Green Tips You Can Benefit From
Being green doesn’t require great sacrifices. To the contrary, it’s quite easy and painless. And the best part about it is that it saves you money! Here are some basic steps you can do right now to make your home greener and safer for you and your family, improve your health and most of all help reduce the greenhouse effect:
• Change regular incandescent bulbs into CFL (compact fluorescent light) bulbs. CFLs use four times less energy then standard bulbs and last up to 10 times longer. Replacing a 100-watt incandescent with a 26-watt CFL will save up to $59 in energy cost over the life of the bulb. The rule of thumb- check the watts on your old bulb and divide it by four. Moreover, there is no additional energy requirement for starting a CFL bulb as opposed to the traditional incandescent ones!
• Change your thermostat settings. Lowering the temperature on your thermostat a few degrees (e.g. from 70 to 68) in the winter and raising it a bit (e.g. from 72 to 75) in the summer will save you about 5% on your monthly electric bill.
• Use the dishwasher. Believe or not, hand washing uses up to 50% more water than dishwashers. However, the dishwashers made before 1994 are not efficient in their water consumption so the best thing to do is to switch to energy efficient appliances (look for Energy Saving Star)… It will not only help you save money but help the earth breath easier as well.
• Go for eco-friendly cleaning products. The harsh chemicals in cleaning products emit gasses that are harmful to you and your family. There are many alternatives on the market today and they are all non-toxic and biodegradable.
• Unplug your electronic devices when not in use. According to Department of Energy, electricity consumed by TV sets that are turned off but still plugged in costs US households more than $750 million a year. So if you unplug your electronic devices, such as TV sets, DVD players, computers, stereos etc. you could save up to 5% on your monthly electric bill.
• Bring your own reusable grocery bag. Manufacturing and disposing of both paper and plastic bags is harmful to the environment. Some of the grocery stores started offering cotton or other kinds of reusable bags for sale at the register. So buy your own and bring it with you every time you do your shopping.
• Slow down when you drive. You will save about 15% of fuel by driving 55 miles per hour rather than 65 miles per hour. Properly inflated tires and a well-tuned engine also improve fuel economy.
• Don’t idle. Turn your car off when waiting in the parking lot or elsewhere. Idling for 10 minutes less a day eliminates 550 pounds of carbon dioxide out of the air every year.
• Clean the lint out of the dryer after every use. It will reduce your energy use by up to 30 percent per load.
• Bring your own coffee cup. The Styrofoam cups are not recyclable.
• Plant trees to counter affect the CO2 emission.
• Recycle, recycle, recycle.
