Green Product of the Month

Our Green Product of the Month for February is the Montague Paratrooper 24 Speed Folding Electric Bike, which was awarded nine out of ten stars in our review in 2009. Read the full review here.

Energy Watch

Our Energy Watch page for February is now live with information on Fairtrade including details of Fairtrade Fortnight which starts at the end of the month.

UK Energy Saving’s Make a Change 2011 Campaign Moves into Second Month

The second month of our Make a Change campaign is about to start..... Read more about what's to come in the press release linked to below.

PRLog
24-7 Press Release
PRNewsDistribution
SanePR

FREE The Future of Rural Energy in England, Scotland and Wales

RCANs (Rural Community Action Network)¹ and NEA (National Energy Action)² are working together across rural communities in England to provide information and advice to off-grid areas in order to reduce fuel poverty and promote energy efficiency. The initiative, which is being run by Calor3 along with similar schemes in Scotland and Wales, focuses on specific rural areas which face particular challenges in reducing carbon emissions due to issues such as old, solid wall properties and the off-grid nature of some communities.

One such partnership is up and running in the Eden district of Cumbria between the NEA and ACT (Action with Communities in Cumbria). In the North West, Eden has the largest number of areas identified as 100% off mains gas and with high fuel poverty statistics, and the programme aims to deliver information and advice to residents in this area as well as signpost people to specialist support. The advice will cover topics such as keeping warm this winter, making homes more energy efficient, saving money, understanding fuel bills, and renewable energy.

For more information on the ACT initiative in Cumbria visit their website at http://www.cumbriaaction.org.uk/projects/free. For details of the whole Calor programme visit their website at http://www.calor.co.uk/free.


¹RCAN - The collective name for the 38 Rural Community Councils (RCCs) throughout England, their eight regional bodies and their national umbrella, ACRE. RCCs are charitable local development agencies, generally based at county level, which support and enable initiatives in rural communities.

²NEA - A national charity working to eradicate fuel poverty. It develops and promotes energy efficiency services working in partnership with central and local government, fuel utilities, housing providers, consumer groups and voluntary organisations.

3Calor Gas Ltd has been supplying LPG to rural communities since 1935. It is investing £1 million into the FREE initiative between 2010 and 2012 to help off-grid communities tackle fuel poverty and promote energy efficiency.

Is the Fish You Eat Sustainable?

There has been quite a furore in the press of late about misleading labelling on fish products and concerns about the certification of sustainable fish, but last week's TV programme, Fish Fight with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, has apparentely led to a surge in demand for less popular but more sustainable species of fish.

Supermarkets have reported increases in sales of fish such as "coley, dab, mussels, squid and sardines" as consumers apparentely decide to give something different a try.

Read more at the Guardian website.

UK Energy Saving Related Pages
Sustainable Fishing
Marine Stewardship Council

Could You Get Your Rubbish Down to One Bag a Year?

I'm not sure that I could, but the story of the Strauss family who filled just one carrier bag with rubbish last year certainly makes me want to try harder. By using reusable packaging of their own in shops, growing and making their own food where possible and receiving vegetable box deliveries they have reduced their annual waste to virtually nothing. They reuse or recycle everything they possibly can and compost food waste.

I thought I did pretty well when it came to recycling, making good use of the kerbside collections we have and taking some waste to local recycling centres, but clearly there is room for improvement in our household!

Take a look at the article in The Telegraph for more information on the Strauss family's efforts and read some of our pages below on recycling. Also take a look at the family's website www.myzerowaste.com.

Related UK Energy Saving Pages
Recycling
Local Recycling
Recycling Symbols
Recycling Services

REVIEW - Book of Green iPhone App

The Book of Green iPhone app is available free from the App Store and kicks off with a list of the main directory headings which include Business Services, Eco Builds, Food & Drink, Recycling and much more. The app is very easy to use allowing you to browse through the categories which are then broken down into sub-sections. Once you have reached your category of choice, you are offered a list of the companies in that section, consisting of the company name and logo, their distance from you (if applicable) and a brief introduction.

Read the full review here.

New Issue of greenCHAT

Check out the latest issue of greenCHAT which is now live at UK Energy Saving with a headline topic of Fairtrade.

If you would like to receive notification whenever a new issue of greenCHAT is available, sign up to this blog (on the right hand side of this page) or contact us at newsletter@uk-energy-saving.com to be added to our mailing list. There are just 4 issues a year so you won't be inundated with emails!

Make a Change 2011

Our Make a Change 2011 campaign has gone live! Each month we will be offering one energy saving and one ethical living suggestion to our visitors to try and encourage people to make theirs a greener, more ethical lifestyle in easy month-by-month steps.

To find out what this month's suggestions are and perhaps to put forward your own, visit our Make a Change page.

To make sure you know when each month's suggestions are live, sign up to this blog on the right hand side of the page.

And lastly, please pass on the Make a Change page link and help us to encourage even more energy saving and ethical living!

Energy Watch

Our Energy Watch page has been updated with information on keeping your home warm. There are tips on draught proofing, insulation and more so take a look.

Product of the Month

Ou Product of the Month for January, taken from our wide range of reviewed products, is the Book of Green online directory. We gave this product 10 stars and a snippet of the review is below:

"All-in-all this directory is a great resource if you are looking for any type of eco product or service. The online version was easy to use and the text clear with zoom options. It is sometimes nice to flick through a physical copy of a directory but clearly it is more environmentally friendly to use this online and I will certainly be bookmarking the website for future reference."

Read the full review here.