For most of us, the houses we live in are our greatest asset, but they can also be the source of our greatest impact on the local and global environment. There are many simple things that we can do to reduce the environmental impact of our homes.

Saving energy

Reducing our consumption of energy, or finding greener energy sources can help reduce climate change and save us money. Make the following actions your first step towards reducing your household’s carbon footprint.

• Always turn off lights and appliances when they are not in use – it is not more expensive to turn lights off when we leave a room and turn them back on when we return.
• Only heat water when it is needed and only boil as much water as you need to use.
• Don’t leave appliances such as TVs on standby
• Buy energy efficient light bulbs, which are now available in more user-friendly designs, with greatly improved light quality to the original low energy bulbs. Try shopping on the internet for the latest, most attractive and energy efficient designs. Begin by replacing bulbs that you use the most frequently, or those that have higher wattages.
• Fit radiator panels behind your radiators (or make your own out of tin foil!). This will reflect heat back in to the room, meaning you can turn the heating controls down and still keep warm.
• Insulate your boiler and water pipes. This shouldn’t cost more than about £30 and will save about £20 a year.
• Draft-proof your doors and windows. Up to 50% of household heat is lost through doors and windows. Draft-proofing is available from most hardware stores.
• When you replace electrical goods, look for the energy efficiency rating. As much as possible, choose appliances with an ‘A’ rating.

Renewable Energy

Renewable energy is energy derived from a source that does not become depleted by our use of it. Renewable technologies include solar hot water panels, photovoltaics (using the sun to generate electricity), wind turbines, hydro energy schemes (running water used to drive a turbine and thus generate electricity), and biomass (burning wood or other organic material to create heat and/or generate power). All of these sources of energy can arguably be described as environmentally benign. You can take action to promote their use on a national scale or you can install smaller versions of these technologies (microgeneration) for your household or community.

Promote national renewables by switching to a green electricity tariff. Be careful to make sure this is one that actively invests your money into installing new renewable energy technologies, rather than simply offering electricity from existing renewable sources. Two of the best are Ecotricity and Green Energy. These suppliers also either match prices or offer very competitive prices compared to those of your non-renewable regional supplier.

Generate your own electricity! Information about what microgeneration technologies may be suitable for your property and where you can get grants from for this can be obtained from either Herefordshire Council (01432 260000), from your local Energy Efficiency Advice Centre in Telford (0800 512012) or from the Marches Energy Agency (01743 246 007).

If you want to install solar panels for domestic hot water join the Solar Club organised by the Energy Efficiency Advice Centre at Telford (phone number as above). They can also do an audit of your home’s energy use and suggest ways of reducing it in the most cost-effective ways.
The Solar Trade Association 01908 442290 can provide a list of reputable member companies who must adhere to the Association’s Code of Practice.

Saving water

Water is a precious resource, and one that most of us take for granted. Water conservation should be an important consideration in the home. All of our domestic mains water – whether for drinking or flushing the toilet is treated to the same standard.

• Replace some of your baths with showers – they use about a quarter of the water that a bath uses. Beware though as power showers use more water than a bath!
• Brush your teeth with a mug of water rather than a running tap.
• Get dripping taps fixed as soon as possible. 1 dripping tap wastes 5,000 litres of water a year – as much as a bathful every week!
• Fit a low-flush toilet if you can, or add a brick, a drinks bottle full of water or a ‘Hippo’ to your toilet cistern – a good way of saving water without affecting performance.
• Get a water butt and collect rainwater to use in watering your garden. Better for your garden than tapwater due to its lack of chemicals, you can maximise on the rainwater you collect by fitting a ‘rain saver’ device to divert water from your vertical drainpipe (down pipe) to your water butt. This should cost no more than about £10.
• Water plants in the early morning or early evening so that the water doesn’t evaporate before it has had a chance to soak in to the ground. Water plants thoroughly and infrequently. This can save water and encourages good root growth.
• If buying a new washing machine or dishwasher, make sure they are water-efficient. When using these appliances, make sure they are fully loaded before switching on.
• Re-use household water for tasks such as cleaning the car. Or talk to your plumber about setting up a grey water recycling system. Grey water (water from your bath and shower), once treated, can be used again for laundry, in toilets and for watering plants.
• Fit water saving devices, such as tap or shower aerators.

Eco-friendly building materials

• Recycle or re-use materials wherever possible. Small ads in the local papers and local reclamation yards are a good source of materials.
• Timber and other ‘bio-crops’ (eg straw) are renewable materials provided they are grown and harvested in a sustainable way.
• Look for timber and wood products that carry the FSC (Forestry Stewardship Council) logo. This is an independent, international and credible labelling scheme for sustainably produced timber and wood products.
• Some local sawmills and timber suppliers stock local or British timber. Demand will increase, and local timber will become more widely available if more local consumers ask for and use it.
• Some of the DIY chains stock a wide range of sustainably produced timber and well-labelled goods.
• Some specialist suppliers stock natural paints and stains which are more pleasant to use and to live with.
• Avoid PVC if possible, which produces environmental problems from production through to disposal. Greenpeace has a database of alternatives suitable for a wide range of applications.