Save Energy

According to research by the Energy Saving Trust, British people waste more energy than anyone else in Europe!  Every day we use energy to heat and light our homes, wash ourselves, our dishes and clothes, operate tumbledriers, vacuum our floors, cook our food and keep it fresh with fridges and freezers, watch TV, record programmes on video players, listen to music on the radio, cd or dvd player, mess around on our computer and play with other electrical gadgets - so there are lots of ways of exploring how to save energy!

From an environmental point of view, it’s best to avoid electrical goods.  If you are buying electrical appliances, check their energy efficiency rating.  ‘A’ is the best standard.  It takes far more energy to make a battery than the energy that it produces so, it is best to buy electrical goods that run off mains electricity rather than batteries.  If you do buy battery operated gifts then make sure you use rechargeable batteries.

The Energy Saving Trust (www.est.org.uk/aboutest) has an excellent web site which gives advice on how to save energy, energy saving products and grants to help pay for their suggestions!  Also worth checking out are the web sites for:

The Green Consumer Guide (www.greenconsumerguide.com) and

The National Energy Foundation (https://www.nef.org.uk/index.asp) 

Energy saving devices can be bought from a wide range of suppliers including DIY stores and suppliers of electrical goods.  

However, it’s worth bearing in mind that a lot of mainstream DIY energy saving products can have other very harmful environmental impacts. Fortunately, there are a growing number of specialist building merchants and suppliers of energy saving devices who only sell items which cause no or minimal harm to the environment.  The search engines and directories listed at the top of this Handy Tips page are a good starting point.   The Association for Environment Conscious Buildings (www.aecb.net) also has a useful directory.  In addition, the web sites below may be of help in locating the very best suppliers of green building products.

Calch Ty-Mawr (www.lime.org.uk/)

Centre for Alternative Technology (www.cat.org.uk)

Construction Resources (www.constructionresources.com)

Eco Construction Directory (www.ecoconstruction.org)  

Ecomerchant (www.ecomerchant.co.uk)

Green Building Store (www.greenbuildingstore.co.uk)

Greenfix UK (www.greenfix.co.uk)

The Green Shop (www.greenshop.co.uk)

Mike Wye and Associates (www.mikewye.co.uk)

Natural Building Technologies (www.natural-building.co.uk)

Womersleys (www.womersleys.co.uk

With a little bit of research you should be able to find a selection of the energy saving ideas we’ve suggested below.

Lots of man-made loft and wall cavity insulation products give off ozone-depleting chemicals.  To avoid this problem, insulate your home with natural insulation materials.  Products range from woodfibre boards, cellulose fibre, hemp, recycled cotton, shredded recycled newsprint to sheep’s wool.  You could even grow your own insulation with a living roof!

Whilst double glazing is a great energy saving device, it can create huge disposal problems because the PVC frames and glass take hundreds of years to break down and they also give off ozone depleting gases.  Some manufacturers overcome this problem by making their double glazing door and window frames from wood. 

Heat barriers, boilers, draft excluders, energy saving control systems and thermostats are other methods of using less energy or retaining heat.

If you must operate air conditioning systems, then heat pump air conditioning is the most energy efficient way of changing indoor temperatures.

Central heating systems are inefficient ways of heating an entire building.  However, Building Management Control systems are electronic or computer microchip operated products that enable appliances such as heating and air-conditioning to be managed so that they operate at ideal temperatures. By controlling the building temperature it is possible to regulate the indoor environment to the exact degree, ensuring that energy is not wasted on unnecessary heating. 

Wood burners and stoves are carbon neutral and so do not contribute to global warming.  It’s worth checking out the local supplier search engines listed at the top of this Handy Tips page.  Other suppliers are listed on the Stove Dealer List (www.stoveland.co.uk/StoveDealers.html) (a directory of UK suppliers) but note the directory is not very comprehensive. There are quite a lot of local specialists in stoves in the Newcastle area but if you would like to browse the web to see the sort of stoves available, the following sites give an interesting selection of top quality products:

Stoves are Us: (www.stovesareus.co.uk) 

Stove Centre: (www.stovecentre.co.uk) 

Stovax: (www.stovax.com) 

Nowadays, there are a wide range of energy efficient electrical goods available.  Check out the Green Consumer Guide website (www.greenconsumerguide.com/whitegoods.php).

Use Green Energy

There are only 3 companies which supply electricity from the national grid which seriously offer a green option.

Ecotricity (www.ecotricity.co.uk) who provide 17.5% of their energy from renewables but invest heavily in building wind turbines and bringing online new renewable sources. 

Good Energy (www.good-energy.co.uk) is the only company that provides all its power from renewable sources. 

Green Energy UK (www.greenenergy.uk.com) get 79% of their power from renewables.

Some electricity companies offer renewable energy tariffs.  See the Electricity Information website (www.electricityinfo.org).

Better still – install a wind turbine, solar photovoltaic (electricity generating) roof panels, solar thermal(water heating) panels, ground source heat pumps or floor heating systems in your own home (micro-renewables).  For further information look up:

The British Photovoltaic Association (www.greenenergy.org.uk/pvuk2/)

The British Wind Energy Association (www.bwea.com/index.html)

Centre for Alternative Technology (www.cat.org.uk)

Energy 21(www.energy21.org.uk)

Energy Saving Trust (www.est.org.uk/aboutest/)

Energy Watch (www.energywatch.org.uk)

Ground Source Heat Pump Association (https://www.nef.org.uk/gshp/) 

National Energy Foundation (www.nef.org.uk/aboutus/whatwedo.htm)

Renewable Energy Association (www.r-p-a.org.uk)

Solar Trade Association (www.greenenergy.org.uk/sta/index.html)

Grants are sometimes available to help towards installation costs.  Check out whether you can get a grant on:

Low Carbon buildings (www.lowcarbonbuildings.org.uk).

Newcastle Council works in partnership with a number of organizations to promote energy efficiency in the city.  

The Energy Centre (www.newcastle.gov.uk/core.nsf/a/energyhomepage?opendocument) offers energy advice to the Council, Your Homes Newcastle and to Newcastle's residents. 

Newcastle Warm Zone (www.newcastle.gov.uk/core.nsf/a/warmzonehome?opendocument), is a network of public and private sector groups which has been set up to tackle fuel poverty and improve energy efficiency in all households across the city.

Keeping Newcastle Warm (www.knw.org.uk) is another organisation which provides low cost draught-proofing and loft insulation to low income families and the elderly in the area.

If you are interested in installing your own renewable energy system, there are loads of companies to choose from:

AES Solar Systems (www.aessolar.co.uk)

B&Q online (www.diy.com/diy/jsp) 

Cel-F Solar Systems (www.cel-f-solar.com)

Ecoheat (www.ecoheat.co.uk)

Energy and Environment (www.energyenv.co.uk)

Filsol solar (www.filsol.co.uk)

Geowarmth Limited (www.geowarmth.co.uk)

Imagination Solar (www.imaginationsolar.com)

Marlec Engineering Co (www.marlec.co.uk)

Monaghan & Hornal (www.sun-harvester.co.uk)

Rainbow Solar Trading (www.rainbowtradingpost.co.uk)

Rayotec (www.rayotec.com)

Revolutionpower.co.uk (www.revolutionpower.co.uk)

Select Solar (www.selectsolar.co.uk)

Sol 2O (www.sol2o.co.uk)

Solarcentury (www.solarcetury.co.uk)

Solartwin (www.solartwin.com)

Turbine Services (www.turbineservices.co.uk)

Wind and Sun Ltd (www.windandsun.co.uk)

Wind Pro (www.winpro-uk.com)

Windsave (www.windsave.com)

Save Water

According to Waterwise (www.waterwise.org.uk) the key to water efficiency is reducing water wastage rather than use.  This can be done by changing habits and by choosing more water efficient products.  Waterwise provide an interesting list of tips on how to stop water wastage.  They also have a comprehensive list of water saving products including garden watering systems, showers, tap dual flow inserts, water efficient bathroom suites, waterless car wash systems, water saving kits, water usage monitoring and leakage control devices, inserts for toilet cisterns and flushing control mechanisms.  

The Environment Agency’s web site also lists top tips for saving water (https://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/subjects/waterres/286587/287169/?version=1&lang=_e).  The site provides information about the types of devices available be it dish washers, washing machines, showers, baths or taps that you are after and suppliers.  The web sites for green DIY stores listed in the section called ‘Save Energy’ sell some of these products as well as the items listed below.

Other gizmos include gray water systems which filter and recycle water from bathroom sinks, baths, showers, and washing machines for use flushing toilets and/or irrigating landscaping.  Rainwater collection systems operate in a similar way gathering rain water for use in flushing toilets, washing and irrigating land.  

But, for the most eco-minded there’s nothing like waterless toilets (Kingsley Plastics Limited (https://www.kingsleyplastics.co.uk/SpecialsPageOne-OffProjects.shtml) and airflush urinals (Acquafree (www.aquafree.com))!  

Compost toilets and natural effluent filtration systems such as woodchip or reed beds are, of course, the most environmentally friendly allowing our natural by-products to be returned to the land.  If you want to know more, these are the just the sort of people you need to talk to!  

Composting Toilet World (www.compostingtoilet.org) 

Eastwood Services (www.sun-mar.com) 

Elemental Solutions (www.elementalsolutions.co), 

Nat Sol Compost Toilet Specialists (www.natsol.co.uk)  

Use non-toxic personal hygiene and baby products

Many people are unaware of the range of toxic chemicals in seemingly benign products like cosmetics, toothpaste, body wash, sanitary and baby cleansing products.  However, over 1000 chemicals which are currently available to manufacturers of cosmetics and toiletries are suspected to have harmful effects.  Some of these can even survive the journey through sewage works into the sea!  

Fortunately there is a growing market for organic and natural hygiene and body care products.  Almost all of the web sites listed at the top of this Handy Tips page contain directories of suppliers of these types of products.  Local health food shops should also be able to help.  

The following are also a selection of web sites of the larger suppliers of baby products which include body and hair care items:

Baby-O (www.baby-o.co.uk)

Born (www.borndirect.com)

Calmia (www.calmia.com)

Ecobaby Basic (www.ecobabybasicscom)

Erbaviva (www.erbaviva.com)

Green People (www.greenpeople.co.uk)

HealthQuest (www.healthquest.co.uk)

Little Green Earthlets (www.earthlets.co.uk)

Little Me Baby Organics (www.littlemebabyorgics.co.uk)

Mother Earth (www.motherearth.co.uk)

MulaDula (www.muladula.com)

Spiezia Baby (www.spieziaorganics.com)

Tiny Sprout (www.tinysprout.co.uk)

Some feminine and baby hygiene products are harder to locate.  

In the Newcastle area, washable nappies can be bought from eco-maternity and baby specialist Megababe Maternity (www.megababematernity.co.uk/)and (www.washables.co.uk) (Tel: 091 280 2522).  Grow Up Green (Tel: 276 2400) also provide a popular and convenient door-to-door nappy laundry service and sell washable nappies.  

Natracare (www.natracare.com) organic cotton and chlorine-free tampons and sanitary towels are probably the most widely available alternative to the standard feminine hygiene products.  Health food specialists who stock them include:

Almonds and Raisins

Honey Tree and 

Out of This World.  

Re-usable, washable rubber menstrual blood collection cups are manufactured by:

The Keeper (www.menses.co.uk) or

Mooncup (www.mooncup.co.uk)  

These incredible little cups are far more hygienic, don’t dry you out and are much more comfortable than tampons and sanitary towels.  They are quite expensive but they last a life time and you’ll very quickly get your money back.  Mooncups, the keeper and washable sanitary towels are available from an excellent local company which specializes in baby and feminine hygiene products that are washable, long lasting or made from recycled materials – Deconstruction 422 6391.

Use non-toxic cleaning,  gardening and DIY products 

Greenpeace have a quite horrifying web site dedicated to exposing the multitude of chemicals in all our houses (www.greenpeace.org.uk/Products/Toxics/index.cfm).  This site provides a comprehensive list of products (from computers to dishwasher tablets) that you might want to boycott because of their toxic effects on the environment.  Not surprisingly, many cleaning, gardening and DIY products contribute to this disgraceful situation.  Fortunately, some companies take their responsibilities towards the environment seriously and there is a good range of alternative products on the market.

Ecover is the most widely available eco-cleaning manufacturer.  Ecover, and other cleaning products, are available from most health food shops and even some supermarkets.  

For details of cleaning, gardening and DIY products check out some of the web sites at the top of this Handy Tips guide.

Organic gardening methods eliminate the need for harmful herbicides and pesticides.  See section called ‘Food – Buy locally or grow your own’ for gardening web sites.  The following web sites offer advice or products for controlling pests and weeds in your organic garden.

Agralan (www.agralan.co.uk

Biowise (www.biowise-biocontrol.co.uk)

Defenders Ltd (www.defenders.co.uk)

Green Gardener (www.greengardener.co.uk)

Green Pest Co (www.greenpestco.com)

Harrod Horticultural (www.harrodhorticultural.com)

Green Ways (www.green-ways.co.uk)

Just Green (www.just-green.com)

Mike Long Garden Supplies (www.slugfence.com)

Scarletts Plant Care (www.bio.scarletts.co.uk)

Paints, lead acid batteries, fluorescent light tubes, pesticides, herbicides and lots of DIY and car repair products are all classed as hazardous waste and must be disposed of at special sites. To find out what is hazardous waste and how to dispose of it safely either log on to the Environment Agency’s web site at (www.environment-agency.gov.uk/subjects/waste/1019330/1217981/1384307/?version=1&lang=_e) or The National Household Hazardous Waste Forum (www.nhhwf.org.uk).  The National Household Hazardous Waste forum is an easier read and shows you how to locate the nearest site where you can safely dispose of hazardous waste at: www.chem-away.org.uk.

The Environment Agency’s Oil Bank Line (www.oilbankline.org.uk) is another site that can help you to identify where you can get rid of old engine oil safely and cleanly.

Buy environmentally friendly furniture, soft furnishings, clothing, toys and gismos

Every single person on the earth and wildlife across the globe, even the unborn, are contaminated with a cocktail of man-made chemicals which build up in the body and/or persist in the environment.  Thousands of these hazardous chemicals are in everyday products like toys, flooring, computers, clothing and furniture.

Fortunately, there are a large number of organisations which now sell organic, environmentally safe and fair traded household goods including furniture, soft furnishings, clothing, shoes and even games.  Some of the larger organisations are listed below but the search engines and databases at the top of this Handy Tips list have extensive supplier listings.

Ganesha (www.ganesha.co.uk) are importers and traders of beautiful fair trade furnishings and accessories.

One Village (www.onevillage.org) offer an extensive range of fair trade rugs, cushions, pots, household goods, shoes 

Centre for Alternative Technology (www.cat.org.uk) provide a large range of green goods ranging from electrical products to DIY items.

Get Ethical (www.getethical.com) sell a reasonable selection of fair trade goods.

If you’re after organic, specialist clothing from recycled materials or fair trade clothing for adults, children and babies then, again, it will be worth your while checking out the search engines listed at the start of this Handy Tips page.  The following web sites might also be useful particularly for baby clothing:

Bambino Mio (www.bambinomio.com)(Baby clothing)

Beaming Baby (www.beamingbaby.co.uk)(Baby clothing)

Cut4Cloth (www.cut4cloth.co.uk)(Baby clothing)

FunkyGandhi.com (www.funkygandhi.com) (great T shirts)

Green Fibres (www.greenfibres.com) ) (Clothing for men, women, children and babies)

Hug.co.uk (www.hug.co.uk) (Clothing for men, women and children)

Natural Child (www.naturalchild.co.uk)(Baby clothing)

The Natural Store (www.thenaturalstore.co.uk) (Clothing and shoes for men, women and children)

The Natural Nursery (www.naturalnursery.co.uk)(Baby clothing)

Patagonia (www.patagonia.com) (Outdoor clothing)

People Tree (www.peopletree.co.uk) (Clothing for men, women and children)

Tonic T-Shirts (www.tonictshirts.com) (cool T shirts)

Top Shop and Marks and Spencers now also sell lines in fair trade organic clothing.

There are a growing range of responsible toy manufacturers who make their products from recycled products or sustainably managed sources including:

The Green Board Game Company (www.greenboardgames.com)

Good to be Wood (www.goodtobewood.com)

In2Play (www.in2play.co.uk)

Lanka Kade (www.lankakade.co.uk)

Myriad (www.myriadonline.co.uk)

In2Play have an excellent directory of wooden toy producers and suppliers (https://www.in2play.co.uk/directory.html)

Reduce Waste

Recycle Now (www.recyclenow.com) is the most comprehensive web site for householders wanting to learn how to recycle, reduce, re-use and compost their rubbish.  Not satisfied with this though, we’ve provided a list of suggestions below:

Reduce the amount of junk mail you receive by removing yourself from mailing lists.  Register with:

The Mail Preference Service at www.mpsonline.co.uk or call 0845 703 4599 and
e-mail Royal Mail at www.mydm.co.uk or write to them at: Freepost, Royal Mail Door to Door Opt Outs, Oxford,
OX1 1RX

Try not to buy heavily packed goods or buy larger packs.

Buy fruit and vegetables loose instead of pre-packaged.

Avoid packaging - grow your own vegetables.  Check out the gardening web sites listed in the section called ‘Food – Buy locally or grow your own’.

Compost your own food and garden waste.  Newcastle Council sells discounted composters.  For further information, contact Mark Manley, Recycling Officer, on: 277 3534.  For advice about how to compost, contact Sue Robertson, WRAP Home Composting Advisor on: 07904 000 371 and look up the WRAP home composting web page (www.recyclenow.com/home_composting/index.html).  The Composting Association (www.compost.org.uk) web site also offers some very helpful information on home composting.  

 Use washable nappies instead of disposable nappies.  Contact Megababe Maternity (www.megababematernity.co.uk/)and (www.washables.co.uk) Tel: 091 280 2522.  Alternatively, use a nappy laundry service.  Contact Grow up Green (www.growupgreen.co.uk) Tel: 0191 276 2400.  The Real Nappy Campaign website (www.realnappycampaign.com) contains some shocking facts about disposable nappies but also some inspirational answers.  In addition, the Women’s Environmental Network (www.wen.org.uk) campaigns on this issue.

Use a water filter instead of bottled water.

Support local breweries by drinking in a CAMRA pub.

Get your milk delivered rather than from a supermarket – a milk bottle is reused up to 13 times before being recycled.  This will also help local farmers.

Save on batteries (and energy) by buying wind-up or solar-powered electrical goods.  

Buying long-life light bulbs.

Reuse Items

If you don’t want to give unwanted items to charities, antique shops or house clearance companies, there are several local organisations which will reuse items that you no longer need.  You can also buy items from these organisations.

Furniture - Community Furniture Service Contact number:  0191 224 0555 (East End) or 0191 256 8377 (West End).

Washing machines, cookers and other kitchen appliances - ReNew. Contact number: 0191 469 7068

Mobile phones - Most major mobile phone companies now take part in the Fonebak scheme (www.fonebak.com) which allows customers to return phones to the shop where they were purchased.

Oxfam has a similar phone return scheme called Bring Bring (www.oxfam.org.uk).

Recyke y’ Bike repair and sell reconditioned bikes (www.recyke-y-bike.org).

Left-over paint – Repaint (www.communityrepaint.org.uk)

There are also a growing number of web sites where second-hand goods can be sold or exchanged:

Ebay (www.ebay.co.uk) 

Swapz (www.swapz.co.uk) 

Freecycle (www.uk.freecycle.org)

Junkfox (www.junkfox.com)

Freebee.co.uk (www.freebee.co.uk)

Read It Swap It (www.readitswapit.co.uk)

Other community groups based in the North East which are involved in recycling can be found on the following web sites:

Community Recycling Network (www.crn.org.uk/cwnne/directory/index.html)

Voluntary Organisations Network North East (www.vonne.co.uk/issues/environment/recycling.htm).  

There are other ways you can reduce waste by reusing objects.

You can reuse carrier bags when you go to the supermarket or buy a ‘bag for life’.

You can re-fill packaging like printer cartridges, Body Shop bottles etc.

You can also prolong the life of batteries by using rechargeable batteries, rather than single use ones. 

Packaging can be re-used in imaginative ways – foil containers make handy mini-baking trays; big yogurt pots can be cleaned and used for freezing soup or stock; plastic bottles can have their bottoms cut off and be used as cloches in the garden; old clothing can become dish cloths or dusters …

Repair shoes, lights, toasters, computers, TVs etc.

Recycle

If you have a wheelie bin then you should be able to join the black box recycling scheme operating in Newcastle.  In Newcastle residents can recycle plastic bottles, glass bottles, batteries, junk mail, newspapers and magazines, steel and aluminium cans and cloth.  Newcastle residents who use their black recycling boxes get the chance to be entered into a prize draw which takes place every 8 week.  The top prize is £1,000 and runners up prizes include holidays, organic food hampers, bikes, first class tickets for two on the GNER line, Fjordline cruises, wind up radios, organic champagne and lots more.  So - recycling pays in lots of ways!  To get a recycling box contact the Helpline on: 0845 600 28 36.  

If you cannot have a black recycling box, you still may be able to recycle using communal bins.  To find out more, contact:  Mark Manley, Recycling Officer:  277 3567