The Great 'Energy & MoneySaving' Hunt

lovemystudentloan wrote: »

I probably heard about it on MSE! I am very worried about energy saving bulbs though. They contain mercury which IS NOT environmentally friendly so I wonder what will happen years from now when people have to throw these away. Will they go into landfill sights and leach mercury into the land?

Contact your council regarding this as they should have a recycling scheme set up or in the process of setting up. The mercury will also be recycled.

The bulb has less mercury in it than the amount of mercury a powerstation pumps into the air to generate enough electricity to power a normal bulb over the same lifetime. Source: Energy Savings Trust.

http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/energy_saving_products/types_of_energy_saving_recommended_products/energy_saving_light_bulbs/frequently_asked_questions

Tried to put up a tiny url but it blanks it out. Weird.

lovemystudentloan wrote: »

I am very worried about energy saving bulbs though. They contain mercury which IS NOT environmentally friendly so I wonder what will happen years from now when people have to throw these away. Will they go into landfill sights and leach mercury into the land?

The amount of mercury in Energy Saving bulbs is ~5mg (http://www.gelighting.com/na/home_lighting/ask_us/faq_compact.htm#mercury ). This is the same as would be emitted by burning enough coal to run a normal lightbulb for 6-9 months. (see here for long calcs: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/10/30/graun_tread_lightly/comments/ )

Plus most local tips now take these bulbs and recycle/dispose of them properly (as do IKEA), so they really are worth getting!

For extra MoneySaving once you've insulated your house and replaced all your bulbs with energy saving ones, another good product to get hold of is an IntelliPlug (e.On also sell them branded as 'powerdown') for your TV - it automatically switches off your digibox/DVD player when your TV is off. Costs £15 in the shops (or under £10 from eBay) and will save you (realistically) about £10 on electricity a year.

http://www.oneclickpower.com/acatalog/#aDSK105

With heat being so expensive, it begs the question when do you draw the curtains only for the heat to escape straight to a cold window.
I have opted to draw them later in the morning, about all day so no problem, and to ventilate the house at an optimum midday.
Then shut down about 3.30pm. Heavy curtains from charity shops help, or from Freecycle even better.
Now investigating exterior window shutters made from polystyrene or Thermostor.

When I used to drive a lot I used to cook food in the car engine above the exhaust manifold. Got it down to a fine art judging just how long a journey it took to cook various meals.

Maybe its something car manufactures could add in the future a little oven compartment in the engine. Maybe moneysavers could experiment and pass on recipes, times and where in the engine for different types of cars to cook the food.

I used an aluminium camping pan and wrapped the food up loosely. So for those who commute by car you could arrive home to a nice hot meal.

Don’t know if modern cars would be suitable as space is very limited but worth a try. The Christmas turkey would give a nice power bulge for the bonnet.:rotfl:

kisk