Shrinking your ecological footprint is big business nowadays. More and more people are keen to put their money where their mouth is in the fight against global warming.
By fighting this good fight, you could also save yourself £200 in bills and do your bit to cut down on the £5 billion of energy wasted in the UK each year. Our progression from cave-dwellers to proud users of central heating, refrigeration and fossil-fuel-burning cars is a great thing when it comes to keeping up with the Joneses.
But the downside is that by generating electricity, heating our homes and food and powering our transport we have created an insulating barrier around our planet, stopping any naturally created heat from leaving the atmosphere global warming.
Carbon dioxide (CO2) is one of the main culprits here – and across the globe our homes are responsible for almost half of these CO2 emissions. What Mortgage offers some tips to make your home greener.
1. Cook on gas
If you have a choice, choose gas central heating rather than electricity. In the UK, electricity creates twice as much CO2 as gas.
2. At boiling point
Heating and water account for over half the cost of your average fuel bill each year and a third of the CO2 emissions, so cut down your heating bills by replacing your old, often inefficient boiler with a new one.
If possible replace old boilers with a gas-condensing boiler or even an oil-condensing boiler or high-efficiency wood-burning boiler if you live in the country.
According to the Energy Efficiency Trust, if you buy a new boiler you can cut bills by 20 per cent or up to 32 per cent with a condensing boiler. Also put a jacket on your boiler and save yourself up to £15 a year.
Check the efficiency rating of your current boiler on www.boilers.org.uk
3. Look for the label
Check for an orange-and-blue Energy Efficiency Recommended (EER) logo on a range of household objects. Anything from light bulbs to dishwashers will carry this label, which signifies that the object has passed a green test with flying colours.
All new household appliances also carry an energy rating nowadays, so check before you buy. A-rated machines are best, falling away to G-rated machines, which are the least energy- and water-efficient.
If your old appliance is still in good condition, switch to the energy-saving option on the dial.
4. Chilling news
Fridges and freezers are the appliances that keep on giving and are on the go 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Try not to waste energy by:
Leaving your fridge/freezer door open
Putting warm food into the fridge
Failing to defrost regularly to keep the appliance running efficiently
Installing your fridge/freezer next to a cooker or boiler
5. Lighten up
Use energy-efficient light bulbs. If you replace one standard bulb with a compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) bulb, youll get between 5,000 and 14,000 more hours of use and knock £6 off your electricity bill.
These bulbs are more expensive, but some people may qualify for a grant. Visit the Energy Saving Trust website at www.est.org.uk to find out if youre one of them.
6. Reusability – thats what you need
Each week the average family in a developed country throws away four glass bottles, thirteen cans, three plastic bottles and five kilos of paper, producing one tonne of rubbish annually. Re-cycle it instead. Find out where your local recycling bins are, or write to your MP to ask for a recycling point.
7. Give your mortgage the green light
Obtain or remortgage to a green mortgage. Just a few mortgage lenders have green credentials, and as might be expected the Ecology Building Society is foremost among them. The mutual prides itself on its environmental focus and takes a special interest in renovating derelict properties and in supporting environmentally sound newbuild properties. Norwich & Peterborough Building Society also offers a green mortgage range for new homes with a Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP) or green rating of 100 or more. Finally, HSBC, the third-largest bank in the world, is committed to going carbon-neutral by 2006 by reducing energy use, buying green electricity and investing in environmentally friendly projects at a cost of £7 million in the first year.
