On Tuesday morning, 29th January 2013, Susan Vickers of An Taisce visited the Woman 2000 group at the Seanscoil in Killorglin to talk about the EPA's GreenHome initiative. She spent some time talking about the need to examine how wasteful we can be at home regarding energy, water and our rubbish. And how costly these behaviours are. She explained why it was so necessary to stop and think - how is our behaviour contributing to the damage of our environment? What sort of world are we leaving to our grandchildren? And, the good news, she explained how any household can make big savings each year by adjusting our behaviour.
The group spent some time discussing different ways to reduce the amount of rubbish that actually goes into our bins. Susan gave us an in-depth insight, with the aid of some neat demonstration capsules, into all the stuff that can be recycled and how so called 'rubbish' can be big business these days. She also touched on composting of organic waste.
She then did a brief inventory of all the things we could easily and without expenditure do in our homes to reduce our energy consumption and lessen the amount we spend on bills - for example, turn down the thermostat by one degree, close the curtains, and turn off appliances at the socket when not in use.
She also showed us some fun gizmos that can be attached to our taps to reduce water consumption without losing power of flow. And also how we can reduce the amount of water we use when flushing the loo by adding a Hippo bag to the cistern.
She finished by inviting us all to participate in a household survey to find out where we are on the usage/wastage scale with a view to seeing how we could improve on this over the coming months.
It was an enjoyable and informative session and we thank Susan for coming along and showing us how we can easily save some money - and perhaps a contribution towards saving the resources of the planet while we're at it!
The group spent some time discussing different ways to reduce the amount of rubbish that actually goes into our bins. Susan gave us an in-depth insight, with the aid of some neat demonstration capsules, into all the stuff that can be recycled and how so called 'rubbish' can be big business these days. She also touched on composting of organic waste.
She then did a brief inventory of all the things we could easily and without expenditure do in our homes to reduce our energy consumption and lessen the amount we spend on bills - for example, turn down the thermostat by one degree, close the curtains, and turn off appliances at the socket when not in use.
She also showed us some fun gizmos that can be attached to our taps to reduce water consumption without losing power of flow. And also how we can reduce the amount of water we use when flushing the loo by adding a Hippo bag to the cistern.
She finished by inviting us all to participate in a household survey to find out where we are on the usage/wastage scale with a view to seeing how we could improve on this over the coming months.
It was an enjoyable and informative session and we thank Susan for coming along and showing us how we can easily save some money - and perhaps a contribution towards saving the resources of the planet while we're at it!