Information on how you can reduce your carbon
footprint.
All of the ideas listed
below come from this site: http://www.nativeenergy.com/more_you_can_do.html
Calculate your current
carbon footprint. How much do you
contribute to global warming?
http://www.climatecrisis.net/takeaction/carboncalculator/
Information for educators: http://www.participate.net/educators/
Electricity
Turn it off
Turning off lights, TVs, computers and stereos when not in use will reduce your
CO2 footprint and save you money. Think about it this way: if you
were going shopping for an hour would you leave your car running? Of course
not!! So why leave the lights or TV on when you leave a room or go out of the
house?
Unplug
Many appliances like TVs, DVD players, stereos and cell phone chargers use
electricity even when not in use. This is called Phantom draw and it can
account for up to 5% of your electric bill. You can stop it by directly
unplugging electronics or by plugging items into a surge protector/power strip
and turning the whole strip off when you leave a room.
Get rid of the
old fridge
If you have a fridge more than 10 yrs old it’s probably a vampire on your
wallet, sucking your money away and putting thousands of pounds of CO2
into the air each year. If you have a 20 year old fridge it might use 2000 kWh
annually costing you as much as $250 per year!!
A clean fridge
is…
An efficient fridge. The coils on the back of a fridge are used to transfer
heat from inside to outside, keeping your food inside cold. When the coils get
dirty the fridge has to work harder to keep your food cool. To keep you fridge
from breaking a sweat clean the coils every 6 months. All this takes is wiping
them down with a rag. As an added benefit from cleaning, your fridge will
probably make less noise because it doesn't work as hard when it's clean.
Hang it up
About 5% of all electricity used in US homes is used to dry clothes. Air dry
your clothes and save 5% on your electric bill.
Hot Water
Use cold-cold cycle
for laundry
There are detergents on the market that don’t need warm or hot water to get
your clothes clean. This will save you money and will keep CO2 out
of the air.
Shorter showers
This may be difficult but taking shorter, colder or fewer showers can save you
money on your energy bill. Water heating accounts for many lbs of CO2
per household annually, think of all the CO2 your can keep out of
the air.
Heating/ Cooling
Turn it up
Each degree you turn up your AC can save you a few percent on your energy bill,
keeping CO2 out of the air and dollars in your wallet.
Turn it down
In the winter turning down you heat a few degrees can save you a few percent on
you energy bill. Remember you can always add another layer if you feel a chill.
Driving and Transport (and not)
Don’t idle your car
An idling car gets exactly 0 miles per gallon. If you are going to be stopped
for more than 30 seconds turn it off. If you are getting out of the car at all,
turn it off!
Accelerate
gently
Hard acceleration just takes you to the gas station faster. Accelerate gently
and save cash and CO2.
Drive slower on
the highway
Think about how much more energy it takes to run than walk. Now think about how
much more energy (gas) your car uses going 70mph than it does at 55mph.
Drive less
Driving less is an obvious one, but there are a number of ways you can achieve
this goal:
Take public transit, get some exercise and ride a bike or walk, consolidate
trips, get the groceries and do other errands in the same trip. If you reduce
your mileage by 20 miles a week you can keep up to 1000 lbs of CO2
out of the air annually.
Ride Your Bike
Drive less and ride your bike. Check out groups like the Bicycle Friendly
Community Campaign for more information.
Share your
ride!
This one has been around for a while but it’s still a very effective way to
save money and keep CO2 out of the air.
Fly less
Flying is one of the most carbon intensive modes of transport. The average cross-country
round trip flight emits about 6000 lbs of global warming pollution. Short
flights are the worst, emitting more CO2 per mile traveled than
medium to longer flights. So when possible take a train or bus instead of
flying. Just think of all the security and TSA headaches you’ll avoid!
Waste
Buy
things with little packaging
Packaging is just a waste. What you really want is the thing inside. More
packaging results in more weight, requiring more energy to get it to you. And
then there is the waste. Landfills can release large amounts of methane,
powerful greenhouse gas, so reducing trash also helps to fight global warming.
Buy locally
Shipping food long distances uses lots of fuel. Why buy apples from some exotic
location when you have local apples in season? Buying local supports local
farmers and reduces the CO2 emissions from food transport.
Recycle (and
compost if possible)
It may sound cliché but it works! Recycling saves resources and CO2
in a few ways. Many materials like aluminum and steel take lots of energy to
dig ores out of the ground and refine. Recycling these materials saves huge
amounts of energy, keeping huge amounts of CO2 out of the air.
Composting keeps waste out of landfills where it can break down into methane, a
powerful greenhouse gas.
Low cost investments
CFLs
Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs (CFLs) are a more efficient way of lighting
your home. They are more expensive than traditional incandescent bulbs but
because they are so efficient they will save you money over their lives.
Traditional lighting accounts for a large portion of household electricity use,
but CFLs can reduce this by up to 75%, saving you an average of 7.5% on your
electricity bill. Some people report savings of up to 20% on their electric
bills.
Wrap it up!
Wrap your water heater. Imagine standing outside without clothes on in 50
degree weather. This is what your water heater is feeling every day without a
blanket. Wrap it up!! For just a few dollars you can wrap your water heater in
an energy saving heat blanket, saving cash and keeping CO2 out of
the air.
Low flow shower
heads
Switching out old shower heads for new low flow models can drastically reduce
your water heating bill, and keep thousands of lbs. of CO2 out of
the air each year.
Programmable
thermostat
Think of this as your own personal energy-saving servant for your furnace or
AC.
You can set it to turn down/up the temperature in your home when you aren’t
around and to automatically bring the temperature back up/down just before you
come home. It responds to your every beck and call throughout the day and many
even allow you to set different temperatures and times for each day of the week.
These things are cool and easy to install, so get one today and start saving CO2
and $$.
Keep
your system maintained!
You’ve probably had the air filter in your car changed at some point, well how
about the air filter in your AC unit?? And that furnace, has it been tuned up
recently?
Keeping your heating and AC system maintained helps it to be more efficient,
reducing fuel costs.
Seal
up those drafty windows and doors.
You wouldn’t leave a door open in the middle of the winter right? Well take a
look under your door. If you can see through to the outside, picture dollar
bills blowing through. Plug up those leaks! Use caulking for leaky windows and
get a door “sweep” to keep the heat in your house and CO2 out of the
atmosphere.
Transportation
Keep your auto tuned up and the tires properly inflated. Don’t leave that junk
in the truck either. All that extra weight is killing your gas mileage, so
leave those cinder blocks at home where they belong.
Long Term Thinking
Size it right
The most important component in reducing your long term energy use is sizing
what you buy to match what you need. Behind every long term decision to
purchase anything should be a conscious decision to size it right, not too big
not to small, but just right!
Housing
Are you planning to purchase a new house, or to move into a new apartment?
Think about how much space you actually need. We aren’t saying you need to live
in a cave but you should carefully consider how much space you really need. If
you buy something bigger than what you need not only are materials being poorly
utilized in the construction, but you will be committing yourself to larger
energy bills each year. Larger buildings no matter how efficient take more
energy to heat, cool and light and that means more CO2 emitted from
your home.
Building /
Renovating a home?
Choose an architect who has experience designing green buildings. This does not
mean sacrificing comfort. In fact today the most energy efficient homes
use 75% less energy than the average home, saving you big bucks. Think about
building to LEED standards. Just remember its always easiest to design efficiency
in from the beginning than to add it later. Investigate solar thermal,
photovoltaic and small scale wind. They might make sense for, but in any case
you’ll come away with an education in renewable energy sources. A solar system
might not be too expensive if you’ve already cut you energy use by 75%!
Buy the most
efficient appliances you can get
When you plan to purchase new appliances always buy energy star qualified
products. But don’t just settle for Energy Star – pick the model that uses the
least amount of energy possible. If you don’t need a full sized
refrigerator don’t buy one.
Your car
This might be obvious, but it is important because driving causes so much CO2
pollution. When choosing a car decide how big a vehicle you need then try to
pick the most fuel efficient model in that class. Think about a hybrid but
don’t buy a hybrid as an excuse for purchasing a larger vehicle than you need.
When given a choice in engine size go with the smaller more efficient model.
You’ll save money upfront and at the gas pump week after week.
Get a
professional energy audit
While there are lots of easy things you can do around the house yourself, a
professional energy audit is still a good idea. Many professional energy
auditors report that their customers save up to 30% on their energy bills.
Where you
living is important
Deciding to where to live is obviously a personal decision, but please keep the
climate in mind. Choosing to live in an area where you can walk to work,
schools and the grocery store can save you hundreds in gas bills per year and
keep tons of CO2 out of the air. You might even find that you don’t
need a car at all, saving you thousands of dollars.
Plant trees!
If you are really in it for the long term think about planting trees, shrubs
and bushes around your home. If you live in North America planting trees on the
northern side of building can help to reduce heating costs. Trees that provide
shade in the summer can also reduce cooling costs. In addition to the energy
benefits trees can provide they remove CO2 from the atmosphere as
they grow. Over their lives trees can sequester large amounts of carbon in the
ground and in their biomass, however when trees die much of this sequestered
carbon is re-released into the air.