Climate change secretary Ed Miliband has commended people in Oxford for their efforts to save the planet.

He said the level of enthusiasm for reducing carbon emissions is unusually high in the city, a fact he attributed partly to its large student population, the Oxford Mail reports.

"I know how committed people are here to going green and reducing the carbon footprint," Mr Miliband commented.

Indeed, he noted that residents of the city are working in "diverse ways" to make it the "green capital" of the country.

So we could all do well to follow their lead by making our homes more eco-friendly.

Energy saving and buying eco products are simple but effective ways to reduce our impact on the environment, and in these cash-strapped times, it could even help to save us money.

Earlier this month, price comparison site uSwitch said cutting down on the amount of power we use could help consumers to "help themselves" and free up cash to invest in longer-term energy-efficiency measures.