What better way to start, then, than from your own home, giving it a nice coat of ‘green’? reports that in 2014 the average household electricity consumption for each unit in the United Kingdom peaked at 4,000 kWh, while the average household gas consumption soared towards 12,400.

Today there are numerous ways to reduce consumption easily, thus helping to protect our planet and your savings at the same time. According to ‘The Green Age’ every year an English house receives an electricity and gas bill that is around 1.326 pounds, ergo the time has definitely come for a change of pace.

Rainwater harvesting systems (RHS)

The first advantage is that they are simple, inexpensive and very useful during the summer months. Basically, the tanks that collect the rain are connected to the channel system, collecting and storing rainwater for later use. After all, all gardens need to be watered, so we might as well use rainwater. And today, thanks to continuous technological advances, an RHS system can be connected to the pipes of the house, and rainwater can be used to unload sanitary ware and wash one’s clothes.

Down the tube

The bathroom drain uses the largest amount of water in the house, on average about 30% of household consumption. That is, liters and liters of H20: a river that you can stem by installing a double flush toilet. According to ‘Waterwise’ , single-drain toilets waste thirteen liters of water at a time. A double flush reduces them to four and six respectively – the first for liquids, the other for solids. You have to ask for a ‘Cistern Displacement Device’ (CDD) (they are provided free of charge by various water managers). Then just slip it into the toilet to use about a liter of water at each flush.

Cultivate a passion for plants
Alessia shares her 70 m² apartment with her partner Micah and 175 plants. In 2017, he started growing new species, a way to find calm and focus while working from home. “My advice? Find a plant that makes you happy and take it home. Slowly he begins to experiment how to make it grow luxuriantly. ”

Choose the variety that’s right for you
Alessia has become a plant expert and talks about this passion in her blog Apartment Botanist. “For novice gardeners, trial and error is essential. This is how we discover which variety is best suited to us and our environments, ”explains Alessia. Most of its plants are philodendrons, which easily adapt to apartment life.

Find the right light
which points of the house have the best humidity and light, grouping plants with similar needs in the same area.” Alessia’s apartment faces west, so the plants receive indirect natural light throughout the day. Varieties that need more light are kept under a purple lamp in a DIY greenhouse that Alessia created from an old aquarium.

Create new plants
Learning how to propagate plants is a great way to always have new ones to add to your collection or to give them to friends and share your passion. Just cut a sprig and put it in a glass jar with plenty of water, well exposed to light, so that it can develop its roots and give life to a new specimen.