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Last updated:
6 June 2007
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How to be Clean...and Green!
Saving Energy
Shop Til You Drop


HOW TO BE CLEAN … AND GREEN!

Doing the laundry at home on a Monday was almost a ritual in the 1950’s. First the boiler had to be filled and heated to boiling, soap powder added, and the cleanest white cotton bedlinen washed first. This was then rinsed in the sink a couple of times and put through the mangle to get rid of as much water as possible, and hung out to dry – either outside on the washing line, or draped onto a clothes horse around the fire. The rest of the washing in increasing dirtiness was sorted and washed in the boiler, load after load, but woollens and delicate fabrics had to be washed by hand with soapflakes. It must have taken all day. Then on Tuesday it all had to be ironed!

These days things are much easier - we stick it all in the washing machine, even delicates, and many of us put it straight into the tumble drier. After domestic heating, doing the laundry is one of the most energy-hungry processes that we carry out in our homes. But it is so easy to reduce electricity, soap powder, and labour – and money.

Detergent manufacturers recommend over-generous amounts of powder or liquid to wash laundry. Try reducing it by half and you will probably find it works just as well. For dirty spots use a special spray or dab-on stick. For grubby washing start the machine and once the detergent is in and the washing tumbled round a few times, stop the programme and leave the washing to soak for an hour or so. Then restart it again once the dirt has loosened to complete the cycle. Make sure you wash a full load each time, and reduce the temperature of the wash. With lower temperatures you can wash more colours together, but don’t put new things in until you know the colour has stopped washing out.

If you have to rely on tumble drying, think about buying a spin dryer. These can be bought for around £100, and will remove far more water from your washing than even the fastest-spin washing machine. You will probably get well over a litre of water out of each machine load of laundry by spinning it - just think how much longer you would have to tumble dry your washing to get rid of this, and how much more electricity. Even drying naturally will be speeded up with a spin dryer and save having soggy washing hanging around.

Take your washing out of the spin dryer, give it a good shake to get rid of as many creases as you can, and peg out to dry. If you have to dry washing indoors hang as much as you can on coat-hangers and hang in the utility room or bathroom. A spring-loaded shower curtain, a clothes pulley, or even a bamboo garden cane fixed to the ceiling with large cuphooks screwed into joists are all ideal for hanging washing up on. When the washing is dry fold it up carefully to avoid the need for ironing, apart for special things like men’s shirts, and ladies’ delicate blouses and dresses. Some synthetic fabrics are best not spun dry but hung up fairly wet and left to drip over the bath – then no ironing to do!

If all the above sounds like hard work to you, think of all the time you will save not having to iron so much – and just be grateful you don’t still live in the 1950’s!

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Saving Energy

We have heard the stern Stern warning and now have the dire predictions from the IPCC (International panel on climate change) of a 4 degree rise in global temperature within a generation if we don’t control our CO2 emissions. A four degree rise might sound very desirable as you look out on a dreich and cold early March day but much of the planet will become very difficult if not impossible to live in. More and more folk are going to want or have to head for our corner of the planet. The cost of providing water food and space will be massive and our quite pleasant, if chilly, quality of life will change. There are other predictions that say that Scotland is destined to be very cold indeed. Meanwhile fuel costs for heating and lighting rise and rise. So what to do?

Aberdeenshire Environmental Forum have pooled some ideas for easy, non-painful actions that we can all take to reduce energy consumption AND make our homes more comfortable. This week will focus on windows: I have noticed that Aberdeenshire inhabitants seem to like leaving their curtains open at night but a really excellent way of saving energy and making the house more comfortable is to close the curtains at night. Why?

  1. Even top performing windows let 10 times as much heat out as a really poorly insulated wall. Trying to heat your garden this way is a lost cause and a waste of money.
  2. Window surfaces on a winter’s night are cold which means your body heat is literally being sucked away by the window making you feel colder. If you can, you will turn the heating up. This in itself uses more fuel but it is worse than that; just as water flows faster the steeper the hill it is running down, so the bigger the difference between inside and outside temperature the faster heat will be lost through the building surface, making your boiler work even harder to maintain temperature.
  3. The cooler air around the window causes convection currents that make the room feel draughty. More discomfort. Yes, I know that the radiators are put under the window to stop this happening, but think where all that heat is going.
  4. That large black space on your wall is not only absorbing heat, it also absorbs light, making your room look darker; “just turn that other light on will you”.
You will be amazed at how nice thick, bright curtains, closed as soon as the sun goes down, will make the house feel cosier and lighter and reduce your heating needs. If your budget doesn’t run to new thick curtains then Velcro or sew some blankets onto the back of your curtains. Charity shops nearly always have some blankets. Make sure the curtains cover the window though and not the radiator. Tuck in the bottom or let it drape on the floor so the warm air from the room cannot convect up behind.

Come daytime, open the curtains and let the light in. All light is energy and on a sunny day you might be able to turn the heat off altogether.

Slightly harder than closing the curtains, but also really important, is to make sure that there are no gaps around the window to let heat out of and draughts in. There is no point in having expensive new double or triple glazed windows if heat is being lost from all around them. If you have new windows going in now then make sure the builder seals that gap up properly or do it yourself to make sure. It needs more than mastic or mortar. If you can get to see the edge of your existing windows then stuff that gap up really well. Wool or newspaper does an excellent job. This is something well worth doing if you can.

Despite what my birds think there is quite a lot of winter left so get closing those curtains and stuffing those gaps and feel the difference while knowing that you’re helping to reduce your contribution to climate change.

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Shop till you drop (our carbon emissions!)

We tend to think that to reduce carbon emissions all we have to do is to insulate our houses, use our cars as little as possible and stop flying away on holiday. All these measures are important, but they aren’t the only things we can each do.

Take food shopping, for instance. We have grown used to the idea of being able to buy any foods at any time of the year from all over the World. All this produce has to be driven, shipped or even “air flown, jet fresh!” – many thousands of miles, before we then drive our own cars to the supermarket to buy it and all its packaging.

Some things just have to be imported – how could we possibly do without fruit like oranges and bananas? But if we made the little effort required to first choose foods produced locally, then from the rest of Scotland, it would do a lot for our local economy as well as cutting down on ‘food miles’, preservation and storage costs, and giving us fresher produce.

In the large supermarkets it is possible to buy foods clearly labelled Scottish. Look for the Saltire. Our beef and lamb is second to none and reared naturally on grass. When choosing vegetables, look for Scottish grown, and buy those when you can. Think more about buying local seasonal fruit and vegetables before picking something exotic which has been flown in. It doesn’t mean to say you should not be buying avocados, or pineapples – enjoy these occasionally with a clear conscience, knowing that most of the time you ‘buy local’. Choose locally caught and processed fish – it might even persuade the supermarkets to stock a wider variety than at present. It is such a shame so much of our wonderful seafood is exported overseas and we don’t get a look-in. We have wonderful Scottish cheeses of our own to rival any France can produce, as well as Scottish ‘brie’ and tangy blue cheeses that go so well with oatcakes. You can buy Scottish eggs and Scottish milk, and even though these probably have to travel to and from distribution centres, the agricultural economy here in Scotland is benefiting.

Don’t feel you have to stick to supermarket shopping. It is convenient and well thought out, but it can’t beat the atmosphere and friendliness of a local farmers’ market where you might even be able to sample foods before you buy. The foods come a short distance from the farm or smallholding and you can talk to the producer about it and even get ideas for cooking. Take your own shopping basket and cut down on packaging too. If you find someone whose produce you really enjoy it is often possible to order a larger quantity direct for your freezer, or a selection of organic vegetables delivered weekly in a box scheme.

Closer to home are the farm-gate sales. Potatoes, eggs, vegetables and fruit – but try not to make a special journey in your car, stop when you are going past on your way to somewhere else. But best of all is to grow vegetables and fruit in your own garden if you can. Even if you just have one apple tree in the lawn, or a couple of tomato plants in a grow-bag on your patio, or even some sprouted beans in a jar on your windowsill, you will get some idea of how food should taste if it doesn’t have to travel thousands of miles to your plate!

Whatever and wherever you do your food shopping don’t forget to take along your own bag, or recycle supermarket carrier bags again and again. Keep the small bags you put fruit and vegetables in and reuse them the next time you go shopping.

And just a quick word about bottled water … did you know that 2 billion litres of bottled water is expected to be bought this year? Much of it is transferred from country to country, incurring substantial fuel costs and tonnes of harmful emissions. Try drinking water straight from the tap at home, and at least refilling your empty water bottles from the tap to take out with you. We can all make a big difference just by cutting down on the amount of bottled water we buy.

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