Living with friends or lodgers
Last updated Wednesday 2 July 2008
Co-habiting cuts your costs and your carbon
More of us are living alone than ever before, and while you might think single occupancy would lower a household's emissions, in fact home emissions are on the rise. Many of our domestic energy needs do not diminish significantly just because the number of occupants is lower - so a one-person household uses more energy per person than a full house.
Moving in with a friend or taking in a lodger can halve your home's climate impact at a stroke. Few other actions achieve emissions reductions faster - or save you as much money.
Read more below
Saves about 2,500kg of CO2 a year
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How will it make a difference?
Home emissions account for about a quarter of the UK's total climate impact. A single-person household uses more of almost everything per person than a four-person household, consuming:
- Twice as much electricity and gas
- 70% more packaging waste
- 60% more products - 1.6 tonnes instead of one
What's stopping me?
Pub Fact
- Moving from the average semi-detached house to a terraced property can save about 6500kWh of gas heating - cutting bills by about £200 and emissions by about 1.25 tonnes of CO2
- British men aged from 25 to 44 are twice as likely to live alone as women
- Three quarters of British people have only ever lived with one person
- Between 1971 and 1991 the average size of households in Great Britain declined from 2.9 persons to 2.5
- The number of single homes in the UK is predicted to double in the next 20 years
- Between 1971 and 1998, the overall proportion of one-person households almost doubled from 17% to 31%
- Two million couples in the UK are Living Apart Together - in long-term monogamous relationships without co-habiting
"I need my personal space"
Living alone has its perks - research suggests we're less likely to split up with partners when living apart. But getting housemates can greatly benefit your health and happiness too - and even reverse the effects of ageing. (Read more in New Scientist).
"Won't taking in a lodger mean lots of financial complications?"
Thanks to the government's Rent-a-Room scheme, the profits you make from rental income can be tax-free - on the condition that your rental income and balancing charges do not exceed £4,250. Read more about about it on this HMRC fact sheet or on Direct Gov. You can also contact your nearest Tax Enquiry Office or Tax Office for more details: HMRC.
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