How do I make a difference?
There are many books, articles and websites that suggest things that you can do to reduce your personal impact on the planet. Here are a few that we have found effective:
- Know your carbon footprint
- Change to low energy bulbs
- Switch to renewable electricity
- Be aware of how much electricity, gas and oil that you use
- Turning down and turning off
- Do some things less often
- Shower rather than bath and use an aerator
- Insulate your house as well as you can
- Recycling reduces greenhouse gas
- Try and avoid food from far away places
1. Know your carbon footprint
Our carbon footprint tells us how much carbon we produce just by living our lives the way we do. Most of us produce two or three times more carbon or greenhouse gases than the planet can absorb.
The rest of this section will help you do some things that will help reduce your footprint. This may mean buying some stuff. We think that everyone should spend at least £10 per tonne of carbon dioxide that they generate on reducing their own emissions (but then we sell these things so we would say that, wouldn't we?).
If you can't be bothered to calculate your own footprint then you should probably look at spending around £100 to offset it or start reducing it. Assuming your purchases work and you adjust your consumption or habits in some way it should be to offset next year!
Check out our simple carbon calculator and see how many planets would be needed if everyone was like you.
2. Change to low energy bulbs
Low energy bulbs use a fifth of the energy that normal bulbs use. They also last at least 6 times as long.
If you buy a normal 100 watt bulb for 50p and use it for 3 hours a day it will last for one year and cost you over £10 to run. A low energy equivalent will last for over 6 years and cost only £2 a year to run. In other words, you can spend up to £8 on a low energy bulb and still get your money back in a year.
If you think that low energy bulbs are too ugly or not bright enough then we think you should come and see ours. We have over 100 different low energy bulbs and we challenge you to bring us one that we can't match (assuming that a low energy version is made!). You can try out any of them for brightness in our special display area.
If you want to convert the whole house (a good move) then bring us your bulbs or write down what type, wattage and fitting they are.
Alternatively you can fill in our unique Household Lightbulb Survey (http://www.eco-st.co.uk/Calculator/Calculator.aspx) which automatically calculates the low energy bulbs that you need and how much you would save by changing them.
Once you have completed the survey you can either save the results, so that we can look at it in the shop and get the bulbs ready for you, or print it out and bring it in.
You can survey the whole house or just go one-by-one.
3. Switch to renewable electricity
Go to www.switchwithwhich.com and when you are asked 'What do you want from your energy supplier' select 'Green Energy'. The list will still be in money-saving order and you will probably be tempted to change to a number of not-particularly-green sounding companies. However, this list will tell you how much it will cost to change.
A number of power companies claim to supply 'Green' energy. To get an idea of the options we suggest you read the article at www.ecotricity.co.uk/acrobat/JeremySmith_articleJune05.pdf. You may then want to look at www.whichgreen.com/
If you then think that it's worth switching to Ecotricity then check back to www.switchwithwhich.com and check how much it will cost you to help build some more wind turbines. And if you are still determined to make the choice based on paying the same or less than you do now then at least move to a 'Green' tariff. Some are the same price as regular plans.
4. Be aware of how much electricity, gas and oil that you use
Read your meter every month and tell your utility company so that they do not estimate it for you. Most utility companies have online meter reporting areas on their website to help you do this.
Utility companies tend to confuse us over the amount of their services that we use by relying on estimated readings and allocating monthly payments that often do not reflect our immediate consumption.
When you get your bill each month try and understand how much you use and why. We sell a number of real-time energy meters which will help you understand how much the lights cost compared to the TV and how the tumble drier compares to the kettle.
We'd recommend buying an Electrisave monitor which constantly tells you how much electricity you are using at any time in pence per hour, kilowatts or in the amount of greenhouse gas being pumped into the atmosphere on behalf of your house. We sell lots of these at ECO-St and it makes you turn things off!
5. Turning down and turning off
Adjusting the thermostat or boiler settings is the first place to start. So turn down the heating and heat your water to the lowest comfortable temperature.
Get into the habit of turning lights off when you leave a room and don't leave TVs or monitors on. At ECO-St we sell some things that can help you do this.
For example, a Bye Bye Standby allows you to turn loads of things off at once: A Powersafer takes your TV off standby and an Intelliplug turns off your printer and monitor automatically when your PC goes into power saving mode. We can even sell you a button to put on your key ring that turns off a whole bunch of sockets in one go when you leave the house.
6. Do some things less often
Many people have cut the tumble drier out of their washing routine because of the amount of power it uses, particularly on dry days. If this in not practical then buy some dryer balls, which will soften your washing and could reduce the electricity used by 25%.
Try and do less washing. Many older people can't believe how much we wash these days. Washing machines and dishwashers tend to heat cold water themselves so act like big kettles every time you use them.
We don't suggest that you walk around in dirty clothes or use dirty cutlery but we often put things in the wash that aren't really dirty just to 'freshen them up a little'. And we know some kids (and parents) who bung things in the wash instead of folding them up and putting them in drawers.
7. Shower rather than bath and use an aerator
Most people know that a shower uses less water than a bath unless you stand under it for a while. You can stand under it for longer if you use an aerator to mix air with the water flow.
Aerators are small attachments which screw onto the base of the shower head and 'fluff' up the water and reduce the flow. We sell them at ECO-St and they also work for taps. If you leave the tap running while you brush your teeth (we suggest you don't) it will reduce the water wasted by half.
8. Insulate your house as well as you can
Your house probably generates more carbon dioxide than your car. If you have cavity walls that have not been filled then this is almost certainly a cost-effective action for you to take as heat from radiators tends to be quickly lost into cavity walls and radiated out through the roof. Look for insulation companies at www.nationalinsulationassociation.org.uk/housholder/householder-nia.html
The insulation company should be able to tell you about grants and subsidies that are available in your area or you can enter your postcode into the grant finder at the Energy Saving Trust website www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/proxy/view/full/2019/grantsandofferssearch.
Even without a grant the cost of the cavity insulation is likely to be under £250 and the energy savings should repay this investment within a short period of time, depending on your energy usage.
If you have radiators that are not attached to solid walls that will retain the heat then you should invest in some radiator heat reflectors. They are easy to install and cost-effective. We sell these or you can make them with card and strong foil.
You can carry out loft insulation yourself or ask a local builder for help. You can use the sort of insulation that they sell at DIY 'sheds' or you can use more natural substances like sheep's wool or recycled paper, which is pumped in from a truck! Come and ask us about it.
And block up those drafty windows and doors with insulating tape or those stuffed snakes that just lie behind the door (yup, we sell those too). You may find that double glazing makes sense if you lose loads of heat through the windows.
9. Recycling reduces greenhouse gas
You may think that recycling is only about not filling up large landfill sites, but any food that we throw away will generate methane, which is 20 times more damaging to the atmosphere than carbon dioxide.
So, do compost any uncooked fruit and vegetable waste and try and use a wormery, or other cooked food recycling system. You guessed it, we sell them!
Alternatively only buy the food that you are going to eat and make sure you eat it all. Or give it to the dog and make sure that he/she gets plenty of exercise and hope you are in another room when he needs to release a bit of greenhouse gas.
10. Try and avoid food from far away places
We are all used to the massive choice available to us in supermarkets. Unfortunately this has a price that is not on the label (yet). One month we may buy runner beans grown 20 miles away but the next week they may come from Africa. Often they are flown in. Often we throw them away before even eating them all.
If you want to help producers in other countries then take a look at the Fairtrade products.
There are loads of local produce delivery services (they tend to be called 'box schemes') and, although they may be more expensive they are worth looking at.
If you find this all a little simplistic and want to do far more than we recommend reading Chris Goodall's book called 'How To Live a Low Carbon Life'. We sell it and it costs about £14.