A GROUP promoting sustainability in Dorchester has been helping people reduce their carbon footprints.

Transition Town Dorchester has run a six-month scheme that involved loaning out electricity monitors to 16 local people free of charge to see how much electricity they use in everyday life.

Lorraine Wong was among the participants and said the monitor helped her to make several behavioural changes to reduce her energy use and save money.

She said: “The biggest surprise was how much energy my ceiling lights used as they are all halogen bulbs, so I decided to limit my use of these and use table lamps instead.”

Lorraine also made other changes such as making sure she dried her laundry out on the line, rather than using a tumble-drier, and washing clothes at a lower temperature.

She added: “I leave nothing on standby and now I only turn my router on when I am actually using my computer.”

Lorraine and the others involved in the scheme were also invited to meetings where they received energy saving advice and were able to give feedback on what savings they had made.

Anyone who would like to get involved with Transition Town Dorchester can email info@transitiontowndorchester.org or find out more at www.transitiontowndorchester.org