An Introduction To Managing Energy Resources And Saving Money

Written by Deborah Hodgetts

Finding reliable solutions and playing your part in caring for our natural world can be a challenge. But it is a worthy cause you should keep central in all your decisions on using these valuable resources.

You may be wondering how you can play your part, limiting your daily use of resources like gas, diesel and other fuel and energy.

If you are looking at saving money and reducing your usage of natural resources, consider using a gas calculator.

What is a Gas Calculator?

A gas calculator calculates the annual calibration and your consumption of gas. You can also use the device for gas detection, which gas companies use to analyse gas applications. 

But its other use and benefit are to help you save on your petrol and cut your transportation costs.

Owning a vehicle can be an expensive investment. In these times of declining economies, trying and trim a little of your outgoings is even more important to avert any financial hardships by being a little money savvy.

How To Save Petrol When Driving

So, how can you save money on petrol or diesel without driving around looking for the cheapest petrol station and eating more fuel?

Here are a few fuel-saving tips you should consider:

• Keep your vehicle aerodynamic, keep windows closed at high speeds, and remove roof racks and storage boxes when not in use. This can help you save up to 20% on fuel annually.

• Drop your speed, and slow down vehicle recovery companies, advising that simply dropping from 80mph to 70mph could save you 25% in fuel costs.

• Regularly service your car, use the correct engine oil and replace worn tyres.

• Drive sensibly, read the road well and anticipate other road users’ actions so that you use less breaking and acceleration and reduce fuel use.

• Reduce your revs and use higher gears.

• Look after your car tyres and make sure that tyres are inflated correctly. A correctly inflated tyre can improve your vehicle’s fuel consumption dramatically.

• Remove any extra weight from your car, empty your car boot of any unrequired items and consider running your petrol tank at half full.

• Alternatively, you could leave the car at home and cycle or walk instead. 

Do You Need To Use Petrol?

In our green-conscious society, many ask why we still use petrol and diesel in our vehicles.

You no longer need to use petrol or diesel to power your vehicles. Some alternatives are greener and more beneficial to our environment.

Here are six of the main alternatives to Petrol and diesel:

• Electricity

• Natural Gas

Both are suited to Natural Gas Vehicles.

• Ethanol

• Propane

Both are suited to Propane Vehicles.

• Biodiesel 

• Hydrogen

Both are suited to fuel cell vehicles.

Now all you need to do is take that leap into a greener lifestyle and reduce your carbon footprint. It’s all up to you to make a difference.

Saving Money On Your Energy Resources

If you need additional savings, you could invest time and energy into cutting costs and reducing your home energy consumption.

You could switch your energy supplier, avoid estimated readings and get your energy supplier to read your meters regularly. 

To reduce energy bills further, you could take the following steps:

• Check your walls and loft spaces are well insulated; this gives you massive savings.

• Fit double or triple glazing to reduce heat loss.

• Draw your curtains at night to keep in the warmth and stop heat from escaping.

• Use the sun’s power by opening doors on warmer days to eco-heat your home. You could also consider fitting solar panels, which can save you extra.

• Use a slow cooker instead of a conventional oven.

• Cook sensibly, and put lids on pans when cooking; this allows the food to cook quicker and reduces the use of power.

• Fit a Smart Meter to help you monitor your fuel consumption and reduce your levels accordingly by tracking the difference turning off certain appliances can make in terms of energy and monetary savings.

• Unplug and turn off chargers, unused devices, and household appliances when unused.

• Buy energy-efficient appliances, checking the energy rating before making your purchase.

• Use full loads when washing or the economy setting on your washing machine. You should also consider using your tumble drier a little less, too.

• Let your hair dry naturally whenever you can, and stop using energy-guzzling hairdryers that eat electricity and dry out your hair’s natural oils.

Eco-Tips For Greener Living

You have now gathered some valuable information on ways to save money on your fuel and learned how to reduce your energy consumption. 

What else could you do to improve your quest to live greener?

To become an eco-warrior, you could try unexpected ways to add a bit of fun to your day. 

Go on, take a look - you may love the change and help the environment simultaneously.

• Cycle to work or walk.

• Take public transport or car share and reduce carbon emissions.

• You could do a Twofer - double up your errand and shopping trips, saving you fuel and time.

• Shop online and embrace the virtual world of shopping.

• Telecommunication and working from home reduce fuel emissions by 20%.

• Consider donating short-life foods you know you will not eat to food banks rather than throwing them away.

• Understand expiration dates and refer to the quality of the product, as there is a difference between a sell-by date and a use-by date. 

• Eat organic and grow your fruit and veg.

These are just a few ideas; there are many more you can discover and add to your list.

Save money, love the planet and go Green.

Everything You Need To Know About Eco-Friendly Plumbing On A Budget

Living a minimalistic lifestyle that incorporates being eco-friendly can be achieved. All it takes is a little know-how and a few simple strategies to help move you forward.

But what happens if a pipe bursts or something in your home springs a leak over this Summer season?

Do not panic; you can easily find a solution.

How To Plumb The Eco-Friendly Way

If you are new to living an eco-friendly lifestyle, you should think about taking five and reading the following, and it may save you money and time.

So, how do you stop water leaks in your home in an eco-friendly way while sticking to your budget? 

Here is how to do this easily without blowing your budget completely.

You can reduce your carbon footprint and live an eco-friendly green lifestyle. Emergency Plumbing can help, but you could also take an eco-friendly approach by using the following energy-efficient steps.

Shower Heads and Your Eco-Friendly Bathroom

Two and a half gallons of water run through a regular showerhead every minute that you are showering. You may think about investing in an eco-friendly shower head that produces a flow of 1.75 gallons of water every minute instead. You will be reducing your water usage substantially.

It would be best if you also considered an eco-friendly toilet and faucet; by making these changes to your bathroom, you will be saving money and energy on your household bills.

If replacing your bathroom is too much of a challenge, you could save money by using any of the following water-saving  devices:

• Invest in a toilet water saver kit.

• Leak detection dye tablets so that you can see a leak and act quickly before it becomes expensive.

• A toilet tank bank, which could save you at least one gallon of water per flush.

Saving water and preventing leaks in your home is an essential part of being eco-friendly and caring for our planet.

Go Green With Your Plumbing

It may be time to look at the plumbing pipe materials that you have in your home. You could save money and make significant savings on your water and energy bills by making a few cost-effective changes to your home plumbing.

Reduce Your Plastic Usage

You can make a difference by adopting an eco-friendly approach to your plumbing. Regularly check on any leaking pipes and get pipes to replace them with alternative plastic tubes that can be easily recycled. You should also research well to find the right products to meet your needs. 

Save Energy, Think Eco

Finally, it would help if you thought about your hot and cold water pipes. Make sure that they are insulated with neoprene or green alternative materials or foam. Using foam can save 80% of your heat loss and stop cold water pipes from sweating. This will help raise the water temperature, reduce your setting on water heaters, and improve your home's energy efficiency. 

Be eco-friendly, live an ethically green life. You can stop climate change by being mindful.

The Ultimate Guide To Eco-Friendly Mobile Advertising Companies

Written by Deborah Hodgetts

During the changing economic picture, businesses are now implementing green ethics and workable solutions to combat climate change.

How could this help shape the future of the business, of the 21st Century and beyond?

The journey can start with you and how you see business and its place in solving climate change-and reducing the carbon footprint of the global economies. 

Adopting a green mindset can add value to your business’s green credentials and give you massive benefits concerning maintaining your mental health and well-being.

Sustainable Green Marketing

Green marketing came into being when the human race started to realise the negative impact on the planet. Supporting a green mission statement is now the growing new norm for the eco-conscious business, green entrepreneurs, or mobile advertising companies.

To sustain an ethical green marketing paradigm, you may consider the following practices to enhance your company:

• Demonstrate the safety and mindfulness of your services and product ranges.

• Rethink packaging, transportation, and your use of natural resources, for example, water and energy.

• Be sociably responsible.

• Implement a broad range of sustainable business practices.

Part of the green marketing strategy, being adopted by many large brands, shows that many are now embracing recycling programs or making commitments to donate to support green movements. 

Eco-Friendly Advertising

The definition of green advertising aims to dismantle the green image and build environmental brand awareness that fits the companies’ brand and links to the message they are trying to convey to their customers.

You can promote the green aspects of your company through your content management and how you connect with your customers and clients through blogs, mail-out campaigns, social media activity, mobile marketing, word-of-mouth, or a website.

Other activities may also include communicating your message through advertising via digital channels, TV, radio, Podcasts, and conceptional displays and installations using new green technologies.

To make a more significant impact, you could intertwine your green ethos into your brand’s identity, showing your commitment to your concept of green marketing and advertising. 

Giving To Create Change

Business and advertising generate interest and garner new clients and customers. However, making mountains of money is far from some of the more authentic aspects of living a green lifestyle and being an eco-friendly, sustainable business.

You could take it one step further and fully commit to raising your green strategies by supporting environmental charities by linking your brand to raise the awareness of the charity and your business.

You could also link products, advertising, and drive marketing towards making donations to charities. This approach can also draw new customers and clients towards your business, as the awareness of green matters and living eco-friendly lifestyles are changing the global landscape and consumer marketing expectations.

Therefore, it is clear that every element of business can work towards a greener, sustainable existence, including advertising, marketing, and raising the awareness of saving our planet.

The Advanced Guide to Living a Sustainable Life

By Deborah Hodgetts

In the face of the continuing global turmoil , more and more people are now looking to live a sustainable life, from fashion to living every little aspect that can be supported by living a sustainable lifestyle. The move to making wise choices about how you live every day begins with you.

How Do You Live A Sustainable Lifestyle?

Sustainable living is about reducing society’s and your use of the Earth’s natural resources and resources.

You can live a happier life by limiting our need for resources that deplete the Earth. Observe an Eco-Sabbath, where you have one hour a week without using natural resources.

The best way to begin your journey into living a sustainable lifestyle is to stay active, eat healthily, enjoy the natural world, and connect with other like-minded people.

Support Your Local Economy

You should think about supporting your local economy by starting with independent retailers; you could also consider Fairtrade products and ethical trading initiatives that help people and communities.

Get involved in your local community green projects and meet new people who share your views on living a sustainable life.

Green Spaces and Nature

Gardens 000 Green spaces can be a place of wonder, joy, and a haven for wildlife. Being out in the open is good for the mind, heart, body and soul. Nature is the natural rejuvenator. 

Conserving Precious Resources

Water is a precious resource and something you may take for granted. You can create sustainable water by installing a water butt in your garden, learning how to harvest rainwater to water your garden, and pressure washing your drive.

Sustainable Food

Reduce your food waste and plan meals for the week ahead. Only buy the food that you need. Click on this link to learn more about  Love Food, Hate Waste. You could opt to support your sustainable lifestyle by eating a vegan diet. 

It’s a powerful way to improve your health and well-being and protect the environment by reducing greenhouse gases produced by livestock.

Buy A Sustainable House

One of the ways to support living a sustainable lifestyle is by buying a smaller house. You will spend less money on furniture, lighting, and furnishings and also reduce the energy you use.

You could even opt to build an Eco House supported by natural alternative energy sources like solar panels and wind energy, and use LED light sources as a means of lighting; they are more energy-efficient.

Adopt a Zero Balance Budget

A zero balance budget or energy budget is the core of sustainable living. To practice this technique, you need to balance what you take in, and you also need to return the items. By adopting this approach, you will be amazed at how much you consume daily, reducing your carbon footprint on Earth.

There is so much more you can do to live a sustainable lifestyle.

In living a sustainable lifestyle, you support your life, family, and the future of our planet.

Getting Your Garden Ready for Summer:It’s Not as Difficult as You Think

Spring and Summer is bristling with life, it’s an excellent time to get your garden ready for days of celebrating with family and friends, however, that may look.

So, here are a few helpful ideas to help to get your garden ready in 2026:

7 Tips To Get Your Garden Ready For Spring

You may be wondering where to start, especially if you haven’t focused on garden maintenance over the Winter months. Hopefully, the following tips and tricks will help set you on the right track and give you a garden with a feel-good factor. 

De-Clutter Your Green Space

It’s time to roll up your sleeves and give your garden a pre-spring clean, you’ll need to scoop up the dead leaves, trim back overhanging hedges, remove any winter debris and prevent bacteria that could kill off new plants in your garden. 

Give Your Lawn Some Love

Spring is a great time to feed your garden and rake your lawn to eliminate all of the debris and dead grass. This will help the garden to breathe, ensuring there is less chance of it becoming waterlogged, should there be a sudden downpour.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

The spring is an ideal time to turn your compost over; the material accumulated at the bottom of your compost bin will be an excellent source of nutrients for your new plants, and help keep your garden healthy and beautiful.

Create A Kitchen Garden

If you want to create an organic vegetable and fruit garden, now is the right time to start planting seeds and preparing your containers for propagation. You can clean up your old pots or be inventive and create new containers from a newspaper, yoghurt pots or empty food containers. 

Remove Unwanted Pests

Check all of your well-established shrubs, rose bushes and plants for bugs and pests, especially if you are re-stocking and adding new flowers and plants to your garden. This will prevent any disease or nasty unwanted garden pests from moving in or taking root to destroy all of your garden work.

Rejuvenate Garden Furniture

If your garden furniture is looking a little sad and tired, you could be a little indulgent and buy something new, or you could spruce up plastic, wicker or wooden garden furniture. You can quickly revive plastic furniture with some TLC, some warm soapy water and a sponge. Wooden furniture may need a little more love, with some wood oil or a repaint. 

Create A Garden Haven

To create the perfect haven in your garden, you could add bird boxes, insect boxes, and bee boxes and hang bird food around your garden.

Cover delicate fruit plants with netting to protect them from birds and garden visitors. 

Add a little colour and a lot of sunshine by adding fairy lights or garden lighting, invest in some garden textiles such as throws, blankets, cushions, or anything that will make you and your visitors smile or could be a natural talking point. 

Why You Should Focus on Improving Gardens And Ground Maintenance

The benefits of gardens and ground maintenance are that you weed out any problems before they become crippling issues. Keeping your garden or grounds well maintained will save time, money, and provide you with a haven to soothe your soul.

Finding the benefits of your ideal space can make a big difference to you and also supports the environment. Taking a natural non-chemical approach serves every aspect of a well-supported ecology.

The Benefits of Eco-Gardening

Eco-gardening is all about connecting with the earth and your garden. The garden you nurture will embrace more natural features. Incorporating local plants and trees, similar to those found in woodlands and open areas will strengthen your garden’s ecosystem.

As the plants and trees are from that local terrain, they will grow more quickly, be more eco-friendly and in the long term, require less chemical pesticides and fertilisers.

An eco-garden may have its inherent challenges regarding design, and maintenance, but you will be satisfied once you have the garden you desire.

How Do Gardens Help The Environment?

You may wonder how gardens help our natural environment. Green spaces do this by reducing air and noise pollution, energy costs, minimise your carbon footprint, filter any groundwater, and are a great source of food and homes for a large number of birds, animals, and insects.

Keeping your garden and grounds healthy and weed-free, brings you an abundance of natural gifts from nature that benefit your health too.

Taking An Organic Approach

When taking an organic approach to gardening, you should consider a wide array of potential issues that can all be easily remedied providing you know where to look. 

This method of gardening helps to prevent any loss of topsoil, water pollution, soil contamination, death of insects, birds, and garden creatures. You will also help to eliminate pesticides, fungicides and synthetic fertilisers form natural food chains.

Taking a green approach and being a responsible gardener matters to the natural world, and plants seeds for future success.

Cutting Costs

Grounds Maintenance has a multitude of excellent benefits not only to your garden and grounds, but it also adds value to your property and, in the long term, has the potential to save you money. You may have a creative eye and an idea of how you would like your grounds and gardens to be laid out. 

If you are a commercial property owner, you may want to explore this route to maintain a natural vista that projects your business’s image. This also helps to ensure your grounds are kept safe, preventing damage and any potential hazards to passers-by or visitors to your premises.

Finding Solutions In Unexpected Places 

When you are lost for ideas on how to solve your gardening problems, it may be time to pull up a chair, grab yourself a coffee (or herbal tea), listen to some soothing music, and dust of those gardening books gathering dust on your bookshelf. You may have the answers to those thorny issues right under your very own nose. 

August: Unicorn Tears/Followed by Rainbows of Joy.

Wow! The year is racing by so fast. That’ll be the Fire Horse in motion, plus the Lions Gate.

Here at Glass Haus, we are bobbing along with all of our beautiful projects.

The Phoenix Rising podcast is still on hold, as we process the sudden death of co-host Katie Osman. Deborah and the team have temporarily paused this project, but we’ll update you further in the next month.

In the meantime, we are getting ready to start our funding campaign for Aubrey Preeps, Counts Sheep. So, please help us with a donation to make this project a reality. There may also be the opportunity to bag yourself a reward, such as getting a credit on the animation short or a piece of memorabilia.

We would love to have you on board on this comical sheep-farming journey.

To find out more, drop us an email here: info@glasshausprductionslimited.com

Thank you!

Deborah and Team Glass Haus

July Update

We’d like to wish our American visitors a Happy 4th of July.

Yes, we’re a little late - but we are grateful to have you here.

This month we are busily recording our two new podcasts:

• Phoenix Rising Podcast - Hosted by Deborah Hodgetts, Entrepreneur and Katie Oman, Empowerment Author and Entrepreneur.

  We go live at the end of July 2026.

  More info to follow here in the next few weeks.

• Grateful Podcast - Hosted by Mel Jones - YA Author and Entrepreneur.

This podcast goes live in August 2026.

Other news:

We are currently busy with the podcasts and photography. Deborah has just finished writing the pilot episode of a new teen drama she’s created; rewrites to follow soon.

The team are also busy on the Theatre Archive Collection.

Over the next month, we’ll be adding links to our Kickstarter Campaigns, where you can bag a reward. Keep watch here or on the Welcome page.

That’s it from Team Glass Haus and me.

Enjoy the Summer and have FUN, FUN, FUN!!

Secret Kisses

We steal kisses in places unseen.

Behind the village hall, and the old cow shed.

We deny ourselves while passing on the village green.

In case perchance that we are seen.

We text our words of love; all in code, never to be told

Hoping that they will never know.

How far our love, I just don't know?

We steal kisses in places unseen.

Though this is truly not my dream.

Copyright©2013 Deborah. M. Hodgetts

Dark Days

On those dark, barren sands,

waves beating on breakers.

Cast out by a raging sea.

Seagulls’ dip: plundering

natures fare.

Pebbles lacing along the shore,

like polished jewels.

Golden sandcastles melt away.

Distant memories,

of our happy yesterday.

A fog: laden horizon.

As a flickering lighthouse,

attempts to warn ships

along the bay.

The faint smell of fish and chips,

fragrances the air.

Reminding us of what fun we

had there.

As slowly, the rain

washes away.

All memories we shared on that bright

Summers’ day.

Copyright© 2014 Deborah M. Hodgetts

The Fragile Beauty of Love

I hold you within the palm of my hand,

You rest within the creases of my palm;

Small, perfect and wondrous in your magnificence to me.

If I were to drop you, and you fell to the ground.

You would become what you need to be.

Find your wings and be free.

I hold you in my heart,

But know I cannot keep you.

Your love so fragile and so pure, hangs like a silken thread.

So I will let you fall down, down to the ground.

But as you fall, I pray that the divine winds will carry you.

I pray that as you drift down,

that your landing will be sweetness and light.

For you are radiant, and need to be free.

Copyright © 2013 Deborah M. Hodgetts

Update from Team Glass Haus

Firstly, thank you for visiting our page.

We’ve been busy on our projects, edging each one a little closer to the finish line.

Updates:

Theatre Archive Project

The theatre archive project is advancing, and we could not be happier. We have found some amazing gems in the collection, and we will be sharing a few of our discoveries here over the Summer.

Aubrey Preeps, Counts Sheep

The mood boards are complete, and we are working with a character designer to bring the characters to life. We’ll be posting images and updates here as we progress with this funny short animation film.

Watch this space to get more news and the link to our Kickstarter Campaign.

Podcasts in progress:

We currently have two podcasts in the early stages of development, and we’ll be making both live in the next few months.

Other news:

Glass Haus Productions Limited now has a dedicated YouTube Channel, and we’ll let you know when we launch.

Thank you for visiting Glass Haus Productions Limited.

Deborah and Team Glass Haus

Complex Glass

He hides his lies,

like velvet folds.

Rich in colour,

folded neatly.

Stiff and inflexible.

She presses closely,

like ice against water.

Transparent and clear.

Glassy and fragile.

Splintering, fracturing.

They stand jagged,

prisms of disillusion.

Complex and irregular.

Twisted and unending.

Bitter, vacuous voids.

No conclusion.

Voiceless visions.

Of what we both,

are now.

Empty, silence.

Empty, silence.

Copyright 2019 Deborah M. Hodgetts

Changing Places

Switched: divided at birth.

Our identities erased by thoughtless actions.

We were meant to be together, but the nurse

in her haste, slipped the name tag on the wrong toe.

I saw my mother’s sweet face, for but a second.

Time to short for her to realise, that I

had been misplaced.

You were joined by a stranger who grew by

your side.

I, no longer a double act but a solitary, twinkling

light, lost feeling cold and half whole.

Destined to be alone.

We are not strangers,

but are linked by an invisible cord, that

our eyes cannot see.

I look for you daily, hoping that

each passing stranger may be you.

That’s why I will not stop my quest.

Until our hearts, are in united rest.

Copyright © 2014 Deborah M. Hodgetts

I Love You!

You are beautiful

The scent of a summers' day

The warmth of the sun

Lay by my side, in the dewy grass

and let us drift away.

Let me hold your hand

Let me guide your footsteps,

with gentle love.

For you are my beautiful

My one true love.

Deborah Hodgetts 2017 (From A Universe of Love)

Flow

From my pen,

the stories ran.

Downpouring,

sweet flowing.

To catch each word,

my sincere plan.

Copyright © 2014 Deborah Hodgetts

The Twinkle of Love

The light of your love,

Twinkles like a beautiful star.

For you, my love

I love you, from afar.

Copyright © 2013 Deborah Hodgetts

The Letter

Crisp white: inked with words of love.

Folded neatly and enrobed in a papery carcase.

Entombed sentiments kept from view.

The scented envelope, holding its secrets

Until these words reach you.

Hands trembling, in anticipation.

Gently carry your paper form,

to the awaiting post box, with its open mouth.

I place you inside until you

are safely with my love.

Like a floating leaf,

travelling through the air,

You travel through spaces,

people and places unseen.

Gathering memories and dreams,

before reaching your final destination.

Falling down through a hole in a door,

Slowly drifting down to meet a tiled floor.

Hands delicately lift your

papery body lovingly,

held next to a beating heart.

Before being joyfully received with love.

Copyright © 2014 Deborah Hodgetts

In Rememberance of Love

White lilies draped

on wooden boxes, of despair.

Eyes solemn cast: to the earth.

As we remember those we love.

Tears too many,

shroud fragile forms.

Shattered and empty.

As petals fall,

like peaceful snow.

We remember our love:

whole long ago.

Sweetly rest

and heaven blest.

Safely home.

Copyright 2014 Deborah Hodgetts

2026 …The Year of the Fire Horse

Hello and Welcome!

I hope you have tightly grasped the reins of the Fire Horse.

Team Glass Haus has been busy getting back to running with our many projects. The archival project is progressing well, and every day offers priceless hidden gems from the past.

Alongside this, we are developing our podcasts, animations and projects. I really appreciate your support.

What does the Year of the Fire Horse mean for you?

Where will it take you in the year ahead?

We will be here for you every step of the way.

In addition to our normal Glass Haus Production offering, we will also be adding the following this year:

• Podcasts.

• Online courses.

• New ranges in our online shop.

• Competitions to engage with and win prizes.

• New products and services.

This year is just beginning; there is so much more waiting to enlighten and delight you.

Please come back and visit us soon.

Deborah and Team Glass Haus