Rather surprisingly, wood burner stoves are highly energy efficient. The stoves are designed to burn wood as efficiently as possible, massively reducing the amount of soot, smoke and ash produced compared to a standard open fire. Wood burner stoves are also designed to avoid sending all of the heat energy up the flue, directing it outwards into the room.
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If you live in a big city, or you live in an apartment, flat or maisonette, you probably don’t have a garden. You might be lucky enough to have a small patio or balcony, but probably no grass. Plants are good for the soul, and you can have some plants around your garden-less home by using indoor planters or window box planters.
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If you are not using your microwave, ensure it’s completely switched off. Simply powering the clock can use more energy than heating your food! It’s another example of one of those standby energy guzzlers!
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Painting the house has always been a messy, time-consuming job, but thanks to the new VOC-free paints, it doesn’t have to be a smelly job too. VOCs or Volatile Organic Compounds are the compounds in traditional latex and oil-based house paints that evaporate into the air and cause the odour that we’re all familiar with.
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The World Christmas Tree 2008 project is a project where you upload your picture of your Christmas Tree, and you could end up saving 1 square foot of forest!
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If you’ve run out of time to send conventional Christmas cards, then why not send an ecard instead? Electronic cards (or eCards) allow you to send someone special a card at the last minute via email. This means you can let someone know you’re thinking of them, even if you forgot to send a card in the post. eCards are usually free to send and often come with music and animation.
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Bleeding your radiators releases any air trapped inside them. By bleeding your radiators regularly, you improve how efficiently they heat up your rooms. If you get into the habit of checking your radiators regularly, you should find you can reduce the amount of radiators that you have on. You should even be able to save money too.
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According to government estimates, over 300,000,000 pounds of single use drycleaner bags each year end up filling America’s landfills and killing our wild and marine life.
Now, just as smaller versions of reusable bags are working to eliminate this problem from grocers and retail stores, there is an alternative at drycleaners as well. The Green Garmento starts out as a hanging laundry bag then transforms into a duffel bag to deliver your dirty clothes to a drycleaner, then transforms into a hanging garment bag to protect your clean clothes for the trip home, and not a single plastic bag in sight!
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If you’ve never had a play with memory foam at a bed shop, get out to a shop and try it! Memory foam essentially moulds to your body shape, supporting your body in its natural form and giving you the ultimate in comfort. Essentia are specialists in Natural Memory Foam Pillows, which use 100% natural latex, without the need for harsh chemicals or petroleum products.
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Did you know that 20% of the heat in an average home is lost due to draughts and poor ventilation? When you next have a cold day, walk around your hope and check for badly sealed windows, draughts coming from under doors, letter boxes that don’t have draft excluding seals and gaps in the floor boards.
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With all those plastic bags you end up with, if you want a really creative idea for reusing them, perhaps you might want to make your own sandle-like shoes by crocheting the plastic bags together.
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I have nothing against Post-It for their sticky notes. This tip is more about reducing your reliance on using brand new paper, and getting the maximum life from old note paper.
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Here is a wonderful trick that will get rid of your fruit flies almost instantly!
To eliminate fruit flies, you will need the following:
- A little bowl (A ramekin used for crème brûlée works perfectly)
- Apple cider vinegar (any sweet juice will do if you don’t have this)
- Plastic wrap (cling film)
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Though air conditioners use tons of energy, some climates make it difficult to live without them. So if you’ve got one in your home or office, make sure the filters are changed and the units are serviced regularly.
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Recycling is all well and good, but if you can reuse something, that’s even better. Rehased Clothes is a clever concept where people can exchange fashionable and attractive clothes with other like-minded individuals.
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Have you gone to your local library lately? It is probably a wealth of information like mine. I think that local libraries are under-used.
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Did you know that modern energy efficient dishwashers use less water compared to washing your dishes in the sink? So you might think it’s the lazy option, but in fact you can save money on your water bills. Sure, a dishwasher uses electricity, but far less than what they used to.
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With the environment and being eco-friendly becoming a growing concern, there are a few organisations that have been set up to help people save money and be more eco-aware. One of these organisations in the UK is called the Energy Saving Trust. The Energy Saving Trust gives impartial energy saving advice for your home, businesses and communities.
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If you’re getting a load of junk mail through your letter box, then these stickers for your front door or mail box will be great to discourage junk. These stickers cost just £1 each and you will get an opt-out card to stop unaddressed items delivered by the postman, for free.
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Sustainability today means more than just changing out the light bulbs, carpooling and biking. There are many other opportunities available that help to reduce carbon footprint and saving trees is a huge part of it. Think about how they say that 17 trees make only one ton of paper when printing out numerous documents! Here are a few tips that will help you to save forests.
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