I’ve been poorly over the last few days and as a result I have fallen behind a little on my daily blog posts.

For today’s energy saving tip I would like to highlight the enormous benefits of using candles. I was skeptical at first of just how effective they are but after a little research and some number crunching I am now a candle convert.

Tealights - a girls best friend

When we sit at the table for our dinner Claire insists that we have tea lights in the candle holder. This turns each meal into a romantic candlelit dinner for two (or more if we have visitors!). It’s surprising just how much light the candles give off, and even more surprising how long they last for.

On an average night, we don’t have to put the lights on in our flat until we go to bed. Lets have a think about the maths behind this:

• 3 to 4 hours of saved energy a night
• around 21 – 28 hours saved per week
• somewhere in the region of 1092 – 1456 hours saved per year

Admittedly these are based on very rough estimates, but I’m sure you get the idea!

If you work in an office ask yourself, do I need to go into work everyday in order to do what is expected of me in my job? If you don’t, working from home could really be something to look into.

A recent study in the US found that the average person spends around 51 minutes commuting to work – that totals up to a whopping 9 days a year! Unless you walk or ride a bike, this commute will be probably be taken by car or public transport which means that your carbon footprint will increase as a result! I currently drive from Nottingham to Leicester, which is about 2 hours per day.

There are hundreds of benefits to working from home, if you are preparing a list for your boss, here’s a few to get you thinking:

• save money on petrol and help the environment
• no wasting money on car parking fees
• less travelling on germy public transport
• more flexible working hours which can help reduce your stress levels and increase motivation
• spend more time with your family
• increase your productivity with less interruptions
• creates a dynamic and flexible image for the company

Does working from home contribute to global warming?

The consultants WSP Environmental found that home workers produced a third more CO2 emissions compared to office based workers. When working in the office, energy use such as heating and lighting is more efficient when several people share the space – 10 people can share a heated room, rather than heat 10 different rooms in each employees homes.

If you do work from home, it is still important to be aware of your energy use. Following the some of the advice in these previous posts will help reduce your energy consumption. If you are working in the same room all day, do you need to heat the whole house? If you are making a drink, do you need to fill the kettle up with that much water?

The decision to work from home must be taken in context – in some cases it is more beneficial, whereas in some cases there can be some problematic areas. Suppose there is no harm in asking!