When it comes to dressing up your houses this year with lights, decorations and all the festive trimmings, take a minute to consider the impact on the environment.
A HotProperty.co.uk survey found that 64 percent of Brits think houses dripping in Christmas decorations are ‘fun and festive’, suggesting there could be a lot of brightly lit houses this festive season.
We all love the festive season, but in this day and age you have to
consider the impact on the environment in everything you do. Although
decorated houses bring Christmas cheer to a neighbourhood, it also
wastes a lot of energy.
Just one house decorated with Christmas fairy lights and other electric decorations could use an extra 1,000 kWh over the Christmas period. The average UK home uses just 3,300 kWh of electricity annually.
Which is why HotProperty.co.uk is encouraging people to think about energy-efficient ways of expressing Christmas spirit instead.
Maybe you could use decorations that aren’t electrically illuminated or invest in energy-saving Christmas lights instead of regular ones. There are many options, and if just one home in ten tries to cut down this year we can make a real difference.
Some tips for a ‘green Christmas’:
• Recycle Christmas cards and wrapping paper. This year almost 1 billion cards will be thrown away rather than recycled. The Woodland Trust run a Xmas card recycling scheme - check it out here
Woodland-trust.org.uk/cards.
• Choose charity cards and wrapping paper which have some recycled paper content. Check out the selection at
Naturalcollection.com • Ordinary light bulbs and outdoor lights use more energy then indoor strings of lights. Consider replacing them with energy-saving versions or decreasing the amount of time they are on. There are a lot of options available at Green and Easy
Greenandeasy.co.uk • Find out if your local council can recycle your Christmas tree
• Check out
Recyclenow.com for gift ideas that are also eco-friendly
However, the survey also found that there are still some scrooges among us who won’t be wasting energy on festive decorating this year. Thirty four percent of you say that houses decorated for Christmas are ‘tasteless and showy’.