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Electric Transport

As petrol and diesel prices remain high, many of us are thinking of ditching the car for a cheaper alternative. You could always go the old-fashioned route of getting on your bike, but if you love a gadget then an electric bike or scooter should suffice.

What is the difference between the two? A fully

Boiling Tap

charged electric scooter will last about 50km. Not a huge distance if you live on the outskirts of town but it is ideal for buzzing around city streets.

On the other side a fully charged electric bike will last you up to around 100km. Factors such as weight and terrain could reduce the distance. It will cost you more but you get more mileage.

Since the pretty extreme rise in energy bills in recent times, we have become a nation obsessed with how much it costs to boil the kettle. It’s around €0.07 a time, so around €120 a year. A boiling water tap could help could cut this cost by half.

Almost eliminating the need for a kettle entirely, the boiling tap produces cold, hot and boiling water. It can hold enough boiling water to produce 25 cups of tea an hour. It also uses up to 50% less energy than traditional kettles. The updated version also produces sparkling water. If you’re a lover of the bubbles this is a great option as it allows you to fill your bottle from home – not only cost-effective but better for the environment too with a lot fewer plastic bottles in use.

Slow Cooker

Sometimes it’s the simple things in life that make all the difference. It might not be groundbreaking but the slow cooker is revolutionising our modern lives.

Thanks to the rise in energy bills and TikTok, this 1970s favourite is having a comeback every ’90s pop star would be envious of.

When it comes to saving energy, using a slow cooker as opposed to your oven is a no-brainer. It would take using your slow cooker for 15 hours to use the same amount of energy an electric oven does in just an hour. Not only does it put more money in your pocket, a slow cooker gives you the gift of time, something we all appreciate in today’s busy world.

Smart Plug

As part of our quest to make our homes ‘smarter’, the small yet mighty ‘smart’ plug is making waves. Who knew that plugging our devices into an intelligent piece of gadgetry would make our busy lives easy while saving the environment.

Connecting to your wifi, the smart plug allows you to manage your gadgets from an app on your phone. Setting it up is as easy as popping one in a socket, pairing it with your network, and then using it to control any appliance attached to it. So, if you fancy a cuppa once you’re in the door, or need to turn the lights on for security when you’re away, a smart plug is the device for you.

Heated Desk

This is a game-changer for those working from home or if you’re running a small office-based business. Anybody who has worked in an office with others knows the biggest gripe is often the temperature of the room. It’s either too hot or too cold.

According to Grand Designs presenter Kevin McCloud, the Ökoform heated desk is one of his ‘green heroes’.

The desk uses a radiant heating element that works by heating you directly rather than the surrounding air.

It also uses electricity much more efficiently than fan heaters. At just 260W the desks are 90 per cent cheaper to run than the average 2,500W to 3,000W desk fan heater.

For those working from home it allows you to stay warm without having to heat the rest of the house.

Composting

When we think of being eco-friendly, composting is one of the first things that comes to mind. It sounds idyllic but if you have ever lifted the lid

For the novice composter a Food Cycler is a great place to start. It’s a nifty gadget that is about the size of a toaster oven. After filling the removable waste bucket with food scraps, it heats, dries,