Going Green at Home
Do you still feel a bit olive drab in these days when green is the new black? It seems everyone is going green these days. While the earth needs far more than blind embracing of a temporary fad, it will, no doubt, take what it can get. Are you new to the green movement? Let’s face it, going green is a lifestyle choice. But if it is a lifestyle choice you are wary about, the beginning stages of a greener life won’t force you to abandon everything you know. Here are ten simple changes even the most reluctant greenie can make at home to reduce energy consumption:
Green Lights
1. Simple. Do what your mother told you and turn off the lights when you leave a room.
2. Change to compact florescent light bulbs. EnergyStar reports: “If every American home replaced just one light bulb with an ENERGY STAR qualified bulb, we would save enough energy to light more than 3 million homes for a year.” EnergyStar estimates that florescent bulbs use about 75% less energy and last 10 times longer than incandescent light bulbs.
3. Worried about security around your home? Rather than turning on lights outside all night long, install motion sensors on your floodlights. Better yet, purchase a solar flood light with a motion detector; no wires and no annual energy cost.
Green Heat
4. Turn down the heat in the winter and wear a sweater or add a blanket. Studies, such as those reported at the Energy Information Administration, show that a one degree drop in thermostat setting can save 5 – 6% reduction in energy consumption. Buy a programmable thermostat and you don’t even have to remember. Imagine what five degrees at night can accomplish!
5. You already know this one…you have the best of intentions...buy a roll of weather-stripping. Making sure your doors and windows seal tightly in the winter can result in huge energy savings (and save you money too). Old windows? Wrap them in plastic.
6. If you have electric baseboard heat or multiple thermostat zones, close off rooms you don’t use and turn their thermostats down (just not so low the pipes freeze).
Greener Appliances
7. Turn off appliances when not in use, particularly those that spend most of their time in “standby” mode like computers, printers, and DVD players. Green Solutions says "8% of household electricity is wasted by the standby mode on appliances."
8. Forget the clothes dryer for two loads a week. Your jeans will dry just fine if you lay them out flat or use a clothes line. Tie a rope between two trees; fashion an indoor clothes line or buy a retractable one. You may just find you hardly need your dryer.You just need to plan a little more time. According to Flex Your Power your dryer, dependent on age and energy source, likely costs you between 16 and 60 cents a load and burns between 30 and 140 kilowatts of energy a month.
9. Don’t run the dishwasher unless it’s full. Ditto for laundry loads. And if it’s an easy meal, you might find that doing those dishes by hand is just as fast.
10. Take a shower with a friend; you might just like it, and your water heater will love you.
Simple Solutions
These are simple steps that won’t prove life-altering. But energy reduction adds up. If you start with easy steps such as these, you’ll soon find more simple ways that can help you lead a greener life and keep it greener for your grandchildren. Soon you’ll be turning in your olive drab for day-glow green.
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