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The average household could save up to 1.5 tonnes of CO2 a year by making their home more energy efficient.
The products and appliances that you use every day are the best place to start. So to help, Dixons.co.uk have got a range of great energy saving products available for you to purchase in their
Green shop.
• environmental products, Eco hints, Energy saving tips. How do you protect against price rises? Useful products to help re-use, recycle and conserve resources. Over 200 environmental products designed to help you go greener.
• Reduce your carbon footprint.
Bringing you products selected for their "green" credentials including recycling aids, composting bins, energy saving and water saving products. Many of the products will allow you to reduce your carbon footprint and lead a more environmentally sustainable lifestyle. Water Tanks for storing rainwater for use in the garden. Compost converters quickly and easily recycle organic garden and kitchen waste into a rich, nutritious compost that is ideal for retaining moisture in the garden.
• Water Saving Tips
There are many easy ways to save water
Turn off the tap when brushing your teeth. Keeping it running can waste around 8 litres per minute.
Have a shower instead of a bath, it uses a third of the water.
Install a water meter which makes you more aware of how much you are using.
Only fill the kettle to the amount you need, saving both water and electricity.
Choose water efficient sanitary ware - look for loos with a short and a long flush.
Retro fit a dual flush device like the ecoBETA to your existing cistern.
Don't use your washing machine until you have a full load.
Fit a flow deduction device like Tapmagic to your taps.
Fit a Water Saving Showerhead.
Of course, don't forget to buy a water butt to collect rainwater from your roof for use in the garden.
• About Water Butts
How water butts work and how to fit your water butt.
Water butts are containers for collecting rainwater, often made from molded plastic. When a water butt is fitted to a drainpipe it will collect rainwater from your roof. This water can then be used for water your garden or washing you car, saving water and reducing your water bills.
Water butts are easy to fit too! All you have to do is find a suitable location near a downpipe. The space you'll need will depend on the water butt chosen. Most water butts sit on the ground (or on a stand), but some can be fixed flat against your wall.
Fitting the water butt involves cutting a small section out of your downpipe (drainpipe) and inserting a rainwater diverter into the space. The diverter included in some kits, or it can be bought separately. The rainwater diverter is then connected to the top side of the water butt. Some water butts will require a hole drilling in order to take the feed from the diverter.
When it rains, the water runs down the downpipe in the usual way, but the diverter will catch this and divert it into your water butt. Once the water butt is full, the water will just continue down the downpipe as it would have done without the water butt being there.
Your water butt needs to be sited on a level surface, whether or not you decide to use a stand. The stand which is included in some kits, or can be bought separately, raises the butt off the ground allowing you to fill a watering can or container much more easily.
If you have more than one water butt you can link them together. The Double Water Butt Kit comes with a free Water Butt Linking Kit to do this. A secure childproof lid is also very important for safety, but also stops any unwanted debris falling into your water butt. It also useful to use Rainfresh Plus or Refresh Liquid to keep the water in your water butt free of algae and odours.
Click here to see the wide range of water butts and start saving water today!
• Composting Tips
Simple tips to help you with your composting.
Composting is not just for gardeners - it helps the environment too.
Every year thousands of tonnes of kitchen and garden waste are thrown in the dustbin, which usually ends up in expensive, unsightly and environmentally damaging landfill sites.
Up to 35% of household waste is organic and suitable for home composting. Simply put it in a compost bin and leave it to breakdown for a few months. The end result is a rich nutritious crumbly compost which can be dug into the garden to improve soil structure. It can also be used as a mulch to suppress weeds and improve drainage.
Composting is an entirely natural process carried out by worms and a myriad of tiny creatures, many of them too small to be seen by the naked eye.
Site your compost bin in a sunny spot if possible. The plastic will absorb the sun's UV rays and heat up the compost.
To get the compost started you can use an activator, which helps speed up the composting process. Recommend Organica, a natural liquid which has a good reputation among gardening experts.
Good aeration is required to produce the best compost. To help aerate your bin you can add scrunched up newspaper which creates air pockets or alternatively invest in a compost aerator which is specially designed to reach deep into the compost bin to mix and aerate it.
It is essential to have a good mix of waste material in your composter to aid decomposition, ie. grass, paper, leaves, fruit & vegetable peelings. Add the different types of material in layers - approximately 3 to 6ins deep.
Get yourself a kitchen caddy to collect scraps. It saves time and the effort of having to nip out to the compost bin every time you prepare a meal.
Composting is often viewed as a process rather like cooking. The following recipes recommend a mix of ingredients that will result in the very best quality compost. In time you will learn which ingredients work best for yourself. The idea is to get a good balance of brown carbon rich materials (i.e. leaves and wood shavings) and nitrogen rich materials (grass clippings, weeds, food scraps).
Recipe 1
2 parts dry leaves
2 parts straw or wood shavings
1 part manure
1 part fresh grass clippings
1 Part fresh garden weeds
1 part food scraps
Recipe 2
2 parts dry leaves
1 part fresh grass clippings
1 part fresh garden leaves
1 part food scraps
Condiments
Any of the following will add nutrients to your compost mix. These materials are not necessary but can be beneficial to the process. Sprinkle the condiments onto your compost.
Garden soil is full of micro-organisms - half shovel maximum. Too much will slow the process down.
Finished compost is also full of micro-organisms - half shovel maximum. Again, too much will slow the process down.
Bone / blood meal - nitrogen activators. Use sparingly.
Fireplace ashes are high in potash and carbon. Can be mixed in when you have a lot of nitrogen rich material (e.g. grass).
