Goal For The Green

A few generations ago, your grandmother had a wooden spoon that she used forever. You, on the other hand, use a cheap metal or plastic spoon that you probably will toss within a year. Modern society is filled with disposable items with a short shelf life. With so much waste surrounding us, it seems impossible to be green and repurpose used items. It’s easy, however, to be environmentally conscious. Recycle, upcycle and repair everyday things and transform them into something useful, again, with the following suggestions:

Clothing

Photo by normanack via Flickr

When you and your children attend camps, conferences and special events, you probably bring home a T-shirt. You can take it to a charity shop when you are done wearing it, but chances are high that no one will buy it and it will end up in the landfill anyway. Instead, gather all those shirts and make yourself a charming quilt that will keep you warm for years and contain memorable stories.

Plumbing

Photo by Cayusa via Flickr

Even though it’s one of the scariest home repair jobs for the amateur to tackle, most plumbing can be easily done on your own. A leaky faucet can be fixed with a few tools and a couple of Apple Rubber o rings, while a toilet can be unclogged by detaching the toilet from the floor and grabbing the offending clog from the S-bend. If you have never tried your hand at these kinds of jobs but are interested in saving cash on plumbing bills, check out an instructional video on a site like YouTube. Best of all, when you fix the problem on your own without making a plumber drive out to your house, you save fossil fuels.

Memories

Photo by nashworld via Flickr

After a loved one has passed, the ecological thing to do is donate his or her clothes. But sometimes it’s too hard to let go. You don’t have to with a memory bear, which is made from articles of clothing, uniforms, fur coats, blankets or other items from a loved one. For example, Carrie Bears will make a 20-inch stuffed bear out of your loved one’s personal belongings or you can download a template and make your own, which is a heartwarming way to hold onto and upcycle the memories of a special person.

Home Decor

Photo by SOCIALisBETTER via Flickr

Home decorating is not an inexpensive hobby but when you introduce upcycling as part of it, it becomes greener and more affordable. Most home decorations go out of style and end up in the landfill after a few years so you may as well make your decorations with objects that are headed that direction. There are countless books to get your ideas flowing. Upcycling Celebrations by Danny Seo focuses on holiday decorations and Upcycle That is a fabulous blog with detailed instructions on all kinds of green projects, ranging from decorative egg carton flower lights to cork planters and crate coffee tables.

Guest Post by Rosie French

Wholesale energy costs might be lowering, but monthly prices for the end consumer are going up.  Bill prices have been rising above the rate of inflation for a long time in the UK, so knowing how to minimise your costs is essential.  Sieving through the vast amount of information on this topic around the web can be tiring, so we’ve created a short guide to beating the energy companies.

Energy prices/BTU, 1980-2030 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Price Comparison

Sites like Go Compare are excellent at giving you a top-down picture of what the energy market looks like at any given time.  The best thing you can do when you’re looking to save money on your bills is be proactive. Look for fixed term prices, as variable cost rates can fluctuate wildly depending on fundamental factors such as wars in the raw-material countries or strikes at production plants.

Insulation Grants

There are lots of ways to get free roof and loft insulation if you’re in the right financial circumstances.  If you can’t afford to pay for insulation outright, you could be entitled to file a claim for the job to get it done for free.  So, take a look at an online tool that explains whether you’re eligible or not.

Natural Light

Although you might take preventative measures at night to ensure that your thick, winter-proof curtains are closed to prevent heat loss, during the day you should open them wide to let in the natural sun light.  As it passes through the window it is magnified and the light energy is transferred into heat.  Remember, drawing in heat from the sun could let you keep your heating off for an extra half-hour every day, saving you a fortune on your overall bill.

Low-Tech DIY

There are plenty of DIY fixes that can prevent heat loss at home.  For instance, try placing sheets of tin foil against the walls behind your radiators to prevent heat escaping through the walls to the outside.   Similarly, you could create draft excluders to help block drafts which lower the air temperature in your rooms.

If you’ve been worried about the price hikes in the energy sector and wondering about how you’re going to come up with the funds to pay your new bills, use some of these techniques and you’re sure to see the effects of the new prices minimised.  Nobody wants to pay for expensive energy, so beat the energy companies and save money.

Guest Post by Rosie French

If you’re starting up a new business, the thing at the top of your mind probably isn’t eco-compliance. Instead, you’re probably more focused on maintaining your profit and staying afloat. After all, 3 out of 4 new businesses are destined to fail. However, it’s not impossible to be both profitable and green, so follow our advice and you’re sure to be both.

All-Digital Work Flow                                                                       

United Consultancy Services1 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It’s no secret that Britain is a digital economy. So, ensuring that your entire work ecosystem is online should be something you’re attempting to achieve, regardless of the green benefits. The environmental effect of striving for a digital-only pipeline is numerous. For a start, you’ll reduce your paper output and save on ink and other toxic products. You can even lower your electricity output by switching it off at the wall when you don’t need it, and also by switching your browser to Blackle, which has already saved over 4,000,000 watts of energy to date.

Paper Policy

Following on from the last point, paper wastage is extremely detrimental to the environment, so having a good recycling policy is essential. However, another benefit which you might not at first recognise is that having a stringent paper policy makes you more likely to resort to digital solutions and this has a number of advantages. From being simple to back up to making transfer of ideas easier across your team, introducing a paper policy will not only save on paper, it will also increase your productivity.

Green Consultancy

If your business strays from the path of the generic finance and advertising company, you might not be aware of all the ways you can ensure your new business is green-compliant. If that sounds like you, don’t panic – there are lots of services out there to support you. For example, look to companies such as ERG Air Pollution Control, who offer consultancy services in the areas of air quality control and odor contamination modelling.

There are lots of similar companies who will be able to answer any specific environmental questions you have regarding your business, so make the most of them: nobody wants to run an energy-inefficient, non-environmental business. With these consultancy firms offering free advice, there’s nothing to stop you, as it won’t cost your company anything.

So ultimately, making sure that your business is environmentally compliant should not affect your profits negatively. In fact, if you follow the advice above, it should increase your chances of staying afloat significantly. So what are you waiting for?