbon dioxide is released to produce each kilowatt hour of electricity. Electricity generated via fossil fuels (such as coal-fired power stations) has a higher carbon intensity than energy from renewable sources.

**Certain household appliances such as washing machines and tumble driers use a lot of electricity, so finding a greener time of day to run them is good news for your carbon footprint**
© GETTY

To help you find the most eco-friendly times to power-up your appliances, we’ve created a Green Energy Forecast. You can find it online or by asking your Alexa, ‘Alexa, open WWF’s Green Energy Forecast’.

The National Grid has also produced a When To Plug In app that lets you know when the most renewable energy will be available.

It’s estimated that if a million people in Britain used their washing machine at the greenest time of day we could collectively save 76,650 tonnes of CO₂ each year – that’s the equivalent of taking 36,500 cars off the road!

The National Grid has other ideas for reducing your home’s carbon intensity, including choosing energy-efficient appliances (and replacing inefficient older models), turning down the heating and insulating your home.