Eco Tech

Change your search engine??

Ecooogle.com

If you are worried about the affect we are having on our planet and want to do a little extra to help (alongside your regular recycling routine, and energy conservation efforts) please consider this.

As the most visited website on the planet, the Google search page is loaded millions of times per day. Being mainly white in colour , viewing the Google search page (and many other popular search engines) consumes roughly 74 watts. If you convert the screen content to mostly black you only consume roughly 59 watts. Although these figures may seem insignificant, if you consider the amount of times these pages are viewed a considerable saving can be achieved.

Using Ecooogle is simple and you get all the power and functionality of Google while doing a little bit for the environment.

Switch it off!

Switch off all electrical appliances at the plug instead of using the 'standby' function. Appliances are still using electricity when on 'standby', and account for a massive 6% of all electricity usage in the home.

Switch off appliances such as microwaves, TVs, videos, stereos, and computers, as they use energy when they are left on standby. A staggering 85% of the energy used by the DVD player is consumed when it is not actually in use.
Unplug equipment e.g. mobile phones, shavers and electric toothbrushes—once they are fully charged, otherwise they will keep drawing electricity.

Change your lightbulbs

Lighting accounts for 15% of our electric bills and research by the Dept of Environment has shown that £1 out of every £3 spent on lighting and heating a home is wasted.

Normal light bulbs cost less than energy efficient bulbs, but they don't really save you money. An energy saving light bulb will cost you around £3.50 compared to 50p for a normal one, but it will save you around £9 on your annual electric bill and up to £100 over its lifetime!

Carbon footprint calculator

Use the calculator to measure your carbon footprint and find out what practical steps you can take to make it smaller. On a personalised page, you can track your progress, update your carbon-reducing actions and see a Google Map featuring the footprints and actions of everyone taking part. To share ideas, ask advice or find people in your local area to collaborate with, join the UK Carbon Footprint discussion group. Google Carbon Footprint calculator

Add Google I Gadget to use the Carbon calculator

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