2008 Trial and Report
Britain could cut its domestic fuel bills by £4.6bn a year if it adopted a series of energy saving measures, according to a 2008 trial and report.An energy saving trial involving 64 households across eight cities organised by British Gas and monitored by the thinktank, the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), also found that families cut their carbon emissions by a fifth.

British Gas managing director, Phil Bentley said: "Reducing energy consumption is the single most important thing households can do to reduce bills and cut emissions."

Five months in to the planned year long Green Streets trial, British Gas and the IPPR
say the families involved have cut their energy usage by up to 30%. Replicating that across Britain would mean domestic fuel bill savings of £4.6bn. Some households cut the amount of gas they consume by 50%, according to the study. The trial was based on British Gas customers and those of other energy suppliers. Each street had a budget of £30,000 to spend on energy efficiency measures - from new boilers to solar panels -
Note
The IPPR is the Insititute for Public Policy Research and seeks to promote social justice, democratic participation, and economic and environmental sustainability in government policy.

Turn Down the Heat
Here's a quick, easy solution that will save you money and save energy: turn down your thermostat. Lowering your heat in winter by just 2 degrees can cut your energy bill by 10 percent. Get an automatic or programmable thermostat to make it easy to save on heating; set it to turn down when you're away from home or sleeping, and to turn back up half an hour before you'll be up and about.
 
Unplug Gadgets
Electronic equipment and appliances suck up energy even when they're turned off -- they've actually earned the nickname "vampires." Americans waste $1 billion a year powering items like TVs and DVD players while they're turned off. So unplug your TV, stereo, computer, microwave, and other equipment when you're not using them

Wash Clothes Efficiently
When it comes to laundry, there's lots of room for savings. Ninety percent of the energy used in clothes washing goes to heat the water, so washing in cold is a simple way to cut energy use drastically. Wash only full loads. Hang some or all items and let them air-dry instead of running them through the dryer.

Get Out of the Car
Vehicles consume half of the world's oil, and spew a quarter of the world's greenhouse-gas emissions. Leaving your car at home even one day a week can save a lot of gas and emissions over a year.

Green Your Home
Pick one small project you can do around the house to cut energy use. Here are a few ideas: Replace regular light bulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs use about one-fifth as much energy as regular bulbs, and last about 12 times longer). Install a low-flow showerhead, which will save on water heating and use. Lower the temperature of your water heater to 120 degrees, and insulate the tank.

Change your light bulbs to eco ones Low-energy light bulbs last up to 12 times longer than conventional ones, and just one bulb will save you around £9 and 40kg of CO2 emissions a year. Incredibly, if every household in the UK had just three of these eco bulbs, we’d save the equivalent of the annual output of a power station.

Insulate
Insulate your loft, walls and hot water cylinder (unless you have a combination boiler, in which case you won’t have one). British homes lose enough heat through their walls and roofs to heat approximately 3,000,000 homes every year.

Change your boiler
If you have an old boiler, it’s almost certainly inefficient and so costing you money, as conventional boilers are only 60 per cent efficient and waste 40 per cent of their heat.All new boilers (with a few exceptions) have to be energy-efficient condensing ones, which retain heat from the gasses usually expelled down the flue.

Recycle
Now that doorstep collections of recyclable goods are commonplace, there’s no excuse for not doing your bit. While it’s true that some councils only collect the basics – glass, paper and cans – others are more proactive and take everything from foil and fabric to cardboard and plastic bottles (the problem with plastic is that there are several different types and only certain ones are generally recycled).

Draught proof and/or double glaze your windows
Single-glazed windows and poorly insulated frames can result in a fifth of all heat loss. Double glazing can reduce this loss by 50 per cent and save you around £80-£100 and 570kg of CO2 a year. If you can’t afford double glazing (or secondary double glazing), invest in draught excluders for your windows and doors (both internal and external) instead.

Only boil enough water for your needs
It’s all too easy to turn the tap on and fill the kettle up without considering how much water you actually need, but again you’re wasting both water and electricity. Only boil enough water for your needs – at home and work – and you’ll make big savings. It’s estimated that if all of us stopped “filling” the kettle, enough energy would be saved to power between 50 and 75 per cent of the UK’s street lights. If you’re struggling to get warm in the colder months, do boil the kettle for a hot water bottle and do put on more clothes but don’t immediately turn on the heating.

Conserve energy when cooking
Chop food into small pieces when cooking, as it will cook quicker and use less energy. It’s also important to boil water for cooking in the kettle and then transfer it to the hob, to only boil enough to just cover the food, to put the saucepan lid on and to ensure the pan’s the right size for the burner or ring you’re using, otherwise energy will be lost around the sides. Ovens and saucepans can be turned off before the food is completely cooked because it will continue cooking in the boiling water or hot air. If you want to warm up the kitchen, keep the oven door open once you’ve finished cooking but don’t be tempted to do this when it’s on/lit.

Link above to this excellent website full of tips to stop wasting food and to save money
8.3 million tonnes of food is thrown away by households in the UK every year.
Reducing food waste is a major issue and not just about good food going to waste; wasting food costs the average family with children £680 a year and has serious environmental implications too.If we all stop wasting food that could have been eaten, the CO2 impact would be the equivalent of taking 1 in 4 cars off the road.

British Food Fortnight 2010, which ended on Sunday (3 October), promoted itself with the message "Grown Here, Not Flown Here". The slogan was selected by a public vote and reflects a view increasingly held by many people, that air-freighting fresh produce into a country which grows some of the world's finest fruit and veg amounts to economic and environmental madness.

In fact, air freight accounts for a fairly small amount of UK fresh produce. According to the Fresh Produce Consortium (FPC), which represents growers and importers, just 1.53% of fresh fruit and vegetables imported into the UK arrive by air-freight, and 60% of those arrive in the hold of passenger aircraft, rather than on dedicated flights.

Even though road and sea freight has less of an impact than air freight, Defra figures show that, in all, about 60% of fruit and vegetables we eat are imported to the UK, mainly from within the EU. The Soil Association says UK food self-sufficiency has declined over the past decade and we have become more reliant on imported food. Concerns about the carbon footprint of well-travelled food is a concern for many consumers, but both the carbon footprint issue, as well as food security, are increasingly high on the political agenda.

We can still import bananas and dates because they don't grow here
Our farmers need encouragement to grow all our staple basics here at home

An innovative energy saving solution, the Powerstar voltage optimisation system, developed by EMS, a UK company, is being widely used by Colleges in Scotland following the appointment of Bryan Divitt as Business Sales Engineer.The Powerstar system, which is proven to be the most efficient product of its type, maximises the delivery of electricity, achieving savings of up to 26.1% on energy consumption and carbon emissions. Presently the voltage supplied by UK energy companies averages 242V, while electrical equipment is designed to operate on 220V/230V. 

The product, which has also won a series of awards, has already been installed in a number of locations across the country including, Clydebank College, Langside College, Perth College Goodlybum and Perth College Brahan.Mr Divitt who is based in Livingston, has nearly fifteen years experience in sales having worked for a number of blue chip companies in senior roles. He has worked in the sustainability sector, specifically voltage optimisation, since 2008.

 Dr. Alex Mardapittas, managing director of EMSc and inventor of Powerstar said; “We are extremely pleased to have been able to install Powerstar in a number of colleges in Scotland, in such a short space of time. We are extremely excited about the future prospects of working with organisations and institutions in Scotland, leading up to the introduction of the Carbon Reduction Commitment in 2012.”

Buy Goods Made on your own Home Turf
The carbon output of countries like China is legendary and a good part of that is in producing cheap goods for sale in the West. We add to their carbon output.

1. Buy goods made at home even if they cost a little more- save up
   
2. Don't buy goods that have to be flown in that you can buy at home
3. Encourage our self-sufficiency and support businesses that manufacture and employ at home
   

The UK has the highest 'import emissions' in Europe.
Britain's demand for imported goods is responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions abroad than any other European country, according to a new study published today.

The study, by scientists at the Carnegie Institute of Washington in California, highlights the unresolved issue of responsibility for carbon dioxide that is released to make products for foreign markets.It shows that 253m tonnes of carbon dioxide are released overseas each year in the manufacture of products bound for UK shores, the equivalent of 4.3 tonnes per person. The average Briton's carbon footprint is 9.7 tonnes, not including emissions from goods.Only the US and Japan have higher emissions linked to their imports, at 699m tonnes and 284m tonnes of carbon dioxide per year respectively, the study found.

The majority of the emissions are released in rapidly industrialising parts of the developing world, such as China and India.Under the Kyoto protocol,(which ends in 2012) emission targets apply to the country where the gases are produced. But China has so far resisted binding emissions targets, as it does not accept responsibility for emissions associated with making goods that are exported to wealthy nations.

Article from The Guardian in March 2010 HERE