10 ways to lower your carbon footprint

Follow these easy tips on how to lower your carbon footprint...

1. Insulate your loft and cavity walls

By insulating your loft you could save 0.8 tonnes of CO2 and £205 on your heating bill each year. Filling cavity walls too could save a further 1 tonne of CO2 and £160.

2. Use energy saving light bulbs

Energy-saving light bulbs use up 80 per cent less electricity than traditional ones.

3. Only buy A+ rated appliances

Appliances with an A or A+ rating are the most energy efficient. They can save you money and reduce your home’s carbon footprint.

4. Turn your heating down by 1°C

Not only will you be reducing your energy use, but you could also save around £65 a year on your heating bills.

5. Wash your clothes at 30°C or lower

A 30°C wash will use on average 40 per cent less energy than hotter programmes and could save around 45kg of CO2 a year.

6. Hang clothes rather than tumble dry

Hanging clothes on a washing line or air dryer creates no emissions and could save you around £70 on bills, not to mention helping your clothes to last longer!

7. Shower rather than bath

A bath can use over 100 litres of water, while a shower uses only a third of that. Remember, though, that power showers will use more water than a bath if you shower for more than five minutes.

8. Turn off lights and appliances when you’re not using them

If we all turned lights off when we’re not using them, we could reduce CO2 emissions by 620,000 tonnes.

9. Pump up your car tyres

Under-inflated tyres are dangerous and increase fuel consumption by up to 3%. Efficient driving generally can save you £200-250 each year on fuel.

10. De-clutter your car boot

Carrying unnecessary clutter in your car or boot can increase the amount of fuel use. So have a clear out and cut your carbon footprint at the same time.