Eco Friendly House And Garden

Finding Energy Efficient Appliances Should Be Easy…

It is now easier than ever to find yourself and energy-efficient electrical appliance without compromising on quality or service.

Basically, manufacturers these days are trying to improve the energy efficiency of their electrical items to win your purchase. In Europe there is now the ‘Energy Rating Scheme’ (EU energy ratings from A (most energy efficient) through to G (least energy efficient)and that this is displayed on their and their competitors appliances. And in the US there is the Energy Star rating system doing the same thing.

Needless to say, many manufacturers want you to buy their products – and so they need to make sure that theirs matches up or betters the competition!! All good for the environment and the consumers pocket.

How To Get It Right:
Below are 4 simple steps to make sure that you are getting the best in terms of energy efficiency in your new appliances. They include just the basics – as obviously there are performance and branding issues that are specific to each household – as well as different budgets.

You also need to be aware that more energy efficient models are not necessarily better at washing your clothes or not breaking down all the time! The energy rating schemes only cover energy requirements – not the machines themselves – so you still need to research the products before purchase and read reviews or speak to the sales person in your store or on-line.

1) Research your products in advance.
Make sure that you have decided exactly what you need out of the appliance, for simplicities sake – a toaster that does 4 slices at a time or a dishwasher to fit in a small space in you kitchen, etc.

Once you have narrowed down your options, take a look at customer reviews to check usability and to line it up with your budget. Don’t forget that the price you pay will not always reflect what you get for your money and buying the cheaper model may cost you more in repairs than the slightly more expensive version that has a longer working life.

2) Look for the Energy Saving Logo/the Energy Star.
By checking which of your short-list have been labelled as more energy-efficient can help you make the right choice in terms of reduced running costs for yourself.

Buying a lower rated item in the EU (D-G) may well mean you end up using more electricity per wash – theoretically making the machine/appliance ‘cost more’ over the year:

Cost of Item + cost to run per year + cost of any repairs = actual cost of item to you.

Energy Ratings are now available on many appliances including TV’s, set top boxes, heating equipment and fridges – plus many more. Some items have more than 1 ‘score’ in the EU so make sure you check each one.

3) Ask In Store.
As more and more consumers are wanting to know about ways to reduce their energy costs – retailers are better informed of their options. Staff take training in this area to make sure that they are advising you on the best product for your requirements.

They should be able to explain how the energy rating systems work in your country and for every appliance you are interested in. They should also know how to find out and compare details on all their models – for example showing which perform best on standby and whether certain items come with energy saving features like automatic ‘sleep mode’. Up to 8% of UK TV energy is wasted while on standby!

If you have done your research before you arrive in the store, then you won’t be overwhelmed by the choices available when you get to the shelves – try not to be swayed by appearance if you are serious about energy saving. Wanting that pink version that is D-rated is only a passing phase!!!!

4) Consider Doubling up!
Integrated appliances are the way forward with energy-saving. For example buying a TV with built in digital receiver – only buying 1 product rather than 2. Fridge-freezers and washer-Driers do the same.

• Less raw materials to create – it’s all in one casing
• Less packaging – only one item instead of 2 or more
• Less transport – only 1 item to get to the store/your home
• Less products in total – less plugs and cabling needed
• Less electricity when on standby – only one power source

You may already have the second appliance – but when it is no longer required or breaks down – you then don’t need to replace it!

I hope that these few steps have been useful, and there will be more about appliances coming soon to help you make the better choices for the environment!

PS - cut down on games console usage if you can – they use loads of energy to run! A well used console can add around £160 EXTRA onto your electricity bill!!!

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An Easy Way To Stop Wasting Money At Home…..

I have always been the person nagging others at home or in the office to check what they print before they print it.  The number of times they churn off 3 or 4 pages of just a tiny line or a few words rather than having taken the time to check their ‘print preview’ before taking action.

Even an information sheet a friend got from her local hospital one time had just 2 lines of information on the second sheet!  It was headed and footered (if that’s a word) with all the important pre-printed Hospital details as well!  What a complete waste of money from our health services!  Why on earth someone couldn’t have checked this before printing off a batch I don’t know. 

They many only have needed to delete a few non-important words from the introduction or joined one short papragraph onto the end of a neighboring short paragraph and the paper, money and energy saved would no doubt be amazing!  What if every hospital didn’t do this for all their every-day information sheets?  Its no wonder there is always a waiting list at the hospitals here – they are wasting goodness knows how much on headed paper and the staples holding empty sheets of paper together!!!

Anyway, no matter how hard I tried when printing spreadsheets and documents, I still had great trouble with the Internet.  How many times the information went off the sheet at the non-existent right margin!  The number of sheets of paper printing off just the website address and page 12 of 13 on them was unstoppable!  I needed help.

Sure enough, after some searching, I found a free piece of software that could help me out here!  This fantastic ‘i can’t believe someone hasn’t thought of it sooner’ software is sure to amaze you and also save you a fortune – and the planet!!!

Does It Really Make A Difference?
When I first visited the site earlier this year, I noticed that they had a count-up facility, that monitored how their software was saving printed pages of waste and how much that was in terms of carbon emissions.  It said then that they had saved around 4.5 million pieces of paper (thats just under 500 trees by their calculations) and just over 3 million lbs of C02 saved in energy and inks printing the useless things!

Since then (about 8 weeks), their calculators are showing that they have saved another 100 trees, and stopped a further 500,000 lbs of C02 being spat out from factories to print our blank pages!

Obviously this calculation is only based on the people that have downloaded the software, but maybe something like this should become standard for businesses, like hospitals, so that waste is severely reduced.  The example of the information above is frightening that with just a few minutes of better preparation the costs of printing could be halved – and staples would stay in their boxes!

Of course, you can save printed waste without this software by using ‘page preview’ every-time and cutting and pasting information from websites onto your preferred written software (reducing the font size and editing the information down to save ink and pages), but this is free and easy to use.

What Does It Do?
It helps you to highlight and remove unwanted pages that are going to print from the pages you have selected allowing you control over what it prints and what it deletes.  It also allows you to create PDF’s with one click to avoid the mess that usually prints from a web-page.

Their GreenPrint World Edition always self-deletes the wasted pages at the end of most article itself.  You know – the ones with just the URL, banner ads and legal disclaimer on them that you no doubt have to then shred or recycle having served no purpose at all – except increases your overheads!

For fun (or serious if it’s your own business), it also allows you to keep a track of what you have printed since installing the software and how much paper you have saved!

It’s not like you will be missing anything important – just saving time, money and resources.

Green Print software is compatible with Windows 2000, XP and Vista (32 bit only). And it’s free to anyone.

They are aiming to save over 100 million trees and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 300 million tonnes (and while I have been writing this they have saved another tree!!!).  They also offer great deals on recycled office supplies!

Have you ever wanted to know more about sustainable living, and get advice on converting your house and garden into more energy efficient and chemical-free environments? Well here is your chance.

The Homes For Good show in April this year, is all about offering advice and suggestions for every householder, offering new products and new approaches to old concepts that will make your life more ‘green’.

Why Change?
The choices we make can have a profound effect on the toxins in our home, the environmental impact of our house and garden and the effect on our local community.

Whether you are building a new house, garage, barn or other outbuilding from scratch – or redecorating or modernising an existing room or premises – you can make better choices. However, rather than researching everything from scratch you could always ask the experts, people who have been working in the industry for years.

You will also have the opportunity to talk to others like yourself, who are new to many eco-friendly concepts. We are all here for the same thing, so make sure you are prepared to talk to exhibitors and other visitors to get some answers regarding your concerns or interests.

What’s There?
There will be over 100 exhibitors including Eco Trust (sustainability), Neate (wind turbines), Green Stuff (IT solutions) and many many more covering solar, water, electricity, house-building, architects, conservation of old, lime suppliers and many for the eco garden.

There will also be free demonstrations where you can get your hands on some new and revolutionary technology. There will also be talks from experts and trade workers as well as books for research and products to buy.

All this for only £5 entry fee (£2 for students and senior citizens) and it’s free to anyone under 16 as well!

Check online at www.homesforgood.info for more information and directions.