Disposable nappies, televisions left on standby, enough cleaning products under the kitchen sink to declare chemical warfare on a small country... these are just a few of the eco shockers to be found in our households. Bafta-winning writer Paul Abbott, creator of State of Play and Shameless, and his family let themselves in for an ethical makeover and Lucy Siegle reveals the results. Can they do without their tumble dryer and manage with just one car?

Audit

For all their Shameless ways, Paul Abbott's fictional creation the Gallaghers are likely to leave less of an ecological footprint than his real-life household - consisting of Paul, his wife Saskia, Tom (14), Annie (12) and Chum the dog. Like many of their neighbours in the affluent footballer belt of south Manchester, the size of their house means they are likely to pump out more CO2 emissions and use more resources, meaning they have to work harder to reduce their ethical footprint.

One bonus of the large house is that it comes with a large garden, and Saskia is already using this to good effect, growing potatoes, runner beans and flowers (cut flowers air-freighted from Kenya to the UK last year were responsible for 33,000 tonnes of CO2 emissons) with a separate area for composting.

A main concern, however, is transport. The Abbotts are a four-vehicle family, owning a people carrier, a BMW, a new Volkswagen Beetle and a diesel Golf. And, unsurprisingly for a TV writer and producer, the house contains two fully equipped offices and a number of TVs - often left on standby. Added to this, a tumble dryer (one of the world's most energy-intensive domestic appliances) working overdrive.

Action

While Paul re-sets the digital appliances unplugged to demonstrate the standby question (£4m a year is wasted by UK consumers on appliances left on standby), he does start using low-voltage plugs, which don't generate heat when not in use. The two biggest breakthroughs come from Saskia, who discovers that the UK's first dedicated biodiesel garage is in Manchester, and fills up the diesel Golf with Basic 5, a biodiesel made from rapeseed and waste cooking oil and not derived from palm oil. Although riding a bicycle would be more significant, it's a step in the right direction. She also sends an email of complaint to the MD of her Volkswagen dealership after she phoned to check if her engine could use biodiesel and discovered they'd never heard of it: "How can someone working in the car industry be unaware of the pressing topic of reducing CO2 emissions?"

She also decides to get rid of the tumble dryer. If every family in the UK hung out one load per week, it would save around 515,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions. Until the tumble dryer is disposed of ethically, it remains out of bounds alongside the Abbotts' large patio heat lamp (the use of patio heaters in the UK accounts for about 1m tonnes of CO2 emissions a year, cancelling out gains made by the recent changes to vehicle taxation).
A water butt has been installed next to the lawn, and Paul has even found an organic breakfast cereal to replace his sugar-coated staple from a multinational.

Conclusion

Although Saskia Abbott has a longstanding interest in organic food, she has proved that she is interested not just in conscious consumerism but in actively challenging manufacturers and retailers who are definitely not doing the right thing.

The 5% biodiesel discovery has been beneficial, but needs to be taken further - upping the mix so that the fuel contains 20% biodiesel, for example, would reduce CO2 emissions by 15%. By joining the Greengold co-operative for £10, the Abbotts will have access to mechanical advice on converting to 100% biodiesel.

The Abbotts next step should be to install a Windsave turbine to the side of their house, which would help reduce their reliance on the electricity grid and to begin generating their own power.

(Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006.)