Energy and cost saving tips

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Horizon would like to work with our residents to help make the world a better place for future generations.

This article contains a number of suggestions that could both save you money and collectively make a very positive impact on the planet

Share these tips because together we can make a difference!

Turning the thermostat on your central heating system down by 1°C could cut your heating bills by up to 10%
Washing clothes at 30°C instead of 40°C uses around 40%lessenergy
Unplugging your PC overnight could save you as much as £35 per year
One energy saving light bulb can save you up to £9 per year – that adds up to more than £100 over the course of the bulb’s lifetime
By boiling only as much water as you need, you could save enough energy in a week to run a TV for 26hours
The average household could save up to £300 a year on energy bills and two tonnes of carbon dioxide by being more energy efficient
Change your electricity to a green supplier such as Good Energy and get 100% of your electric from renewable sources; good-energy.co.uk

Close your curtains at dusk to stop heat escaping through the windows
Make sure your hot water cylinder thermostat is not set higher than 60°C/140°F
Turn off the lights when you leave a room
Don’t leave appliances on standby and remember not to leave appliances on charge unnecessarily
Dry washing on a clothes line outside whenever possible
Put the lid on a pan to reduce the amount of time and energy it takes to boil.
Walk, cycle or take public transport wherever possible
Share car journeys where possible; www.nationalcarshare.co.uk or www.freewheelers.co.uk or join a car club carclubs.org.uk

Simply turning the tap off whilst you clean your teeth could save as much as nine litres of water a minute
Don’t overfill the kettle when making a cup of tea. Only fill and boil what you need
Taking a shower rather than a bath could save you up to 400 litres of water a week
Fix dripping taps – a dripping tap can waste 90 litres of water a week
Don’t let the cold water that comes through before a tap runs hot go down the drain – use it for watering plants or put it into a water butt in the garden
Keep a jug of water in the fridge to prevent wasting water every time you wait for the tap to run cold
Only use the washing machine and dishwasher when you have a full load
Consider buying a water butt to collect rain water for the garden – using rain water not only saves mains water but also the energy used to treat it
Putting a water-saving device, or simply a plastic coke bottle full of water, in your toilet cistern could save three litres of water every time you flush

On average, every person in the UK throws away their own body weight in rubbish every seven weeks
The energy saved from recycling one glass bottle will power a colour TV for 15 minutes or a computer for 20 minutes
100,000 tonnes of plastic bags are thrown away in the UK every year – that is the weight of 70,000 cars. Carrier bags dumped in landfill take 100 years to decompose
If you recycle your paper, in just seven days it could come back as your newspaper
50% of food purchased in the UK goes to waste
The UK produces enough waste every two hours to fill the Albert Hall
The UK produces more than 434 million tonnes of waste every year
Glass bottles can be recycled into house insulation. Plastic bottles can be recycled into fleece jackets

Reduce, reuse, recycle
Register with the Mailing Preference Scheme to avoid receiving junk mail; www.mpsonline.org.uk
Use shredded wastepaper as a substitute for animal bedding or cat litter
Donate unwanted items to charity shops or give them away through freecycle.org
Compost kitchen and garden waste
Recycle as much household waste as possible – contact your local council to find out about recycling facilities and services in your area
Choose to reuse – take shopping bags with you and if you cannot avoid an occasional plastic bag then re-use it
Write a shopping list to help you only buy what you need to avoid throwing away excess food, paint etc