Earth Day: How can you help?

Earth Day is Friday, April 22

Free things you can do to help the planet--and to help lower your energy bills, saving you money!

• Cut your shower each day by 2 minutes
• Turn off the faucet while brushing your teeth
• Turn off lights when you are not in the room
• Carpool or take the bus to work 1 day a week
• Recycle your food scraps in the yard waste (if available in your area) or start your own compost bin
• Pay all your bills online
• Unplug appliances (coffee maker, toaster, printer, etc) when they are not in use
• Walk rather than drive to dinner at your local restaurant (weather permitting)

5 tips for a greener home

Eco-friendly. Carbon footprint. Global warming. Energy-efficient. These catch phrases have become part of our lexicon as we’ve become more aware of our impact on the environment and our role in protecting it. As a homeowner, there are some simple, inexpensive steps you can take to make your home energy-efficient. Get started on the road to being “green” with these five tips:


Change Your Light Bulbs

By replacing just five incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent (CFL) bulbs, you can save $100 per year on electric bills while using up to 75 percent less energy and removing greenhouse gases from the environment.

Buy ENERGY STAR® Appliances

ENERGY STAR-qualified appliances, such as refrigerators, washers and air conditioners, meet a higher level of energy efficiency set by the Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Department of Energy than standard models. According to ENERGY STAR, if just one in 10 homes used ENERGY STAR-qualified appliances, the impact could be compared to planting 1.7 million new acres of trees. And, switching to these appliances is not only good for the environment, but easy on your pocketbook. Although these appliances may costs more, you can reduce your energy bill by $80 per year.

Seal Up

Cracks and air leaks represent cash seeping from your doors and windows. Get rid of air leaks in doors, windows and other areas by caulking gaps and cracks. This will help decrease your heating and air conditioning bill. But make sure you use silicone sealants. Acrylic caulk tends to shrink, while silicone sealants are waterproof and won’t shrink or crack, creating less waste.

Use Less Water

Did you know that roughly 60 percent of a home's water consumption takes place in the bathroom, according to the California Urban Water Conservation Council? The largest culprit is the toilet, which accounts for 27 percent of your household supply every year. By installing low-flow toilets, showerheads and faucets, you can save thousands of gallons of water each year. In addition, replace leaky fixtures. That slow-dripping faucet can waste as much as 2,400 gallons of water per year.

Adjust the Thermostat

When adjusting your home’s thermostat, the rule of thumb should be: turn up the dial in the summer and down in the winter. Lowering the temperature by just one degree will reduce your electrical costs. And if you use a programmable thermostat, you can program your air-conditioning and heating systems to reduce output while no one is at home or at night while you sleep. Ceiling fans are also helpful in circulating the air to keep the room cool in the summer and warm in the winter.

Going green doesn’t have to be overwhelming or costly. By making just a few small changes within your home, you can help decrease energy consumption and help make the world a “greener” place.

Green again: smart strips

Subscriber The Distant Librarian forwarded this post on a way to fight those phantom devices referenced last week in Living Green in 2008.

Long story short: We had some new carpet put in our rec-room/TV-room downstairs. When I put the room back together, I took the opportunity to upgrade the powerstrip that my "home theater" is plugged into to an Energy Saving Smart Strip.

No, I'm decidedly not a Captain Insaneo Audio/Videophile (I have enough friends that meet that description when wanting a raucous home theater experience), so the Smart Strip meets my relatively basic needs.

I plugged the TV power cord into the blue, or "control" outlet, and plugged the cable box into one of the "always on" outlets (I don't want the box to reboot every time I want to watch the TV).

The rest of the components and gaming devices I plugged into the "auto-switching" outlets so they are fully off (no standby mode!) when the TV is off and they switch to standby mode on when I switch the TV on.

I haven't yet plugged a Kill-a-Watt into my components and TV to determine how much power I'm saving by not having them in standby all the time, but I suspect I'll recoup my roughly $40 investment within a year.

Check out all the Smart Strips on Amazon.com if you're interested.

~AmazonGreen Scene

Living green in 2008

Simple steps to reduce environmental footprint at home

As new year’s resolutions go, living green and saving green have rapidly moved up the list. Americans are resolving to be more environmentally responsible in 2008 and national home builders are keeping pace, designing houses that are energy-conscious from the ground up.

Insulation, properly sized HVAC systems, low-e windows, radiant barriers and fiberglass doors help to reducing a home’s environmental footprint, but you ultimately have the greatest impact. There are a number of ways to reduce a home’s energy consumption, most of which are relatively painless for homeowners.

Here are some tips to help you keep you green your home:

Unplug it. On average, 75 percent of the electricity used to power home electronics is consumed in “phantom loads” while the products are switched off. Avoid losing electricity to phantom loads by unplugging items like home entertainment system components, charges, hair dryers and small kitchen appliances when not in use.

Light the way. Compact fluorescent light bulbs use up to 75 percent less energy and last up to 10 times longer than incandescent light bulbs. Replacing a 60-watt incandescent with a 13-watt CFL can save you at least $30 in energy costs over the life of the bulb. It's one of the easiest ways you can save electricity and money.

And manufacturers, including GE, have recently begun to make CFLs to pair with dimmer switches — good news for those who like the ambiance of controlled lighting and bonus of saving energy.

Keep your cool. Heating and cooling typically consumes more energy than any other system in the home, but a few small changes can add up to big savings. Start by installing a programmable thermostat and set it to 68 degrees F in the winter and 78 degrees F in the summer. Program the thermostat to adjust the house temperature at bedtime or when no one is home. Change filters regularly and keep air vents and registers clean and clear of furniture, rugs or drapes.

Kitchen savings. To save energy and water, run only full loads in the dishwasher and, whenever possible, let the dishes air dry. Before placing leftovers in the refrigerator, let the food cool. Putting hot food in the refrigerator raises the temperature of the refrigerated air, forcing the appliance to work harder.

Laundry lessons. Washers and dryers have their own ways to maximize efficiency. When doing laundry, wash full loads in cold water and clean the dryer filter after every load to improve air circulation. Use the cool down cycle to allow clothes to finish drying with the residual heat in the dryer.

Nurture nature. Landscaping can help lower a home’s energy use by serving as a windbreak or sun shade. Planting deciduous trees — ones that shed their leaves annually — near windows provides shade in summer, keeping the house cool. In the winter months, the bare trees allow sunlight to shine through the windows, providing a natural source of home heating.