Real Life Design Stories Reducing Your Carbon Footprint

Date Published:

17/06/2008

It's very easy to wax lyrical about the benefits of going green, but what are the realities of eco-living? How easy is it to think of the environment when all you want is a long hot bath? We challenged Louise Matthews, a self confessed eco-virgin, to document her attempt to be as eco-friendly as possible for one day.

A Good Morning Person?

It seemed easy enough. Spend one day going about my normal routine as eco-friendly as possible, with the added incentive of saving money. Things like taking a shower instead of a bath, or switching off lights. I thought I knew all about the savings, financially, environmentally and health wise. But I was in for a few surprises.

Dawn

Time to get up. Well, normally yes, but today I am working from home and I hunker down for a bit longer, smug in the knowledge that while in bed I am using no appliances. Wrong! A bit later, armed with research, I look around and realize I have several electrical appliances on standby. Turning them off saves up to £11 a year - 85 per cent of the energy used by a DVD player is wasted when on standby. Practically I'd like to keep the video on to avoid resetting the timer every morning, but I don't need to see the time on the microwave.

A Bit Later

Finally getting up. Unthinkingly I'd flicked the immersion switch earlier with the intention of taking a bath instead of the usual morning shower. I flick it off and decide to use the hot water anyway, reflecting on some sobering statistics in the process. A shower instead of a bath saves 40 litres of water. But power showers can use more. Then I turn down the thermostat wondering why I hadn't done this before. Even down to just 60C saves £10 annually. Turning down your central heating by just 1 degree cuts your bill by £30. I'm really not going to notice the difference, except financially, but it will make an environmental difference - feels good.

And I don't run the tap when I am brushing my teeth.

Breakfast

My usual porridge ticks the boxes - it's cheap and really good for you with lots of soluble fibre, a low glycaemic index (no sugar rush), protein and carbohydrate, even if you only make it with water. You can throw in some fresh berries (or frozen) to increase the nutritional value and liven it up. However I can improve on this by buying organic and minimally processed oats, and avoiding the temptation of over-packaged and processed 'convenient' porridge products. It's already 'convenient', taking only two minutes in a microwave (microwaves save energy by not heating containers or air) and no saucepan to wash up! If you prefer toast try organic bread. A toaster uses less energy than the grill.

I liked sparking water - until I found out it's an environmental nightmare in terms of plastic bottles and product transport costs. Tap water is just as good for you, and free.