At the start of the year I worked out that I'd have to spend roughly an extra £100 to have green electricity - and I still maintain that it's a price worth paying. But I think it would be more convincing if I could determine other ways of saving money while being ecofriendly as well. And this morning, I found one. Rather than bin the printer cartridge and buy a new one (from Epson at a cost of £10), I took it along to my local Cartridge World (only a few minutes walk away) and, after a couple of minutes wait and friendly service, I had a refilled cartridge and had only paid £6. That's four pounds towards my target!
The Headington Cartridge World can be contact on 01865-764454, and their homepage (http://www.cartridgeworld.co.uk) has a store locator, so anyone can find their local branch.
Saturday, 16 January 2010
Tuesday, 5 January 2010
Keeping warm - Window Seal
If you're in the UK right now, you've probably noticed the weather. One of the difficulties with reducing our energy use is that when it gets cold, we want heat - lots of it. I live in a late 1920s semi-detached house; a previous owner put in double-glazing in some windows, but not all of them. And it makes a difference, but it is expensive.
Fortunately, there's a much cheaper way. I bought 'Window seal', which is a thin plastic film a bit like cling-film. You cut a sheet to size, stick double-sided sticky tape around the window, and then put the film over it. All you have to do then is take a hair-dryer to the film - this makes it shrink, so that any wrinkles in it can't be seen.
The cost - £14.00 for 12 square metres; and it comes with double-sided sticky tape. I bought mine from Headington Homeware; Window Seal itself is marketed by OracStar (the box has their postcode - NN4 7HS - but no website.
The key point about this stuff is that it cuts down on draughts, as well as trapping a layer of insulating air between the two surfaces.
Oh, it's really snowing now.
Fortunately, there's a much cheaper way. I bought 'Window seal', which is a thin plastic film a bit like cling-film. You cut a sheet to size, stick double-sided sticky tape around the window, and then put the film over it. All you have to do then is take a hair-dryer to the film - this makes it shrink, so that any wrinkles in it can't be seen.
The cost - £14.00 for 12 square metres; and it comes with double-sided sticky tape. I bought mine from Headington Homeware; Window Seal itself is marketed by OracStar (the box has their postcode - NN4 7HS - but no website.
The key point about this stuff is that it cuts down on draughts, as well as trapping a layer of insulating air between the two surfaces.
Oh, it's really snowing now.
Thursday, 31 December 2009
£100 – or less – to save the planet
The purpose of this blog is for me to record the ways I've found to reduce my carbon footprint. It'll probably contain other environmental matters as well. My guiding principle is that I record the things I do, so that others can, if they wish, do the same. In order to assist others in the decision making process, I will provide, where possible, illustrative costs; I cannot guarantee that the costs that I incur are the costs that you will, but I can at least record my own costs (and savings) accurately.
So why the title? Well, I think the Copenhagen summit was mostly a waste of time. Yes I'm sure some good things will come out of it, but I think that we may find ourselves saying "too little, too late". Anyway, I discovered today that I paid approximately £360 for electricity in 2009. I also discovered that I could switch to a 100% renewable tariff which would cost about £460. So for an extra £100, I can have completely green electricity. I think that's worth paying.
I've also signed up to the 10:10 campaign (http://www.1010uk.org). This means I've promised to cut my carbon emissions by 10% in 2010. Of course, domestic electricity isn't the only source of carbon, but it's an excellent start. And of course if I can reduce my electricity consumption, it won't cost me £100 – it'll be less than that.
So why the title? Well, I think the Copenhagen summit was mostly a waste of time. Yes I'm sure some good things will come out of it, but I think that we may find ourselves saying "too little, too late". Anyway, I discovered today that I paid approximately £360 for electricity in 2009. I also discovered that I could switch to a 100% renewable tariff which would cost about £460. So for an extra £100, I can have completely green electricity. I think that's worth paying.
I've also signed up to the 10:10 campaign (http://www.1010uk.org). This means I've promised to cut my carbon emissions by 10% in 2010. Of course, domestic electricity isn't the only source of carbon, but it's an excellent start. And of course if I can reduce my electricity consumption, it won't cost me £100 – it'll be less than that.
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