Every degree lower in the winter or higher in the summer you put it is a 10 percent decrease on your energy bill.
Archive for the ‘General’ Category
Moving to a new home is stressful at the best of times but try and spare a thought for the planet and make your move as green as you can.
While most of us are now making sustainable choices in many areas of our lives, moving house can involve a great deal of waste. So how do we keep the whole operation more environmentally friendly?
Here are some tips for environmentally responsible and economic packaging:
Try to buy or borrow used cardboard boxes and return them or sell them back when you’re done.
- Start collecting packing materials to reuse well in advance of the move.
- Recycle cardboard boxes, corrugated paper, bubble-wrap and packing peanuts.
- Wrap delicate items in clothes, towels, face-cloths, old sheets and tea-towels. Fill the corners of boxes with soft toys and rolls of thick socks.
- Pack small fragile items in egg-boxes.
- Crumpled-up newspaper may leak a little ink, but it’s free and effective.
Use green bags for non-fragile items; they’re light and easy to pack and carry.
It’s getting to be the hottest time of the year and as the sun comes out, so do the hats, cold drinks and backyard barbeques.
Summer is the season that most Australians long for all year and a season where many prospective buyers are braving the heat to look for their next home. Here are a few tips to make your home more summer-friendly to prospective buyers which will enhance the chance of that dream sale.
1. Using the right colours can add that fresh and cool look to your home.You don’t have to spend lots of money on repainting the walls – investing in bright, summery cushions and décor, fresh fruit and bright flowers will give your home that fresh, appealing edge.
2. Open your windows and sliding doors. Although air-conditioning feels great, some buyers don’t jump at the chance of having to deal with huge electricity bills to keep the house cool. The design of some homes may not allow for this, but allowing natural airflow through open windows and screens, with fans turned on at a low speed, can really enhance that cool, fresh feeling to your property.
3. Make sure the grass and garden is tidy. You may not know it, but unkempt grass and gardens can add a claustrophobic and shabby feel to your property. In hotter climates, maintaining a clean, low-density garden can add appeal for those buyers looking to escape the heat. The best tip for selling this summer is to put on your ‘buyers shoes’ and take a look around your house as if you were inspecting it for the first time on a hot, sunny day.
Whether you’re holidaying on the other side of the world or simply at the beach down the road, if you’re leaving your home for the annual summer break, it can become a target for thieves.
There are a few tips and tricks which can make a huge difference in protecting your biggest asset and safeguarding your home against thieves this summer.
• Check the locks and if necessary refit new ones, such as deadlocks and bolts, on doors and windows
• Keep an up-to-date list of any valuables such as jewellery, antiques andartwork. Take a photo of each item to keep on file and ensure your insurancecompany also has a copy. This will make the claim process easier if something were to happen
• Don’t leave house keys hidden outside, as experienced thieves will know where to look. Instead, leave a set of keys with neighbours or friends
• Lock away garden tools and ladders as they could help a would-be thief gain access
• Use automatic timer switches for lamps, TVs or stereos to come on then turn off each night. This will give the illusion that someone is occupying your home and will deter potential thieves
• Arrange to have you letterbox emptied daily. Nothing is a bigger signal to thieves than an overflowing letterbox
• For longer holiday breaks, arrange to have the lawn mown and laundry occasionally hung on your line
• Don’t leave a message on your phone indicating that you are away. Either arrange to have your messages cleared every couple of days or clear them yourself from you holiday base
• If possible, ask a trusted friend or family member to be your house sitter
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A Danish hotel is offering a free meal for guests, though they may feel like they’re being taken for a ride. In an innovative new scheme to encourage physical fitness and reducing carbon footprints, any guest who can produce electricity by using an exercise bike hooked-up to a generator inside the Copenhagen Crowne Plaza Hotel will receive a free meal, recycle.co.uk reports.
Currently the hotel also relies on solar panels to generate renewable energy. Guests will be eligible for the free meal if they can produce at a minimum, 10 watt hours of electricity – around 15 minutes of cycling for a guest of average physical fitness.
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