Oakwood Church Leeds

Eco Tips

www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/home-energy-efficiency/energy-saving-quick-wins

Laundry

• When using a washing machine ensure there is a full load and turn down the temperature. Heating the water to higher temperatures uses more energy

• Electric tumble dryers use energy. If it's a nice day dry your clothes outside. In the winter most drying is done by the wind, so check the forecast for wind days and nights as you can hang washing overnight (as there is no dew in the winter)

• Irons use a lot of electricity to get hot - only iron clothes that really need it

• Cut up old clothes or sheets that you were going to throw out, to use as cloths for cleaning jobs rather than buying new ones

Bathroom

• Spend less time in the shower. Spending one minute less in the shower each day will save up to £7 off your energy bills each year, per person. Heating water uses a lot of energy

• Turn off the tap while cleaning your teeth. The clean water that flows out of your tap needs energy in many stages of processing and transport before it gets to the tap. Don't waste it!

• If your toilet cistern holds more than 6 litres of water (likely if it was installed before 2001) put a Hippo Water Saving device (or a brick) in it to save water each time you flush. See

 www.hippo-the-watersaver.co.uk

• Fit a water efficient shower head (if you've got a shower that takes hot water straight from your boiler or hot water tank). This will reduce your hot water usage while retaining the sensation of a powerful shower

• Switch to eco cleaning products which biodegrade in the sewerage system and don't damage aquatic life in our rivers and seas. They also contain less harmful chemical for us too

Shopping

• Make a list before you go food shopping to help avoid impulse buying and over stocking with food you will end up throwing away

• Reduce your impact on the environment by buying second hand when you can. Charity shops, Emmaus, Freecycle,  Ebay, Gumtree, Preloved etc are good sources of reused items

• When you need to buy a large item research it carefully. Think about how long it could last, how much it will cost to run, what it is made of, where it is made, and can it be recycled at the end of its life? Better quality items often last longer and so cost you less over time

• Tempted to buy on impulse when you are shopping? Get in the habit of coming back the next day or next week when you have thought through whether or not you really need buy it

Energy Bills

• Get to grips with your energy bills. The information on a typical energy bill can be confusing. But understanding it can go a long way to helping you understand your energy use

• Switch your electricity supplier so that you support renewable electricity generation rather than electricity made by burning fossil fuels. You could, for instance, use the Green Journey price comparison site

http://greenjourney.switchgasandelectric.com/  

• More than half the money spent on fuel bills goes towards providing heating and hot water. Installing a room thermostat, a programmer and thermostatic radiator valves, and using these controls efficiently, could save you around £75 a year

• If you already have a full set of heating controls, turning down your room thermostat by just one degree can save around £80 a year. (Jumpers are fashionable!)

Kitchen

• Never put warm or hot food into the fridge or freezer as this will make the fridge work extra hard to try and keep it cold; always allow food to cool down first

• Use a bowl to wash up rather than a running tap and save £25.00 a year in energy bills

• When making a cup of tea, only boil the amount of water that you need. You waste electricity (and money) heating water you won't use

• Stop using aluminium foil for cooking wherever possible; use a container with a lid that can be reused. Aluminium in a rare metal and its extraction and purification uses a lot of energy

• Eat less meat, particularly red meat as producing 1 kg of beef produces the equivalent CO2 to you driving a 300 mile round trip while leaving all your lights on at home

Holiday

• Going for a day out to the beach? Take a bag in your pocket and pick up any litter you see

• Planning your day out or holiday journey? Use public transport if you can to reduce your carbon emissions. Travelling by train or ferry to Europe can be part of the adventure

• If you are planning to fly for your holiday make sure you carbon offset the carbon you generate from your flight, e.g. with Climate Stewards www.climatestewards.com

• Holiday waste? When you are away try to take as much care to save energy, recycle, prevent food waste as you would at home

Electrical appliances

• You can save around £30 a year just by remembering to turn your appliances off at the plug rather than leaving them in standby mode

• Take your phone charger out of the socket when not in use. It uses energy even when it's not charging your phone

• Buy A-rated electrical appliances whenever you can. They may be more expensive initially but you will save on your energy bills

• The location of your fridge can make a difference in how energy efficient it is. Make sure it is out of direct sunlight and not close to the oven. Keeping it against an outside wall will help the heat it generates escape easily, and always make sure that there is a few inches' space all around the fridge so that air can circulate

• Electrical gadgets are great, but the environmental impact of manufacturing them and disposing of them at the end of their life is high. Think before you buy more gadgets

Water

• Catch rainwater to use in the garden, rather than using tap water

• Don’t buy bottled water, buy a reusable bottle and top up from the tap

www.yorkshirewater.com/savewater

Water Conservation Leaflet - September 2018

In the car

• In the car drive away immediately when starting from cold - idling to heat the engine wastes fuel and causes rapid engine wear

• When driving the most efficient speed depends upon the car in question but is typically around 55 - 65 mph, faster speeds will greatly increase your fuel consumption. Slow down and allow a little more time for journeys

• Change your car breakdown cover to a company that campaigns for better environmental transport measures, rather than being part of the road transport lobby for example, Environmental Transport Association - www.eta.co.uk

• In the car switch your engine off if you pull over or are stuck in traffic for even a minute.  It saves you fuel, reduces the nitrous oxide pollution for you and those around you and cuts noise pollution

Lighting your Home

• Light bulbs!  If the average household replaced all of their bulbs with LEDs, it would cost about £100 and save about £35 a year on bills

• Use natural light when you can to save energy.  Sit by the window.  Decorate your home in light colours to maximise natural light

• Turn your lights off when you're not using them.  If you switch a light off for just a few seconds, you will save more energy than it takes for the light to start up again, regardless of the type of light

• If you have lights in your garden use solar powered lights that charge during the day and don't require electricity

Keeping Warm

• Make sure you close your curtains when it gets dark to stop heat escaping

• Get draft proof to stop losing heat. Professional draft-proofing of windows, doors and blocking cracks in floors and skirting boards can cost around £200 but can save around £25 a year on energy bills. DIY draft-proofing can be much cheaper. Installing a chimney draft excluder could save around £15 a year as well

• Make sure your hot water tank is insulated with a thick jacket. It will save you lots of money, not to mention reducing your carbon emissions

• Has your loft got loads of insulation? It’s one of the cheapest and easiest ways to save energy and will pay for itself in hardly any time

Christmas

• Be creative in the gifts you give this Christmas; make sure your desire to be loving is not damaging the environment

• Getting ready for the festivities of Christmas. Buy as much locally produced, in season food and particularly vegetables as you can. Try not to over cater and waste food

• Wrap and re-wrap. Why not reuse your wrapping paper. Take a bit of care unwrapping your presents (it adds to the gift experience), save the paper and reuse next year

• Enjoy the feast of Christmas! Don't forget to recycle your rubbish. Don't waste unwanted presents find new homes for them through a charity shop or on Ebay

• Get ready with your environmental New Year's Resolution. How will your care for creation in the coming year?

Eco Tips for everyone

At the Oakwood Church AGM in April 2018

it was agreed that work should proceed to develop an

Environmental Policy for Oakwood Church Here

In March 2019 we agreed our Policy

In April 2020 Oakwood Church won a

UK A ROCHA Eco Church Silver Award

We are going for Gold

How can I help?

Everyone at Oakwood Church and in our local community can help everyone else by

Doing All You Can to help the Environment

at Church, at home, at work, at leisure

 and when travelling

Please share your own Eco Tips with us

and we may publish them on this page

Note Oakwood Church does not endorse any of the ideas, opinions or products mentioned on this page, but we wouldn’t publish if we doubted they were useful

Eco Tips for everyone

Your Eco Tips

Interactive Personalised

Vegetable Growing Cheat Sheet Here

Vegetable Growing Cheat Sheet Poster Here

“Nothing tastes as good and costs fewer food miles than fruit and vegetable you grow yourself”

Signpost by David Donaldson

Source: Anglia Home Improvements Here

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Actions for Wildlife Here

“Simple things you can do to help wildlife”

Signpost by David Donaldson

Source: Yorkshire Wildlife Trust Here

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Less Plastic More Fantastic

Presentation July 2019 Here

“Anyone can become a Single-Use Plastic Champion - all that is required is a desire to see single-use plastics eliminated from the workplace”

Signpost by Al Fraser

Source: Civil Service Local - Blog Here

Recycling Project

We are gathering items for recycling that cannot go into Leeds City Council’s Green Bins. Please put the following into the special Recycling Project bin which is outside the Church Hall at the far end of the car park.

 Foil crisp packets

 Dental care plastic e.g. plastic packaging, toothbrushes, empty floss containers

 Biscuit and cracker packaging

 Bread loaf plastic bags (not waxed paper)

 Chocolate wrappers and outside packaging from multi-packs

 Pringle tubes

 Writing implements e.g. pens, markers

 Pet food pouches and larger bags with plastic packaging

 Medicine/tablet empty blister packs

No need to sort – just put them all in.

Please do clean things out first, and leave items in a bag when you put them in the bin.

Note We are no longer taking Type 2 and Type 4 plastic as this can go into LCC’s Green Bins

Please contact Pete Oldfield if you would be interested in helping with the Recycling Project

pplb.oldfield@ntlworld.com