Eco Hints!

I recently received "50 Tips on how to reduce your greenhouse gas emissions" from the local climate action campaigners. Some are fairly straightforward, but there are a number that are well worth repeating here:

21. Buy organic milk. It takes over three times as much energy to produce a litre of non-organic milk as a litre of organic milk. Much of this extra energy is used in the production of the fertiliser
(BBC News: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4038399.stm )

22. Recycle aluminium. The energy saved by recycling one aluminium drinks can is enough to run a TV for three hours
(Environment Agency: http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/commondata/acrobat/recycle_975614.pdf)

35. Turn lights off! For comparison, lighting an empty office overnight can waste the energy required to heat water for 1,000 cups of coffee .
(Carbon Trust. www.thecarbontrust.co.uk/energy/pages/page_88.asp )

39. Resist stand-by. If all UK households turned off their TVs at night instead of leaving them on standby, we would avoid emitting enough CO2 to fill the Millennium Dome 38 times each year . Stand-by is expensive too – British people pay £163 million every year paying for the electricity used in keeping their appliances on stand-by. That goes for PC screens too .
( Kent Energy Centre: http://www.kentenergycentre.org.uk/
“a PC monitor switched off overnight saves enough energy to microwave six dinners” - Carbon Trust. www.thecarbontrust.co.uk/energy/pages/page_88.asp)

41. Keep fridge and freezer doors closed. Each minute a fridge door is open it can take three energy-intensive minutes for it to cool down again. Similarly, it can take as much as half an hour for a freezer to regain its temperature once a door has been opened for just sixty seconds . And remember to install the fridge or freezer away from hot appliances and direct sunlight.
( National Energy Foundation: www.nef.org.uk )

42. Keep your freezer full. It takes less energy to keep a full freezer cool than it does an empty one . If you don't have enough food to fill it, use plastic bottles filled with water or even scrunched up newspaper. If you find your freezer is often half empty, you might want to think whether you need such a large model when it is time to replace it.
(Friends of the Earth: http://www.foe.co.uk/living )

45. Only use a washing machine on full-load. Ninety percent of the energy that washing machines use goes toward heating the water , so switch to a cooler wash temperature: using 40°C for all clothes can use a third less electricity per wash. Today's washing powders are just as effective on low temperature programmes, saving both energy and money.
(UK Department of Energy: http://www.eere.energy.gov/buildings/info/documents/pdfs/26468.pdf )

48. Switch office equipment off at night. A photocopier left on overnight uses enough energy to make 1,500 photocopies
(Carbon Trust. www.thecarbontrust.co.uk/energy/pages/page_88.asp )