Fridge /Freezer

Fridge-freezers are the most hardworking appliances in our kitchens. To cut costs, don’t leave the door open longer than necessary, avoid putting hot food into the fridge, defrost the freezer regularly and check the door seals.

Kettle

Be sure to boil only as much water as needed for tea and coffee.

Dial it down.

Moving your thermostat down just two degrees in winter and up two degrees in summer could save about 2,000 lbs of carbon dioxide per year.

Count the carbon

Use your gas and electricity bills to work out how much carbon dioxide pollution you produce. Every unit or kilowatt hour (kwh) of electricity on your bill produces 430 grammes of carbon dioxide. That’s enough to fill 43 party balloons! For electricity, multiply the total number of units (or kwhs) on your last bill by 430, to get the number of grammes of carbon dioxide produced. (For gas, multiply the number of gas units used – or kwhs – by 190.) Divide the answer by 1,000,000 to get the number of tonnes of carbon dioxide. Every tonne of carbon dioxide can fill six double decker buses! Set a target to reduce your energy bills.

Energy efficient vehicles

Making sure that your vehicles get a regular service will help cut down pollution and reduce costs. Advanced driving courses teach drivers how to drive more efficiently, which means lower bills and lower maintenance. Energy efficient vehicles can be standard cars that have a low emissions rating, or innovative low carbon vehicles such as electric vehicles, or hybrid vehicles (using a combination of petrol and electricity).

Recycle

Reuse of materials reduces the need to incinerate or land-fill items. Each bottle recycled saves enough energy to power a 100-watt bulb for nearly one hour.

Have your food shop delivered.

Home delivery is like the public transport of groceries. Instead of having 20 odd cars make their way to the supermarket – one van drives around delivering to everyone in the area. Additionally, it means you’re less likely to impulse buy which can help to reduce any waste food.

Use Eco-Cleaning Products to Clean the House

A lot of mainstream cleaning products contain various ingredients that are harmful to the environment. In fact, a lot of chemicals used to clean our clothes, dishes, and house end up causing damage to our planet and its biodiversity. Chemicals such as detergents, preservatives, or foaming agents are the ones that cause the most harm to nature. Switch to products that contain sustainably grown or raised ingredients that do not deplete the ecosystem nor harm it when expelled back out. People should ideally opt for products that contain no synthetic ingredients if they want to go for eco-friendly household products.