Guest Post // Must Have Eco Friendly Products from Mark Sait*

Being green has shifted dramatically over the past ten years from being “a nice thing” to an increasingly essential part of life.

Here are a range of must-have eco-friendly products that help the planet while cutting household costs.

LEDs  

Energy-saving LED lights are great for the planet and your pocket. They consume up to 90% less electricity and can last for up to 25 years or more, meaning your carbon footprint is much smaller while trips to the landfill are fewer. LED lamps also do not use hazardous materials, unlike CFLs which contain mercury and must be disposed of safely.

The government promotes LEDs as the eco-friendly solution in its recent report, “Energy efficient products – helping us cut energy use”

Eco showers and eco taps  

We naturally take water for granted yet it’s one of the most precious resources we have. While 71% of the earth’s surface is covered with water, around 1.386 billion cubic kilometres, only 3.5% is fresh water. And just 0.5% of this fresh source is available as drinking water.

Investing in products that drastically reduce consumption without affecting quality of use makes good sense for the environment and for household costs. Fit eco quality shower heads, eco taps and/or tap aerators to see an immediate, substantial reduction in water wastage.

These products can cut water consumption by more than half by ingeniously mixing air with the flow. It’s important to ensure that the shower head or eco tap does this, rather than just interfering with water flow, which many budget solutions do.

A great option if there is no budget or desire to replace current taps is to fit quality tap aerators. These mini marvels of engineering also blend air with water to cut consumption by 60% or more.

For households on a water meter, these products can have a very positive impact on consumption as everyone saves power used to heat and pump the water, cutting carbon emissions.

Energy-efficient appliances  

European-wide standards are aimed at making household appliances more economical and environmentally friendly. Consumers can find out how energy efficient a product is by checking its energy label, allowing them to make informed purchasing decisions.

Common household appliances have changed radically in recent years. For example, a refrigerator costs roughly half the amount to run over the course of its lifetime compared to one bought in 2000. Meanwhile, a washing machine now uses on average 28 kilowatt hours of electricity less each year than the most energy efficient model from 2000 – enough to boil around 150 kettles. Additionally, a television bought a decade ago would eat up £40 more power in its lifetime than a television of an equivalent model now.

Every household can cut carbon emissions and running costs by careful selection of other energy-rated products such as:
· eco kettles
· eco irons
· energy saving toaster
· vacuum cleaners

Domestic eco-warriors can make further contributions to the climate by using standby savers and controllers that turn off the computer, television, DVD player or games. Around 15 million TVs are left on standby for hours a day. Switching them off would save enough energy to decommission a power station.

Consumers can also save money and landfill by switching to rechargeable batteries, which can be recharged hundreds of times with no loss of performance.

An energy monitor helps households be more mindful of their consumption and habits. It’s a good step in the move to cut carbon footprints and utility bills.

Effective economy draught excluders like an eco-letter box flap are also worth the small investment – and are a more postman friendly option than the brush, seal and outward opening gravity flaps.

Every positive eco-friendly step taken by households makes a big dent in annual carbon emissions which impact so heavily on the climate.

Mark Sait is managing director of SaveMoneyCutCarbon.com, a full-service efficiency partner helping businesses and households reduce energy and water consumption, and cutting carbon emissions to improve sustainability.