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The lazy git's guide to going green
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Turn one dial on a household appliance, swap one item you purchase at the supermarket and then spend five minutes outside once a week… you’ll save cash and do your bit for the planet.
Step one: Wash at 30 degrees
Asda is leading the way with eco-friendly washing instructions – and if you follow their lead, you’ll soon see your electricity bills fall. “If all the garments sold by Asda in 2006 were washed at 30°C instead of higher temperatures, £200,000 could be saved in electricity costs,” says Tamara Mauro-Trujillo of the Energy Saving Trust.
And you can share in those savings, too, in the form of a 40% reduction in your spend on the electricity that powers your washing machine.
Cut home costs
Step two: buy an ecological detergent
Ecover, now widely available in supermarkets, favours plant-based surfactants that are renewable, have minimal aquatic toxicity and also biodegrade quickly and completely. In other words, the chemical nasties won’t hang around contaminating the water and turning your kids’ kids into three-eyed monsters.
Step three: avoid the tumble dryer
The humble tumble dryer is one of the world’s most energy-intensive domestic appliances. “If everyone in the UK hung out one load of washing a week, we could save 515,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions,” says Lucy Siegle, ethical living columnist at The Observer. We’d also get to see our neighbours’ underwear – which could be a good or a bad thing…
