Tips for a greener Living Room

Wise buying with fuel / energy costs in mind

I guess the biggest expenditure within a Living Room is now centred around Home Entertainment. We seem to need this, that and the other, then an Amplifier because 'the other' isn't good enough, stick a few phone cables in and it's a wiring nightmare.

You can see on the right my set up and if I were a gambling man I'd say that many of you think that's quite a small amount!

The Television and it's Gadgets

Wow, where does one start? We're going digital, dogital, we have built in Freeview, built in DVD Players, HD and goodness knows what else.

From a fuel consumption point of view, the more actions a single unit will do will save a few 13amp plugs, make the room tidier and use less energy.
So, if you're purchasing a new TV soon, have a look at the savings potential, although a TV isn't essentially 'green' it can be a source of saving energy.
But of course, the one BIG thing about TV's, Satellite Boxes, DVD Players and the rest is not to leave them on standby, the cost over a year could probably feed at least two of your family for a week.

If you don't use say your DVD Player a lot, once a month maybe, take the plug out altogether. The other big thing here is to make sure your kids do the same !

Lighting

In days of old (like when I was young!), every room in the house would have a central light on the ceiling and possibly a tall Lampstand.

Nowadays we have a huge choice in lighting and accessories and I'm glad to say that, mainly due to various laws coming in place, savings on both energy and bills can be made.

Do we really need the main lights on? If we are reading, won't a small lamp positioned well do?
Dimmer switches can save energy and by educating ourselves to switch off lights when not in the room, we're well on our way to reducing our carbon footprint!

By replacing an old style light bulb in your main Living Room socket with a new energy saving bulb, you could save on average £2.50 a year. Maybe that doesn't sound a lot, but add the Hallway, Stairs, Kitchen and everywhere else, again there's food for thought in more ways than one!


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The average British person now watches over four hours of television a day
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I know I'm not up to date with all the mod cons, but here we see TV, DVD, Freesat Box and a Video Player. This all leads to.....

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