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Whitney

Friday Fun – share your energy saving tips to win an energy saving prize!

posted at 9:43am, 23 Oct 09 by Whitney [ 20 comments ]

Hope you’ve all taken note that this week is Energy Savings Week.  With the countdown to Copenhagen well underway, it’s a week worth marking.

Our top 3 tips for reducing your the energy use associated with your beloved cuppa are below.

1.  Don’t over boil! Only fill the kettle with the amount of water you’re going to use.  (Besides, experts say that you should always draw fresh water for tea or coffee making, so reboiling what you’ve already boiled once not only wastes energy, but tastes bad too.)

2.  Drink your coffee from a cafetiere vs. splurging on that espresso machine (While I don’t have the data to back this claim up quite yet, my educated guess says the espresso machine needs more fuel than just the kettle.  Stay tuned for the hard numbers on this …)

3.  Love the caffeine!  Decaffeination is an energy intensive process so the carbon footprint of a decaff is actually significantly more than your normal coffee or tea.  (We’re updating our numbers on this at the moment, so again stay tuned for more details info in 2010!)

What are your top tips for saving energy, from hot drinks to beyond? Share them with us for your chance to win an Eco-tea prize!

This great prize could be yours!

The rules are simple:

Think of an energy tip – post your response to the comment box of this blog post.
You have until 5.30pm today to post your response.
The most creative or interesting suggestion will be chosen by judges from Cafédirect and announced on Monday on our blog.
The chosen caption will win a “Eco-tea prize” consisting of  an eco-kettle and a selection of Cafédirect teas.
Prizes can only be sent to a UK or Ireland postal address.

Good luck!

Comments

  1. cheryl pasquier says:
    October 26, 2009 at 2:51 pm

    woohoo thank you !!

  2. Whitney says:
    October 26, 2009 at 1:54 pm

    Thanks everyone for your tried and tested energy-saving tips.

    There were new ideas in here for even the most seasoned eco warrier. That said, the outstanding response made judging incredibly difficult.

    The winner of the Eco-teas prize is … Cheryl with her tip on making better use of the oven by cooking food for more than one meal at a time.

    (A close second and third in the highly commended category: Katie’s tip on descaling your kettle, a simple step to reduce the footprint of every cuppa, and Zoe’s tip on using a power extension to allow you to turn off a bunch of appliances at one go.)

    Well done all,

    Whitney

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  4. Michael says:
    October 23, 2009 at 5:00 pm

    Whenever you are spending the day at home kill 3 birds with 1 stone by washing dishes only once during the day (this is for those without dishwashers). Spend the few minutes you save after breakfast and lunch doing some exercise (eg brisk walk, stretches). This way you will:
    a) make maximum use of the hot water, with a eco side benefit of minimising use of washing up liquid
    b) warm yourself up so that you don’t feel the cold as much and so can set your heating to a lower temp or on for less time, saving elec/gas, with the side benefit of keeping healthier and releasing endorphins that make you feel better.

    Even 10 minutes walking makes a big difference as blood flow to the feet and hands relies heavily on the leg muscles and arm muscles being used, and of course most people feel the cold first in these extremities.

  5. Julia says:
    October 23, 2009 at 3:59 pm

    Keep the heat in by making sure your house is well insulated. Leave the oven door ajar/open (if safe) once you have turned it off to help heat up the kitchen. Wear lots of layers/use plenty of bedding. Go for a walk (or a run?!) to warm up. If you have a woodburner or open fire collect wood to burn all year from friends who have cut down trees etc and go scavenging for bits of wood on walks. Draw your curtains and close doors to help prevent drafts. Only buy A rated appliances. Keep freezers defrosted. Only turn the washing machine on when it is full and only use at lowest temperature possible. Line dry and only iron if essential. Only vacuum clean if necessary. Like others have mentioned turn computers, lights, tv etc off, enjoy the simpler pleasures of life, such as seeing friends, reading books, board games etc which don’t use any energy except your own. Only turn on lights if necessary. Candlelight can be very romantic! Walk, cycle when possible, use public transport or lift share when practical. Never use an immersion heater, they use loads of electricity …

  6. Mary says:
    October 23, 2009 at 3:19 pm

    Don’t drive around with lots of unnecessary stuff in your car – the heavier that it is the more fuel it will consume – keep it clean and be more lean!

  7. Alison says:
    October 23, 2009 at 2:55 pm

    Make sure you turn things off. My son is always leaving lights, the telly etc on when hes not in the room so I am trying to educate him to turn them off when hes is not using them. Energy saving bulbs are good as well

  8. Phil Soulsby says:
    October 23, 2009 at 1:29 pm

    As someone above suggested, buying an energy meter like an effergy elite helps you see how much electricity you are using – check it at bed time, when you are about to turn the light out and see how much power you are still using – think about 8 hours of this consumption while you sleep! Now get up and find those things that you don’t need to leave on and turn them off, recheck the meter and feel good! Tomorrow, turn off all those things before getting ready for bed – this is now a good new habit!

  9. KATIE PLANT says:
    October 23, 2009 at 1:24 pm

    Also – one I forgot to mention last week… a remoska is a very good cooking appliance for saving a lot of energy. They have become very popular and the use of electricity is quoted as being ‘miserly’.

  10. KATIE PLANT says:
    October 23, 2009 at 1:21 pm

    Something everyone can do to save energy in 2 minutes!

    Make sure your kettle is descaled. I have read that the element uses more energy in trying to heat up therefore increasing your energy consumption.

    It was also suggested that vinegar can be used to clean it instead of non environmentally friendly cleaners.

    In addition, the kettle should last longer if you take proper care of it, reducing waste and landfill space!

    3 savings in one go!

  11. cheryl pasquier says:
    October 23, 2009 at 1:15 pm

    Cook as many things as you can in one go. For example, when cooking the Sunday roast, put some big baked potatoes wrapped in foil in the bottom of the oven. They’ll just need a quick warm up for the next day’s dinner instead of another hour or so to be cooked from scratch. Also, when reheating food such as pies or quiches, cut them into smaller portions wherever possible – it’ll warm through quicker and use less energy.

  12. Catherine Miller says:
    October 23, 2009 at 1:09 pm

    For me there are two things that really help keep my energy usage lower! One is my extremally cosy blanket so I use to cover my feet etc rather than having the heating on during the day. The other is using an eco-button for my computer. This simple device allows you to reduce your energy, it powers down the computer when you are not using it by pressing the button and then press any key to restart where you left off.

    These two simple things save lots of energy over the course of a year! x

  13. Jo Bryan says:
    October 23, 2009 at 1:03 pm

    The junk mail I cant seem to stop being posted, I take the blank sides and make jotters for notebooks. Double Green as it gets another use before recycling

  14. Anne Benson says:
    October 23, 2009 at 12:36 pm

    Only turn the heating/hot water on when you actually need it or try and reduce how many hours you have it on for – no point in warming up an empty house if you’re going out, or running heating if its not that cold.

  15. Zoe Homes says:
    October 23, 2009 at 12:01 pm

    Quite simple… turn stuff off!
    The Sky+ box needs to stay on standby so it can record stuff – so rather than leave everything in the lounge on we put the Sky+ box in one wall socket and everything else on an extension into another socket so the telly, xbox, dvd and sound system etc can all be switched off at the wall without effecting all our series links.
    It works for us anyway!

  16. JoSnow says:
    October 23, 2009 at 11:59 am

    My boss recently bought a device to monitor our power usage – its amazing how much power putting the oven, washing machine and kettle on uses. Its made all of us much more aware of our energy usage and everyone is better at turning lights and computers off.

    Another tip is to put a hippo in your loo! This saves up to 3 litres of water every time you flush.

    Oh, and my favourite fun tip: sharing showers saves energy and water ;)

  17. Kim Allen says:
    October 23, 2009 at 11:49 am

    Invest in some good quality thick curtains and remember to tuck them right in at night to stop the chill from the windows making you want to put the heating on and it also ensures that the heat from your radiators isn’t going straight out of the room when they’re on as the curtains will be behind them :-D

  18. Marion Hill says:
    October 23, 2009 at 11:41 am

    I find the minimum water for kettle is more than I require for my breakfast cup so I put the rest in a flask for my morning cuppa. Any water I don’t use in this or other ways in the kitchen I put into a bucket for the loo … because we have to think of saving water as well as energy.

  19. James Rock says:
    October 23, 2009 at 10:34 am

    Have you heard about “Vampire Energy”?

    This is energy that gets used by items on standby when not in use – e.g. phone chargers, etc. These items consume energy even when not connected to the item they are used for charging. Experts estimate that an average home can be spending up to approx £60 per annum by not switching these off at the socket when not in use.

    For more information take a look at this site: http://is.gd/4×6x1

    Save the world by switching off….

    James Rock
    http://cultivar.wordpress.com

  20. GrumpyTart says:
    October 23, 2009 at 10:30 am

    To save time & energy (mine & electric!!) I make a large cafetiere of coffee and stick the spare coffee in a flask – saves me having to traipse downstairs to the freezing kitchen and I can just pour the coffee when required whilst sat at my desk – result :)