One really easy way to be green is to choose green energy. Green energy can be made from wind, solar, water, biomass, geothermal, waste or tidal power – all sources that can/will continue indefinitely and don’t involve massive emissions of greenhouse gases like coal or gas-fired power stations. Powering your home with renewable energy [...]
How to choose a fridge freezer
Choosing a new fridge or freezer can be a tricky business. Work your way through the maze of unfamiliar language (energy ratings, star ratings, climate ratings, etc) and other important considerations with our new How to choose a fridge freezer infographic.
How to choose a lawnmower
With so many to choose from, it can be difficult to work out which is the right lawnmower for you. To help you work through the process, we’ve created this handy infographic. Find out the difference between a cylinder and rotary mower; which mowers are better for which size lawns; how to create stripes; [...]
Compost
Composting is an excellent way of recycling waste and producing your own superb soil fertiliser and conditioner. Living microscopic organisms, like bacteria, break down the household and garden materials we put in the compost by feeding on them. They need food, air and moisture to thrive. Good compost can take between 6 – 12 months [...]
Tumble Dryers
Tumble dryers are one of the most energy hungry domestic appliances available despite the EU labelling systems introduction in 1995 and increases in efficiency in other appliances such as fridges and dishwashers. An A rated tumble dryer used 3 times a week will still produce over 40kg of CO2 more than an A+ rated fridge [...]
Shredders
Garden shredders are designed to create mulch from garden waste, which can then be used on your garden or simply as compost. Obviously the amount of energy needed to shred objects such as small branches and twigs requires a fairly powerful motor or engine, for this reason most industrial/commercial shredders rely on petrol engines. For [...]
Saving water in the garden
For most of the year, water used outside the home for watering the garden or washing the car accounts for about 6% of domestic water usage. During the summer this figure generally rises and (hosepipe bans allowing) on the hotter summer evenings it can account for as much as 50% of domestic consumption. Of this [...]
Lawnmowers
Lawnmowers have basically two different types of cutting technology; cylinder mowers and rotary mowers and if you choose a cylinder mower you can opt for push or powered. Cylinder mowers: Cylinder lawnmowers have a revolving cylinder consisting of sharpened blades set at offset angles which rotate to cut the grass when the mower is pushed [...]
Insulate the loft
Loft insulation & pipe-lagging: Adequately insulating the loft (min 270mm) is a must for making your home more energy-efficient and eco-friendly. In principle it can be a pretty straightforward DIY job, which just involves laying insulation material between the rafters, but the nature of the most widely used materials means that it can also be [...]
Sustainable food – top tips
We all need food and consume it every day, so our choices about what we eat can make a significant impact on the sustainability of our lifestyle. Our top tips for sustainable food are: Keep yourself healthy. Eat the right amount and have a balanced diet rich in fruit and vegetables. Eat all of the [...]
