For this reason, it is important not to overlook easy fixes when searching for ways to make your lifestyle at home a more green-friendly one. And your utilities and energy costs are certainly the best place to start. If you’re looking for how to save electricity and the environment this coming year, here are some tips for doing both by reducing your utilities burden:

Use home automation technology. Available from companies such as Vivint, home automation technology gives you the ability to set timers and to manage your home lighting system from anywhere in the world – strategies both of which can make your electricity use far more efficient.

Buy energy-efficient light bulbs. Energy-efficient lighting uses less energy and fewer bulbs, making it a far more sustainable option than traditional light bulbs.

Install a “smart thermostat.” Most of us own decades-old thermostats that give us the ability to set a temperature, but do little else. A smart thermostat, on the other hand, can sense movement, learn living habits, and internally regulate the temperature, all with the purpose of maximizing your efficient and lowering your energy use.

Insulate your home. Insulating your walls and properly sealing your windows can insure that your home doesn’t waste the electricity generated within.

Cut back. When the temperature is mild outside, you may want to start abstaining from cooling or heating your home. When winter arrives and you find yourself cold, pouring yourself a mug of hot water may be just as helpful as cranking the heat – and far less wasteful. Few people will choose to sacrifice comfort for utility, but this does not mean that you can’t take measures to curb excessive energy use.

These are just a few of the main ways you can reduce energy consumption in your home. Doing so will not simply make your lifestyle more environmentally-friendly – it will also save you on utilities costs in the process.

Make better use of your garden

Rather than just having a back garden that you never use with an un-mown lawn and lots of weeds, put some thought into it and turn the space into an extension of your indoors. Don’t think of your back yard as a garden but rather a potential living area. Think about creating different ‘rooms’ within your garden, with different areas for different purposes. Create a main entertainment area that is more like an indoor room. Rather than just having a barbecue outside your back door, have a built in barbecue that you could do all your meals on if you wish. Have an outdoor kitchen where you can even prepare your entire meal.

Entertain at home

Having a proper outdoor living area will mean that you will entertain more at home and by doing so save yourself the cost of going out to eat. If you have a great space to entertain people will want to come over. Things like a swimming pool, an outdoor fire, an outdoor kitchen and comfortable lounges will make your outdoor living area great to relax in.

Increase the value of your property

Any modifications you do to your home are going to increase its value. By adding things like roller blinds, a retractable awning or veranda, a swimming pool, paving or timber decking or even establishing a garden are going to add value to your property. You might not be thinking of selling now but you never know what the future may bring.

Create somewhere the children

Get your children off the couch and out of the house by creating a fantastic haven within your own back yard. It will save you a lot of money too because you won’t need to take them to expensive play centres or other entertainment during the school holidays, just let them loose outside. Dedicate an area of the garden especially for them and screen it off by growing a hedge or thick bushes. Have things like a sandpit, a tree house or swings. You might like to put in a vegetable garden of their own as well.

De-stress

If you really want to de-stress and relax at home have a special outdoor living area that is built especially for this purpose. There is great outdoor furniture available now, particularly lounges that are made just for dozing outdoors in. Water features can create a relaxing atmosphere, whether you have a running waterfall with recycled water or you put in a pond with some giant goldfish. Plant plenty of leafy green plants, and remember that natives will attract the birds, if you want to be surrounded by the sound of bird calls.

by Ben Weiner

Whether you have a family or not, there are plenty of quick and simple ways in which you can begin to save money and energy, starting from today.

One of the easiest ways to save money and energy is with the household chores, in particular, the washing up. If you have a family you probably sometimes feel as though the washing up never ends! And washing-up liquid is hardly the most exciting thing to spend your hard-earned money on, so it can be very tempting to simply go for the cheapest brands, or whatever is on offer at the time.

It can be a false economy to do this however. If you buy cheap washing-up liquid, you will often find that it is in fact less effective than a trusted and reliable product such as Fairy Liquid. Cheaper versions may seem like they are saving you money at first, but you are likely to have to use a lot more to get good results, and therefore end up buying it more regularly than with a quality brand, thus spending the same amount of money (or even more) in the long run.

On top of the money you will mistakenly be spending by choosing cheap brands for the washing up, you will end up using much more energy in the kitchen trying to get those dishes clean with a product that simply is not up to the task.

A quality product such as Fairy Liquid will cut through the grease and dirt on the dishes much easier, leaving you a lot less flustered and using a lot less elbow grease trying to get everything clean. And when you’re a busy parent, that’s priceless.

Petrol prices are on the rise – seemingly without limit – and so any aspect of a car’s build that will reduce fuel consumption is desirable. It’s a happy coincidence then, that the more eco-friendly cars are often the most fuel-efficient. Fuel efficiency also means that cars with hybrid or biofuel engines produce less harmful emissions, such as carbon dioxide, NOx and particulates.

So, why how do hybrids save fuel and reduce emissions? The internal combustion engine is assisted by an electric motor, which is powered by its own battery. The motor’s battery is recharged through regenerative braking – so every time the driver brakes, kinetic energy is stored in the battery for later use. The engine does not have to work so hard, as the motor assists it through acceleration, and therefore burns less fuel.

If the car that you own has low carbon dioxide emissions, this means you pay lower road tax. It’s as well that there are reduced running costs as it is fair to say that there is still a premium price on eco-friendly cars when you buy them new.

Although the first eco-cars were of diminutive stature, there are now a huge range of shapes and sizes, and a broad choice of manufacturers to choose from. Honda and Toyota may have been the first to introduce hybrid production cars back in the 1990s, but now pretty much every manufacturer has a family sized eco car in its range.

One example is the Honda Jazz i-VTEC HX IMA Hybrid, a five-door hybrid hatchback. This car does 62.8 miles per gallon in its Euro combined cycle and emits just 104g/km of CO2.

It’s a fine balance when finding a car that suits your family and the planet simultaneously, but it can be done!

Photo: skrobotic

Ensure your home is draught proof by sealing gaps around doors and windows.

Close your curtains as the evening falls to stop heat escaping.

0nly boil as much water as you need in the kettle

Fill your dishwasher with a full load rather than 2 half loads.

Readjust your water temperature so it’s no higher than 60 degrees.

Invest in energy saving bulbs, they’re 40% more efficient than regular bulbs.

Exchange, reuse and recycle wherever possible. Buy and sell second-hand items.

Never leave electrical equipment on standby, turn it off completely

Don’t use a new, plastic bag every time – invest in a cloth bag or a ‘bag for life.’

Leave lights switched off after you’ve finished using them.

Your thermostat can be turned down by just 1°C to save you about £60 a year.

These small, inexpensive steps are a great way to improve your home’s carbon footprint. However, if you’re keen to make even more of an impact – you may want to consider a larger-scale project. You could opt for solar panels for example, which could help cut your carbon emissions and save you money into the bargain. You could also consider cavity wall insulation and loft insulation to help drastically reduce wasted energy.

If you do decide to go for one of these more significant home improvements, do remember to inform your house insurance provider. Any additions or modifications to your home could affect your policy, so it’s wise to keep your insurer updated on these changes.

Photo: Raúl A.

How will you know that you are buying an eco-friendly appliance range? A washing machine is one of the appliances that use a lot of energy in the home, so you better choose a machine that is A-rated and has a 40C wash in order to save electricity. Also, the front-loading models can save more energy than the top-loading one. In choosing a refrigerator, choose the one that is rated A+ or higher. The refrigerants used in the foaming agents that help insulate those in the circuit should have an ozone depleting potential of zero, and the potential for global warming for these parts must not exceed 15.

Choose a refrigerator that has a top and bottom instead of a side by side one, and avoid using ice makers, defrosters and heaters as they use a lot of electricity. Majority of homes use dishwashers and having the wrong model can cost you twice the amount of electricity that you will be paying. An energy efficient dishwasher has a booster heater, uses less water, produces less noise, has free take back to allow recycling of water and does not use flame retardants.

All the information that is necessary to determine how eco-friendly the appliance is should be clearly shown on its packaging, which should be made of 80% recyclable material. The size of the appliance also plays a part in determining how much energy will be used, so buy only the one that suits your needs. If you are still unsure, you can check Bosch Logixx for their environmentally-friendly appliance range. With the brand name alone, you are assured of high-quality appliances.

Photo: dorena-wm

Recycling is the easiest way for you to try to be more environmentally friendly around your house. Once a month – or maybe even more frequently – you should be trying to get rid of all the bank statements, receipts and any papers which have your personal details on them. The best way of doing this is by using a shredder. Not only are paper shredders a fantastic way of disposing of documents so they don’t fall into the wrong person’s hands, but they’re also handy when it comes to recycling.

Instead of just throwing away paper after shredding it, you should be looking to recycle it. Doing this can really boost your green credentials – it takes far more energy to create paper from wood pulp than recycled material. You’ll be doing your bit to save trees from being cut down in rainforests around the world, which will ensure there’s still plenty of CO2 still in the air.

Whatever documents you’re not shredding need to be hidden away safely within your home, so criminals don’t manage to get hold of them. If you’ve got a lockable drawer, use that to store papers away safely. And, should you lose or have something like your driving licence stolen, you should contact the issuing organisation straight away.

So if you’re looking to be greener around the home, as well as protecting your personal information, investing in a shredder could well be the way forward.

Photo: urbaneapts

One way of making your house more eco friendly is by choosing the right bulbs and lighting for the rooms. If you’re upgrading your dining room, you probably have in mind the lighting you want to install around the space.

Chances are you’ll be keen to highlight the dining table with a lampshade or chandelier above it, to make sure it’s the focal point of the room. As well as this, around the rest of the room you’ll probably position the lamps and lighting on different pieces of the dining room furniture to draw attention to and highlight various features you have.

Whatever lampshades and lighting options you go for, the lightbulbs you install can make a big difference to how green the room is.

Inefficient lightbulbs are slowly being phased out, so you’ll soon have no choice other than to make sure all the lighting in your home is green. But in the meantime, you should try to find eco-friendly bulbs where possible anywhere as they are generally brighter and they tend to last longer, so you’ll see savings on your electricity bills and you’ll be purchasing bulbs less frequently.

Photo: rubberpaw

Energy-saving lightbulbs can save you a fair amount of money each year if you install them around the whole of your house, not just in the dining room.

If you’re keen to do something to help the environment and boost your green credentials, lowering your carbon footprint, changing the lighting you have around your dining room is a fantastic and easy way of doing so.

Photo: favaro JR.

If you want to embrace a more eco-friendly living space, here are some simple tips to help you out.

Look for energy-efficient appliances and devices to go in the room. When it comes to choosing a TV, go for an LCD or LED one instead of a plasma screen. Tests have suggested that plasmas use more energy when turned on and if you use your device often, you’re likely to really notice the difference.

The accessories to go with your TV, such as DVD players and digi-boxes, can also have varied green credentials. Since they all need electricity to power them, it’s worth looking for the most energy-efficient devices on the market in order to save some much-needed money on your bills each month. Some things, such as Sky boxes, have a button you can press which makes it inactive when it’s not in use, and doing this can help the environment.

If you’re really trying to save the planet, you could look for a sofa or sofa bed for the room which is made from sustainable or renewable resources. While this is unlikely to save you money, it’ll help you do a little bit more for the environment.

Photo: elif.portfolio

Try and find energy-efficient lightbulbs for your room as well, in order to make some savings on your consumption. Something like 15 per cent of your electricity bill is accounted for by lighting, so you’d be wise to make the switch to eco-friendly options here. Energy-saving lightbulbs last longer as well, so you really will make some savings in the long term.

Whether you’re trying to be more eco friendly to save money on your bills, or help the environment, these tips are bound to help you achieve your goal.