All of us are pretty conscious of the damage we could be doing to the environment if we are wasteful. Most of us are also aware of how expensive it can be to be wasteful as well. Food, electricity, gas and water have never been so expensive. It seems like an endless battle trying to keep these costs down, yet month on month we can find ourselves going over budget. If you have ever reached the point of tearing your hair out in despair at the cost of keeping everyone warm and fed, you are not alone. We give you the top five ways to save the environment and some money at the same time:
- LEDs – LEDs are incredibly cheap to run and provide a lot of light for very little money. Change out your old style or energy saver light bulbs for a new LED bulb. You should find the quality of light much better. There is no warm-up time either. They reach maximum illumination instantly, and the bulbs don’t get hot like the other styles do. They use so little electricity you will be amazed. You can replace your GU10 spots as well. Most importantly, the initial outlay of LED bulbs is starting to come down and be cheaper than an energy saver now.
LED lightbulb image from Flickr.com
- Grow Your Own – British gardens can cater for a wide range of fruit and veg, even if you don’t have a lot of space. You can use boxes, or you can dig your own vegetable patch. Let the kids get involved too. Potatoes, tomatoes and carrots are the easiest to grow and most likely to be used up when you get your crops. North facing gardens may struggle so keep your plants in areas that get the most sunlight peeking through.
- Use Solar Energy – Solar panels on the house or garage roof can provide you with enough energy to substantially reduce your electric bill during daylight hours. Add a collector of battery system to the setup, and you can store what you collect on good days to help cover the cost of your usage later on. Change your garden lights for solar ones. You can even get the battery powered LED lights for corners that don’t quite charge in the winter.
- Water Butt – If you do have a garden or a veggie patch, invest in a water butt to harvest rainwater for use when the garden really needs it. Some pressure washers are designed to work from these as well, so you may even get the car and patio clean from it.
- Use Your Garage For The Car – Most of us use the garage for storing general junk. Admittedly some of us may have converted it into a gym to save on costly subscriptions at the leisure centre. However, if you keep your car in the garage, you will save a fortune on petrol. You won’t need the air con on just to get into it during the summer, and you won’t need to run the heater to see out of it during an icy winter.
Warma UK are a business that can help you obtain solar panel grants with up to 100% full contribution. This means that the cost of installation does not have to be paid back and you could benefit from independent energy generation. There are certain qualifying factors you must meet but it is worth looking into.
