Do your bit to fight climate change

☐ ADD OR TOP UP YOUR ATTIC INSULATION. Loft insulation could save up to £205 a year. Internal wall insulation could save £470 a year.

☐ INSULATE YOUR BOILER. If it feels hot to the touch then you are wasting energy, you can stop this by wrapping an insulating jacket around it. Fitting one more than 3 inches thick could save a household £30 a year.

☐ DRAUGHT-PROOF your home could save £30 a year.

☐ REPLACE YOUR BOILER with a new, high efficiency condensing boiler. This could save up to £170 a year on your heating bill.

☐ SWITCH OFF THE LIGHTS WHEN YOU LEAVE A ROOM. The average household could save up to £25 a year.


☐ TURN OFF ALL ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES when you’re not using them, and don’t put anything on standby. An easy way to do this is to plug all your appliances into a power strip and then you only have to unplug that. This could save you £37 a year.

☐ REPLACE YOUR LIGHTBULBS WITH ENERGY SAVING BULBS. If you switch all the lightbulbs in your home you could save up to £50 a year.

☐ CHECK THE SEALS ON YOUR FREEZER, and defrost it regularly to keep it running efficiently.

☐ When you replace electrical appliances buy ones with GOOD ENERGY RATINGS.

☐ REDUCE YOUR AIR CONDITIONING USE, and clean filters regularly to ensure they work efficiently.

☐ REPLACE YOUR WINDOWS WITH DOUBLE OR TRIPLE GLAZING, this could save up to £140 on your heating bill each year.

☐ USE ECONOMY PROGRAMMES ON DISHWASHERS AND WASHING MACHINES, turn the temperature down to 30°C (your clothes will be just as clean!) and don’t underfill them.

☐ LET YOUR CLOTHES DRY NATURALLY rather than putting them in a drier. Not using a tumble drier could save you around £75 a year.

☐ TURN YOUR THERMOSTAT DOWN BY 1°C and save up to £65 on your heating bill.

Office-based business activities are responsible for around 6.8 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions a year. It is estimated that energy savings of up to 20%, equivalent to more than £157 million, are possible across the sector.

☐ SWITCH COMPUTERS AND MONITORS OFF during the out of hours period and enable standby features, this could save your business £15 a year per computer.

☐ TRY TO KEEP YOUR THERMOSTAT AT 19°C as your heating costs will increase by 8% each time you turn the temperature up by just 1C.

☐ SWITCH OFF LIGHTS IN UNOCCUPIED ROOMS, and look into whether your company can use daylight sensors and occupancy sensors. These can reduce lighting costs by as much as £24.

☐ Car share, or TAKE THE BUS or the tube to work.



☐ CYCLE OR WALK INSTEAD OF TAKING A CAR. 42% of all journeys are two miles or less.

☐ When you buy a car, CHECK IT IS FUEL EFFICIENT and consider whether your driving needs are most suited to a diesel or petrol engine.

☐ REDUCE THE WEIGHT-LOAD OF YOUR CAR. For every 100lbs you leave at home, it will save 1-2% of your fuel consumption.

☐ KEEP TIRES INFLATED AT THE RIGHT LEVEL - check your car manual or manufacturers website if you don’t know what pressure they should be.

☐ REDUCE YOUR FUEL CONSUMPTION BY REDUCING YOUR SPEED, avoiding fast acceleration and turning off the ignition rather than idling.

☐ REDUCE FOOD MILES by buying local and UK produce.

☐ GROW YOUR OWN FRUIT AND VEGETABLES - even possible in the East End! Check out the Women’s Environmental Network ‘Cultivating the Future’ project in Tower Hamlets...

☐ GO ORGANIC. Organic soils contain up to 28% more carbon than other soils, so less is in the atmosphere contributing to climate change.

☐ EAT LESS MEAT. The production of 1kg of beef is responsible for the same greenhouse gas emissions as driving for three hours whilst leaving all the lights on at home. A study from 2009 concluded that if everyone shifted to a low-meat diet (defined as 70 grams of beef and 325 grams of chicken and eggs per week) this would free up 15 million square metres of farmland. Growing vegetation on this farmland instead could wipe up to 50% off the cost of fighting climate change.

☐ TAKE A SHOWER RATHER THAN A BATH and save around 317kg of carbon a year, and cut down on the time you’re showering.

☐ TURN OFF THE TAP when you’re brushing your teeth.

☐ ONLY FILL THE KETTLE AS MUCH AS YOU NEED TO, and de-scale it to speed up boiling times.

☐ PUT LIDS ON YOUR PANS WHEN COOKING, this will help retain the heat.



☐ REDUCE YOUR FOOD WASTAGE. Food waste goes to landfills and breaks down, releasing lots of methane. If everyone in the UK stopped wasting food that could have been eaten it would have the same effect as taking one in five cars off the roads!

☐ RECYCLE - and not just the waste from your kitchen; people tend to neglect to recycle things from other rooms in the house (like shampoo bottles, boxes of tissues...).

☐ It is estimated that the average person in the UK receives around 215 plastic bags a year, instead recycle or BUY A BAG FOR LIFE.

☐ RECYCLE WASTE. This helps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 10- 15 million tonnes a year in the UK, the equivalent of taking 3.5 million cars off the road. Recycling a single plastic bottle can conserve enough energy to light a 60W bulb for up to 6 hours.