The Cambridge couple making a difference

By Liz Mitchell

My name is Liz and I'm a saxophonist and music teacher in Cambridge. I mostly work from home, teaching woodwind in our garden studio, but I gig across the country. I love cricket, Douglas Adams and gardening, especially growing our own food. My partner Stewart is a graphic designer and illustrator, working part time in the local farm shop. He also plays bass and sings in a couple of bands. He loves cooking, especially the produce that I grow in our garden.

We chose Ecotricity because we believe it's important in this day and age to choose green energy. If you are able to choose, choose a renewable energy supplier, it's these changes we can all make to try and help the planet we live on. We switched to Ecotricity because of their reputation and their working partnerships with other wildlife and environmental groups, such as Friends of the Earth and Sea Shepherd.

Ecotricity stands out because their commitment to the environment as a whole is evident, from wind farms to electric vehicle charge points at service stations, and it's not just lip service. On the business side, the customer service has always been excellent and the billing is easy to understand. The real-time graphics for windmill kw output are pretty cool too.

At home, we’ve done a number of things to be greener. Our garden studio was built by Green Studios – it’s a completely sustainable structure with a green roof and composting toilet. We are lucky to be in an area where the recycling provisions are excellent, even most types of plastics! However, more and more we are choosing to avoid plastic altogether, going for cardboard packaging and leaf tea instead of tea bags. Waste is a bugbear of ours, there is far too much 'stuff' in the world - so we buy a lot of furniture second hand from places like Emmaus if we can.

The one piece of advice I’d give to somebody looking to be greener is to start with small changes. No one is asking you to become vegan over night or never go near a car again. Buy a reusable water bottle, choose a sustainable energy supplier, even buy beer in bottles instead of cans in plastic rings. That's not a big lifestyle upheaval.

It’s great to hear about the awesome things our customers do to combat climate change. And it’s important to know that every change, no matter how small, is part of the solution. You can make a big difference too, by switching to a green energy supplier. Don’t let your energy bills be part of the problem – join the green revolution today.