Top Tips for a Greener Lifestyle

Living a greener lifestyle can be easier than you think. These are our top tips to reduce your household's carbon footprint. Most of them will save you money too!

In the Home

1. Fit a modern energy efficient heating system – for example a gas or oil condensing boiler could reduce your heating bills by as much as 40%. Make sure that when your heating system needs replacing you opt for the most efficient system.
2. Improve your heating controls. A modern control system with programmable timers and thermostatic control will ensure maximum comfort at minimum cost for more details visit www.nef.org.uk/energyadvice/heatingcontrols.htm
3. Does it need to be so hot? Turning the thermostat down by a couple of degrees and putting a jumper on can save you up to £60 a year on your heating bill and make a real dent in your household’s emissions.
4. Insulate your loft and walls. You can cut up to 10 per cent from your energy bill by installing good quality loft insulation and a further 10 per cent from cavity wall insulation
5. Draw your curtains at dusk. Sounds obvious, but a thick pair of curtains can stop a huge AmtDue of heat from escaping through your windows.
6. Buy energy-saving light bulbs. Some of these can use less than a quarter of the electricity of their equivalents, and can last up to 12 times longer. Just one energy efficient light bulb can save you £10 a year on your electricity bill. And don’t forget to turn all lights off when not in use.
7. Don’t leave equipment on stand-by – British people pay £163 million every year paying for the electricity used in keeping their appliances on stand-by. That goes for PC screens too. Similarly Unplug equipment once fully charged. Mobile phones, shavers and electric toothbrushes keep drawing electricity even when the battery is full.
8. Use a cooler wash cycle. Ninety percent of the energy that washing machines use goes toward heating the water, so switch to a cooler wash temperature: using 40°C for all clothes can use a third less electricity per wash – turning to 30°C will save even more
9. Carry out a Home Energy Check to find out how to save energy and save cash. The online questionnaire takes a couple of minutes, and you'll be sent a free evaluation of the areas of your home where cost-saving, energy efficiency measures can be made - see: www.est.org.uk/myhome/whatcan/hec/ or phone
   0800 512 012 to request a paper version.

Travel

1. Do you need to drive your child to school? Walking or sharing the school-run with a roster of parents is a great way to cut congestion, reduce emissions and save on your fuel bill. Liftshare helps you find other parents with whom to share the school run: www.school-run.org – or contact your child’s school governors or PTA to ask them to look into a scheme.
2. Give your car a day off! Can you find a way to make your journey to work on foot, by bike or using public transport, for a few days a week? Transport Direct have public transport information: The national cyclists’ organisation CTC have details of cycle routes in your area.
3. Small is beautiful. If you have to drive, a small, fuel-efficient car will produce less polluting emissions and will be cheaper to run as well. Compare models and their CO2 emissions at www.vca.gov.uk
4. Lift sharing - Liftshare organises car-sharing schemes, or the charity Carplus promotes responsible car use and is developing a network of both car clubs and sharing schemes.
5. Holiday in the UK. Flights abroad might seem cheap, but when you consider taxes and the cost of getting to the airport they often work out much more expensive than a train trip within these beautiful islands. And that’s not to mention the emissions you'll save - one long-haul return flight can produce more carbon dioxide per passenger than the average UK motorist in one year.
6. Hire bicycles instead of a car if you are exploring locally. Not only will this save emissions, you'll save yourself some money too – and help to burn off any holiday excess. Local Tourist Information Centres will be able to give you advice on bike hire.
7. Cut down on business trips. Do you really need to travel to meet with colleagues? Could you use phone or video-conferencing? And if you really do need to travel, go by train rather than car or plane – as well as often being quicker, you'll be able to get some work done.

Food and Drink

1. Buy locally grown fresh foods in season and avoid packaged processed foods wherever possible. To find your nearest farmer’s market, go to: www.farmersmarkets.net
2. Recycle aluminium. The energy saved by recycling one aluminium drinks can is enough to run a TV for three hours.
3. Buy in bulk for everyday items. As well as saving money, this will avoid the emissions created when packaging individual items.
4. Don’t waste food. It is estimated that up to a third of food in the UK is simply thrown away. In addition to wasting money (approx £420 per person per year!) and being hugely unethical in a world where millions of people don’t have enough food, it also adds to your carbon footprint through unnecessary processing, transportation and ultimately disposal.
5. Put a lid on it. Saucepans with lids on heat much quicker, using less energy in the process. Alternatively pressure cookers and steamers both save energy; steamers are particularly easy to use and very healthy.

Renewable Energy

1. Install your own renewable energy system. Not practical for everyone, but grants are currently available for up to 50 per cent of the capital costs of installing renewable energy. So if you are extending or new-building think about how you could implement a renewable energy scheme. Further details can be obtained at www.cat.org.uk and www.nef.org.uk/greenenergy/index.htm