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Loading...10 Simple (and Cheap) Green Ideas
- Annie B. Bond
- July 2, 2006
- 6:48 pm
- 356 comments
Being green can be easy after all! Browse through this list of simple solutions designed to save energy and reduce carbon emissions for the planet, and at the same time save you money.
10 Tips to Save Energy (and Money) in Your Home
A whopping 46 percent of home energy use is, umm, energy loss! In other words, no productive energy use at all! Here are simple ways of reversing this, mostly by changes of habit.
1. Each degree you turn down the heat saves 3 percent of heating costs, while each degree you raise the temperature of your air conditioner saves 3-4 percent of cooling costs. By changing the temperature by 2 degrees all year, you can save about 2,000 pounds of C02 a year.
2. Cook with a slow cooker or a toaster oven (or even a solar oven!) to reduce electrical use from kitchen appliances. For a meal that requires one hour to cook in an electric oven, and which uses 2.7 pounds of C02, a crockpot uses 0.9 pounds of C02 for seven hours, a toaster oven takes 1.3 pounds of C02 for 50 minutes, and a microwave only 0.5 pounds of C02 for 15 minutes of cooking. A solar cooker requires NO C02!
3. Switch to a laptop instead of using a desktop computer and cut three-quarters off your electrical use. Turn off the laptop at the end of the day.
4. Switch to cold water washing and save 80 percent on energy used for laundry and save an estimated $60 a year. Hang dry your clothes instead of using the dryer and save 700 pounds of C02 a year.
5. Plug anything that can be powered by a remote control or that has a power cube transformer (little black box) into a power strip, and turn it off, and/or unplug, when not in use. (Power cubes are 60-80 percent inefficient.)
6. Turn off the lights when you aren’t using them and reduce your direct lighting energy use by 45 percent. Stop using heat-producing halogen lamps (they can also be fire hazards). Install occupancy or motion sensors on outdoor lights.
7. Switch to compact fluorescent from regular incandescent bulbs and use 60 percent less energy per bulb and save 300 pounds of C02 a year.
8. Wrap your water heater in an insulation blanket and save 1,000 pounds of C02 a year. Insulate your hot water pipes.
9. Use public transportation whenever possible, carpool, shop locally, and ideally switch to a hybrid or energy-efficient car (if you haven’t already).
10. Keep your tires inflated to improve gas mileage by 3 percent. Every gallon you save also saves 20 pounds of C02 emissions.
Thanks to climatecrisis.net and The Home Energy Diet (New Society Publishers, 2005), for many of the carbon savings figures.
Read more: Home, Reduce, Recycle & Reuse, , climate crisis, fluorescent, green ideas, save energy, solar cooker
By Annie B. Bond
Annie B. Bond
Annie is a renowned expert in non-toxic and green living. Named one of the top 20 environmental leaders by Body and Soul Magazine, Annie has authored four books, including "Home Enlightenment" (Rodale Press, 2005) and "Better Basics for the Home" (Three Rivers Press, 1999).
Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may
not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.
people are talking
Very important information.
ty
Thank you for sharing.
Hard question to answer.
Yesterday I had to put to sleep my almost 16 year old toy poodle and I feel like I lost my best frie…
356 comments
+ add your ownAll good tips,thanks a lot.
some very good tips, thank you
Thanks.
As another commenter remarked, use solar panels where practicable. Make winter curtains to keep off the chill, too.
and wear warmer clothes in the winter to save on heat ...which is a huge cost for a home.
Thanks
The use of CFLs is good for the environment (sort of, at least better than the old incandescent bulbs) but according to a recent report, bad for people as they can cause skin cancer. Many of these tips are good. However, using the tips needs to be balanced against other things - for example, one commenter mentioned that microwaves are unsafe compared to ovens - research things before jumping in is the best advice. :)
Thank you
i think its about time all government controlled buildings and here in the UK Council homes should have Solar Panels, this would save a hell of a lot of money and any excess could be sold back to the grid.... or is that just me being too simple ??!!
Thanks for the good tips. There are a whole lot more including a list of the CO2 emissions savings per idea here http://www.livegreen.cc
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