Dreaming of a green Christmas

Christmas is a time when many households splash out on a new fridge, freezer, washing machine or tumble dryer. These appliances are powered by electricity, but the efficiency with which they use it varies enormously. Put simply, some models consume far less energy than others do in order to do the same job.

Identifying energy saving appliances is easy: just look for the Energy Saving Recommended logo. Only products which are amongst the most energy efficient are entitled to carry it, so by buying an appliance with the Energy Saving Recommended logo you can be sure that you are doing your bit to save energy.

Buying an energy saving model will also save you money on your electricity bills. If everybody who was planning to buy white goods this Christmas and New Year bought Energy Saving Recommended, they would slash their electricity bills by £8million by next Christmas - saving enough electricity to watch the Queen's speech 4.7 billion times!

Ready to buy? This Christmas the Energy Saving Trust has teamed up with shopping comparison site PriceRunner.co.uk to launch an online database of Energy Saving Recommended products.

Christmas energy saving tips

Decorating the home with lights to celebrate Christmas is a tradition we all enjoy, but a string of 100 Christmas tree lights used for 10 hours a day generates enough carbon dioxide to fill 5 party balloons every day. That may not seem like a lot, but with around 25m households in Britain that soon adds up to a huge amount.

The good news is there are plenty of way to reduce the amount of energy you use and carbon dioxide generated while still decorating your home with Christmas lights:

• Switching from conventional to LED Christmas lights will reduce your energy consumption by 90%, and because they don't generate as much heat you could also be making your tree safer
• Turning one or more room lights off when you switch on your Christmas tree lights will make them look more attractive - and save energy
• Turn your Christmas lights off when you go out, and when you go to bed
• A fibre optic decoration can light a whole tree from a single bulb, and is just as effective as a whole string of Christmas tree lights

Green Christmas presents

Everyone loves a Christmas present, and millions are exchanged every year. So a little thought can make a huge difference to the impact these gifts have on the environment:

• Think about what you are buying: where and how was it made, and is it really wanted?
• When possible, choose products with minimal packaging.
• To cut down on waste, you could wrap your presents in recyled paper, children's drawings and paintings, or even glossy magazine paper. You could also save and reuse wrapping paper from gifts you receive. Using ribbon or string to wrap presents makes it easier for the wrapping paper to be reused.
• For the friend or relative who has everything, why not buy a useful gift int heir name for someone less fortunate. It takes just a minute or two to arrange to send a life changing gift like a goat or simple mosquito net to someone who really needs it. For more ideas see the Charity Gift website.

Easy ways to make a difference at Christmas

• Try to only use your Christmas lights at night and when you are at home
• Look for cards made from recycled paper - or send emails instead of Christmas cards
• Use old Christmas cards as present labels
• Give unwanted presents to a good home or charity
• Don't forget to take reusable bags with you when you Christmas shopping!
• Make a commitment to save energy. If we all save just 20% of the energy we use every day, together we can help fight climate change. Make your commitment today

Find out more

Green Christmas tree decorations

Goats, mosquito nets and other life changing gifts

Build a bog or support an alpaca farmer: gifts with a difference from Oxfam