Energy Week
The Scottish Government is encouraging everyone to contribute to a greener Scotland by reducing the amount of energy they use.
By making small changes to everyday behaviour, people can help do their bit for Scotland and the environment and will also save money from lower energy bills.
The Scottish Government is supporting the 12th annual Energy Saving Week, hosted by the Energy Saving Trust, which will take place next week (20th - 27th October 2008). The event will encourage people to think about being more environmentally-friendly and take action to save energy throughout the week.
Reducing energy use is one of 10 Greener steps the Scottish Government is suggesting people adopt. Other easy ways to be greener include re-using carrier bags when you shop and turning the tap off when brushing your teeth.
The Scottish Government’s 10 Greener steps are:
• Recycle household waste using locally-provided facilities.
• Turn the tap off when brushing your teeth
• Switch to using energy-saving light bulbs
• Leave the car at home and walk, cycle, use public transport or car share at least once a week instead
• Use rechargeable instead of disposable batteries
• Re-use carrier bags when you shop
• Buy more seasonal and unpackaged food
• Hang your washing up to dry rather than using a tumbler dryer
• Organise or volunteer in an environmental project in your local community
• Avoid flying where there’s a suitable alternative, and pay back the environmental impact of any flights you have to take.
The average UK household could save around £340 and 1.5 tonnes of CO2 a year by being more energy efficient.
Around £8.5 billion of energy is wasted in the UK every year - that is enough to give every man, woman and child in the UK £140 a year.
There are a number of simple ways in which people can reduce their energy use.
These include using energy efficient light bulbs which last around 10 times longer than their inefficient counterparts.
If everyone boiled only the water they needed to make a cup of tea instead of filling the kettle every time, they could save enough electricity in a year to run the UK’s street lighting for seven months
Around 8% of an electricity bill is down to leaving appliances on standby power. When you’re switching off, make sure it’s at the plug socket.
Turning down the thermostat one degree can help to reduce global warming and cut heating bills by up to 10% a year.
Washing clothes at 30°C instead of a higher temperature can use around 40% less electricity. Also, hanging clothes up to dry costs nothing and is much better for the environment than using a tumble dryer, which costs a lot to run.
An added bonus is that clothes will last longer – the lifespan of elastic and many synthetics is drastically reduced by tumble drying.
Also, energy-efficient appliances use less power and are cheaper to run.
To sign up or for more energy saving tips, please visit www.infoscotland.com/gogreener
Audio Features
Listen again to our on air features for this Life Matters article. Click on the 'play' link next to one of the titles to play that item.
PLAY > Energy Week pt1
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Comments
The Energy Saving Trust has an advice centre who can be contacted on 0800 512 012 for advice and info about grants etc to help be more energy efficient!ruth Kennedy
The Energy Saving Trust has an advice centre who can be contacted on 0800 512 012 for advice and info about grants etc to help be more energy efficient!ruth Kennedy