Brighton Peace and Environment Centre

Go Sustainable

So you want to live sustainably? Here are some things to start off with...

  1. Switch off lights when you leave a room.
  2. Turn off radiators in unused rooms.
  3. Turn your TV, stereo and DVD off at the power point. Leaving them on standby uses 10-60% extra juice.
  4. Cook with lids on pots, and use economy settings on domestic appliances.
  5. If you boil just enough water to make your drink, in a week you could have saved enough energy to light your house for a day.
  6. Run your washing machine and dishwasher at 40ºC instead of 60ºC. Use a washing line or clothes horse, not a tumble drier.
  7. Turn down your thermostat - even 1ºC less can cut your heating bill by 10%.
  8. Keeping your refrigerator just 1ºC warmer saves about 50 kg of greenhouse gas a year.

Make an effort...

  1. Replace your lightbulbs with energy-efficient Compact Fluorescent ones. A CF bulb will use a fifth of the electricity, last ten times longer and save half a tonne of CO2 in its lifetime.
  2. Increase insulation in your roof, around windows and the water tank. Put aluminium foil behind your radiator (dull side against the wall).
  3. Switch to electricity from renewable sources with a green power supplier, and cut your CO2 pollution by 1.42 tonnes over one year. In most cases it won't add much to your bill. But cut your consumption too, because there isn't enough clean energy being produced to meet needs!
  4. Walk, cycle, take public transport or consider a car pool wherever possible. (External) Look into car share . If you must have a car, service it regularly, keep the tyres properly pumped and you'll save up to a tonne of greenhouse gases per year. Reduce your air travel - one long haul flight can outweigh all other personal emissions.
  5. Buy local food in season whenever possible, to reduce freight mileage.
  6. Buy wood products from sustainable forest sources.
  7. Eat more plant-based food. Intensive animal rearing produces lots of methane. The production of 1kg of beef creates half a kilo of methane, a greenhouse gas so powerful that half a kilo is equivalent to more than 10kg of CO2.
  8. Reduce, reuse and recycle. Cut your consumption. Buy products with the least packaging. Remember that a lot of things are usable more than once. If possible, make compost from food waste. Buy recycled products and avoid disposable products. Paper, glass and metal can be recycled: Hove Household Waste Recycling Site is off the Old Shoreham Road between Aldrington Avenue and Leighton Road, and Brighton Household Waste Recycling Site is off Wilson Avenue, about half way up the hill on the eastern side. (External) Find out where your nearest recycling station is .

Get serious...

  1. Double glaze your windows. If you live in a hot country, do away with air conditioning if you can.
  2. Buy the most energy-efficient appliances. An energy-efficient fridge uses less than half the power of an old model.
  3. Go solar: buy a solar water heater; invest in solar photovoltaic panels and tiles for your roof to meet your energy needs.
  4. If you have central heating and it's too expensive to go fully solar replace your old boiler with a condenser boiler. These convert 85 per cent of fuel into heat compared with less than 65 per cent for standard types.
  5. If you can, do without a car. But if you really need one, go for the greenest available. Zero emissions hydrogen-fuel cars should be on the wider market within the next few years. Several hybrid electric/petrol (Toyota Prius, Honda Insight) and LPG/petrol models are available now.
    21a. If you don't need a car all the time, jump in one whenever you need it. Check out (External) www.citycarclub.co.uk

Get active...

  1. Plant new trees - and look after them.
  2. If you are a shareholder, attend AGMs and table resolutions demanding reduced emissions. Invest in renewable-energy companies or ethical funds.
  3. Boycott the products of companies like Exxon Mobil (Esso) that are actively blocking the transition to renewable fuels.
  4. Put pressure on your representatives to vote for initiatives aimed at reducing greenhouse emissions. Take part in actions and protests.

And finally - don't give up hope! Imagine how much better the world will be once we have given fossils the boot and moved to clean green energy!


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Brighton Peace & Environment Centre, Address: 39-41 Surrey Street, Brighton, BN1 3PB. United Kingdom.
Tel: UK (01273) 766610 Email: info@bpec.org Web: www.bpec.org
Company Registration No. 6166971

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