Reducing Impacts At Home Words
in blue have links to the source
Most emissions from homes are from the fossil fuels burned to generate electricity and heat. By using energy
more efficiently at home, you can reduce your emissions and lower your energy bills by more than 30%. Since agriculture is
responsible for about one fifth of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, you can reduce your emissions simply by watching
what you eat. Here are some action tips:
Replace a regular incandescent light bulb with a compact fluorescent light bulb (cfl). CFLs
use 60% less energy than a regular bulb. This simple switch will save about 300 pounds of carbon dioxide a year. If every
family in the U.S. made the switch, we'd reduce carbon dioxide by more than 90 billion pounds! You can purchase CFLs online
from the Energy Federation Follow
the safeguards on clean disposal since these do contain a small amount of mercury.
Move your thermostat down 2° in winter and up 2° in summer. Almost half of the
energy we use in our homes goes to heating and cooling. You could save about 2,000 pounds of carbon dioxide a year with this
simple adjustment. The American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy has
more tips for saving energy on heating and cooling.
Clean or replace filters on your furnace and air conditioner. Cleaning a dirty
air filter can save 350 pounds of carbon dioxide a year.
Install a programmable thermostat. Programmable thermostats will automatically
lower the heat or air conditioning at night and raise them again in the morning. They can save you $100 a year on your energy
bill. 
Choose energy efficient appliances when making new purchases. Look for the Energy
Star label on new appliances to choose the mostefficient models. If each household in the U.S. replaced its existing
appliances with the most efficient models available, we'd eliminate 175 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions every
year!
Wrap your water heater in an insulation blanket. You'll save 1,000 pounds of carbon
dioxide a year with this simple action. You can save another 550 pounds per year by setting the thermostat no higher than
120 degrees Fahrenheit.
Use less hot water. It takes a lot of energy to heat water. You can use less hot
water by installing a low flow showerhead (350 pounds of carbon dioxide saved per year) and washing your clothes in cold
or warm water (500 pounds saved per year) instead of hot.
Use a clothesline instead of a dryer whenever possible. You can save 700 pounds
of carbon dioxide when you air dry your clothes for 6 months out of the year.
Turn off electronic devices you're not using. Simply turning off your television,
DVD player, stereo, and computer when you're not using them will save you thousands of pounds of carbon dioxide a year.
Unplug electronics from the wall when you're not using them. Even when turned
off, things like hairdryers, cell phone chargers and televisions use energy. In fact, the energy used to keep display clocks
lit and memory chips working accounts for 5 percent of total domestic energy consumption and spews 18 million tons of carbon
into the atmosphere every year!
Only run your dishwasher when there's a full load and use the energy-saving setting. You
can save 100 pounds of carbon dioxide per year.
Save Water Printable
Water Saving Tips
Insulate and weatherize your home. Properly insulating your walls and ceilings
can save 25% of your home heating bill and 2,000 pounds of carbon dioxide a year. Caulking and weather-stripping can save
another 1,700 pounds per year. The Consumer Federation of America has
more information on how to better insulate your home.
Be sure you're recycling at home. You can save 2,400 pounds of carbon dioxide
a year by recycling half of the waste your household generates. Earth
911 can help you find recycling resources in your area.
Buy Products that are packaged in recyclable and environmental degradable materials. Look
at the packaging used on products before buying. Avoid those that can't be recycled or products that can actually be
a waste of money for what might otherwise be considered as a convenience. Example is bottled
water.
Buy recycled paper products. It takes less 70 to 90% less energy to make recycled
paper and it prevents the loss of forests worldwide.
Get a home energy audit. Many utilities offer free home energy audits to find
where your home is poorly insulated or energy inefficient. You can save up to 30% off your energy bill and 1,000 pounds of
carbon dioxide a year. Energy Star can help you find an energy specialist.
Switch to green power. You can purchase renewable energy from your local energy
provider. Find out what renewable energy programs your local energy provider offers by clicking here.
Or install renewable energy products, like wind generation and solar water heating in your own home.
Buy locally grown and produced foods. The average meal in the United States travels
1,200 miles from the farm to your plate. Buying locally will save fuel and keep money in your community.
Buy fresh foods instead of frozen. Frozen food uses 10 times more energy to produce.
Seek out and support local farmers markets. They reduce the amount of energy required
to grow and transport the food to you by onefifth. You can find a farmer's market in your area at the USDA
website.
Buy organic foods as much as possible. Organic soils capture and store carbon
dioxide at much higher levels than soils from conventional farms. If we grew all of our corn and soybeans organically, we'd
remove 580 billion pounds of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere!
Avoid heavily packaged products. You can save 1,200 pounds of carbon dioxide if
you cut down your garbage by 10%.
Eat less meat. Methane is the second most significant greenhouse gas and cows
are one of the greatest methane emitters. Their grassy diet and multiple stomachs cause them to produce methane, which they
exhale with every breath. |
