I have a goal in mind for us moving to Alledal and how we're going to live.

In the UK we tried to do a bit to save energy, and made some efforts, but I'd like us to make a proper effort for our new life in Sweden.    

With this in mind, I've set myself a goal, one that I feel is an ambitious one to achieve, and probably won't be achievable in the short term, but is one to aim for. My goal is to reduce our house energy footprint to 50% of it's UK level in KWh (or equivalent). I want to achieve this when measured over the average of living in my old house for 11 years, and when measuring the energy consumption over the last 12 months.

This is a challenge for a number of reasons:

• The Swedish house is much larger than our old UK home (105m² + barns vs less than 40m² in theUK)
• The house is going to be occupied during the daytime as well as evenings and weekends
• The heating in the new house is electric - mains gas isn't available in Billinge
• The energy for the home is also to feed the use of the land as well as the house, unlike the UK

Sure, it's a challenge. Sure, it's going to be difficult, but I'm determined to make strenuous efforts to achieve that goal.

Current UK Impact

Over last 12 months

Electricity (per month) = 620 KWh per month

Gas (per month) = 1253 KWh per month

Total = 1873 KWh per month

Over last 11 years

Electricity (per month) = 672 KWh per month

Gas (per month) = 1139 KWh per month

Total = 1811 KWh per month

Swedish Target 

Electricity (per month) = 905 - 936 KWh per month

Electricity (per year) = 10860 - 11232 KWh 

In other words, a target of around 8.9 KWh per m² per month compared with 45 KWh per m² per month in the UK.