Why Recycle?

Recycling is now part of every day life in the UK, and figures from DEFRA show we produce 517kg of waste per capita per year, 21.86% (113kg) of which is recycled. But there is still room for improvement with the majority of the remaining 404kg of waste recyclable. The United Kingdom is near the bottom of the class compared with the rest of Europe.

There are many reasons why we should all make the effort to recycle, and not only is it environmentally friendly it also reaps financial benefits. Recycling creates employment in your local area and provides a source of income for individuals, councils and companies, by reselling the collected material. By not recycling, we end up using more raw materials, more energy to produce the product and release huge amounts of Co2. The additional cost incurred to the manufacturer is ultimately passed on to the consumer.

Below is a detailed look at each of the materials that households can (and are) recycling in the UK, and you may just be shocked how beneficial this is to you the consumer, your local council and the environment.


Aluminium (840£/tonne)

Aluminum scrap is ground and shredded into small chips before being melted and cast into ingots. The ingots are sent to manufacturing plants where they are molded or rolled into sheets that can be shaped into various products. By recycling aluminium cans, it takes only 4% of the energy to recycle them than to produce them from raw materials. Saving 64 300 kWh/t. Taking the UK average price of 7.52p/kWh, this equates to a saving of £4 835/t of aluminium in energy costs and emissions of about 29t of Co2. This is enough to power a Virgin Pendolino train for 4537km, that's over 15 one-way journeys from London Euston to Manchester Picadilly.


Plastics (90-320£/tonne)

Plastic needs to be sorted by type (PET, HDPE, PVC etc.) because many plastic resins are used that are incompatible in the recycling process. The plastic may be shredded, baled or chipped before it is shipped to the reprocessing plant. Resins are melted and remolded into new products. Plastics are derived from energy resources such as coal, petroleum, and natural gas, so any material recovered is an energy savings. 90% of the manufacturing process energy needs to produce new plastics is saved by recycling.


Steel Cans (90£/tonne)

Tin cans are really tin-coated steel cans. The tin coating on steel cans is removed with a caustic de-tinning solution by electrolysis. The remaining steel is rinsed and baled and sold. The tin is also a valuable ingredient for many products. One tonne of tin or steel saves 1.5t of ore. Tin saves an estimated 2 600 kWhs (saving £196 in energy costs) per tonne. Steel saves an average 4 300 kWhs (saving £323 in energy costs) per tonne or 47% of the energy required to process steel from raw materials. Preventing 1.17t and 1.95t of Co2 per tonne respectively.


Newspaper, White Paper, Cardboard (60-130£/tonne)

Recycling one tonne of newspaper, white computer paper or card saves three tonnes of wood pulp. It saves the equivalent of 3 000 kWhs (saving £225 in energy costs) of electricity, or 23% of the energy required to process a ton of newspaper from new pulp.


So as you can see, recycling can be beneficial financially and environmentally, however by not recycling additional landfills will need to be constructed by government paid through increases in council taxes. So not only is this a personal commitment, this is a community commitment, spread the word and reap the benefits that recycling can gain for your local economy.

Cavity Wall Cash Back

As previously stated in my rants I am installing cavity wall insulation to my home. Each year I spend about £600 a year in heating costs alone, this is above average, and is weighing on my own and my household carbon footprint. After contacting the Energy Saving Trust for further information on grants available, I was told that currently they are running a cashback scheme. Those that have cavity wall insulation installed by a CIGA qualified installer can recieve a grant of £150, and if you have an uninsulated loft you can claim an extra £75 towards the cost of loft insulation. If you are on certain benefits you can recoup up to 100% of the cost, so it has never been a better time to have it installed.

In addition to the EST grants, in most areas of the UK, grants are available to households where any person living in the house is in receipt of certain benefits, credits or allowances. This is known as 'Priority Group Funding' because the government and utility companies consider these householders to be a priority. Qualifying benefits include:

* Attendance Allowance
* Income Support
* Council Tax Benefit
* Disability Living Allowance
* Housing Benefit
* Child Tax Credit (household income under £15,050)
* Working Tax Credit (household income under £15,050)
* Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit
* Income-Based Jobseekers Allowance
* War Disablement Benefit
* Pension Credit

In some areas, 100% grants are also available to the over 60s and households where there are children under the age of 16.

For more information on how to claim up to 100% of the cost of installation visit Free Insulation.

Cavity wall insulation will help prevent the 25% - 40% of heat in a building lost through uninsulated walls. The potential savings is about £130 - £160 on your annual heating bills and up to 1 tonne of Co2 a year. The cost of installation should be recouped in less than 2 years. Loft insulation will help prevent 25% of heat in a building lost through an uninsulated loft. The potential savings is about £180 - £220 on your annual heating bills and up to 2 tonnes of Co2 a year. Overall if all the homes in the UK that are uninsulated at the moment were insulated the annual savings would be equivalent to £2.5 billion and 14.3 million tonnes of Co2 emissions annually.

Grab those grants whilst they last ...

Steps To Installing Insulation with a Grant

1. Visit the Energy Saving Trust and use the online grants finder
2. Visit CIGA, and find a qualified local installer
3. Call CIGA registered installers to arrange quotes
4. Call the Energy Savings Trust on 0800 512 012 to obtain reference code to begin installation
5. Call your chosen installer and give them the reference code, arrange a time for installation
6. Install product and pay full installation cost
7. Receive invoice from CIGA installer and forward to the Energy Saving Trust with claim form
8. Form will be processed and you should receive your cashback in three weeks

Tips when Choosing and Installer

• Ensure what you are getting there are many types of insulation used, at the moment the standard is bonded bead, this is available in white and graphite, the graphite is 20% more effective, and slightly more expensive.
• Ask whether they will install ventilation guards, many installers will not mention this, it is essential that these are installed to prevent beads from blocking the vents, this can lead to advanced rotting in floor boards.
• Ensure the company are CIGA registered, check their site and look for the logo
  

I will be having my cavity wall insulation installed on Thursday and will update you on the progress with photos and more details.

H2O ... Tap into it

In the UK we spend £1.5 billion a year on 2.17 billion litres of bottled water. This equates to 15% of the soft drinks market and is projected to grow to 21% by 2008. I was once one of the 26m people in the UK who consume bottled water on a regular basis, however I have as part of my carbon reduction plan replaced this with tap water.

But Why?

The main reason is that bottled water requires a large use of energy, from the process of bottling, through the requirement of a glass or plastic bottle, then the huge food transport cost through carbon emissions. Petcore figures from 2004 said that Europe wide we recycled just over 30% of PET bottles. However, this is on the increase with a 47% increase over the last two years.

I have decided to take Evian (my favourite brand of bottled water) and the brand leader in the UK with a 14.3% market share or 310m litres in sales per year. Evian is an imported mineral water from several sources near Évian-les-Bains, a few kilometers to the east of Thonon-les-Bains along the southern shore of Lake Geneva.

So if I was to fill a lorry (or truck) with Evian and bring them to my home town of Belfast, how much Co2 emissions would be produced directly from food transport. Using Google maps to gauge the driving distance, note this is the most direct route available from source to Belfast, United Kingdom. It equates to 1115 miles. Taking the load as 5.29 tonnes (the average load on a UK lorry, Transport Statistics Great Britain 2002) or the equivalent to 5290 litres of Evian. The journey would emit 1936kg of Co2 (or 366g of Co2 per litre of Evian) for the one-way journey, one-third of food transport lorries are empty, so to assume that the vehicle may be empty on its return this could increase the Co2 emissions even further.

This is however only an assumption, if other forms of transport were used (preferably train / boat) this would result in lower emissions per litre. Over 1.5 billion bottles of Evian are sold every year in 125 countries worldwide, as far away as Hong Kong (just over 5000 miles).

Whilst Evian carry out over 300 quality checks per day, the quality of bottled water is similar to that of tap water. So next time your tempted by bottled water, imported coca-cola or beers consider its food transport cost.

H2O ... Tap into it





NB: The figures in this article were changed on Tuesday 23rd April 2007 due to a mistake in the source. The emissions were based per tonne but were taken as the load. This then increased the carbon emissions by 5.29.

Planes Trains & Automobiles

Whilst answering a question on Yahoo Answers today I thought about what form of transport is more efficient Planes, Trains or Cars, you may think it is quite obvious but due to the huge variation in efficiencies in each you may be surprised that some methods are not as efficient as others.

Q. How many people need to be on a train to make it more efficient than them driving in seperate cars?
How many people would need to be on a train (including the driver if you like) to make it more efficient in terms of carbon emmisions than them driving in seperate cars over an arbitary length of say one or two hundred miles?

A. Using information from marketing material from Virgin Trains for its Class 390 Virgin Pendolino trains. I am using the data from a 296.5km from London Euston to Manchester Piccadilly. A car would emit 27.45kg (to get exact data for your car you should visit VCA Car Fuel this calculation would be based on a small car with engine under 1.4lt) of carbon dioxide. A Class 390 Virgin Pendolino train would emit 1806kg of Co2 for the same journey. With 439 seats, with an average fill capacity of 51% or 224 people. The train emissions should equal approximately 66 cars. So for each passenger driving in separate cars this would be 66. However the average for each car journey is 1.56 passengers, so the Virgin Pendolino would need to have a minimum of 103 passengers to ensure that it was more efficient than the equivalent cars. The only figure I could find for bus emissions was 23g/ppkm when a bus was full (from the Department for Transport Canada). Thus this would equate to 375kg of Co2 for a 55 seater bus. But on average each bus has 16 persons per km. The bus emissions should equal approximately 14 cars. So for each passenger driving in separate cars this would be 14. Using the average for each car journey as 1.56 passengers, the bus would need to have a minimum of 22 passengers to ensure that it was more efficient than the equivalent cars.

Using Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) figures from 2005, to fly the journey would take approximately 42.5kg, (however this figure is only the average per passenger, no exact figures are available).

So overall using the figures that are available, it would appear that the most efficient mode of transport is the train, followed by the car, bus and plane. However, as I did say this is only how it appears; should you be travelling in a low emission car with 4 passengers this would be more efficient than that of the train.

For the individual its a difficult choice on which method to take as in most cases there are so many factors which effect the eventual outcome of Co2 emissions. But public transport will always operate, even if there are no people to use them, therefore if we all shifted our use from the car to public transport not only would it become more efficient, it would also become cheaper too.

In the coming weeks I will compare the UK's poor record on public transport use to that of Hong Kong, which offers one of the worlds most efficient public transport networks.


Notes: These figures only take into account the direct emissions from fuel consumption. There will be indirect Co2 emissions in developing the vehicle and its infrastructure which are not included. The car used in this assumption is a small car with an engine size of 1.4lit or smaller. Less efficient cars would make the bus and train more efficient, and less efficient buses and trains would make the car more efficient in the comparisons.


If you have any comments or queries please feel free to voice them here, alternatively please email support@howtosaveenergy.co.uk

"Smart Meter?"

The government has just announced that each household in the UK will now be able to request a home energy monitor. The step falls in line with EU legislation, forcing member states to implement measures to offer customers real time information regarding their energy consumption. The monitors will enable householders via a graphical user interface to monitor how much electricity is being used at any one time, historic data in visual forms and Co2 emissions. The system offers many benefits to the user with advocates of the government scheme claiming that it could decrease electricity demand for an average household by 10%. The features the new "smart meters" will have are;

• Remotely Read These do away with the need for meters to be manually read. Instead, the information is sent automatically to the energy supplier. This scraps the need for estimated bills.
  
  
• Meaningful Displays
  The meters display energy consumption in monetary terms, rather than kilowatt hours, making it more relevant to people. A display can also be positioned in places where the homeowner can see it more easily.
  
  
• Internet Meters
  Allowing people to closely monitor where energy is being consumed in their homes, and where it is being wasted, such as devices left on standby. All of this data can be accessed via the Internet.

Whilst I agree with the implementation of smart meters in principal, Canadian research over two-years suggests the overall reduction in consumption was 10%. Other studies have resulted in more conservative reductions of 7%.

"Although the people who request a monitor will receive it free of charge consumers would ultimately foot the bill because the cost of the scheme would either be recouped through taxes or their energy bills"
Luke Nicholson, Creative Director, More Associates

With 31m homes in the UK it would be a great disappointment to invest in a a technology that only 3% of people say will change their long-term energy use. I would rather the government invest the money into existing or new technologies which would have greater impact, pound-for-pound. The government could easily (for less than the cost of implementing the smart meter) provide energy efficient bulbs for every household in the UK, this would result in an energy consumption reduction of up to 15%. A Labour Party spokesman suggests the scheme will likely be up and running in 2008. If you have comments on the governments proposals please feel free to post them here.

Support Local Produce

Over 50% of vegetables and 90% of fruits consumed in the UK are imported from overseas, the majority by air. Food transport in the United Kingdom produces about 19m tonnes of Co2 per year, (equivalent to the output of all UK power stations) and this figure is increasing. However trying to increase your consumption of local produce is not only difficult, its time consuming. 100 years ago most food did not travel further than 20 miles, now you will be hard pushed to find more than a handful of items in your supermarket which have been locally produced.

Not only is food transport bad for the environment, it is also damaging to our roads, increasing congestion. One in four trucks on UK roads are transporting food, and of those one in three are empty.

So what can you do to reduce food transport;

• Buy Local Produce
  Purchasing local produce not only reduces food transport it also improves the local economy. Details of farmers markets and farm shops can be found on the following websites;
  
  Farmers Markets
  Big Barn
  Farm Shops
  The Foody
  
  
• Do Not Buy Imported Products
  Food produce imported to the UK often is sent by air, by reducing consumption of imports this will help reduce food transport. Certain foods can only be produced outside the UK, if you can not remove these completely reduction is advised where possible.
  
  
• Grow Your Own Fruit & Vegetables
  Growing fruit and vegetables can be a simple task, and in a relatively small area you can provide copious amounts of fresh produce. Any excess can be given to friends, neighbours and family. Common fruits grown are tomatoes which would otherwise be imported from Spain.
  
  
• Shop Weekly or Online
  Each family in the UK travels 18 miles a week to food shop, by carrying out one weekly shop or by shopping online, this can easily be reduced. Not only will this reduce food transport it will also save you approximately £140 per year on average.

Whilst in Belfast yesterday I visited the infamous St Georges Market. The Variety Market opens at 6.00am every Friday and runs until approximately 1.00pm. A range of products are sold at the market including food, antiques and clothes, and each Friday there is 248 stalls, 23 of which offer fresh fish and holds the reputation for being the leading retail fish market on the island of Ireland.

The original building was built between 1890 and 1896, and in 1997 received a £4.5m renovation. The market has won various national accolades;

• one of the top five UK markets in 2006 by the National Association of British Market Authorities
• Most Atmospheric Market in the UK in 2006 by the Observer newspaper.
• third Best Food Market in the UK in the Observer’s Waitrose Food Awards 2004

The City Food and Garden Market takes place every Saturday from 9.00am until 3.00pm. And some of the local produce includes; fish landed at Portavogie, pork from Cookstown, and beef from Armagh.

Whilst a large amount of produce is local, produce from further afield is also sold, you must at any market, question the origin of unless specifically stated.

Video: Flight of the CFLs

A simple commercial promoting the use of CFLs from Lets Green This City.

For more information on CFLs view our other posts;

Benefits of CFLs
CFL Mercury Myths - Where to recycle and how to clean up a broken CFL
Video: How is a CFL is Made?

Better Recycling Ideas for CDs Other Than Frisbees

I thought about this idea after considering the environmental implications of downloadable content online. iTunes, an institution online since April 2003, has now sold over 2 billion songs as of January 2007. This along with other online music stores, has lead to a decrease in the sale of physical CD sales. This equates to about 500m fewer compact discs, their packaging and distribution. Each year about 2500 tonnes of CDs are sent to landfill. So what should you do with your old CDs, they can contrary to public belief be recycled and not just as bird feeders, fun microwave entertainment or frisbees as touted on some websites. There are a number of companies in the UK that will recycle your compact discs for free;

• London Recycling
  CD recycling is a new service from London Recycling which allows you to dispose of CDs in an environmentally responsible way. Suitable for all types of CDs and their plastic cases, including music CDs, writeableCDs and CD ROMs.
  
  
• Keymood UK
  Accepts CDs, DVDs, vinyl, cassettes, VHS videos, computer equipment and mobile phones. Reclaims electronic and electrical products including all IT equipment, redundant office equipment and domestic goods. Full certification and auditable reports on sensitive goods.
  
  
• Polymer Reprocessors Limited
  Developer of the world's first process for the recycling of completed CDs and CD-ROMS. They were also recognised with the Waste Minimiser Award and highly commended in the Environmental Innovation & Technology category.

In The US

• NESAR Systems
  420 Ashwood Road
  Darlington, PA 16115
  Tel: 724-827-8172
  
  
• Digital Audio Disk Corporation
  Attention: Disc Recycling Program
  1800 Fruitridge Avenue
  Terre Haute, IN 47804-1788
  Tel: 812-462-8323

Developments in CD Manufacture

Sanyo, in 2003 announced that they had created a bio degradeable CD, created from a polymer derived from corn. Sanyo estimates that around 85 corn kernels, each weighing an average of 0.5 grams, are needed to produce enough polymer for a single 4.7-inch optical disc, so an average ear of corn can produce around ten discs. Producing enough polymer to satisfy the demand for discs would require less than 0.1 percent of the world's corn production. The new discs would biodegrade in 50 years opposed to the current 1000. Whilst its not a solution it is a positive step.

In addition to the reduction in CD production, we can also look at the positive benefits the internet has produced, through more accessible information, reduced paper use through online account management, online applications, documents and email.

Would you like a bag?

"By throwing away ten billion carrier bags each year and transporting carrots from Egypt and strawberries from New Zealand, we hit the environment hard."

Lord Whitty, National Consumer Council Chairman

The once humble plastic bag has become the menace of all-things green in the UK, with 10 billion bags* used each year (up from 8 billion four years ago). Since March 2002, Ireland has imposed a 15 euro cent (nine-pence tax per bag), the direct effect of such a tax was an immediate reduction in plastic bag use (as much as 98% in some retail stores), customers now turn up "pre-armed" with a clutch of polythene bags. However last year, 2006, saw the first increase in plastic bag use prompting suggestion in February that the tax should increase. In 2002, the UK government discussed the introduction of a similar tax in the UK, however this has to date not been implemented.

So why has revolt against the plastic bag taken hold. At the same time as Ireland imposed their plastic bag tax, it was less well-known another country banned polythene bags completely. Bangladesh, imposed the ban after it was revealed they were a major contributor to the 1988 and 1998 floods which submerged two-thirds of the country.

Taiwan (which used 20 billion bags a year) eventually banned the bag in 2003, in an effort to reduce plastic waste by 30%, as the islands landfills neared capacity. In addition, around the world animals are mistaking the bags for food, in India cows have been reported to ingest them leading to death. Tortoises are known to mistake them for jellyfish.

So if it wasn't the fact they cause floods, kill cows, blow in the wind across the countryside ... they fill landfills, and they stay there for about 1000 years.

"There are problems and challenges we face looking after the environment that we have all got to address."
Sir Terry Leahy, Tesco Chief Executive

So what are UK stores doing to reduce plastic bag use, Tesco announced last August that is would offer incentives to its 13 million club card holders who reused plastic bags, a bag for life or any other means to carry their purchases. The scheme was attached to a huge advertising campaign, and they hope to reduce the number of bags used by 1 billion. This should save approximately 200 000 tonnes of Co2 emissions, the equivalent to 72 000 cars being taken off the road.

M&S chief executive, Stuart Rose announced at the start of this year its £200m plan to become a carbon neutral company down to the last plastic bag.

In 2002, Co-Op introduced the first 100% bio-degradable carrier bags, they have since moved all their packaging to bio degradable materials.

If you work in the retailer sector, you may consider asking the consumer, "Would you like a bag?"


For more information on the debate please read "Paper or Plastic?"

Environmental overview for the UK's leading supermarkets;
Asda
Co-Op
M&S
Sainsbury's
Somerfield
Tesco
Waitrose

* The current figure of UK plastic bag use varies by source from 10 to 17 billion. 10 billion figure was used as previous published figures from four years previous was 8 billion from the same source.

Power Your Car on Fish & Chips ... Well Almost

Vehicles make up a large percentage of the carbon dioxide emitted into the environment. With fuel prices consistently high (with the majority taken in tax), its never been a better time to consider a fuel-efficient car. As not only will it save the environment, you will save money too. You can now even fuel your car for free with renewable energy, used cooking oil. A cheaper alternative is growing your own bio diesel crop, like the boys at Top Gear, electricity from the grid or Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG).

To check how fuel efficient your car or prospective car is visit VCA Car Fuel Data. Here you can find the Co2 emissions for all major car models, compare them and calculate fuel costs.

There is one car however that is turning heads in the UK, the Reva G-Wiz, the battery powered car can travel up to 40 miles from each charge, costing only 30p (equivalent of up to 600mpg). However there are other additional benefits to using a G-Wiz, it is exempt from road tax, congestion charges and parking charges in London, its in the lowest insurance group, 100% tax write off for businesses and lowest rate company car tax at 9%. All for under £7000.

The Energy Saving Trust offers an online database where you can find your local refuelling stations for;

• LPG
• Natural Gas
• Bio Diesel
• Electricity

So how to make bio diesel from used cooking oil ...

In most countries vast amounts of waste vegetable oil (WVO) are discarded daily after it has been used for cooking. To give some idea of the waste, Ireland disposes of over 10,000 tonnes of WVO per year, and six times that amount of animal-based cooking fats (tallow).

Disposal of this waste can be a problem – pouring it down drains (illegal in most countries) eventually results in solid fats forming in sewers, which is expensive to remove, and is likely to become a public health hazard. Solutions have included pouring WVO into landfill sites where it will eventually biodegrade, or filtering it and using it as low-grade fuel for some types of power stations. However, WVO has a hidden secret; using some simple techniques of adding something and shaking, it can be broken down into two very useful products: diesel fuel and glycerine. The magic 'something' is easily available, it can even be made at home using wood ash and water. It has a number of names – sodium hydroxide, caustic soda, Lye and NaOH are all the same thing.

Warning – this stuff is also used for cleaning drains by dissolving organic matter. It doesn’t care whether the organic matter is dead or alive, so wear protective clothing especially goggles

The basic steps are:

• Test your WVO to decide how much sodium hydroxide to use. This is known as titration, and involves adding a chemical to a sample of the oil until a colour change takes place. It's not essential but allows more efficient use of the sodium hydroxide.
• Mix up the sodium hydroxide, slowly add the WVO, keep it agitated, and keep it reasonably warm. The gentle heat speeds up the process.
• Let it settle.
• Separate the fuel. The remaining glycerine can be used for making soap and hand cleaners. It is also biodegradable.

The resultant diesel is ready for use, and in this form it can be mixed with regular diesel for use in vehicles. To use 100% bio-diesel, it will need to be washed with water, then the water driven off with gentle heat. The only reported downside of using bio-diesel is that everyone who smells the exhaust feels hungry...

For a more in depth explaination on how to make your own bio diesel in your kitchen. In the coming weeks I will try to make some real live bio diesel in my kitchen and hopefully show how easy or difficult it is without making too much of a mess.

(Summarised Guide to Making Your Own Bio Diesel taken from BBC - H2G2)

Stand By to be Shocked

It may be no shock to realise that standby costs money. However you may be shocked to know that with some products it can be as much as 100% of the electricity used when in use (especially set top boxes & games consoles). According to varying statistics each year in the UK, £750m - £1500m is spent on stand by power (£25 - £50 per household per year), about 10% of all power consumption. In addition accounting for a huge amounts of carbon emissions.

Estimated annual CO2 emissions from devices left on standby:

• Stereos - 1,600,000 tonnes
• Videos - 960,000 tonnes
• TVs - 480,000 tonnes
• Consoles - 390,000 tonnes
• DVD players - 100,000 tonnes
• Set-top boxes - 60,000 tonnes

Source: Energy Saving Trust

Is there a solution? ... Other than us physically turning items off when not in use, there does appear to be one solution posed by Peter Ensinger and David Baker, who recently pitched their product, the Standby Saver on the BBC 2 television show "Dragon's Den". The product is available online for £24.99. It should take approximately one year for the Standby Saver to pay for itself

If you want to know how many watts an appliance uses on standby, visit Energy Star.

Tips for Energy Saving;

• Turn appliances off at mains when not in use
• If charging appliances, unplug the charger when finished (some use power when not charging)

Carbon Free Electricity

Thinking that my attempts to become carbon-less would be difficult were dealt a blow when investigating renewable energies and grants I visited my local energy supplier Northern Ireland Electricity. Under the assumption that I would need to really try I was amazed that for no additional cost I could have my energy purchased matched unit for unit from renewable sources ... yes ... free. However, I am rather sceptical to the reality of this, after signing up, I questioned what really happened. Did they simply decide to burn less coal and build another small turbine to power my household, no in other words what I believe really happened is they are allotting renewable energy units they are already producing, so in actual fact the amount of carbon still being created is probably more or less the same ... for a real revolution to occur I think we all (customers of NIE) would have to sign up for free "Eco Energy" ... however having said this I do feel the process was productive, it shows the concern is real and if enough people sign up they will then need to increase their investment in renewable production.



Pile The Pressure

The following regional electricity companies offer a free switch to renewables, visit their site now, it can take as little as 2 minutes and you essentially can reduce your carbon footprint by 4.5 tonnes instantly.


Northern Ireland Electricity (NIE) - (Eco Energy) - (Sign Up Form)

Npower - (Juice-Clean & Green) - (Quote & Switch)


You may find that it is cheaper to go green with another supplier, uSwitch allows you to compare prices and tariffs across all mainland UK gas and electricity suppliers.



The following offer a switch to renewables for a fee;

• London Energy - (Green Tariff)
  
  • You will pay 0.42p more per unit (KWh) of electricity, approximately £13.86 per annum
  • The additional fee is matched by EDF and invested into renewable energies
  • Each unit is matched from renewable energies
    
  • You will receive two free energy bulbs
  • For more information please click on the links above
    
    

• Powergen - (Green Plan Fund)
  • On average you will pay £9 more per year
  • Npower donate to the Green Plan Fund for each unit used
  • Each unit is matched from renewable energies
  • Tesco clubcard points available for switching and each month (check tesco)
  • For more information please click on the links above
    
    

• Scottish Power - (Green Energy H20)
  
  • No information on pricing available
  • Each unit is matched from renewable energies
  • Recognised by Friends of the Earth
  • For more information please click on the links above

A Big Footprint

Having completed an online carbon footprint calculator I was a little perturbed to find that I was twice the average person in the UK. However in reality it should not have been much of a surprise as flights accounted for the majority of Co2 produced. Here is the run down of my emissions, so to speak.

	Your personal share of CO2 (kg) / Target	UK average household CO2 (kg)	UK average CO2 per person (kg)
Gas, coal and oil	1,900 / 1,000	3,876	1,615
Electricity	1,480 / 900	3,127	1,303
Private Car	669 / 300	2,600	1,083
Public Transport	0	869	362
Holiday Flights	8,600 / 0	1,562	651
Total Primary Footprint	12,649 / 2,200	12,034	5,013
Food and Drink	585 *	1,404	585
Clothes and Shoes	486 *	1,166	486
Car Manufacture	715 *	1,716	715
Buildings, Furniture and Appliances	982 *	2,358	982
Recreation and Services	1,546 *	3,711	1,546
Finance and other services	361 *	865	361
Share of Public Services	1,276 *	3,062	1,276
Total Secondary Footprint	5,950 *	14,282	5,950
TOTAL FOOTPRINT	18,599	26,316	10,963

* Taken as UK average figures

So after this I decided to create a carbon footprint reduction plan to reduce the Co2 emissions over the next 12 months. To be average I need to reduce my emissions by 50%, and to ensure climate change is negated (my share anyway) I need to reduce my emissions by 87%. My target for this year is to reduce to 2.2 tonnes of Co2 before my secondary footprint. It will be tough, I will be investigating installing Cavity Wall insulation which can reduce heating costs by 40%, the introduction of solar thermal hot water panels to my home, and planting plants to absorb Co2. Each step will be recorded in this blog.

"There's Nothing Wrong with Mouldy Cheese"

Each person in the UK disposes of about £400 of food per year, the equivalent to £65m per day in the UK. Most of the food disposed of is perfectly safe to eat. Fare Share distributes quality surplus food to 12 000, homeless and vunerable people each day in the UK. Over 100 companies supply Fare Share with its daily food requirements through offloading stock from stores and distribution centres which will not be able to reach the public in sufficient time before the "Best Before" date.

"The food industry sometimes had to put "very, very healthy" use-by dates on products because of "really tight legislation"
Alex Green, Marketing Director, Charity Fare Share

Best Before

But what does "Best Before" really mean? ... In reality these dates appear on a range of dried, tinned, frozen and other foods, however these dates refer to quality rather than the safe consumption of the food. After the "Best Before" date the quality of the product may deteriate, mainly in flavour and texture. There is one exception to this rule which is eggs. Eggs can contain salmonella bacteria, which can easily multiply (doubling every 20 minutes). Note that the date is only relevant should you follow the manufactures instructions on storage of the product.

Use By

Generally found on products with a short shelf life, such as milk, fresh fish, eggs and fresh meat. Don't use any food or drink after the end of the 'use by' date on the label, even if it looks and smells fine. This is because using it after this date could put your health at risk. Note that the date is only relevant should you follow the manufactures instructions on storage of the product.

Display Until

Date marks such as 'display until' or 'sell by' often appear near or next to the 'best before' or 'use by' date. They are used by some shops to help with stock control and are instructions for shop staff, not shoppers.

"There's nothing wrong with mouldy cheese, just cut the mould off"

Anthony Worrall Thompson, Celebrity Chef, Suggesting we are too quick to throw out food.

For more information on what is safe to eat visit Choice.

The issue of food waste is fast becoming an issue, with 6.7m tonnes of food waste reaching landfills each year (about 110kg per person). To reduce the waste we should first prevent, here is a plan which you should enact today and will only take 20 minutes.

• Sort your cupboards
  
  • Arrange your cupboards, fridge and freezer to ensure that you have no food which is past its "use by" date.
  • Arrange food by type and place in date order with the most recent date to the front.
  • You may find that you can survive without visiting the supermarket for a few weeks.
• Plan your meals
  
  • Plan in advance meals over a week, you do not need to physically write this down but mentally take note.
  • Be creative you can create some wonderful combinations from the scraps you find in a fridge.
• Plan your purchases
  
  • Plan in advance what you need from the supermarket.
  • Don't be tempted to buy items through special offers which you may not need or use within the use by date.
  • Do not buy items which you have multiples already.
    
  • Only purchase enough pershiables which you can use within the dates.
• Composting
  
  • Any food which you do not consume by the use by date can be added to a compost heap.
  • Packaged foods excessively past their best before date can be removed from their packaging and composted and the packaging recycled.
    
  • Compost bins can be purchased relatively cheaply and some local councils offer free compost bins.
    
  • Find Your Local Council Contact Details.

Hippos Save Water

Not only is water an expensive commodity it also takes huge amounts of energy to distribute water to each home in the UK. By wasteful use of water, you are also wasting energy. Toilet use accounts for up to one-third of domestic water use. With each flush you could be using 4 - 9 litres of water, if your toilet uses seven or more litres of water per flush you should consider installing a Save-A-Flush (for cisterns of 7 litres or more) or a Hippo (for cisterns of 9 litres).

A Save-A-Flush saves 1 litre of water per flush, about 2000 litres per year per person, and a Hippo saves up to 3 litres of water per flush, about 5000 litres per person per year. Water costs approximately £1.50 per 1000 litres in the UK.

UK residents can order a free Hippo or Save-A-Flush bag online at Thames Water. (Maximum of one per household in regions other than Thames Water)

Water saving tips

Each person in the UK uses on average 160 litres of water per day (60000 litres a year), this is eight times that of a person in a developing country, here are some water saving tips

• Cleaning your teeth with the tap off uses 1 litre of water, compared to leaving the tap running which uses 6 litres (save 5500 litres per year).
  
• Have a shower instead of a bath - this can save 300 litres of water a week. Be careful though - a power shower can use more water than a bath! (save 15600 litres per year).
• Fix Leaking Taps - dripping taps can waste up to 140 litres of water a week (save 7200 litres per year).

How much water is used for ...

... a bath	80 litres	8 buckets+
... a 5 minute shower (not power shower)	35 litres	3.5 buckets
... brushing teeth with tap running	6 litres/min	0.6 buckets
... brushing teeth with tap off	1 litre	0.1 buckets
... a dripping tap	140 litres/week	14 buckets
... a washing machine cycle	65 litres	6.5 buckets
... a dishwasher cycle	20 litres	2 buckets
... washing a car with bucket	10 litres	1 buckets
... a hosepipe/sprinkler	540 litres/hour	54 buckets

* A bucket is equivalent to 10 litres