 Taking greening... literally Usually the one place in your house that you won’t find a (traditional) plug socket, you might not think of the bathroom when it comes to energy saving. But, aside from the obvious water savings (which can still save you money if your water is metered!), there are plenty of ways to cut your carbon footprint by heating less water, switching to LED light bulbs and making plastic-free swaps.
So, water you waiting for? Time to make some savings.
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 It takes someone in the UK just five days to emit the same amount of carbon as someone in Rwanda does across a whole year, data extracted from Global Carbon Atlas shows.
Most people want to reduce their carbon footprint (I’ve never met anyone who wanted to increase it, anyway), so, the good news is you can save energy without expending too much of your own! Find out how in just 10 (foot)steps.  This Water Saving Week, we are putting our water supply under the microscope and exploring the effect of our water usage on the planet. By saving water, we can save money, carbon and nature! In the UK, the average person uses 143 litres of water per day in England and Wales, 150 litres in Scotland and 145 litres in Northern Ireland. This is risky business, considering that London is drier than Istanbul and Sydney. What's more, our population is growing, but the amount of water we have is not. By 2050, if we keep using water as we are today, we will need an extra 250 million litres of water a day. It’s time we did something to make our water usage more efficient! Last week we showed you how to save money and water with your taps, but there are other wily water wasters we need to take care of… To help with this, most UK water providers offer freebies that they will post to your home.  The average home uses 330 litres of water a day. Multiply that by the number of homes in the UK and that’s more than just a drop in the ocean...
The good news is, there are simple ways to cut down your use and make sure you’re only using the water you need. Starting with your taps! This week we're bringing you top tips on how to fix leaky taps, fit water-saving gadgets and save some H2O.
Spending more time at home means we are using a lot more energy than usual. It also means spending more time thinking about how you and your family use your home, appliances, and energy.
Switching your appliances and lights off (at the plug) when they are not in use is one of the quickest and easiest ways to start saving on average:
CREW launched its eco-action games workshops with children in Merton and Wandsworth in 2019 to help them learn just how much energy we use around the house and (most importantly) how you are never too small to make a difference and cut out carbon! During these sessions, young people have shown us they are much keener and more willing than some of their grown-up counterparts to talk about climate change and take action, but perhaps they need some help implementing these small behaviour changes. During lockdown, we need YOU to welcome the fun and games into your homes on our behalf (these guests are allowed). That's why this week’s #MakeDoCREW craft is the ideal rainy weekend activity to keep kids occupied and engage them with sustainability: energy efficiency reminders!  It might be getting a bit too warm to talk about draught-proofing, but these measures are for the long term... Plus, #MakeDoCREW is all about making the most of your time at home. You'll thank us in the depths of winter!
By blocking gaps around windows and doors, you could save up to £25-£20 a year on your energy bills. You can buy everything you need to cut out draughts online and it’s pretty easy to install.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, a hugely popular awareness day that is marked by more than a billion people every year as a day of action to change human behaviour and create global, national and local policy changes[1]. In addition to this year being a landmark birthday, in light of the Coronavirus crisis, it will also be the very first fully digital Earth Day – a perfect opportunity to see what we can achieve when we can come together in spirit, if not in person. To raise awareness, we’ve put together a list of 50 small behaviour changes we can all adopt to help our earth today and every day. It’s our way of being #TogetherInAction even while we are apart.  Source: https://blog.arcadia.com/led-vs-regular-lightbulbs-do-they-really-make-a-difference/ If you're looking for a simple #stayhome project but a more long-term investment, now might be a good time to start replacing your light bulbs. Lighting accounts for 15% of a typical household’s electricity bill, so bulbs have an important role to play. These days, there are lot of different light bulbs available and we've come a long way from the traditional incandescent kind, which produced only 5% light, with the other 95% being lost as heat! Their carbon footprint was so high - producing more than 15,000,000 tonnes of carbon emissions a year - they were banned in the UK in 2018. Without a doubt, the most energy and cost efficient solution available is the LED light bulb. Switching from halogen to LED can save up to £3 per year and around 5kg of CO2 emissions PER BULB! This #MakeDoCREW craft is one you can get the kids involved with! It's also a creative way to upcycle some old clothes and prevent them from going to landfill. You can be as bold as you like, match with your room decor, or personalise for children's bedrooms. One of the best and cheapest ways to keep out cold air is to use a draught excluder. These handy cushions stop draughts from getting under the front door and into your home. You can also use them on internal doors to make rooms even cosier. What’s more, they’ll help you cut your energy bills. DIY draught proofing around windows and doors could save you on average between £25 and £35 per year.   As we stay home to support our communities and the NHS, some of us may find ourselves with a lot more time on our hands. If you're in search of a productive new hobby, why not take that extra time and put it into a project that will benefit your pocket and the planet? Especially as we're spending a lot more time in the home, using more energy!
Draught proofing and minimising heat loss in the home is an essential to help keep heat inside and save money on your energy bills. Heat can escape through different areas of the house through:
Minimising these escape routes for heat can help warm your home quicker and keep it warm for longer. This week, we're showing you how to fit radiator reflector panels. |
