There's no way of escaping it: everywhere you go these days you leave dirty great carbon footprints revealing, for the world to see, just how wasteful and unsustainable your lifestyle is. From the type of car you drive (you do drive, don't you?) to your choice of grocery provider (could we be talking supermarket here?), you wear your green credentials on your sleeve.
But however guilty you feel about your turbocharged SUV and penchant for Peruvian asparagus at Christmas, the likelihood is that your home is your most carbon-rich, energy- burning crime. So, if you're really serious about reducing your impact on the environment, the best place to begin your quest is at home. Eco-friendly homes don't have to be weird-looking and expensive. An award winning five-bedroom eco-home on a brownfield site in Lewes, East Sussex, which cost just £340,000 to build, is selling for £865,000 (www.lewesestates.co.uk). Its environmentally friendly features include solar panels, underfloor heating and English lamb's wool insulation.
It is insulation that is the biggest single contribution you can make to reducing a house's carbon footprint. "We still let a huge proportion of our energy escape through windows, roofs and walls," says environmental campaigner Brigit Strawbridge. "But other options, like solar hot water, are both efficient and surprisingly affordable." Strawbridge is best known as the diminutive but feisty martriarch in the BBC2 series It's Not Easy Being Green, which documented the Strawbridge family (Brigit, husband Dick and grown-up children James and Charlotte) as they struggled to convert a 300-year-old Cornish farmhouse into a comfortable yet environmentally friendly place to live.
Anybody who is serious about reducing their carbon footprint can start making changes immediately, says Brigit. "It's a doddle. What's not easy is making decisions - whether biofuel crops are a better option than using the land to grow food, if investing in solar electricity will save money and the environment - these are all questions that you have to think hard about."
Earlier this month she encouraged home-owners to adopt a whole range of energy efficient measures at a weekend promoting green energy, low carbon, environmentally conscious lifestyle options at Hallsannery Centre near Bideford, North Devon, courtesy of the Torridge Action Group for Sustainability (TAGS for short). Visitors from across the country learnt the virtues of biomass boilers and the need for the thickest possible layers of insulation, and were taken to see dozens of different homes and businesses which have already invested in sustainable energy-saving technology. "My message is that you can switch to a greener lifestyle by making changes gradually, and the best time to start is now," says Brigit.
The Strawbridge family runs courses in greener living and their website provides useful links (www.itsnoteasybeinggreen.org).
1 Switch to low-energy lightbulbs. Compact fluorescent bulbs use up to 80 per cent less energy than incandescent bulbs and last 15 times longer.
2 Turning your thermostat down by 1 deg C can save up to 10 per cent on your annual heating bill.
3 Never leave your personal computer or monitor on when not in use - they burn a huge amount of energy.
4 Turn your television off at the wall when not in use. A television on standby is still using 80 per cent of its power.
5 Close your curtains when it starts getting dark to reduce the amount of heat escaping through your windows.
6 Air leakage wastes an enormous amount of thermal energy. Seal all leaky doors and windows.
7 Save water by putting a flush saver, or even a brick, in your loo cistern to reduce the amount of water used with each flush.
8 Replacing an ageing central heating boiler with a new condensing type could cut your heating bills by more than 20 per cent.
9 Your hot water does not need to be boiling, so make sure your cylinder thermostat is set at 60 deg C.
10 Next time you upgrade your fridge or freezer make sure you get an energy-efficient model. An "A++" rating denotes the best energy efficiency.
11 Urban water run-off from paths and patios can be stored in a sustainable drainage system which helps prevent flooding in main sewers and drains.
12 Use water butts to store rainwater for use in the garden. It can even be filtered and used in the house for flushing loos and in your washing machine.
13 'Grey water" from your bath and shower can also be filtered and re-used in the house or garden.
14 Solar hot water heating is one of the most cost-effective technologies available. Once installed, up to 70 per cent of your annual hot water requirement can be met by this technology.
15 Solar photo-voltaic (PV) panels generate electricity from sunlight. Although a whole-house system is an expensive option, small panels can be used efficiently to power certain appliances such as water pumps and lighting circuits.
16 If your windows need replacing, make sure you fit new double- or even triple- glazed units. Double glazing can cut heat loss through windows by up to 50 per cent.
17 A third of all building heat is lost through walls. Cavity wall insulation is easy and cheap and even solid walls can be insulated either indoors or outside.
18 Increasing the depth of your loft insulation to at least 20 cm could reduce heat lost through your roof by 25 per cent.
19 Use a compost bin and reduce the amount of kitchen rubbish you send to landfill.
20 Most metals, glass and plastics can be recycled and most local authorities have a collection scheme. Make sure that you segregate and recycle all these materials.
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