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Solar Together - collective buying scheme for solar panels
From 9 May until the 14 June, if you own your own home and live in Wiltshire you can register to join Solar Together Wiltshire, a group-buying scheme which offers solar panels with optional battery storage and EV charge points.
It is free to register and receive a free, no obligation initial recommendation. Once you are registered, the scheme will take you through the process, starting with your personalised recommendation, followed by a full survey and installation if you decide to go ahead.
Wiltshire Council is working in partnership with Swindon Borough Council and independent experts iChoosr, to deliver the scheme and make the transition to clean energy as cost effective and hassle-free as possible.
To begin lowering your carbon footprint one of the first things you can do is to establish what your footprint is. The WWF carbon calculator is a good tool to achieve this.
Spread the word
To ensure greenhouse emissions decrease fast enough we are going to need engage within society. Talking about it encourages others to think about it and spreads the message further.
In your home
If your household income is under £30,000 a year and you live in a home with a low energy performance rating (EPC D, E,F or G) you may be eligible for home improvements of up to £10,000. This could include measures such as Solar PV, Insulation or a new Front Door.
To find out more and see if you are eligible for the scheme, visit Home (https://swindonwiltshire-lad-applications.com/). Make sure that once you have completed your application form, you create an account and submit your supporting evidence as part of the application process.
Switching to a green energy provider can significantly reduce your carbon footprint.
For further information about the types of green tariff visit Energy Saving Trust.
Save energy and money by turning the output dial to zero about an hour before you go to bed or go out.
Reducing your room temperature by 1°C could save 310kg of carbon dioxide and £60 per year.
Well insulated homes require less energy to keep warm. This costs you less money and reduces your carbon footprint.
Warm and Safe Wiltshire is a commitment by Wiltshire Council, Swindon Borough Council, Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service, in partnership with the Centre for Sustainable Energy. The initiative aims to give residents access to advice and support to improve energy efficiency and fire safety in the home. This initiative supports people who are unable to afford to heat their home and are exposed to potential health risks associated with living in cold homes, such as respiratory conditions.
There are two main types of energy efficient light bulbs available, Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFLs) and Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs).
CFLs are what you typically think of as an energy efficient light bulb. CFLs are a cost-effective option for most general lighting requirements. Replacing a traditional light bulb with a CFL will save you around £3 per year, or £50 over the lifetime of the bulb.
LEDs though more expensive to buy initially, are more efficient than CFLs and will save you more money in the long term. Replacing a halogen spotlight with an equivalent LED will save you around £4 each year, or £140 over the bulb's lifetime.
Wash at 30ºC
Washing clothes at 30°C uses around 57% less electricity than at higher temperatures.
Avoiding half loads will also save energy and money.
Tumble dryers can be the most energy hungry of all domestic appliances, therefore the less you use it the more money you will save.
Drying clothes outdoors on a washing line costs nothing and uses no energy, so it is the ideal way to dry your clothes. Indoors on a rack can also be a no-cost, no-energy solution, although you should be mindful of the increase in moisture levels. Keep the room ventilated so that that moisture doesn't turn into damp.
A third of the food prepared does not make it from farm to fork. Producing uneaten food squanders a whole host of resources—seeds, water, energy, land, fertilizer, hours of labour, money - and generates greenhouse gases at every stage. The food we waste is responsible for roughly 8 percent of global emissions.
Buying Wiltshire produce supports Wiltshire's economy, reduces your 'food miles' and means you know exactly where your food has come from. It's fresher, it's tastier and it's good for Wiltshire.
Most of us need to reduce the amount of dairy and meat we consume. Eating meat and dairy less often could allow more of us to afford to support better quality local meat and dairy.
Buy British, as grazing land for imported meat and the need for land to grow animal feed is the single greatest driver of deforestation, including in the Amazon, which has major consequences for biodiversity loss.
Why not try to adopt meat free Monday into your week.
Travel
68% of all car journeys taken across the UK are under 5 miles (and 23% are under 1 mile). The latest local authority carbon dioxide emissions data shows transport is one of the largest contributors to Wiltshire's carbon footprint at 45%. If we just had just one car free day every week, we could save over £120 a year on petrol bills and around 300 kilograms of CO2 emissions as well.
Information on how to travel sustainably can be found on the Connecting Wiltshire website.
Fuel consumption has a lot to do with the car you buy, but whatever you drive there are things you can do to save fuel, save money and cut pollution.
By driving more economically, for instance driving smoothly, avoiding sharp acceleration and heavy braking and avoiding short journeys you can reduce your fuel consumption.
Stick to the speed limits- going faster uses more fuel. Drive at 70mph and you'll use up to 9% more than at 60mph and up to 15% more than at 50mph.
A commuter can typically save around £1,000 a year by car-sharing. Car sharing is a great way of alleviating the stress caused by travel and reducing road and parking congestion. Liftshare has found that by sharing regular car journeys rather than travelling alone, you can cut your carbon footprint by over 10% a year.
Car clubs are a great new way to get access to a car without the costs or stress of ownership. They can give you the flexibility to use a car at work, while commuting by public transport. Businesses can also save money using car clubs instead of operating pool cars. If you drive less than 6000 miles a year, a car club can save you up to £3,500 every year.
A list of car clubs in Wiltshire can be found on the Connecting Wiltshire website.
Flying can make up the single largest part of an individual's carbon footprint, a return long-haul flight can generate more emissions that any other lifestyle activity in a whole year.
In your garden
Green spaces are crucial for combating the effects of climate change, the more biodiverse those spaces are the better. Plants can reduce summer air temperatures, reduce pollutants, help with flooding and drought, encourage wildlife into our gardens and positively affect our physical and mental health. As well as all that, they absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store it away.
Area for area, peatlands store more carbon than rainforest, but increasing damage to these landscapes is leading to loss of carbon and habitat.
Peat free compost is now widely available and just as good, or why not make your own compost - it's a great way of recycling kitchen and garden waste and saves you money.
Soil holds large amounts of carbon dioxide. Digging exposes soil to the air and greenhouse gasses and water are lost. You can improve the quality of your soils by using homemade mulches and weeding by hand.
In your greenhouse minimise the need for heating over winter by keeping them insulated and thinking about what you are growing- do you need to keep chilli plants in winter when you could start fresh in summer? If you do need to use a heater, use a renewable source if possible.
Lighting your garden at night can negatively affect wildlife- disrupting behaviour patterns, increasing risk of predation, and affecting breeding cycles.
There are measure you can take to reduce these effects, dim white lights are less likely to affect wildlife than coloured bulbs. Turning off bulbs not in use or use timers if lights are essential for security. Consider using solar-powered lights to save energy.
Climate change makes water an important resource in your garden. Using less water in your garden not only saves you money, it helps the water industry ensure we all have water during peak demand, and don't forget water from your tap also has a carbon footprint!
Using mulches and homemade compost is one way of saving water, by keeping it in the soil there is less need to water your garden.
Collecting, storing, and re-using makes use of the water that falls on your garden and can help with the expected increased frequency of water shortages.
