Europeans are looking for ways to counter soaring energy costs

Bloomberg

Soaring heating and electricity bills are pushing Europeans to find hacks that will cut their energy use and
reduce costs.
Mats Johansson installed 30 solar panels with a production capacity of 13.5 kilowatts on his house in Halmstad, southwest Sweden earlier this year. The nation has some of the highest rates of energy consumption per capita in Europe — largely thanks to cold winters with few daylight hours — which means that measures to cut back pay off all the more.
The savings equate to “loads of money for me,” Johansson said. His solar panels have produced more energy than his family uses and have saved them some $2,098 so far this year.
Johansson’s efforts are being mirrored in homes across Europe after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sparked the worst energy crisis in decades. Soaring costs of living are forcing households to cut down on spending, and authorities are actively encouraging consumers to curb energy use.
Two thirds of Swedish households reported making home improvements in the last six months, which includes switching to more efficient lighting as well as sealing windows and doors. 70% of Germans say they’ve spent money on energy-saving products this year, and in the UK about a quarter said they were considering making efficiency-related changes in their homes, according to a May survey.
Despite such efforts to save energy, the continent’s leaders say more needs to be done to reduce natural gas consumption, with storage facilities seeing a rapid decline in recent weeks amid the region’s first real cold snap. The problem is likely to intensify during future winter seasons.
Britain has last month launched a one-billion-pound scheme which aims to improve insulation of the nation’s least energy-efficient homes.