Your Impact
This section allows you to assess your home life, travel habits and your business, to identify your main areas of energy wastage and put together an action plan to reduce it. Just use the menu on the left to select home, travel or business assessment.
Once you’re armed with the basics, you can browse our Inspiration section to pick up even more fun, low cost and money saving tips, such as where to shop for local food; and see what Staffordshire businesses and organisations are doing to tackle their own emissions.
If you’re in more of a hurry, you can still do your bit. Just try our top ten instant energy saving tips:
Use energy saving light bulbs. They cost far less to run and last around 11 times longer than an incandescent bulb. Technology has come on a lot since they first appeared on the market and now are available in almost every style.
Don’t leave appliances on stand-by or on charge unnecessarily. Games consoles tend to use almost as much energy on standby as they do in use.
Turn your thermostat down. A reduction of 1 degree could cut 10% from your heating bill.
Clear out the boot of your car. Getting rid of extra weight reduces your engine’s workload, burning less fuel and producing less CO2.
Use your gears wisely to reduce revs. For diesel cars try changing up a gear when the rev counter reaches 2000rpm. For petrol cars change up at 2500rpm.
Car share – this is a big money saver if you do it regularly. Visit www.share-a-lift.com to answer your questions and find a sharing buddy.
Avoid flying, and if you have to, offset with a local scheme. Project Carbon offsets throughout the West Midlands - typically by installing energy efficiency measures in community buildings. Find them at www.projectcarbon.org.
Check your taps and fix any that are dripping. In one day a dripping tap can fill a bath.
Turn off the taps when you brush your teeth or shave. This can save up to five litres a minute.
Whenever you can, purchase locally produced and seasonal food as it is likely that less energy will have been used in its production. For more information on Staffordshire food visit our local food section.