Living together helps cut your resource consumption (Image: Jeffrey Hamilton / Getty)

Looking for a romantic way to do your bit for the planet? Then move in with your lover, take baths together and snuggle up on the sofa to watch TV together.

An awful lot of energy could be saved if only people shared things more, especially their homes. The evidence comes from the opposite end of the love spectrum. According to a recent study, if all the couples who divorced in the US had stayed together, in 2005 alone they would have used 2373 billion litres less water and 73 billion kilowatt-hours less electricity. Each divorced person spent 46 per cent more on electricity and 56 per cent more on water.

In 2005 alone, divorced people in the US used an extra 73 billion kilowatt hours of electricity

Divorce, along with the demise of the extended family, is helping to drive the growth in the number of households, which is accelerating faster than the global population. The good news is that remarriage reduces consumption to pre-divorce levels. Of course, you don’t have to pop the question – living together or sharing with friends works too.

After your home, perhaps the next most important thing to share is your car. Lift-sharing schemes can help you find someone who does the same journey as you. And if you don’t need to drive every day, you could swap your car for membership of a car-sharing scheme, a form of car rental. Studies indicate that if you hire a car only when you need it, rather than owning one, you’ll drive a lot …