9 Ways To Reduce Energy Use

In western North Carolina, the weather has changed a lot in the last week. We went from hot, summer-like days to don't-forget-your-jacket weather ... seemingly overnight. At a community event over the weekend, some of my neighbors and I were discussing electricity bills and ways to lower them. We shared ideas so ... I thought I might share them with you, too. Here they are:

1. If you have an electric water heater, turn it off. As convenient as it is to have hot water ready when you want it, keeping it hot takes a lot of energy. So, to really cut usage ... beyond turning the temperature down and insulating the tank (which are both effective tools) ... try turning it off. If your water tank doesn't have an on/off switch, turn it off at the circuit box. Then, experiment with how long to keep it on to suit your needs. Keep in mind that it isn't necessary to wash your clothing or your dishes in hot water. We've found that approximately one hour a day, close to when we'll need it, is plenty for our household of two people. One note ... this is for electric water heaters only ... if you have a gas water heater, turn the thermostat down, but don't turn it off.
   
   
2. Turn off the furnace whenever possible and when it's on, keep the thermostat set low. Put on an extra shirt or two. Use blankets while watching TV in the evening. Make use of the tips we shared in 24 Tips for Fall. Get some exercise ... yep, exercise will warm you up.
   
   
3. Do you have rooms which you aren't using? No sense warming them along with the rest of the house. So, close the vents in those rooms and shut the door ... you'll save the cost, and energy, of heating it up.
   
   
4. Use counter top appliances rather than the stove and oven. Items like a toaster oven, crock pot or electric skillet will save a bundle on electricity bills. If you choose to use the oven, turn it off 5 minutes before the dish is done ... there will be enough heat inside to finish cooking your food. And once the dish is removed, leave the oven door open to make use of the heat in the room.
   
   
5. When doing laundry, plan it out so that as soon as one load is finished in the dryer, the next load is ready to go ... this will keep your dryer from cooling down which will shorten the amount of time necessary to dry the next load. And always do full loads ... partial loads are energy hogs.
   
   
6. Open your curtains during the day and close them at night. During the day when the sun shines in, make use of the heat. At night when it gets cool, insulate the room by closing them.
   
   
7. Unplug it when it's not in use. This applies to almost every electrical device in your home. There are some exceptions ... for example, one shouldn't turn off the refrigerator. But TVs, computers, coffee makers, etc. don't need to be plugged in ... especially the ones which have clocks and/or timers ... or anything which has a stand-by light on when the device is turned off. These "phantom" devices use a lot of energy. To make "unplugging" easy, use a power strip ... one click turns all the devices plugged into it off.
   
   
8. Close the windows and doors. This one may seem obvious but there are many people who choose to leave a window open at all times and then compensate by turning the heat up. If having a window open is important, turn the heat off and bundle up.
   
   
9. Do you get chilly while sleeping? Rather than using electric blankets, try using flannel sheets and extra blankets ... you'll get that warm coziness without using electricity.

Now it's your turn ... what are your favorite energy saving ideas for the cool days of fall and winter?

Need a little more incentive to cut energy use? How about this ... since we employed the energy saving methods described above, we've cut our bill by 50%. I don't know about you, but I can think of a lot of ways to use the money we save.

As always ... I would love to hear from you!

Reduce, Reuse and Recycle - Part 3

Here it is ... the post you've been waiting for. This is the final post in our three part series on the 3Rs (Reduce, Reuse and Recycle). If you missed the first two "episodes" ... or if you'd just like to revisit these articles ... click on the following links:

Part 1 (Reduce)

Part 2 (Reuse)

OK ... so ... now that we have reduced our consumption of everything and have reused what we do have, what's next? Recycle! This is the part of the process that we're probably the most familiar with. Since I've talked a lot, in other articles, about the "why" of our efforts ... I'm not going to discuss it this time ... I'm mostly going to talk about just doing it.

Many communities in our country encourage recycling and have made it relatively easy for us to do so. Some cities offer curb side pickup ... homeowners, or those living in homes, can set out their sorted recyclables and they are hauled away to become new products. Some areas don't even ask that the recyclables be sorted ... they do it for you. For those that don't have curb side pickup, there may be a recycling center close by. Check with your City Hall or waste management company to find out what your recycling options are ... as well as information on what can be recycled.

As I've mentioned before, I live in an apartment. We have a recycle bin for cardboard but nothing else. Our recyclables must be hauled to one of the centers in our city. While I've wanted to recycle and do my part, the truth is that I've found it difficult to accomplish in a small space. There's the space required for containers ... there's the potential smell ... there's driving to a center ... simply put, there's the EFFORT. But how can I write a blog about being kinder to the environment and not do everything that I can possibly do to reduce my footprint? Good question! So, I made up my mind to find a way to accomplish this task without making myself crazy. You know the old saying ... "where there's a will, there's a way". We began to look around for a space that would be convenient and ... out of sight (one of my personal criteria). With a little rearranging, we were able to put recycle containers in our laundry room. We have room for two containers ... not enough to sort out everything but we can toss everything into those two containers and do the sorting at the recycle center. We've also converted the garbage can in our office to a paper-only can. When our containers are full, we load them into the car and head out to the center. Once there, we each grab a container and start sorting and tossing. We have fun with it ... seeing who is the best "tosser" ... who is the fastest. And in the end ... we've not only had fun with the task, we leave feeling pretty good about our efforts.

Here are a few helpful hints to make recycling successful:

• Rinse out plastic, glass and metal containers so that there is no smell (nothing will end your recycling efforts faster than smelly containers in your home).
• Place your containers somewhere convenient ... usually close to the kitchen. Make it as easy as possible to toss things into them.
• Remove paper labels from containers ... this helps companies use the materials.

So give it a try. I suggest starting out with the easy stuff ... paper, plastic, metal and glass. If you're not sure about what can be recycled, just check the Internet ... there are all kinds of sites with helpful information.

I can now proudly say that I reduce, reuse ... and recycle.

As always, I'd love to hear from you. Let me know what you think of this site ... what suggestions you might have for improving it ... and any ideas that you have for reducing our footprint on the earth.

Junk Mail, Catalogs and Phone Books ... Oh My!

Last year, in an effort to reduce the amount of paper in the world, I started a campaign to eliminate junk mail and catalogs from my mailbox and discontinue the delivery of phone books to my home. While I did enjoy, to some extent, browsing through those advertisements ... and while the phone books actually worked great as door stops ... I really didn't need them. And I got to thinking ... if everyone was receiving the quantity that I was receiving ... and eventually sending it all to the landfill ... well, that's a lot of trees being cut down (for nothing) and a lot of waste. So ... it had to end.

Initially it took a little effort ... even when I signed up for a "do not mail" or "opt out" service, I still got stuff ... unwanted stuff. So, when the stuff appeared, I found out who was sending it, called them, and politely asked them to stop sending it to me. Usually people were glad to do it ... and when they were hesitant, I explained that I would be happy to receive emails from them but didn't want to waste paper and hurt the environment (they were more agreeable to my request when they learned it wasn't anything "personal" and when I gave them an alternate way to "stay connected"). If you'd like to read about my initial efforts, you can do so here:

Junk Mail
Phone Books

Today, about a year later, my mailbox is free of clutter and my doorstep hasn't been graced with a stack of phone books in months. Yay! More importantly, paper has been reduced, trees have been saved and the landfill hasn't been filled with paper from my house. Imagine if every home in America ... or the world ... could say the same. Wow!

Here are some proven methods for eliminating junk mail, catalogs and phone books:

• DirectMail.com. These are the people who send out advertising. Their philosophy is that it is expensive to send fliers, mail, etc. to people who aren't interested so they can save money by not wasting their efforts.
  

• Catalog Choice. I really like this site. When a catalog arrives, I log into this site, search for the catalog and opt out of receiving it. That's it ... real easy. As with the direct mail advertisers, many companies don't want to spend money sending out catalogs to people who don't want them. So Catalog Choice works with companies to easily offer an opt-out service. If a catalog or particular company isn't listed on their site, one can request that a catalog be included and the administrators of the site will contact the company and work with them to offer this service. Brilliant!

• Opt Out Prescreen. Did you know: Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), the Consumer Credit Reporting Companies are permitted to include your name on lists used by creditors or insurers to make firm offers of credit or insurance that are not initiated by you. That's why mailboxes fill up with those pesky "You are Pre-Approved" offers and why every insurance company in the world seems to think that you need their coverage. This site allows you to opt out of those kinds of offers.

• Yellow Page Goes Green. The purpose of this site is to get your name and mailing address off the delivery list. This is the site that I've had the least success with ... many phone books are just bundled up and dropped at the door. Also, there are a bunch of companies who print and deliver "phone books" in my area ... and not all of them are covered by this site. By all means, sign up on this site ... it will eliminate some books. Beyond that, whenever a book is delivered, check it for the providers name and phone number and then call them ... they'll take you off the list. Calling has worked the best for me ... I no longer get phone books.

Here's a little bonus ... while the next site doesn't save a lot of paper, it does reduce the stress of having to deal with telemarketers:

• National Do Not Call Registry. When you sign up on this site, you'll be amazed at how many telemarketer calls will be eliminated. If one should get through, ask them to place your number on the "Do Not Call" list ... which, by the way, is different from asking them to take you off their call list (which won't accomplish anything).

So ... visit a few sites, make a few calls ... eliminate paper waste. It's a good thing!

As always, I would love to hear from you!

Comments of Note

This month's comments were wonderful ... readers offered pertinent thoughts and ideas. In fact, the comments were so good that it was a challenge to keep the list down to ten for publication here. I'd like to say "thank you" to everyone who took the time to write!

Okay ... here we go:


From Let's get started ...

MRoth said...

Hooray! It's such a great idea to shut everything down off a power strip when it's not needed - especially kitchen appliances. Phantom loads can really take a toll on energy consumption...

I try to keep everything in the apartment hooked to a power strip. This makes it especially easy to flip it off during hours of non-use.

Alternatively, in a place like the bathroom where there is only one tiny plug, sometimes it's better NOT to have a power strip...this keeps me from plugging in anything that isn't immediately needed.

Thanks for the amazing blog! You're making green living so accessible!

-Megan

From I can see the light (a recycled article) ...

Dafthermit said...

Hi Sf

just a wee visit to say good morning

as for lights as you know i live on a bus and we use the solar lights most people use to light the garden up with and apart from the odd candle our lighting is free music to an old dafthermit

all the best from the highlands and thanks for popping over to my blogs


Andy & Mel x

From Splish Splash I was taking a bath (a recycled article) ...

Hans said...

Saving water is one of the things I really learned when living in Australia. Taking short showers and having water in the fridge are my favourites. And then of course never pour water down the zink. It can always be used for something - watering a plant for example.

Great blog!

From Mmm ... Mmm ... Good (a recycled article) ...

Yanic said...

Wonderful post! I try to make as much as possible from scratch all the time. It's my slight OCD : The lack of control in what goes into my food gets the better of me.

The great thing about freezing in small quantities is that there is no waste.

One of my favorite ways to use home made stock is when cooking rice. Instead of buying all those artificially flavored rices, you can create your own!

Another great way to make tons of it without breaking the bank is to go to your local farmer's market and buy (for a fraction of the price) veggies that have gotten bruised or wilted. They will gladly sell them for pennies and you have all the stock making materials you need!

Chourou said...

Hi,SF. Your posting this time reminds me of the way of taking broth(bouillon in French) which has been traditional and popular in Japan. It is very simple. All you have to do is that you pick up Konbu, or kelp, a sort of seaweeds, and put it into a pan filled with water and leave it. After a day, you put aside the water of the pan and keep in a bottle or whatever. When you cook miso soup, you can use this liquid as a very good basis. We call this liquid “dashi”.

Anyway, your suggestion this time is wonderful. Thank you for sharing your eco-friendly tips again!

GreenWorks said...

Great post and homemade stock is much better than the bought stuff.

On a similar note vegetables left over from a meal added to stock and blitzed to puree makes a tasty and easy meal for the next evening.

From It's a Balancing Act (a recycled article with new comments) ...

Yanic said...

I completely agree. One of the main reasons why I started my own blog was to inspire to take steps towards a greener life and that every little one of those steps count for something. If everyone would take a few steps, then the world would be a much better place. I think the problem is right now that we are at a cross-roads and the ones that are putting forth the effort feel like they have to make up for the ones that don't. Hopefully, that will soon not be such a reality.

Ways I reduce, reuse and recycle...

Recycle : Everything I possibly can! So that point is mute. Although we did build our first compost bin this year so all our compostables will soon be recycled into yummy fertilizer!

Reduce : Between the recycling and the compost bin, we have recently realized that a box of 36 biodegrable trash bags (21 in. X 26 in.) lasts us over 9 months! That is about 1 bag a week and we could not be more pleased!

Reuse : LOL! They call me the garbage lady at work! I bring all my lunch in reused yogourt containers and Mason jars.

Great tip : Reuse all your glas jars for storage! I keep all my discarded pasta sauce, condiment jars, glass bottles to store my grains, pastas, dried goods, spices, maple si=yrup, honey... They are wonderful because they fit very thightly on a shelf, are transparent and stackable!

Nana Net said...

Guilt comes in some many ways, shape, and so on. Still though I agree we all must do our part to help save this world of ours!
As for me I try to do as much as I can. Mostly by trying to becoming more aware of what I am doing wrong! Some examples that I have tried to help in saving our planet is by recycling.
That I reuse the butter containers that the butter comes in. As well as all other plastic containers that I am able to. Especially after a good washing of them first!
Another way is that I try to do large loads of laundry instead of small loads. That way I only have to do less instead of more. If that makes sense to you all. To me it saves on the amount of laundry detergent I have to use! Plus I hang my clothes out on the clothes line instead of using the clothes dryer. Nothing like fresh air to dry your clothes!
I also wash my dishes by hand and let them air dry too. I really do not like having a dishwasher.
Oh well, another thing that comes to mind is that I love watching HGTV. Now that is where I do get alot of neat ides from on "Going Green" too. Still though your blog helps me by far the most!!!!
Have a blessed day.

From A Quick Tip (a recycled article) ...

Mysticle said...

What a great idea, that I had never thought of before. Stumbled!

In our home, we reuse water bottles and plastic bags. Take our green bags shopping. Always Always Recycle.

I like to reuse the cardboard sleeves from my local coffee shop ... just carry in my purse, no need for a new one every day.

TY, Mysticle

From Vacations ... The Eco Friendly Way ...

Mukund said...

Hey one more thing, carry a disposable bag of some sort in the back of your car to throw what you eat or drink (cans, chips wrappers etc.), just in case there are no dustbins around...
I don't about the world outside but lack of dustbins is a major problem in India...
Great to have you back small... :)

May I offer a suggestion? If you have a bit of time and would like to investigate some new sites, click on one of the people listed above ... not only have they left meaningful comments here, they write brilliant blogs.

As always ... I'd love to hear from you!

A Quick Tip ... (a recycled article)

The less you use (of everything) equals less that needs to be produced … and that reduces our footprint on the earth.

With that in mind, here’s a great tip, compliments of Chef Paul Prudhomme. Instead of pouring cooking oil into the pan before adding the other food (vegetables, meat, etc.), drizzle a little oil on the food itself, mix it up, then toss it into a dry pan. You’ll still get the benefits and flavor of the oil but you’ll use a lot less. And hey … not only will you be saving the earth; you’ll get fewer calories in your food. Thanks, Chef Paul.

As always, I would love to hear your ideas for reducing, reusing and recycling. Just click on the comments link, located at the bottom of each post, and let me know what you think and how you conserve. Maybe you'll see your ideas in an upcoming post.

It's a Balancing Act ... (a recycled article with new comments)

Since beginning this blog, I have received many emails saying "I've been bad" ... the author then goes on to talk about his/her guilt at not living up to an Eco-friendly lifestyle. I cringe when I get these emails because I really don't want anyone to feel guilty ... it isn't a productive emotion. Rather, I'd like to encourage awareness and offer so many ideas for living green that everyone will find something which they can do. My belief is that every effort, big or small, counts ... and a small effort today may lead to bigger efforts tomorrow. Looking back through my archive of posts ... I thought this one spoke to that concept:


In my opinion, conservation has to be balanced with our lives. In other words, I’m not going to live in total darkness or never use an electrical appliance just to ensure that I don’t use any electricity … but I am going to pay attention, cut down where I can and make what I use count.

Exhaust fans, especially in the bathroom, are a perfect example. In the winter, where I live, the air gets dry … the “hurt your nose when you breathe” kind of dry. So, I don’t use the exhaust fan when I take a shower and I leave the door open so that our living space benefits from the added moisture. In the summer, however, we get warm, moist air from the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico. We get enough humidity, in fact, that if we don’t use exhaust fans and ceiling fans, mold and mildew move right in. And that's not healthy.

When considering the various conservation options, remember to choose the ones that work in your life. Perhaps modify energy saving techniques so that they work for you. In that way, you'll make lasting changes to the world we live in. It's all about balance.

As always, I would love to hear your ideas for reducing, reusing and recycling. Just click on the comments link, located at the bottom of each post, and let me know what you think and how you conserve. Maybe you'll see your ideas in an upcoming post.

Splish Splash I Was Taking A Bath ... (a recycled article)

These days, soaking in a full tub of water is a thing of the past. With most of us living in an area which is suffering from drought, water has become a precious, and expensive, commodity. Recently, the management in our apartment complex notified us that we will soon be paying for the water we use. A friend of mine wrote that her water comes from a well ... and it's been going dry. So water is a hot topic, with everyone looking for ways to reduce usage. Here are a few ideas:

Install aerators with flow restrictors on all your faucets. Make sure that any leaky faucets and/or toilets are fixed.

In the kitchen: run the dishwasher only when there is a full load. In my house, I would run out of dishes before I had a full load so we hand wash them. I’m careful to use minimal water … just enough to wet my sponge and scrub everything down and then, just enough water (at a slow drizzle) to rinse them. We don’t use the garbage disposal … it uses a ton of water. A better option is to compost, if you can, reuse, recycle and then … toss it out.

In the laundry room: do laundry only when there is a full load. Forget about doing small loads. Even if you can adjust the water level … try not to do it. It may not waste a lot of water but it does waste energy. So fill that tub up!

In the bathroom: turn off the water when brushing your teeth and turn it on for rinsing only. Better yet, use a glass of water … it works when we’re camping. When showering, turn the water off between soaping up and rinsing off. I put the plug in the tub before my shower … the accumulated water helps in soaping and scrubbing. I’ve also recently heard that putting a bucket in the shower captures some of the water and then can be used for watering plants. This next one works but … I’ll warn you … it’s a delicate subject and some might find it “gross”. If the only thing in the toilet is urine, don’t flush it every time. Enough said!

Outside: Use a hose with a nozzle to water plants and the lawn … it uses far less than a sprinkler and it’s good for you (reduces stress, gives you a little exercise and you'll commute with nature). If you have an automatic sprinkler system, set it to run at night or early morning and only for a few minutes. Instead of using a hose to wash off your deck, patio or driveway, use a broom … you’ll get some exercise while you save the planet. Try one of the new waterless car wash soaps. If you need to wash it with water, park your car on the lawn so the runoff helps the grass (use eco-friendly soap, of course). If those ideas don’t work and you absolutely have to wash your car with water on the driveway, make sure the hose has a nozzle and turn off the water between washing and rinsing.

Houseplants: use a moisture sensor and only water plants when they really need it.

And here’s one that, if I had a house, I would use: there are inexpensive systems out there that capture rain water. They are basically a garbage can which hooks into your home’s gutter system. It rains, the water runs into the can instead of the ground, and you have water for watering gardens, washing cars, etc. Brilliant, don’t you think? For a "how to" site, click here.

I believe that conserving water is, to a great extent, simply paying attention and thinking before letting the water run down the drain. For more great ideas on conserving water, here are a couple of good web sites:

50 easy ways to save water

25 ways to save water at home

As always, I would love to hear your ideas for reducing, reusing and recycling. Just click on the comments link, located at the bottom of each post, and let me know what you think and how you conserve. Maybe you'll see your ideas in an upcoming post.

This idea is full of holes ...

As people who love the earth, we try to reduce our use of everything. Whenever possible, we try to use electronic versions of documents rather than print them out. If printing a document is required, we use recycled paper and print on both the front and back. In terms of the printed page, I thought that was about all we could do. But ... I was wrong!

I recently learned about something fabulous. It is simple, easy to use, and saves ink. Yes, ink.

Introducing the Ecofont.

The Ecofont is developed by SPRANQ, a creative communications company located in Utrecht, The Netherlands. Basically, it's a font full of holes:



Tiny little holes run through each letter, reducing the amount of ink required by up to 20%. And ... the best news ... the Ecofont is free to download and free to use.

I've downloaded the font and tried it out ... it looks great and the "holes" don't compromise the print quality when using a standard font size (in my case ... font size 12). At larger sizes, the holes do become visible. But, imagine the savings if every standard letter ... every standard document ... most of our printing ... was done using 20% less ink. We'd use less ink, save money ... and walk a little gentler on the earth.

So ... today's green living tip is easy ... click over to Ecofont and download it. Then, whenever it becomes necessary to print something out ... use it instead of other, standard fonts.

Wow ... wasn't that fabulous?


Before you go, I'd like to ask a favor ... I've entered Reduce Footprints into a contest. Basically, the blog with the most votes at the end of the month wins. So, if you like this site ... I'd really appreciate your vote. Just click on the following picture which will take you to the "voting booth" ... and thanks:




As always ... I would love to hear from you!

It's the small things that count ...

There is a wonderful green site called "Our Green Year". On day 295 of the authors' green journey, they gave up bubble gum. Yep ... bubble gum. They explained that the ingredients probably weren't fair trade, organic, healthy or Eco-friendly and that the packaging was ... well ... over the top. Bubble gum is waste with a capital "W".


That got me thinking about all the small packages that we come across ... those tiny packets of sugar, salt, pepper, ketchup, mustard, seeds, tea, tissue, sewing materials, etc., etc.


Remember when restaurants put a container of sugar on the table for patrons to use at their discretion? Many restaurants now use a container of various sweetener packets ... each individual packet holding a pre-measured amount of sweetener.


How about fast food restaurants? When you want some ketchup with those fries, you'll probably be given little, individual ... yep, you guessed it ... packets.

It doesn't end with restaurants. There are many stores that promote buying items in large quantities to save money. The basic concept of buying in bulk is great ... unless those items are individually wrapped, then wrapped together, then boxed or covered with plastic.


For example ... go to one of the warehouse type stores (I won't mention them here) and you're sure to find toilet paper with each roll individually wrapped or a few rolls wrapped together and then put in a huge plastic bag together with other "groups" of wrapped up rolls. It's a lot of waste and turns "buying in bulk" into mere "bulk".




So, today's tip is easy. Pay close attention to the items you buy and the things you use. If the item comes in small packets, see if there is a different option. For example, instead of buying spices in individual, one meal packets ... buy large containers of the mix or ... make your own (there are recipes for almost every spice blend on the Internet).






If you have a choice at a restaurant, choose the sugar, salt, etc., that comes in a container rather than a packet.

Are you taking fast food home? Use the ketchup you have at home instead of the small packets.






Put together your own sewing kit instead of buying those small, match-book kits.

Good things may come in small packages ... but they are just as good in bulk ... and there is a lot less waste. It's a small thing ... but it counts!

As always ... I would love to hear from you.

Merry Green Christmas, Everyone!