In most corners of the media, money-saving has already eclipsed planet-saving, which has suddenly become yesterday's news, leading many to believe that the two concerns are worlds apart. But they couldn't be more wrong, because being green is all about resourcefulness, economy and frugality -- and not necessarily about buying expensive organic chicken. Follow the jump to find out some really useful ways of saving money and the environment at the same time.
It's taken us a while to get to this point, and we lost a couple of testers along the way. But finally, I can reveal just how much electricity Katie and I used at our respective homes over the past couple of weeks, how much we differed, and how we compare to the UK average...
But how much did we use? Read on over the jump
This video is, apparently, what happens when you let geeks loose on the pressing question of energy efficiency. Tech Digest's Gary Cutlack is clearly on the right track when it comes to the complex science of turning stuff off, but should he perhaps be focusing more on the C02 cost of his idiot toys rather than blaming everything on his poor old fridge? Proof if proof be needed that nutrition is a mere accessory to the truly dedicated gadget freak, I'd say...
Let this be a lesson to me. Never trust elderly neighbours. When I moved into my new flat a few weeks back, my neighbour was all sweetness and light. She let us into the electricity meter box, so that we could get a reading to tell our supplier. She also revealed that she's the only person in the entire universe with a key to the electricity box. No problem. I won't need to get in there again for a long time.
Or so I thought. The following week, I stroll into work to see a big pile of boxes on the Hippyshopper desk. "What are those?" I ask Abi. "Energy Monitors" she replies, "And we're all testing them". "Cool!" I thought.
Fast forward to that evening. I'm knocking on neighbour's door, wondering whether she'll think I'm some kind of weirdo, connecting machines up to the electricity. No answer. I try again, several times that week. No answer. She seems to have gone on holiday. So to cut an even longer story short, I didn't get to test out my energy monitor - the eco-eye Elite. Instead, I'll talk briefly about the product anyway, and the kind of energy usage I think I have as a big gadget geek.
As I've mentioned before, I have a love-hate relationship with gadgets: I love it when they're up and running and improving my life in new and exciting ways, but I have a phobia of manuals and want as little to do with their inner workings as possible. For this reason, I'd been assuming I was having a rare stroke of beginners' luck with the Wattson: it was all so easy and user-friendly that surely something had to go wrong sooner or later.
And I had convinced myself that this 'catastrophe' was going to occur at this phase of the experiment: the data collection. Read on to find out if my pessimism was well-founded.
So, still in the throws of moving house, I did my bit for the environment and installed my shiny new energy reading device (before I had unpacked my clothes, books or even a saucepan). It may have helped that I was watching Earth: The Climate Wars; last night's fascinating documentary on how science has viewed climate change in recent history. Or it could have simply been my innate, eco-warrior status, which may, of course, be about to be blown completely out of the water.
Follow the jump to find out how I got on and check out my twitter feed for real-time updates!
We like LED lighting around here, but it's even better when it comes stylishly packaged and has extra gadgety bits to get excited about, too.
The Spark Lamp is not only a cool, comtemporary low energy lamp, but it also comes with a wireless device that monitors the overall energy usage in your home. Oh, and it doesn't need any electricity for itself, thank you very much, as it stores up sunlight during the day to get its juice. Just like a plant! Which is why it kinda looks like one.
In most corners of the media, money-saving has already eclipsed planet-saving, which has suddenly become yesterday's news, leading many to believe that the two concerns are worlds apart. But they couldn't be more wrong, because being green is all about resourcefulness, economy and frugality -- and not necessarily about buying expensive organic chicken. Follow the jump to find out some really useful ways of saving money and the environment at the same time. 
digg this | del.icio.us this
| 
Stumble It!
