100 Ways To Save The Planet – Part 9

Some more ways to be environmentally friendly. Numbers 1-69 can be found here.

70. Time yourself in the shower. The shower coach is just like an egg timer but designed you to keep your water use to a minimum and speed up those lengthy showers. Try www.nigelsecostore.com.

71. Star ’swishing’. Allegedly that’s the term for swapping clothes with your friends. Easy way to get a new wardrobe, especially if you just want something one-off for a party. Saves a lot of energy and CO2 production – around 60kg for every bag of clothes.

72. DIY is tricky enough without struggling to do it in an environmentally friendly way. Try www.ecomerchant.co.uk for peace of mind. You still have to put the shelves up yourself though.

73. Don’t use laundry powder. Using an Eco-Ball (or three) in your washing machine instead of detergent will get most clothes fresh and clean without the need for any detergent. They work by producing ionized oxygen to lift dirt. They even soften fabric in hard water so no need for fabric softener either. Each can be used about 1,000 times – working out at 3p a wash.

74. Light a match in the bathroom to get rid of bad smells. It’s better for the environment than using (and making) a spray.

75. Use a drain sieve. Keeping food and other bits out of your drains will mean they won’t become blocked and lead you to pour chemicals down it to unblock it. Also never pour grease or fat down there as it will solidify and block your drains and the main sewage system.

76. Go creased. Give up ironing for a while and see if it changes anything. Well you might need to iron your shirt for work but sheets, pillowcases and clothing like jeans don’t really need ironing. Try it, you might like it and you’ll not only save energy but time too. Who enjoys ironing anyway?

77. Get a solar powered mouse for your computer. Well maybe not yet, but Delft University of Technology are testing one and finding out “willingness of the user to adapt his behaviour to favourable light conditions by regularly charging the unit with daylight from the window, and the computer usage pattern. With solar energy, under ideal circumstances charging can occur a factor of five times quicker than in the current situation. Over time it is estimated that several hundred million batteries could be saved annually on a global scale.”

78. Beat draughts. They can be fixed easily with draught-proofing, secondary glazing or double glazing – the UK’s most popular energy saving measure (although you’ll save more money by installing cavity wall insulation, which is cheaper). Specify ‘Low-e’ glazing, which has a special heat-reflective coating that reduces heat loss through the window by nearly half. Find out more at www.nef.org.uk/energyadvice.

79. Be gentle with your boiling. A pan gently boiling and a raging cauldron will actually be the same temperature, so turn down the heat a bit and save some energy. You can actually turn the heat off after boiling with vegetables and pasta. Just keep the lid on the pan and check after a few minutes to see if it’s done as you like.

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