Is it worth the effort going greener?

Upstairs, empty bedrooms are illuminated by bright lamps, a radio gently hums in the deserted kitchen and the boiler works at full pelt as every radiator in the house is turned to maximum.

It is not an uncommon scene - after all, families across the Lothians waste energy every day, leaving on appliances that could easily be switched off when not in use.

But as the Evening News urges readers to adopt a "greener" lifestyle, one family questions whether it is really worth the hassle. Is there actually money to be saved by switching off lights, spending less time in the shower, or pulling the plug on TVs overnight? And what difference does it make to the environment?

Beth Brownlee, a 43-year-old mother-of-one, agreed to monitor her energy usage for a fortnight using an Onzo Smart Energy Kit, a wireless device that tracks usage in homes. And she was shocked by the findings.

She lives with her partner and their six-year-old son in their cottage in Broxburn, and, although she is a self-confessed "green" (keen to recycle and cut down on her carbon footprint), she admits they are "hungry with electricity".

Along with a fast-boil kettle, the family boasts two televisions, an electric shower, two computers and a Nintendo Wii games console, all of which are left on standby overnight.

Through a daily diary, Beth, an HR advisor at West Lothian College, worked out that by making small changes to her lifestyle, even by simply pulling the plug at night, she could save more than 300 a year.

"We're always told to switch off appliances," she says. "But it really is worth it from a money saving point of view. This experience helped me understand how much energy we use."

Day 1

The device was very easy to set up. The baseline energy usage seems to be about 150 watts per hour in our home.

The user manual describes a lot of interesting features of the gadget, like how much your electricity is costing per week. There are also alerts for when you are using a lot of energy and for when there is a strain on the National Grid, encouraging you to switch off unnecessary appliances.

Day 2

Aha! My partner has just got up and switched on his big computer - meter shoots up to 500 watts!

Some hours later I cooked pizza for dinner (bread machine for the base, defrosted tomato sauce in the microwave and baked whole thing in the oven) which sent our energy use spiralling.

Our target energy use per day is 11.4kWh and we are already at 10.9kWh. The oven seems to add about 3500 watts and microwave added 1200 watts on its own - ouch!

There are now sighs from my partner whenever I'm looking for things to switch off!

Day 4

That's three days in a row now that we've exceeded our 11.4kWh target. Not done much out of the ordinary, although I have been baking bread, so had the oven on.

Tonight we also had a National Grid alert, meaning everyone across the country is using a lot of electricity. There isn't much for us to switch off though - only using about 650 watts at the moment - the Wii is on, and my mini-laptop, but they only add about 150 watts.

Day 5

Now that we've been running this for a few days, I have a few observations:

1) Heavy hitters: oven, kettle (admittedly, we do have one of those energy-hungry fast boilers) and microwave. These delight my son the most when he looks at the gadget, but I need to impress upon him that high scores do not equal good!

2) We need to investigate what can be switched off at night. If we are using around 500 watts an hour, that's a background usage of 12kWh per day, so there is not much leeway in the target figure (11.4kWh).

Day 11

Finally got around to getting the meter down to zero this morning. My son and I were having fun - me switching things off and him reading out the number of watts off the Onzo device. It was with a bit of thought that we managed it - before going round switching everything back on again.

We found our baseline of 150 watts is made up of:

Heating (18W); cooker clock (0W); DAB radio (6W); microwave clock (0W); wireless router (6W); laptop on standby (0W); phone, with adaptor (0W); first TV, with multiway adaptor for DVD and Sky+ box, (30W); dishwasher (8W); second TV, with multiway adaptor for Wii, Nintendo DS charger and mobile phone chargers (7W); PC, with speakers and external hard-drive, (14W); and freezer/separate fridge freezer (60W). So, if we took them all off standby every night (apart from the fridge and freezer), we would save 325 per year!

Day 13

Measured the electric shower today: 9000 watts - the worst offender of all! Light bulbs use about 30 watts, and mostly are low-energy ones, so it's not so bad after all.

To encourage readers to adopt a greener lifestyle, The Evening News has teamed up with Project Start, which is the next phase of a "sustainability" journey that originated with Prince Charles' charity, The Mayday Network, back in 2007.

The Network is a result of His Royal Highness' call to businesses to take action on climate change and is now an established movement of around 2800 UK companies, all progressing along a low carbon and efficiency journey.

Michelle Hynd, director of corporate development at Scottish Hydro, which is supporting Start through major investment in renewable energy projects, explains: "By following some simple energy efficiency tips, people in Scotland could reduce their energy bill by several hundred pounds a year.

"Aside from saving money, using energy more efficiently is an easy way that everyone can make a difference to the way we use energy in Scotland and help safeguard the environment as a result."

For more information, visit www.maydaynetwork.com and www.sbcscot.com

ENERGY SAVING TIPS

Save up to 10 per cent on your energy bill by turning heating down by 1C.

Switch off appliances when not in use - your TV, DVD and hi-fi use up to 90 per cent of their energy in standby mode.

Insulate your loft and reduce your heating bill by 150 a year.

Defrost your fridge or freezer regularly - ice should never be more than a quarter of an inch thick.

Upgrade to a new A-rated condensing boiler - save up to 235 a year on bills.

Look for the "Energy Saving Recommended" logo when buying a new fridge or freezer - these appliances save energy and cost much less to run.