Saving the environment and saving cash concurrently is mutually exclusive no more, thanks to technological advances and the growth of the green movement, there are now dozens of ways to save cash and reduce your carbon emissions. Here we've listed eight of the best after scouring those dozens of waves...
Switching to a green energy tariff
Most, if not all the major energy suppliers will have green tariff option available which all help environmental sustainability in different ways. How they help depends on the company, for instance, on a green tariff your energy might come exclusively from renewable sources, such as solar or wind power. Another way the contribution could be worked is some of your energy bill goes towards research into renewable energy.
As green tariffs become more popular, the competition between energy suppliers is driving the costs down. You can save a hefty amount of money by converting to a green tariff, they cost anymore than a duel fuel tariff, so shop around the energy suppliers to find the best deal and use it as the perfect excuse to switch energy suppliers.
When driving, be more careful
Changing driving habits can save a pretty penny the next time you go to the forecourt to fill up. It doesn't involve buying a new car either, cut out simple things such as breaking and accelerating hard which require more fuel than a steady increase or decrease would. Don't have a roof rack, or at least use a removable one as the drag can use up 2-5% of the fuel in your tank, speaking of unnecessary fuel use, electronic systems also siphon off precious fuel, air conditioning being a prime example. Lastly, keep within the speed limit, it's not just to fill police coffers but can conserve fuel by going slower and at a steady rate.
Energy saving at work and home
This one should be a no brainer, getting into habits around the house of switching off lights, turn appliances off and not just on standby as well as using the central heating only when you have to.
Use your local library
Don't go blowing cash on books, DVD's and music CD's in stores when you can hire them from a fraction of the price at your local library. Not only will be saving potentially hundreds of pounds a year, but you will be reducing the amount of packing, such as plastic, cardboard and paper you use also.
Alter your computer settings
The standard settings of your Laptop or PC are not set for energy efficiency. With this in mind tweaking and then using the 'sleep' and 'hibernate' options for maximum energy savings, also turn off your PC if it is not going to be used for an hour at least.
Grow your own fruit and vegetables
You don't have to sacrifice much garden space to produce your own fruit and vegetables, neither do you have to splash the cash on fancy equipment or seed packets. Ask for cuttings or seeds off a friend or neighbour and save money on the weekly shopping bill. The added environmental bonus of course is the packaging saved from store bought produce and the thousands of miles it had to travel to get to your supermarket, so called 'food miles'.
Save paper
Common sense rules supreme here, there's no great secret or revelation to be found. Use both sides of the paper always, don't discard scrap paper, keep it in one spot for use for notes, shopping lists etc. Printers default settings will need to be altered to energy efficient parameters (like discussed above on PC's) and last but not least, start recycling used paper, magazines and newspapers whether by a trip to the paper bank or in separating your rubbish for the dustmen.
Use rechargeable batteries
Batteries can be quite expensive, so buying them over and over can cost a pretty penny, so the long term savings rechargeable batteries can give make them a worthwhile investment. The purchase price is going to be higher than for normal batteries, but that is easily offset by the large savings to be made by using them. Used batteries are one of the worst pollutions on the environment, so the less they are the used is always a good thing.
That concludes our round up of saving the environment and your bank balance. Don't make the mistake that these are the only good ways available, there are hundreds of other options to save cash and a few trees if you have a flick through the internet. We just aimed to give the starting point, if the above helped, notch it up to eleven and continue saving money and the environment at the same time.
Switching to a green energy tariff
Most, if not all the major energy suppliers will have green tariff option available which all help environmental sustainability in different ways. How they help depends on the company, for instance, on a green tariff your energy might come exclusively from renewable sources, such as solar or wind power. Another way the contribution could be worked is some of your energy bill goes towards research into renewable energy.
As green tariffs become more popular, the competition between energy suppliers is driving the costs down. You can save a hefty amount of money by converting to a green tariff, they cost anymore than a duel fuel tariff, so shop around the energy suppliers to find the best deal and use it as the perfect excuse to switch energy suppliers.
When driving, be more careful
Changing driving habits can save a pretty penny the next time you go to the forecourt to fill up. It doesn't involve buying a new car either, cut out simple things such as breaking and accelerating hard which require more fuel than a steady increase or decrease would. Don't have a roof rack, or at least use a removable one as the drag can use up 2-5% of the fuel in your tank, speaking of unnecessary fuel use, electronic systems also siphon off precious fuel, air conditioning being a prime example. Lastly, keep within the speed limit, it's not just to fill police coffers but can conserve fuel by going slower and at a steady rate.
Energy saving at work and home
This one should be a no brainer, getting into habits around the house of switching off lights, turn appliances off and not just on standby as well as using the central heating only when you have to.
Use your local library
Don't go blowing cash on books, DVD's and music CD's in stores when you can hire them from a fraction of the price at your local library. Not only will be saving potentially hundreds of pounds a year, but you will be reducing the amount of packing, such as plastic, cardboard and paper you use also.
Alter your computer settings
The standard settings of your Laptop or PC are not set for energy efficiency. With this in mind tweaking and then using the 'sleep' and 'hibernate' options for maximum energy savings, also turn off your PC if it is not going to be used for an hour at least.
Grow your own fruit and vegetables
You don't have to sacrifice much garden space to produce your own fruit and vegetables, neither do you have to splash the cash on fancy equipment or seed packets. Ask for cuttings or seeds off a friend or neighbour and save money on the weekly shopping bill. The added environmental bonus of course is the packaging saved from store bought produce and the thousands of miles it had to travel to get to your supermarket, so called 'food miles'.
Save paper
Common sense rules supreme here, there's no great secret or revelation to be found. Use both sides of the paper always, don't discard scrap paper, keep it in one spot for use for notes, shopping lists etc. Printers default settings will need to be altered to energy efficient parameters (like discussed above on PC's) and last but not least, start recycling used paper, magazines and newspapers whether by a trip to the paper bank or in separating your rubbish for the dustmen.
Use rechargeable batteries
Batteries can be quite expensive, so buying them over and over can cost a pretty penny, so the long term savings rechargeable batteries can give make them a worthwhile investment. The purchase price is going to be higher than for normal batteries, but that is easily offset by the large savings to be made by using them. Used batteries are one of the worst pollutions on the environment, so the less they are the used is always a good thing.
That concludes our round up of saving the environment and your bank balance. Don't make the mistake that these are the only good ways available, there are hundreds of other options to save cash and a few trees if you have a flick through the internet. We just aimed to give the starting point, if the above helped, notch it up to eleven and continue saving money and the environment at the same time.