Simple ways to clean up your act
combining a smart, dimmable and energy-efficient LED lighting system with automated energy efficient shades (also from £600), you get to choose from a long list of shade and lighting combos that can contribute to energy savings. Control is taken care of by customisable wireless Pico remotes, your smartphone/tablet, or Alexa, Google Assistant or Siripowered smart speaker. That means you can pre-programme your blinds to automatically close when the sun disappears and temperatures start to drop, to maximise heat retention, for example, or automatically roll them the other way to help let in as much light and heat as possible, reducing the need for extra energy.
SAVE ENERGY
Did you know that heating an empty home for just two hours a day could add up to an additional £115 on your heating bill a year? With a quarter of Brits admitting to leaving their heating on when they’re not at home, smart thermostats are a brilliant way to save money and reduce wasted energy. Hive wants to take it one step further with its Heating Plus subscription service (£3.99 per month). Working alongside its Active Heating (£99, hivehome.com, above), it boasts an integrated budget tracker and heating efficiency monitor that helps users track their heating-spend via the Hive app, reduce bills and lower their carbon ca footprint. There are also a personalised moneysaving s recommendations based b on usage and home heating h inefficiency alerts.
REDUCE DIGITAL POLLUTION
F Fun fact: if you didn’t tidy up your inbox for ten y years, it would ge generate a carbon footprint of around 2.36 tonnes of CO2. That’s more than a round-trip flight from London to Istanbul. On average, we receive over 2,850 promotional emails per year, which is equivalent to four-and-ahalf stone of CO2 per year – enough to power a lightbulb for 137 days. That’s according to
Cleanfox, which also happens to have an anti-spam solution for reducing your digital pollution. Its app (free iOS/Android, also available via cleanfox.io) automatically scans your inbox and presents you with a list of newslettertype emails and subsequently makes it super simple for you to unsubscribe or delete using Tinder-style swipes.
SAVE WATER
Household leaks account for nearly three billion litres of wasted water every day. That’s the equivalent to 1,180 Olympic-sized swimming pools. The Eve Water Guard Leak Sensor (£83.25, amazon.co.uk) is an easy solution for monitoring leaky points in your home and will give you a gentle nudge on your iPhone or iPad when even the slightest bit of moisture is detected.
REDUCE FOOD WASTE
It’s estimated that more than
1.6 billion tonnes goes uneaten worldwide every year, and with the average UK family throwing out £730 worth a year, eco-conscious consumers have an excellent app-based fix. Neighbourhood sharing app Olio (free, iOS/Android, left) does an excellent job of tackling food waste by allowing users to buy, sell or give away unwanted produce before its use-by date. Even Tesco, Pret, Costa and local bakeries and restaurants are in on the action. And if you’ve got any furniture, clothes, cookware or anything else cluttering up your flat, anyone local can take them off your hands too.