New website lets you save energy at home

Archived press release

Date Published: 25/09/09

ZapCarbon is dedicated to helping people reduce their energy consumption at home

Aylesbury Vale District Council is encouraging residents to check the environmental impact of their own lifestyles on the environment by using an innovative new web-based system.

The ZapCarbon website (www.zapcarbon.com) allows householders to manage their carbon emissions and see the positive differences they are making by entering readings from their electricity meter online.

Once the extent of their electricity use has been established, residents are being challenged to go about reducing their carbon footprint by making simple changes, such as swapping ordinary light bulbs for energy efficient ones or switching off electrical items left on standby, which can have a positive effect on the environment whilst actually saving them money.

Residents can regularly enter their meter readings into the system to find out how much their electricity consumption has changed. Graphs are provided to show how much progress has been made.

Householders can also access advice about actions they can take to cut their emissions and arrange online contests with friends, groups or clubs to see who can save the most energy.

During the summer, AVDC became the first council in the country to run an in-house carbon contest with ZapCarbon to see how much staff could save. Thirty of the council’s staff tested out the site and it is estimated that between them, they could save around 27 tonnes of carbon dioxide in a year by following the advice given.

Councillor Sir Beville Stanier, Cabinet Member for Environment and Health at AVDC, said: “We can all do more to save energy and reduce our carbon footprint. Often it is the simple things that can make a really big difference, by logging onto the ZapCarbon website you can quickly find out more.

“Even if you do not have easy access to the internet, making simple changes such as turning the TV off, rather than leaving it on stand-by, using energy efficient light bulbs, or just turning that light off when you no longer need it, can all have a positive effect on the environment.”

Founder of ZapCarbon, Andrew Smith of Great Brickhill, said: “We’re really excited about how much people are saving using our site. It’s amazing how small changes quickly add up to a huge saving for the community…that’s people power for you.”

If you’d like to try ZapCarbon for your home, just log on to www.zapcarbon.com and start taking positive steps today. For more information on what councils in Buckinghamshire are doing to tackle climate change, visit www.bucksclimatechange.co.uk