Behavioural Initiatives
The 50+ majority of the initiatives are "No Cost - Low Cost" behavioural initiatives. These "behaviours" are the habits we adopt and the decisions we make in managing our daily domestic and business lives. Five random examples are:
- Not eating red meat
- Stopping junk mail through the Mail Preference Service
- Recycling everything
- Only holidaying in the UK
- Gardening organically
Behavioural Initiatives 1995 to date |
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| Electricity | Switched to nPower Juice - green energy tariff | 2005 | 
   
 
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| Switched to Ecotricity - green wind energy | 2007 | ||
| Unnecessary lights and appliances switched off ! | 1996 to date | ||
| Appliances | We did not own or use a dishwasher until the ISE DW243 was available in 2012 | 1995 to 2012 | |
| Ceased using a Tumble Dryer | 2002 | ||
| Transport and Travel | Average of 680 air miles per person per year | 2000 - 2021 | |
| Holidays taken mainly in UK | 2003 to date | ||
| Continual bicycle repair | 1997 - 2008 | ||
| Keep annual car mileage for 2 people and 2 businesses to between 9,000 and 11,000 miles | 2006 - to date | ||
| Use Park and ride services where available/appropriate | 2006 to date | ||
| Water | Decommissioned water softener system | 2006 | |
| Food | Reduced red meat consumption to once weekly | 2003 to 2019 | |
| No red meat scheduled | 2019 to date | ||
| Planned weekly meals and set weekly food shopping checklist | 2004 | ||
| Using "Bags for Life" or own jute/cloth bags | 2006 | ||
| Taking care to minimise packaging | 2006 to date | ||
| Fresh vegetables from local farmshop | 2019 to date | ||
| Use the milkman for organic milk delivery in re-usable glass bottles | 1995 to date | ||
| Grocery shopping plastic packaging eliminated | 2019-20 | ||
| Laundry | Stopped tumble drying. All laundry air dried in house or on outside line. | 2002 | |
| Removed and Freecycled tumble dryer | 2008 | ||
| Use 30 ° for clothes washing | 2008 | ||
| Surplus Resources | Recycle everything possible including glass, cans, plastic bottles, plastic bottle tops, paper, aluminium foil, batteries, textiles, shoes, metal, bottle tops, engine oil .....and more. | 1996 to date | |
| Many household items are re-used in some way, including glass jars, yoghurt pots, furniture, plastic bags, clothing, A4 paper and many unwanted items send to Freecycle or Freegle. | 1995 to date | ||
| Compost all kitchen food surplus on site | 1995 to date | ||
| Compost all garden surplus on site | 1995 to date | ||
| Garden | Planted new hedgerow over 120 yards | 1995 | |
| 'Wildlife heap' for all woody surplus which also provides a wildlife shelter | 1995 to date | ||
| Compost all garden surplus | 1995 to date | ||
| Never had a bonfire | 1995 to date | ||
| Leaf Mould every year from raked garden leaves | 1995 to date | ||
| Created organic vegetable garden | 1996 to date | ||
| Organic garden free of pesticides, herbicides and inorganic fertilisers | 1996 to date | ||
| 13 bird boxes/roosts placed in hedges and shrubs | 1998 to date | ||
| Setup Wildflower "Lot " | 2003 | ||
| Plastic plant pots recycled at local garden centre | 2004 to 2015 | ||
| 2 Hedgehog boxes, 2 bug houses, a Bumblebee nest box installed | 2008 | ||
| Added Damson and Plum trees to garden | 2008 | ||
| Bird nest building materials baskets | 2008 | ||
| Biodiversity | A variety of habitats created and maintained in garden for wildlife | 1996 to date | |
| A database record of the over 600 living species (plants, insects, mammals, birds ++) | 1996 to date | ||
| Monitoring | Heating Oil consumption measured and monitored | 1995 to date | |
| Water consumption measured and monitored | 1999 to date | ||
| Electricity consumption measured and monitored | 2002 to date | ||
| Petrol consumption measured and monitored | 2006 to 2008 | ||
| Car mileage measured and monitored | 2006 to date | ||
| Carbon Footprint measured and monitored | 2009 , 2021 | ||
| Other | Commissioned consultants for household energy and CO2 report | 2008 | |
| Signed up to stop junk mail through Mail Preference Service | 1996 | ||
| CO2 Footprint | Transport, Travel, Household Heating and Energy for 2 adults and 1 business was 5,818 Kgs in 2020. Predicted 2022 1,128 Kgs. | 2020 | |
| Using self-customised calculation | 2009, 2020 | ||