Being eco-conscious can be a full time job. It's hard to keep on top of things sometimes; and when it comes to the home, there are so many opportunities to accidentally be bad for the environment. Kitchen appliances can be guilty parties.

There are all sorts of ways to make your kitchen Eco-friendly.  If you're thinking of a bit of a revamp, or wondering about replacing some old manky tiles, there are options that leave you less to feel guilty about.

Our favourite is anything recycled. There's so much stuff to make the kitchen look great that doesn't hurt the earth. We are loving recycled glass dinnerware and bowls made from bamboo.

Floors can be made from renewable materials, like cork, and they're not too costly so there's no excuse for not having an eco-friendly kitchen these days.

The appliances are where it gets difficult. Because of the size of them, cookers and similar items really make an impact on the way your kitchen looks. Plus, it's not easy to find versions that don't consume loads of energy.

Dishwashers

That's why the eco-savvy go for AAA rated gear for the kitchen.  Something like a Smeg DI6SS dish washer has this high energy rating - which is 10% more than the A rating - which helps out with saving the planet. Plus, it's taking a little something off your energy bill. That's always nice.

Washing Machines

It's a common misconception that keeping an old, battered but still working washing machine is better for the environment than getting a new one. This just isn't true. Old appliances need a great deal more energy to function. Not only is that expensive for you, but your carbon footprint is going to get bigger every time you put a wash on.

Fridge Freezers

Fridge Freezers make the biggest impact on your bill. In the entire home, they account for about 20% of your total electricity used. If you want to make an eco-revamp on your kitchen, the fridge freezer should be your first port of call. Shop around for newer models with that AAA rating and get that energy bill down.

Getting hold of a new washing machine with an A or above energy rating will save you a lot more in energy costs. Plus, there are so many vendors now who will pick up your old machine when they deliver the new one. They then take it away to be recycled; so everybody wins.

If you're not looking to splash out on a big item yet, you can get hold of eco-friendly kettles and toasters and take your old ones to an electrical recycling centre.

In association with appliancesdirect

Having left a rather toasty house this morning, only to find the office freezing - and the thick knitted jumper at home - the electric heater is now on full to warm us up while we type at the speed of lightning to keep our hands warm. But as we all know, electrical heaters is the deep abyss of money wasting gadgets so we've been spending the morning coming up with some simple steps that will help you save money on the electricity bill this winter.

Hippyshopper's top tips on reducing your energy bill

Invest in quality knitwear and layer up

When the breeze offers a fresh Arctic chill and it feels like snow is just around the corner, it can be tempting to turn the heating up on full and forget about the harsh climate outside. But living in a sauna is not good for your skin or your wallet. Instead of wasting your hard earned money on something you cannot see, keep the thermostat on normal level and invest your dosh in quality knitwear and layer up. You'll be surprised how effective an extra layer of clothing can be in keeping you warm.

Draft-proof windows and doors

A lot of heat will escape from your house through cracks around window and door frames - and if you live in an old house then you're in for a treat. Invest in some proper draught-proofing products for the doors and windows, seal your skirting boards with silicone sealant to be on the safe side. It will cost a bit to do this, but you could save up to £90 a year, so in the long-term you'll be winning.

Install a digital thermostat

Heating your home is expensive, especially after the recently announced hike in energy prices, so there is no reason to pay for your heating when you're not at home. Have a digital thermostat from a DIY store and program it to increase the temperature half an hour before you arrive home from work.

It's not all about heating: save money in other parts of your electric bill

Darker days and nights make most up us want turn on more lights when at home. Before you do this, replace each bulb with LED bulbs as this will help you save on your electricity bill. And turn lights off when you leave a room.

Shop around for the best deal

There's no shame in wanting to move on from your current energy provider. Find the best deal for you, and switching either your gas or electricity so that you get both from the same supplier you can get a dual fuel discount. And if you choose to manage your account online and pay by Direct Debit could provide even further discounts.

Image by Widerbergs on a Creative Commons License.

What do you do when the cityscape is crowded with skyscrapers, roads and cars and you want to create more urban green places without removing anything? You go underground of course!

This is one of the coolest projects we've come across lately; the kickstarter-funded project, The Lowline, has taken an abandoned underground trolley terminal, utilising tech to bring enough sunlight through to be able to grow plants (mock plants for now)

As seen on the images here, a 35-foot-wide aluminium canopy will shower light on to the indoor park, demonstrating the 'remote skylight' concept that would provide light to the green space under the dense pavements of Manhattan.

"What I envision is that we will have this kind of undulating, reflective ceiling actually functioning as an optical device to draw sunlight into the space to make it somewhere that you would actually like to spend some time," says James Ramsey, co-founder of the Lowline and designer of the "Imagining the Lowline" installation that opened 15 September to showcase sample "solar harvesting" technology.

The Lowline name plays on the wildly successful High Line, which turned an abandoned freight rail line on Manhattan's far west side into elevated park space.

Have you come across any similar projects?

[via Co.Exist]

I have a new favourite brand for lampshades! Creating stylish and modern eco-friendly light and home accessories using responsibly sourced materials, British brand Desinature will definitely feature on my Christmas wish-list (hint: honey).

The designs show the team's adoration for the natural world, with beautiful creations like the honey comb looking lampshade or the up-side-down flower Daisy & Daffo - laser cut to perfection.

With the desire to give back to nature, Desinature has also partnered with Tree-nation and donate a portion of all proceeds to tree planting projects around the world. What's not to love?!

Who says a well-decorated house can't be eco-friendly and that you can't have beautiful surroundings while respecting the planet?

US company Environment Furniture creates contemporary furniture, using sustainably harvested wood and reuse of otherwise discarded materials - salvaged maritime shipping beams, recycled pulp honeycomb cardboard and vintage military shelter halves.

We've fallen for the Topanga Collection, a new sustainable shelving system made with lightweight honeycomb panels.

Designed by Jean-Marie Massaud, Environment's creative director, the Topanga takes the brand's signature commitment to sustainability--and innovative, nature-inspired design--and applies it to multi-purpose shelving.

Using the bee honeycomb, the shelving unit requires minimal standard support to achieve structural strength, making it lightweight and in turn reducing shipping impact. The Topanga also uses a high content of recycled, post-consumer paper pulp in its honeycomb-panel, geometric construction and is bonded by nontoxic, water-based glue.

For the style- and eco-conscious the finishes are equally environment friendly. How about upcycled newspaper or hand-painted or hand-graffitied designs by international artists?

Prices start from $395. Visit www.environmentfurniture.com for more information.

Valentine's Day will come and go, and we like to think that people celebrate their love each and every single day rather on a day made popular by a greetings card company to sell more cards...

February is halfway through; spring is hopefully around the corner (unless we get another cold snap!) so why not start planning how to spring clean your home in the most green way?

Commonly used leaning products are known to contain lots of nasty things that you really don't want your children/animals/skin to get in touch with. So why not invest in products that will help you feel good and care for the environment?

If you don't feel like making your own cleaning products (think hot water, vinegar, baking soda and a hint of lemon), Ecover's ecological selection of products is a good place to start as they are made from plant-based ingredients that will leave no nasty residues or irritants on your skin. Also, all their bottles and containers are made from Plant-astic, a renewable, reusable and recyclable plastic derived from sugarcane - Ecover is the first cleaning brand in the UK to manufacture its bottles from this material.

But spring cleaning is not just about the products. There are plenty of other things that will help you tidy up your house, all ready for the new season.

Reduce the mess in your home. Go through places where 'things' tend to accumulate - closets, the top shelf of the kitchen cupboard, the attic, under your bed, and anywhere else you're likely to have stored items that will be 'dealt with later'.

Reuse anything you can. An old bed sheet can be made into several dishcloths. Got lots of books that have no home? Stack them up next to your bed/sofa for a unique side table.

Donate unwanted things to charity. Because you don't have any use for that old jacket or the kitchen pans, chances are someone else will. So carry anything you don't want to your local charity shop and help them as well as helping yourself. For bigger items, list them on Freecycle and see if anyone wants to take them off your hands. The more you can recycle and donate the less ends up on the skip!

Happy cleaning! Got any tips on how to green spring clean your home? Please share them in the comments below.

With tales of cold Arctic winds possibly hitting the British Isles in the next few weeks and winter just around the corner, you're probably considering how to keep your house warm over the coming months. Making sure your place is properly insulated is a given but what about your radiators?

It might be too late for this season, but if you're considering swapping your boring old white radiator for a more stylish design - yet want to make it energy efficient - let us introduce Bisque. This is Italian design at its best but with an eco twist!

The new generation of aluminium Bisque radiators for 2012 are made from re-cycled aluminium and are the first radiators to combine sleek Italian design with energy efficient technology.

With a low water content - using 85% less water than your standard radiator - Bisque aluminium radiators take a shorter time to heat up and cool down, meaning they use less energy to heat your flat and respond to changes in temperature faster. So not only are they more energy efficient, they may also lower your bills!

The Blok and Ellisse ranges are available in the Bisque London Showroom now and nationally from February 2012. Blok is priced from £514.80 and Ellisse is priced from £700.80

IBTimes brings to our attention today the Bio Natura mattress, offering a healthier kip. It's designed by Israeli bedding company Sapapa by Aminach who don't mess about, apparently, when it comes to a good ol' slumber courtesy of a quality mattress. Aminach actually translates to 'My People Rest' - if you insist!

The Bio Natura is an all-natural mattress made of 100% premium cotton and pure coconut fiber, featuring an orthopedic center that increases the mattress life and prevents the middle from caving in.

Most significantly though, it swears to be free of any harmful chemicals which means your body won't be exposed to as many toxins whilst your snoring the night away.

What do you think? Promising stuff or nothing new?

Summer is fastening its grip yet again, the flowers are in bloom and people appear to be much happier - amazing what some sunshine and warm weather can do!

With flowers also come bees and as you are preparing your garden for the summer season it could be worth keeping the humble bumble bee in mind. While you might want your garden to look fashionable with large and colourful plants, it's important to remember that bees, and other insects, live in your flowerbeds and these amazing looking plants can be "hostile" towards insects making it difficult for them to access the pollen and nectar. If you are an avid gardener check out The Royal Horticultural Society's (RHS) 'Perfect for Pollinators Plant List' to find out which plants and flowers are best for the insects that live on your plot of land.

Many of the UK's 24 bumble bee species are today endangered - two species even became extinct in the last 70 years! You can do your bit by choosing plants that have this new 'bee label' - it's shaped like a bee - that indicate which flowers and plants are best to help bees and butterflies.

All bees are vital to our food chain, in fact one third of the food we eat would not be available was it not for the keen workers. The economic value of honey and bumble bees as pollinators of commercially grown insect pollinated crops in the UK has been estimated at over £200 million per year! (www.bbka.org.uk)

Bees are in danger of disappearing, and while you can ensure their continued well-being by planting the right flowers you could also consider taking up beekeeping. Honey bees are under attack from the varroa mite and only treatment and care provided by beekeepers can keep their colonies alive.

However, to keep bees you need some equipment - some to keep you safe when handling the bees - and also a hive for the bees to live in. There is a wide choice of hives available on the market, but we particularly like this cute 'Bee Station' on Eco Age that is designed to support British bees!

Produced by a pottery in Stoke-on-Trent, the Bee Station is described as a "bee refuelling and nesting site that sits on your flowers bed". The design is spacious enough for two species of bee to nest for their full fourteen weeks and holes for sugary drink to provide sustenance. And it will look great in your garden too!

For more information on how to keep honey or bumble bees visit The British Beekeepers Association website.

The last few decades have been dominated by urbanisation, digitalisation and an admiration for consumption. These days, you'll find a growing number of counter-movements springing up that advocating for a more sustainable and responsible way of dealing with our environment and bringing nature back to our cities.

My Green City - Back to Nature with Attitude and Style (Gestalten, £35.00) is a compilation of the ideas and projects from around the world that are promoting a more environmentally friendly lifestyle - from urban farming initiatives and architectural visions that are changing our cities, to furniture and other everyday objects that can make our streets and homes greener.

Among the many inspirational projects included in this book, some of our favourites are: Vacant Lot allotment garden by What if: projects (Shoreditch, London May 2007) which took use of vacant and unloved city spaces and turned them into temporary allotment gardens; the Ann Demeulemeester shop in Seoul, Korea by Mass Studies which is covered in grass on the exterior surfaces; the many varieties of seed bombs - the munitions of guerrilla gardeners in the fight against the neglect of public spaces. In fact, there are far too many great eco-friendly ideas to mention!

We liked the book so much that we have teamed up with Gestalten to give one lucky Hippyshopper reader the chance to add 'My Green City' to their book collection.

TO ENTER

To enter the competition simply Like Hippyshopper's Facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/Hippyshopper and leave us a comment below telling us which city in the world you think is greenest and why. We'll pick the winner based on our favourite message, so don't be shy!

COMPETITION CONDITIONS

- Competition closes on Friday 27th May 2011 at 23:59.

- Only Hippyshopper Facebook page fans will be eligible to win the prize.

DIY chain B&Q reckons it has created one of the UK's most environmentally friendly properties with a revolutionary new type of loft conversion.

Its 'loft-pod', which uses NASA technology, has been brought to a humble end of terrace in Eastleigh to create a sustainable home. What's more the instant loft conversion took just half a day to install.

The loft was built off site in 21 days and delivered early in the morning as the B&Q Innovation experts got to work. A crane was used to lift the loft into position as residents looked on and by the end of the day the home had gained an extra room.

Rooms in a pod could be available to homeowners of the future as such new build techniques prove to be easier and faster than current industry practice (though presumably the cost of hiring a crane etc wouldn't be cheap).

The converted loft came fully wired, insulated and painted with B&Q's recycled Home Eco Paint. The roof has Photo Voltaic panels so that the house can produce its own hot water. As well as the loft-pod, the house received a pre-made garden-pod which is the energy hub of the home.

With the combination of NASA space technology and expert design, the new loft and home of the future plays host to a range of unusual products that B&Q claim will be the norm in years to come in a bid to create sustainable homes. This is the first time such technology has been combined under one roof, making it one of the greenest houses in the UK.

Blinds similar to the NASA Space Shuttle have been used on all of the single glazed windows as they keep more heat in than any triple glazed window. The wall insulation is also a lot thinner than most homes in the UK, as technology from cruise liners has been adopted to make the house virtually sound proof.

As well as underfloor heating, the house boasts skirting boards which also act as radiators. Heat is pushed out through the boards to keep whole rooms at a constant temperature. By the time the house is completed, it is estimated that it will have reduced its carbon output by at least 80 per cent.

So far the build is 40 per cent finished with a new roof constructed, and under floor heating installed. The designs for the kitchen and upstairs bathroom have also been finalised and the house is set to be habitable by July. The house will then be open to the public to see what the home of the future looks like.

The transformation of the home came in the same week as the Government announced that it is to offer homeowners a £10,000 loan to help create eco-homes across Britain. B&Q is just one of the retailers which is in talks with the Government to discuss the opportunities surrounding the Green Deal and can offer insight into how the deal might work, as it has just completed a similar trial in the London borough of Sutton.

The Council-run trial included B&Q providing an energy audit of homes to locate which changes would reduce both carbon output and bills, followed by a loan from the Council which is then paid back over 25 years. B&Q then supplied the product to get the job done.

You can find out more information on the project here: www.diy.com/eco

Former England and Manchester United footballer Gary Neville has finally been given the green light to build his new partially underground pad.

The eco-friendly house has been in the plans for a long time, as the 36-year-old has spent more than a year battling to win planning permission.

Gary will now start building the flower-shaped property - which has a striking resemblance to the set of popular kids' TV show Teletubbies - on the grounds of his £8 million estate. It will have four bedrooms, a children's play area and a swimming pool - all nicely located in its petals.

We wonder if MTV cribs will want to visit environmentally aware Gary Neville's home when it's finished. We applaud you for fighting for it Gary!

Remember when we wrote about solar panels and the benefits of installing them on your house? Now it appears that householders are rushing to put exactly that on their roofs! (They must all be loyal Hippyshopper readers)

According to guardian.co.uk, government subsidies have tripled the amount of solar power in the UK over the past year as people, largely homeowners, look to make nearly £1,000 a year as a result of installing solar panels.

This is most likely a result of the introduction of feed-in tariffs (Fits) last year, which pay individuals and businesses for generating green energy.

Are you planning on installing solar panels to your roof?

Photo: John Birdsall/PA

Have you been thinking about installing solar panels on your house to produce your own energy? If you haven't you definitely should, because the benefits of solar electricity are many:

It will cut your carbon footprint: it is a green, renewable energy source that doesn't release any harmful CO2 or other pollutants. A standard home solar panel system could save around 1 tonne of CO2 yearly.

Your electricity bills will be slashed: sunlight is FREE! So once you've invested in a system, it could help cut your electricity bills with 40%.

You can make money of it: yes that's right. If more electricity than you need is produced you can sell it back to the Grid.

You don't need planning permission for most solar electricity systems as long as they're under a certain size, but check with your local planning officer before you invest in one.

Also ensure you have a nice sunny roof or wall to fix it on, as there is no point having the panels if the sun doesn't reach them.

And most importantly, once you've got your solar panels installed and ready, invest in some energy efficient appliances that will help you maximise the electricity that is produced!

Installing a solar panel system will set you back around £12,000 + VAT (The Energy Saving Trust). But there are also some companies that offer free solar panel systems in return for a cut of your income. Read more about it on the Energy Saving Trust's website.

With news that several energy providers going to increase their electricity prices, it's time to have a look at how you can save energy - and money - at home. It doesn't take much to save a little here and there, and in the long run all small energy savings can help you reduce outgoings - and it is greener too!

Take a good look around your house or flat and note down where energy might be wasted on a piece of paper - that's your to-do list. Now you can reduce your energy usage in workable steps, and not get overwhelmed by everything that needs to be taken care of. First do something about obvious energy wasters (no, that doesn't include the cat that does nothing else than sleep on the sofa and eat): leaving the light on; heat escaping through the windows; a flat as hot as a sauna. Then work your way through the to-do list towards a more energy efficient home life.

Top tips for saving energy

1. Is your home hot as a sauna? Turn your thermostat down. Reducing your room temperature with only 1°C could cut your heating bills by up to 10%. Put any saved money towards your next holiday or a girl's night out.

2. Wear slippers and add another layer of clothing before you turn up the heat.

3. If you can, set your heating on a timer to go on an hour before you have to get up in the morning and off when you actually get up. The flat will then slowly cool down, and you'll be out the door before it cools completely! Do the same in the evening. Heating on for a few hours, and let the flat start to cool down 30 mins before you go to bed.

4. Check all windows and doors for drafts and place draft excluders wherever possible. Make it more fun by making your own unique draft excluders! If you don't have double glazing, invest in thick curtains that you can close at dusk to stop heat escaping.

5. Always leaving your TV / Kinect on standby, or laptop and mobile phone charging unnecessarily? This actually draws more energy than you may think, and will add up over the months. Flip the switch and you could end up saving pretty pennies.

6. Turn off lights when you're not in the room, and use energy saving lightbulbs wherever possible.

7. Love a cup of tea? Only boil enough water to fill the cup or cups of tea you're making.
If you like feeling toasty once in bed, swap the electric blanket for a hot water bottle and wear socks to bed.

8. Set your fridge and freezer to the right temperature. Not too cold and not too warm, just right as Goldilocks would say. Defrost food in the fridge overnight instead of microwaving it.

9. Only wash clothes when you have enough for a full load. Two half-loads uses more energy than one full load. And line dry whenever possible.

10. Towel dry your hair as much as possible. This will cut down the time you need to use your hairdryer for.

Got any helpful energy saving tips for Hippyshopper? Get in touch!

Read on for tips on how to reduce your household waste.

Source: Energy Saving Trust

Image: Home Gas Services