4 ways to achieve a more sustainable lifestyle

From what we wear, to what we eat, to how we run our homes, our everyday actions can and do have repercussions on the environment. So whether you’re making a conscious choice to lead a more sustainable lifestyle or you would like to save money (or both!), we have a few ideas to get you off to a good start!

Reduce your passive consumption of energy 

This is one of the easiest and fastest ways to cut back on energy consumption in your home. The passive use of electricity by a home is called the base load and can cost you anywhere from £200 to £500 in energy bills a year. Each time you leave devices plugged in and on stand-by mode, they continue to eat electricity even if you’re not using them. This type of electrical leakage can be caused by mobile phone chargers, televisions, laptop docking stations and similar types of gadgets. So hit the off switch on all electrical sockets or unplug devices to take your first simple step towards a more sustainable life.

Make smarter choices in your kitchen

If you want to live a more sustainable lifestyle, wasting less food, learning how to compost and cutting out plastic are the obvious changes to make. However, more subtle choices like shopping locally, eating less or no meat and having your weekly groceries delivered to your doorstep can have a huge impact on the environment (and your bank account). Without much effort at all, you could be making significant savings and helping the planet too!

Doing the dishes, the right way: hand wash or dishwasher? 

The dishwasher is accepted as an essential item in many UK households, although some still regard it as a luxury item or even as an environmental no-no. But what is greener – using a dishwasher or washing up by hand? The evidence actually points to the dishwasher…

Water consumption:

As far as water consumption is concerned, the dishwasher is an obvious winner, as the new eco models now use three or four times less water than washing the same number of dishes by hand.

Energy efficiency:

The argument for a dishwasher becomes a little weaker when it comes to energy efficiency as the majority of UK households use gas to heat water, which is more efficient and produces less CO2 making handwashing seem like the greener option. However, for homeowners who have solar panels installed, loading your dishwasher during the day to ensure solar energy is used to power your appliance is a far greener option.

Hygiene:

Finally, there’s the hygiene aspect to consider. No dishwashing expert can compete with the bacteria-busting temperatures of a dishwasher programme, adding another strike against washing-up by hand.

To make sure you’re maximising the green potential of your dishwasher, follow these simple tips:

• Only run your dishwasher when it’s fully loaded
• Scrape your plates first, but don’t rinse them
• Select an eco-programme or lower the temperature, if available
• Run the dishwasher during the day if you have solar panels
• If you’re buying a new dishwasher, choose the most energy-efficient model, check the running costs and CO2 emission, and don’t buy the cheapest model if it’s not meant to last for long

Be more sustainable with solar panels and battery storage

As energy prices continue to soar, many UK households are looking to learn more about renewable energy and how installing solar panels could help them avoid high energy bills while also making a positive impact on the environment. Luckily the price of installing solar has been steadily decreasing over the last decade, making the power of solar more accessible to everyone.

Homeowners who are seriously considering alternative energy options need to take into account two critical aspects. First off, they must ensure their homes are energy-efficient and their households are run in a highly sustainable manner. Secondly, they should strive to gain more value from their investment in solar panels by adding battery storage.

As we know from our own customers, using battery storage can have an immediate, significant impact on reducing energy costs and the household’s carbon footprint (you can read about other ways to reduce your carbon footprint in our blog post).

In fact, by adding a smart battery to a solar panel system, you can store the energy you generate during the day to give you access to green and low-cost energy at night, reducing the amount of energy that you import from the grid. Also, during winter months and cloudy days, when your solar panel systems are not producing much energy, many homes can make use of their dynamic time-of-use tariffs to charge the battery when it is most convenient (such as during the night), powering your home with the cleanest and lowest-cost energy available all year round.

Get in touch

At Moixa, we have provided our solar batteries to over 1,000 homeowners in recent years. If you visit our Request a Quote page to enter a few key details, we’ll get in touch to discuss a specific quote for your solar energy needs, our pricing, and our flexible payment terms.

You can also call us on 0161 883 2374 or email enquiries@moixa.com to speak to a member of our Solar and Storage Specialists team. From there, we can offer more answers to your questions and put in motion the process of installing your solar panels and solar battery at your home.