My husband Mark and I are the directors of Ideal Word, and we describe ourselves as ‘values-led wordsmiths’. In the last 12 months we've learned how working hard for your values can pay off – we finished our first 10:10 action year with a 15% carbon saving!

I've always been environmentally-conscious and know how the gas, electric and travel emissions can add up. Signing up and making a public commitment with 10:10 gave us the discipline and motivation we needed to cut even more from our carbon footprint.

I keep a close eye on Ideal Word’s gas consumption by monitoring meter readings. I've set up calendar reminders to make sure I don't forget to check them and update my spreadsheets so I know where I am!

I've set up calendar reminders to make sure I don't forget to check the gas meter

Gas meters are one thing, but it can be hard to know what's eating away at your electricity bills. Using an OWL monitor allowed us to keep on top of our electricity usage throughout the day and meant we could switch off before levels go through the roof. We saved on electricity by replacing appliances like phones and kettles with eco-friendly models. These are only small measures, but it all adds up! By making an effort to monitor, we saved 1% on gas and 6% on electricity; a good start towards our 10% target. 

By far the biggest cut, however, was to vehicle travel – 48%! We reduced transport mileage by 10%, but the biggest factor by far is our new electric Honda Insight which gives 60 mpg instead of the 35 mpg that the old car did. 

Extra perks 

As I'm sure many other out there 10:10ers have discovered, cutting your carbon can save a fair few pennies! This was certainly the case for Ideal Word – we’ve made a saving of about 4% on our total utilities bills since last year. Given that they keep rising year-on-year, this was a small, but welcome, cost saving for us.

I reckon we should be making a return on the investment in three years – not to mention all the extra carbon it’ll have saved by then!

And that’s not all. The lower mpg of our new hybrid car is making us big cash savings in the face of ever-increasing petrol prices, and the vehicle tax cost of £10 per year isn’t too shabby either. I reckon we should be making a return on the investment in three years – not to mention all the extra carbon it’ll have saved by then!

Challenges

Initally we worried about our gas consumption throughout the last year as we struggled to keep warm in the Arctic-like conditions of last winter. However, we still managed a 1% reduction in our gas usage so it seems our good work still paid off even in the face of adversity! We are already putting in place more changes for our next 10:10 action year. Earlier this year we moved to a new office, making sure it was as eco-friendly as possible.

The new office is also naturally much lighter so we now enjoy working by sunlight rather than electric lighting - perfect!

 We installed specialist insulation for solid walls and topped up the roof insulation to keep our heating needs to a minimum. As a result gas usage is looking really good so far, so my husband and I are feeling quietly confident about the next 12 months. The new office is also naturally much lighter so we now enjoy working by sunlight rather than electric lighting - perfect!