Of course if you have an electric vehicle which you charge at a charging point like NewMotion Charging Points then the stats will be different. Regardless of whether your car is electric, petrol or diesel it is still better for the environment and your wallet not to idle.

You can calculate and track your cost per mile by logging your mileage and fuel ups in sites like fuelly.com. My car costs around 14p a mile to run. If I leave my car idling for 5 minutes in the morning it will cost me around 35p to defrost the windows and warm up my car.

You can also calculate the amount of CO2 emissions your car produces per mile using online calculators. Using a calculator I worked out my car produces roughly 347g of CO2 a mile. After 5 minutes of idling, I will have produced 867.5g of CO2 – nearly 1kg. That’s the equivalent of around 9 apples or a small, slightly used, bag of sugar.

Alternative ways to defrost your car windscreen and windows:

So what can we do instead? There are alternatives to idling.

1. Scrapers

While running the engine, often people will scrape the windows too, as it speeds things up. It is possible to clear the windscreens with scraping power alone though! It just might take a little longer and is a bit more effort.

2. De-icers

To speed up the scraping, it helps to use a de-icer. Don’t go out and buy a de-icing spray though. It will come in a disposable plastic bottle and may contain nasties.

Instead a very low tech option is to melt the ice with a hot water bottle full of hot water. I have been experimenting with this and to start with I was a bit nervous about it being too hot. So I diluted the boiling water with cold water and gradually progressed to the water bottle being full of boiling water and it worked out fine.

The added advantage of using a hot water bottle is that you can take it in the car with you afterwards and use it to keep warm, while your car is heating up. I took mine with me on the school run and left it on my seat while dropping off the kids. Was nice to come back to a warm seat in the freezing weather!

To compare to idling, it costs around 2.5p to boil a full kettle and emits around 10g of CO2.* We have solar panels and are on a green energy plan, so the CO2 emission figure should be lower if you have green sources of energy at home too.

3. Covers

A winter cover on your car windscreen that you can take off in the morning, makes de-icing easy! When I started writing this post I suddenly remembered that I have one of these covers. It is hidden somewhere in my boot though (I’m hoping – otherwise I don’t have it any more). Next time I get an opportunity I will go and have a look for it.

Based on my experience, I think covers are a good idea, but if you are a bit disorganised like me you have to remember you have one and to use it! Also they are usually just for the front windscreen, so there is still the rest of the windows to clear.

The amounts of money/ CO2 emmissions you stand to save by avoiding idling your engine to de-ice and warm up your car may seem fairly small, but scale them up over years and households and they become far more significant. So it’s definitely time to stop the morning idling habit and swap it for a scraper, a hot water bottle and / or a windscreen cover!

* Based on a kettle using an average of 0.11kwh per litre boiled and 1 kwh generating 0.94kg of CO2 emmissions if produced from coal.

Thanks to Newmotion for sponsoring this post.

The post How to defrost your car windscreen without idling your engine! *Ad* appeared first on Eco Thrifty Living.

During the summer holidays I went for a jog. On my travels I went past a level crossing and noticed a number of cars idling waiting for the crossing barriers to come up. I have to admit to idling my car at times. Mainly when I don’t think I’ll be waiting long e.g. at traffic lights.These cars weren’t going anywhere any time soon though. The barriers were down and the train hadn’t gone past yet.

I wondered why they didn’t turn their engines off. There was even a sign saying ‘cut engine, cut pollution’. It didn’t seem to be having much effect at all. I wasn’t judging, just curious, because as I said I idle my car at times. So, I turned to Twitter and my Energy Saving tips and tricks Facebook group to ask if they idle, and if so why?

Why do people idle their engines?

It was interesting because I got three types of responses;

• People with newer and electric cars didn’t have a problem with idling as these cars are designed to turn off easily at stops.
• Those with older vehicles who didn’t want to risk damage to the engine turning it on and off.
• Pedestrians who regularly have to wait at level crossings wanted idling stopped!

My car is about 13 years old, so I wouldn’t put it under the new car bracket. The responses made me wonder if turning my car on and off too often would damage it.

So what is the truth? Is idling my car better or worse for it and the environment?

I’m not sure whether my car counts as an older car or not. However, this article from the RAC confirms that turning the car on and off too often isn’t good for older cars. If you don’t want to damage their engines, you should leave older cars idling

However for newer cars there are no benefits to idling and there are downsides. Idling can actually damage your car! Apparently it isn’t good to idle your car before starting it in winter to warm it up either and cars heat up quicker and more efficiently when you are driving.

Reasons to turn your engine off while you are waiting instead of idling

Whether or not it is good for your car, there are good reasons not to leave your engine idling though:

• It is actually an offence to idle! Currently they have to ask you to turn the engine off before fining you between £20 and £80. I don’t think this is much of a deterrent though. I have never seen or heard of anyone being fined for idling! However the government is looking to bring in stricter rules over idling, so it might be more of a deterrent in future.
• Air pollution is of massive rising concern. Although not driving would be the most eco-friendly solution, it isn’t practical for many. Small changes like not idling can make a difference over time and it all adds up!
• It might not be practical to turn your engine off at every red light. But if you are parked on the road, on your driveway or at a level crossing then it is there really any need to leave your engine on?
• The article that said idling is bad for your car, also says that for every 2 minutes idling you use up the same amount of fuel as if you had driven a mile! If you idle for 2 minutes a day, you are adding 365 un-travelled miles to your fuel bills!

So, I think if you are going to drive, do it in the most eco-friendly way possible and turn off your engine where possible instead of idling!

What about all the other people that idle unnecessarily?

One of my Facebook group members commented that police officers are often found sitting in idling cars and another member said that he has knocked on people’s windows and asked them to turn their engines off! He was inspired by Nigel Havers and I was inspired by him.

Soon afterwards I walked past a police officer sitting in a parked idling car. I knocked on the window and said ‘do you need to idle? Could you turn your engine off?’. He got a bit defensive and said he was just leaving and continued to idle, which I found a bit disappointing, but it hasn’t deterred me from trying again another time!

If you are feeling brave you could knock on someones window who is sitting in the car with the engine on unnecessarily and politely ask them to turn their engine off!

Also take a look and see if there are any projects local to you, which are trying to tackle the problem of idling. I’ve recently discovered there is a project in my town called Breath in Brighton. I am going to look into finding out more about it! If there isn’t anything local, maybe you could start something up!

What are your thoughts on idling? How does idling affect you? Come and join my Energy Saving tips and tricks Facebook group and let me know what you think!

If you liked this post, you might enjoy reading how I kept warm for less last winter

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Octopus Energy is a green energy provider with a difference. They want to help their customers have more energy efficient homes and they are being proactive about it. They’re not just giving advice on what to do, they have purchased 100 thermal imaging cameras that attach to your phone and allows you to take pictures of your home! You can use these cameras to find out where the cold spots in your home are and where you are losing the most heat. Then you know where to make changes.

Update: This post was written in 2019 and this scheme may no longer be available. Check with Octopus for more details

They’re loaning them, completely free to customers who’ve been identified as using more energy than average for the size of their home. You don’t have to be on their list to ask for one though, any customer can request to borrow one. Octopus Energy are loaning them out free for a week and they’re also paying for postage and packaging for them both ways. If you want to borrow the camera for slightly longer you can do this for just £1 a day.

We are happy customers of Octopus Energy. We switched to them a couple of years ago because we liked their affordable green energy tariffs! You can read more about that here: This blog is now powered by Octopus Energy.

We could borrow a camera from them too, but my husband has wanted a thermal imaging camera for years and recently when my dad had a leak in his home, he managed to convince him to buy one! These cameras are useful in lots of ways, not just saving energy. Anyway in the end my dad found the leak without the need for the camera and now we are ‘borrowing’ it. We’ve had lots of fun taking pictures of ourselves with it and trying to read our auras (they use the same cameras to take pictures of auras). We have also been slightly more sensible and taken pictures of our home to work out where we can improve energy efficiency.

We are already doing a lot to save energy but during the recent really cold spell I still found our house pretty cold and so the thermal camera has been able to lead us to the exact spots where we need to warm things up! As you can see from the picture, there are cold spots all around our front door. We do have draft excluders stuck on to the door already but it looks like we could do better!

Octopus Energy have a referral scheme that gives you £50 for signing up

If you like the idea of borrowing a thermal imaging camera and moving to an affordable green energy supplier,
Sign up to Octopus Energy here and you and I will both earn £50 credit off our energy bills!

The post How Octopus Energy is helping customers save energy! *Ad* appeared first on Eco Thrifty Living.

Ways we reduce our heating bills and you can too:

We have done lots of things to keep the heat in and the cold out already.

1. We (aka my husband) fitted an extra thick layer of loft insulation to stop the heat escaping through the roof .
2. We safety pinned two duvets together to keep us extra warm at night. Minor downside of that – my husband gave me a fright in the middle of the night last night. I woke up to hear him say ‘stay where you are’. One of the safety pins had come undone and got him. These combination duvets* are better option as they are designed to be joined!
3. When home alone I put a thick dressing gown on with a hood and wear slipper socks to keep warm!
4. And we do most of these things too: 6 easy ways to reduce your heating bills

All of this hasn’t been enough to keep me warm when I’m home alone in the day time though. So I’ve been trying to limit my time in the house on my own and spending some time in cafes writing. I take my reusable mug with me and get them to fill that up, because that way I can make a cup of tea stay last for ages!

Taking things further:

I was surprised that even though we’ve done a lot to keep the heat in our home, it’s not enough. We have more work to do. So I decided two things;

1.I am going to investigate further where the heat is escaping in our home. Most of our house isn’t carpeted and I think a large part of the problem is a lack of rugs.

2. To start up a Facebook group: Energy saving tips and tricks UK , so that I can pick all your brains for tips. I thought it would be great to have a like minded community of people who want to save energy to share and exchange ideas with! It is a group to discuss all kinds of energy saving tips and tricks, not just how to keep heating bills low. Come and join the group and chat to other like minded people who want to save energy too!

Although I have found it a bit annoying that my house has been so cold, it has actually had a plus side. I’ve found that going to cafes is working really well. I stay off the wifi and get lots of writing done!

I hope you are finding ways to stay safe and warm in this cold and icy weather! Come and join the Energy saving tips and tricks Facebook group and tell me how you are getting on!

This blog post contains affiliate links marked with * and anything you buy through them will help to support the blog as I will get a small commission. Thanks! All opinions are my own and it won’t cost you anything extra to use the links. 

The post How I’m keeping warm for less this winter! appeared first on Eco Thrifty Living.

Reducing your energy use is good for both your wallet and the environment and it’s easy to do. Making savings in an area like this is great, because you lose nothing and can only gain from it! There are lots of small changes you can make, which all add up over time. Here are 5 to get started with:

This post has been sponsored by Duette® blinds and they have provided the picture above. All opinions are my own.

1. Only fill the kettle to the amount you need

Some kettles come with cup measures on the side so that you know how far to fill them up when you want to make a cuppa. If your kettle doesn’t have that though, you can use your cups or mugs as measures to fill up the kettle. That way you know you should be boiling exactly the right amount of water.

2. Always keep the fridge and freezer doors shut as much as possible

Every time you open the fridge or freezer, you let the cold air out and the warm air in. The longer the doors are open, the harder your fridge and / or freezer has to work to keep the food cold and the more energy it will use. Try to decide what you want to get out of the fridge or freezer before you open it and shut it straight away after you have taken the food out.

3. Put a lid on that pan!

When you are cooking something on the hob, it will heat up quicker if you put a lid on the pan. If you are cooking something on the hob for more than a few minutes, then once it is boiling, keep the lid on, turn the temperature right down and move the pan to a smaller ring/ heat source. You will use less energy and will save money!

4. Cover your windows and save energy!

A lot of heat can escape through your windows, especially when the sun isn’t shining. There are various options for reducing heat loss through windows, one of which is using Duette^® energy saving blinds. They say they reduce heat loss by 46% and could cut energy bills by up to a potential 25%.

5. Hang out your wet washing instead of tumble drying

Tumble dryers can be energy intensive and then your clothes come out all crumpled. Hang out your clothes to dry outside or in a well ventilated room. As well as using less energy, you will have the added advantage of needing to do less ironing!

So there you have it, 5 ways to save money and energy in your home. It’s easy to do things because that is the way you have always done them, but by making a few simple tweaks to your every day habits, you can make savings without too much effort! If you want even more ideas about how to reduce energy use at home, check out this post here: 6 easy ways to reduce your heating bill.

The post 5 ways to save energy in your home! Sponsored Post/ Ad appeared first on Eco Thrifty Living.

 

Tonik is a green energy company. All their electricity is 100% from renewable sources. They say they want to help their customers save money too (my kind of company!). Their aim is to help people cut their energy bills in half by 2022.

Raise £100 for WellChild by referring a friend to Tonik this December

Some energy companies are offering cash incentives to refer a friend to them. For example Octopus Energy will pay £15 per friend successfully referred. It’s always nice to get a bit of extra cash in your pocket at this time of year. It’s also a really good time to think of others less fortunate. If your energy is provided by Tonik, they are doing something different to everyone else this December. They are also doing a refer a friend scheme, but for every successful referral they will give £100 to a charity called WellChild. 

About WellChild

WellChild’s mission is to help support children and young people who have exceptional health needs to live at home and receive their care there. These children would otherwise have to stay in hospital. In hospital, they would miss out on the comforts of home and being a part of family life.  Tonik have set themselves the goal of giving £100,000 to WellChild before the end of the 2017.

One of the reasons Tonik want to support this charity is because of the high energy costs of supporting these children at home. They often need to use equipment which is on all day and all night and gobbles up energy.  In the winter these families may also need to put the heating on more than other families. Some of their child’s needs may make it difficult to leave the house. Tonik are ‘partnering with Wellchild as they want to reduce this burden on families who already have so much to deal with’.

How can you help?

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Picture credit: Octopus Energy

We recently switched to a renewable energy provider – Octopus energy and I’m so happy we did. I originally wrote about the switch here: This blog is now powered by Octopus Energy! Being green isn’t always easy, but switching to Octopus energy really is – it really only took me a few minutes to do. So if you are short on time and care about the environment, making the switch is a quick win.

Why did I want to switch to a renewable energy supplier?

I feel really passionate about renewable energy because I am very unhappy about the alternative energy options. We are running out of fossil fuels and we should no longer be using them anyway any more. We may even be too late to stop runaway climate change, but I think we have to try our hardest while we still can. Fracking is not the answer and nuclear is just too risky and too much of a long term problem. I believe that we need to move to sustainable and renewable sources of energy as soon as we can. The more people that invest in renewables, the quicker and faster we will march towards a sustainable energy future!

How has having renewable energy been going for us?

How can you switch to renewable energy too?

The post It’s great to be powered by renewable energy! appeared first on Eco Thrifty Living.

Picture credit: Octopus Energy

My eco-friendly journey has been a gradual one, with lots of small changes being made over a long period of time. One of the things I have wanted to do for a while is switch to an eco-friendly energy supplier. We do have solar panels and have had for a few years, but they can’t provide us with all our energy needs. We have hesitated over switching to an eco energy supplier though because we (i.e. my husband) have always searched for the best deal and then fixed ourselves into it for 12 months and we thought going green with our energy provider would be too expensive.

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Remote heating controls are all the rage at the minute, with Nest* now available in the UK, Tado* having been around for a little while and British Gas’s Hive* being pushed really hard on the radio and TV as well as a growing number of lesser known alternatives.

Well the main point is every time you are not at home when the heating has been set to come on, you are wasting energy, which directly impacts your heating bills and the environment. Although you probably are able to predict when you will be at home and when you won’t during the working day, it isn’t always easy to predict which evenings you will be in or out and what you will be up to over the weekend. With a heating system that you can control on your mobile phone, you can delay it or turn it off for the evening if you decide not to come straight home from work and you can also tell it to start heating your home when your plans change and you come home earlier than expected. Although there is an initial outlay, over time these products should be able to save you moneyThe three main products on the market are all slightly different and here are some of those differences

The post Intelligent or remote heating controls – what’s the point? appeared first on Eco Thrifty Living.

There are lots of affordable ways to keep heat in and the cold out. Here’s some to try today

Note – This blog post contains affiliate links marked with * and anything you buy through them will help to support the blog as I will get a small commission. Thanks! All opinions are my own. 

1.Switch energy suppliers – USwitch can help you compare prices and potentially reduce your heating bill. If you would prefer a renewable tariff you can compare against companies like  Octopus Energy * on there too.

2. If you have a cold drafty chimney and a fireplace that isn’t being used block it with a chimney balloon*. They are reasonably priced and help to stop the heat escaping up your chimney. Make sure you take the chimney balloon out before lighting a fire though! Or you can make your own!

3. A lot of heat is lost through windows and adding some thermal curtains* can really make a difference!

4. Shutting doors is a simple thing to do and it helps to retain the heat in a warm room.

5. To keep even more heat in a room put a draught excluder* along the bottom of the door.

6. Getting cold at night time – time to change that duvet! A duvet with a thick tog rating* will make so much difference and will keep you snug all night long!

You don’t have to spend a fortune on heat saving products.

I have bought most of our curtains from charity shops. Making draught excluders and DIY chimney balloons could be a fun project . However, it is a good idea to also invest in quality products that last and save you money in the long run.

What do you do to keep your warm in winter and to keep the heating bills down?

UPDATE: Since I wrote this blog post I now have another on intelligent and remote heating controls which can potentially help save money on energy bills. Take a look!

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