Fight Climate Change

Big Green Smile is a brand new eco-friendly product store that offers “an extensive range of green, ethical, recycled and eco-friendly gifts and gadgets”. This month if you buy anything from them then you’ll be entered into a free prize draw to win a Wattson Energy Saving gadget.

The Wattson gadget was voted by Stuff magazine as one of their top 10 gadgets of 2007. It’s expensive at £139, but it could help you save on your energy bills as Wattson shows you how much electricity you are using and helps you work out how to reduce it!

As well as the prize draw and Wattson, you’ll find some other cool eco gadgets at Big Green Smile. We particularly like the range of shower timers.

These help you time how long you are in the shower – by reducing time you not only save water but also energy too! The range includes a star, duck, green house and a turtle.

The site is very clear and there’s a nice range of eco gifts and essential items. There’s free shipping on orders over £50 plus you’ll get plenty of free tips and advice on how to be more environmentally friendly, save water and save energy!

With this year’s World Environment Day’s spotlight on greenhouse gas emissions, British households can clean up their act by switching to a renewable energy supplier or invest in the next best thing – an energy saving meter.

“Because a third of all carbon emissions in the UK come from burning fossil fuels to make electricity, switching to a renewable electricity supply is one of the best ways to reduce a households’ carbon footprint. But if this is not possible, getting an energy saving meter can really make a difference” says Nigel from Nigel’s Eco.

Reduce Your Energy Bills!

“Using a meter in these times of rocketing energy prices can significantly reduce energy bills too – so stop wasting and start saving”!

For as little as £11.99, the cost of the Ecosaver Energy Meter, households can work out which devices and appliances in their home or office are using most energy and costing them most money.

“Just by plugging an appliance into it and taking readings over a week for each appliance in turn, you can see the pattern of energy use and where you could be saving money and energy” adds Nigel.

Sophisticated Energy Saving!

“And for something more sophisticated, try the Efergy energy saving meter, costing just £44.99 it enables the user to monitor and calculate the cost of running a home or an office”.

The smart Efergy energy meter, which can be used in conjunction with the Ecosaver Energy meter, shows how much electricity is being used in a whole house or office at any one time.

It can show how much electricity is being used, for example, when an appliance such as a TV is switched on, or left on standby – just this habit alone burns an extra £37 worth of electricity a year – and it can be taken from room to room to see at a glance which device or appliance is devouring the most electricity.

“By monitoring energy consumption, households can make small but significant changes to their lifestyle and start saving money on bills – even if it’s just switching lights off when they are not in the room, or boiling only as much water as they need to make a cuppa” says Nigel.

Say Bye Bye To Standby!

“For the seriously eco minded, there’s the ingenious Online Bye Bye Standby Energy Controller that starts at £59.99. Lights, cameras, motion detectors and other devices may be controlled and monitored via the internet or a mobile phone, allowing interactive energy management.”

Asda have announced that they are going to roll out an initiative to remove all single use carrier bags from checkouts across its 355 stores. In what seems to be a move to align themselves as the “green” supermarket they’ve become very active in promoting recycling and bags for life. They’ve also announced that they are joining a campaign against a ‘pay as you throw’ bin tax.

To further educate us about recycling and more specifically landfill Asda are also running a “Landfill Bill” game. Recycle Michael has gone on holiday leaving Landfill Bill in charge. Can you help him recycle the right materials in the right way so that he can keep the tip tidy and keep his job?

Play the Game

Nothing is spared when it comes to going green and with the summer finally here (ish) it’s the good old family picnic that has undergone the green transformation. For just £14.95 from Firebox you can pick up Biodegradable Picnic Ware. Each set comprises plates, bowls and cups; plus wooden spoons, forks and knives – and all are made from 100% biodegradable cassava.

According to Firebox “the crockery is re-usable if washed with care, but should you choose to return it to Mother Earth it will disintegrate within a week if left standing in water, or decompose in a few months if left on a compost pile”. At £14.95 a set you would hope it would be reusable otherwise it could become expensive.

The one advantage of the eco friendly picnic is for festivals (use it for a few days and the discard it) or if you’re out on a walking holiday and gradually want to reduce the amount of gear you’re carrying.

Synonymous with wellies, waterproofs and wet weather, festivals and camping trips should also equal the use of eco friendly products, says the popular Nigel’s Eco Store. By packing environmentally friendly products such as a wind powered iPod, camera and mobile phone charger, solar lights, wind up torches and radios, festival and camping lovers won’t have to worry about running out of juice ever again while reducing their impact on the environment.

Charge Up Your Batteries

“Not being able to charge a phone is not the end of the world if it’s for a couple of days but having a digital camera pack up on you when your favourite band is playing is really frustrating” says Nigel “but with the ingenious HYmini Personal Wind Turbine and you will never have a flat battery again. An alternative to a solar powered charger, HYmini is a small, handheld, waterproof charger and wind powered generator that charges mobile phones, iPods and most portable electronic devices.

“Stylish in appearance but rugged in performance, it charges by wind or rechargeable internal battery and is the must have accessory this year when on the go – it has a huge advantage over traditional solar chargers as it can be left to charge over a windy night, constantly gathering energy from either a light breeze to a strong wind” adds Nigel.

Let There Be Light

Another eco gadget that makes life a lot easier when camping is the ingenious Sun Jar Solar Light – it may look like a jam jar, but it’s jammed full of solar cells, batteries and LEDs so that it sucks in the sun’s rays all day and give them back at night. :Just leave it charging in the Sun during the day so it can glow automatically when it gets dark” he says.

Let There Be More Light

No camping trip is complete without a torch – PowerPlus Dolphin Wind Up LED Torch will solve the problem of running out of batteries at the worst possible time. Just 60 seconds of winding will produce 30 minutes of light and the added bonus is it can be used as a mobile phone charger too.

Let There Be Sound

“And while you are at it, wind down with a wind up radio such as EyeMax wind up LED Solar Radio that will give you music wherever and whenever you want. It plays for 35 minutes at normal volume for each 30 second wind but if left in direct sunlight, the EyeMax will charge itself using a built in solar panel and play without winding. What’s more, it has a built in flashlight too” Nigel adds.