Save water – and save money

The Energy Saving Trust (EST) can help you to save water and reduce both your energy costs and your carbon footprint.

Peabody has joined forces with the EST to provide you with a free water report on your home. To get your report, please call the EST on freephone 0800 512 012.   

You can also complete the check online here.

By returning this report, you will be in with the chance of winning two sets of £50 M&S vouchers.

Meanwhile, as a resident, making small changes can make a big difference to your energy bills. The average household, for instance, spends around 30 per cent of their gas bill on heating water which could be as much as £200 a year. 

There are some simple measures that you can follow to start saving water, energy and money today:      

• Turn off the tap when brushing your teeth to save six litres of water every minute.
  
  If everybody in a Peabody property turned the tap off while brushing their teeth, we could save 27 million litres of water a year. That’s enough to fill 11 Olympic swimming pools.*         
  
  
• Take a shower instead of a bath and you’ll save over 300 litres of water per week. But be careful, a power shower can use more water than a bath.
  
  If everybody in a Peabody property took one minute off every shower they took that would save 49 million litres of water, 831 tonnes of CO2 and £164,000 in energy bills each year. That’s enough water to fill 20 Olympic swimming pools and the equivalent CO2 saving of taking 270 cars off the road for a year.*  
  
  
• Avoid leaving the tap running while you wash dishes or vegetables, and use a bowl of water instead.
  
  If everybody in a Peabody property used a bowl to wash up instead of leaving the tap running that would save 8 million litres of water, 166 tonnes of CO2 and £28,000 in energy bills each year. That’s enough water to fill 3 Olympic swimming pools and the equivalent CO2 saving of taking 50 cars off the road for a year.*   
  

And here are some more tips you can follow:

• Fit a Save-a-flush in your toilet cistern. It couldn’t be easier, and saves about one litre per flush. To get one free, visit www.thameswater.co.uk/savewater.
  
  
• Fully loading your washing machine or dishwasher uses less water than two half-loads.  
  
  
• Use a bucket to wash the car. It uses up to 125 litres less than a hosepipe does.
          
• During the summer, water your plants in the early morning or late evening, as avoiding the middle of the day minimises evaporation from the soil.  

Read more from the Energy Saving Trust

Read about Peabody's Sustainability Strategy, 2009-12  

*NB these savings assume that shower ownership figures for Peabody properties fit the UK average, that is 12% own power showers, 30% own mixer showers and 39% own electric showers (the rest own no shower at all).

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