Newsletter I, 16.09.2013

ICOS NEWSLETTER “How to save money”

ABOUT US

International Community Organisation of Sunderland

We work to improve the quality of life of minority ethnic groups in the

North East England. We want to change their negative image in media,

political debates as well as inhabitants of Britain. We want our commu-

nity to live better and easier on a daily basis. We also wish to improve

cooperation between different communities. We co-run “The Sustaina-

ble Sunderland Programme” which aims to understand how much im-

pact on the environment our day-to-day life has to explain the relation

between our quality of life, cost of living and the environment. We

wonder together what we can do to help our environment and improve

our quality of life at the same time. For example:

On 3rd September we changed into volunteers who with combined ef-

fort cleaned up whole Hendon beach. We did something useful for Sun-

derland and environment with gladness, what is more our efforts were

appreciated by passers-by as well as local newspaper “Sunderland

Echo”, who published an article about beach cleaning!

(Link to the website with the article: http://www.sunderlandecho.com/

news/local/all-news/clean-up-by-beach-volunteers-1-5936172)

We want to improve the quality of life of our community. There are

many easy ways to save energy, water, and electricity bills. We take no

notice of the basic things. It seems to us that some activities, such as:

turning the lights off every time we are going out of the room, turning

off electrical devices: television, radio, computer or unplugging mobile

chargers, change nothing. That is not true! Each activity mentioned

above has an impact not only on the environment but also on our bills.

Following some simple tips every day, annually quite big amount of

money can be saved. That is why we have decided to write our first

Newsletter on the subject of “How we can save money?”

Table of contents

About us

what are we doing and why?

Why is it worth being “eko”.

An interview with Katarzyna

Madej– Jach

- you want to take care of ecol-

ogy but you do not know where

to start?

Katarzyna Madej- Jach telling

about benefits of being “eco”.

Appliances mode

- save energy and money, turn

off aplliances!

Saving is easy!

- few simple advices how to

save on home bills.

Contest !!

- encourage your child to draw

a picture.

Electric car

- will we travel by electric car

in the future?

Współpraca

- we invite you warmly to

cooperate with us! :)

In next newsletter:

„How to save water?”

1

„EKO” WHY IT IS WORTH BEING EGO?

Do you try to be “eco” in your everyday life and how do you

understand it?

Definition of ‘eco’ lifestyle encompasses whole panoply of actions and

touches upon many aspects of life which one could say a lot but I maintain

that the most important is giving respect to both; nature as well as oneself.

What is also essential is to realise that we can gain other benefits while

being ‘eco’, not only improve one’s health but also save some money.

From my perspective it looks as follows, I take care of what I and my fami-

ly is eating, how we “feed our skin”, how we recycle certain rubbish and

how we strive to minimize use of water and energy as much as we can. I try

to discuss that matter with my children and encourage them to take action. My girls can read the

“ingredients” of some products and they are aware of the influence which chemical substances have

on our body and the ecosystem. The school has a hand in it informing children about Fairtrade

which protects workers and environment by establishing fair prices of exported products and con-

trol the level of pollution.

What are the differences between taking care of the environment in your country and the UK?

I grew up in a family where taking care of ecosystem played a key role. We had our own garden

(which is cultivated to this day by my parents) and compost bin for organic waste which then was

used to nourish the soil. Garbage segregation, which in 80’s -90’s was not very popular –my father

took care of it, it was always his domain. My grandmother used to make her own cosmetics, balm

from calendula, she used to take a bath in horsetail, she always had thousand stories of every plant.

As a child I perceived it as my family’s caprise, but now I am trying to have eco lifestyle and to drill

these habits into my kids. I do not see any differences in taking care of the environment in Poland

and Britain. I think it is more a matter of awareness resulting from received wisdom rather than

origin as such.

During last year’s bigger and bigger emphasis lay on recycling, does your country use this

method and in what way? Does it relate only to waste segregation –rubbish?

Not only glass, plastic, and other synthetic materials can be segregated but also organic waste in

above mentioned compost bin. It is important to minimize the amount of waste in household using

reusable bags while shopping, filling old tins with new soap instead of buying new one in a plastic

bottle. Segregation is helpful to reuse wastes and produce new product. Everyone knows that fleece

jacket is useful on account of its heat insulation characteristics during cold days but not everyone

knows that it is manufactured from plastic wastes PET. We are helping to reuse recyclable materials

buying recycled toilet paper because all these soft and scented toilet papers are made of cellulose.

Cellulose in turn is manufactured from bamboo, which plantations contaminate soil. It is also a

waste of trees.

Ecology means saving. Do you have an idea how to enlarge the amount of money in your home

budget taking care of the environment at the same time? Is it easier in your country or in UK?

Certainly, there are many ways of saving money. Though, sometimes it is hard to convince people to

do so, which honestly remains a mystery for me because it can generate quite a big amount of sav-

ings. We can reduce energy consumption by using fluorescent bulbs but at the same time we have to

know how to use them properly, because we will not save energy turning the light on and off con-

stantly, they need time to illuminate! Thus, in places where light is being switched on and off quite

often I would recommend using light bulbs called LED. Very effective way of saving money ap-

pears to be looking at comparison websites for energy and gas. I am doing it once a year before

heating season. It is not difficult, all you have to do is to write data in a comparison website or you

can look on our own for some other offers, check benefits which you can obtain. These can be addi-

tional points which can be gained with every top up or played bill with your shop card which later

on you can spend in a supermarket. In Poland this only appeared on the market but in UK it is well-

known since last years and choice is very wide. For sure, all these activities require from us a bit of

awareness, knowledge as well as self-denial and consequences but then, it guarantee some benefits,

not only financially but also in terms of our Earth for which we should take care instead of exploit-

ing it mindlessly!

Do you know that?

3/4 the earth’s surface

is covered by water.

Our bodies consist of

water in 75%.

97% of earth’s water is

brine, fresh water ac-

counts only for 3%.

59% resources of fresh

water are used to pro-

duce electricity.

While showering for

about 10 minutes 115-

150 litres of water are

being used.

Hand washing uses 38

litres of water are being

used.

2

Katarzyna Madej– Jach

APPLIANCES MODE

CONTEST!! Encourage your child to draw a picture related to ecology and send it or bring it

to our office. Address: Business Centre, 14 Foyle Street, Sunderland, SR1 1LE

until 15 November.

The most interesting one will be rewarded. Please put your children’s name and

surname at the back. In next newsletter the winner’s drawing will be published.

Do you know ?

Heater equipped with a

thermostat can mini-

mize the use of energy

by 15%.

Regular refrigerator defrosting helps save up to 2% of energy.

Putting hot dishes or containers to the fridge cause bigger use of energy by 5%.

Impermeable oven

doors can reduce use of

energy by 5-7%.

Crammed filter in a

dryer uses 1/3 more

energy.

A laptop uses about

85% less energy then

personal computer.

1 drop per second

dripping from the tap

can accumulate 11935

litres of water monthly.

Washing in a machine

uses 75-115 litres of

water.

3

What would convince you- encourage you to increase your concern with the

environment?

Our planet’s fate is not indifferent to me, because it relates to our fate as well as our

descendants. Recenly for example, the extinction of bees became public. They are

dying because of our actions, splinters and human’s light-heartedness. People prefer

to cover their gardens with concrete so that they will not have to take care of it any-

more but they are not aware of the fact that in that way they take away bee’s nourish-

ment bit by bit. Slogan “When they die we’ll die as well.” dragged my attention and

forced me to detailed analysis of this problem. It turns out that thanks to these yellow

-black creatures we have food because they pollinate around 80% of plants. Around

200 kinds of bees may soon extinct!

Thus I have decided to make my own “apian corner” in my garden. A shrub, which I

almost cut out while moving into my house turned out to attract plenty bees and

bumblebees which are major pollinators. It is worth extending our knowledge on

matter connected with ecology because the fate of the planet on which are living lies

only in our hands.

· A device is turned on – in this case device is using maximum amount of energy.

Temporal energy use depend on many factors: whether the battery is charging or not

and whether we are using functions which require big amount of power from the com-

puter.

· Standby mode –It may occur that some of yours appliances cost you annually more

when you are not using them than when using!

· Device is turned off but plugged in – you may think that it is enough to turn off de-

vice solely with button “power off” and that is all. It does not have to be necessarily

truth. Some devices are using energy even if they are turned off. Mobile phone

chargers are a good example.

· Device is not plugged in – As it is well known, in this situation energy consumption

amounts “zero”.

http://jakoszczedzacpieniadze.pl/tryb-standby-ile-pradu-zuzywa-tryb-czuwania

SAVING IS EASY!

4

During hot days, open lower window

windward, and higher one leeward-

that will produce ‘a chimney effect’

which will suck out all warm air.

Turn off an oven 14 minutes before

taking you dish out. During that time

your oven will still bake and roast

but without using electricity.

Short car trips consume energy the most and pollute the

environment more than longer trips. 1/4 of all road trips

are shorter than 3 km so getting around on foot or bike

are realistic alternative.

A liquid crystal display needs 1/3 power less

than a standard one. When buying new

devices, read the label and look for the

information about energy consumption.

Use your documents in an electronic version

not paper. When you print, do that on both

sides of your sheet. It turned out that we

waste more paper than anything else!

Turn off the light when you leave the room for a

few minutes. In case of most of modern energy

saving bulbs, profitable period of time between

turning it off and on amounts to one minute.

Replacing an old bulb with en-

ergy efficient one does not only

allow you to save money but

also shine 12 times more than

normal bulbs.

Use a dishwasher and a washing machine only when

fully filled or set it on an energy-saving programme

which uses adequate amount of water to the amount

of clothes.

Lift lawn-mower blades up to at

least 3 cm. Cutting edge situated

higher makes your grass ingrained

and keeps wetness better than lawn

short clipped.

1/3 costs of warmth in your home

escapes through the walls, isolating is

the best way of saving energy in your

home.

Road, water as well as air transport generate 17% (according to

ACEA) emission of CO2, this spawns great opportunity for its re-

duction. Since few years, descending CO2 emission became priori-

ty for car producers in the world, which result is increased invest-

ment in development of new technologies.

For example, technologies such as highly efficient LED lamp,

smart navigation, which allow to save fuel, ACC(Adaptive Cruise

Control- system enabling accommodate speed in order to take the distance from the next vehicle

and preparing engine to burn low energy density fuels- ethanol and natural gas.

CO2 emission is much lower for electric cars and hybrid car like “plug-in”.

Corporation clients were the first who noticed assets of electric cars because using such vehicles

often can bring measurable financial savings in the long run. Then, a relatively high cost of pur-

chase electric car will be balanced with a low cost of maintenance. About 60% of professional

drivers are willing to switch to an electric car at work.

Limited access to charging points, reach of electric car and their price are three the most im-

portant factors which stop this market from developing. Such cars are environmentally friendly

as well as cheap to maintain –these are the most common assets encouraging to purchase this

vehicle.

http://ecomanager.pl/?p=1206

COOPERATION!

You don’t have to be a journalist or a writer to write an article or to interview somebody, it is enough to have

an idea! Trust your creativity, write an article, interview somebody and send it to us, the most interesting one

will be published in our newsletter. Looking for experience? We are looking for people eager to cooperate :)

If you have any questions or you want to share your knowledge and experience with us, go ahead and write!

See contact details below.

If you want to find out more visit our websites:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sustainable-business/sustainability-communication-professional-short-courses-

collaboration

http://www.cse.org.uk/advice

https://healthyplanet.org/get-involved/sustainable-community/stuff-for-free

http://www.localgreendealcompany.co.uk/free-boiler-sunderland

http://www.cse.org.uk/skills/advice/energy-advice-leaflets

www.uswitch.com, www.unravelit.com

Or contact with us:

Address: Business Centre, 14 Foyle Street, Sunderland, SR1 1LE

e-mail: michal.chantkowski@icos.org.uk lub daniel@icos.org.uk

phone: 07596538482 or 07926984180

ELECTRIC CARS– THE FUTURE

5

Part of the Sustainable Sunder-

land Programme: