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How to Go Green, Quickly and Easily

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Climate change is on everyone’s minds, especially after the recent climate disaster Hurricane Sandy. To combat climate change, people are going green, using greener energy, and all the while saving money. This article will help you go green quickly, simply and easily. You will see the savings in energy on your bills, since you will be using less energy. Work on an energy-saving tip at a time, and pretty soon you will be saving money and also will be energy efficient.

Light bulbs are a major residential energy drain. According to the US Energy Information Administration, in 2007, incandescent light bulbs were responsible for 15.6 percent of American energy usage. Since compact fluorescent [CFL] bulbs use seventy-five percent less energy than incandescent bulbs, replacing light bulbs is an easy and quick way to reduce energy consumption. Another energy benefit is that CFL or LED lights last much longer than incandescent bulbs, often by a factor of twenty.

Energy Star appliances are rated by the EPA, and it makes it easy to compare energy drains. Typically, they save about a third on energy usage compared with the traditional appliance. Be on the look out for the Energy Star rating, and start saving energy today! According to the EPA, Americans save $18 billion each year just by using these energy efficient appliances. In addition, Energy Star appliances often qualify for tax incentives, which benefits all of us.

Each tree absorbs fifteen pounds of carbon annually. Each American generates about two tons of carbon dioxide each year, as a result of their energy usage. Every tree and every plant will help offset your carbon output [sometimes known as your carbon footprint]. You will go green and help the environment with each tree you plant.

A gallon of gasoline produces fourteen pounds of carbon when it is burned. Each time you slice a mile off your journey, you will be saving on carbon. There are a lot of ways to drive less: carpool, organize errands, take mass transit, buy a more efficient car and stay home. Your carbon footprint is visibly shrinking!

Another easy next step to go green and become more energy efficient: reduce and recycle. A pound of paper has four pounds of carbon. If you recycle the paper, you will be saving energy. Another benefit is that recycled paper is less expensive, and some charities use paper drives as a fund raiser. Help the Scouts and save energy at the same time.

Reduce your consumption of water in bottles, try it from the tap. America uses 50 million barrels of oil each year to make these bottles for water. Each time you don’t drink from a plastic bottle, you help save the environment! There is a time and place for bottled water, but save wherever or whenever you can.

You can go green, a step at a time. Start today, and concentrate on the easy yet fun ways to save the environment. You will vividly see results, and this will encourage you to be even more energy saving and energy conscious. Kermit the Frog was one who sang about ‘Being Green’, and that can be our motto: it IS easy being green!

Going Green Effectively in the Workplace

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A lot of people are aware of the ways to help the environment at home, but you can use some of the same secrets at work to help the environment even when you are not at home. When you are at work, use the tips in this article to make the environment a better place for everyone around you.

Talk to your employer about opportunities to be green in the workplace. Perhaps you can convert to copier paper that is all recycled, or perhaps you have some older light fixtures that still use incandescent bulbs, and you could replace them with the greener CFL bulbs. Instead of providing all of you with individual bottles of water, perhaps your company could opt for the large bottles of water that rest in a cooler, and you could bring your own containers to drink water each day. Using permanent bottles or glasses would cut dramatically down on the waste of bottles. Even if you recycle the plastic bottles after you drink from them, you are still using energy with each plastic bottle that is manufactured.

There are many different ways to cut down on the paper you use each day. Instead of printing out your email messages, move them from your inbox to specific folders, so that you can find them again easily without having to store the hard copies anywhere. If you are using documents for reference, open multiple windows on your monitor, and look back and forth between the document you need to use and the one you are making. If your monitor is large enough to accommodate this, this can save paper and make you more productive at the same time.

If your workers’ lounge has a refrigerator, you are making it work harder by bringing lunches that need cooling throughout the day. Instead, bring lunches that are not perishable and do not need to be stored in the fridge. This could consist of a sandwich with mustard instead of mayonnaise, some fruit, and some chips, for example. If you can do this, you’re reducing the workload of the refrigerator. Even if the fridge is still on all day, you’re doing your part to cut down on the power that it uses.

There are many more things that you can recycle at work besides the paper that you’ve used. If you drink sodas out of cans, you can recycle all of that aluminum. Plastic bottles, such as those that contain soda or water, are also recyclable as well. When you run out of ink in your printer cartridges, you can send those back to the manufacturer for recycling, or you can carry them to most local office supply stores, which will recycle them for you. All of this will combine to make your office a greener place.

If your energy efficiency goes up at work, you will find yourself more productive — and more content, because you are helping to save the world. These tips will help you turn your office into an enlargement of your “green” space at home.

Give your Kitchen a Green Makeover

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Each month, your house consumes a great deal of energy, and the kitchen is one of the biggest drains on your electrical grid. However, it doesn’t have to be that way. There are some simple changes you can make to your lifestyle in order to bring those bills down. Check out the tips in this article to get started with turning your kitchen into a “green” place.

Many of the appliances in your kitchen have their own dedicated circuit — you can see this if you check out the labels in your circuit box. Some of them may even have a dedicated double circuit. This means that these appliances are some of the biggest energy users in your home. You need things like an oven, a refrigerator and a dishwasher, though, so getting rid of them is not really an option. Instead, when you shop for appliances, look for the Energy Star label on the tags. This is an organization with stringent certification standards for appliances, and if the refrigerator that you are looking at has an Energy Star label, it will use energy much more efficiently than those that do not have it.

Kitchen flooring does not consume energy — except in the manufacturing process. Linoleum and tile are not renewable — and not natural. They are expensive to make and to buy, and the process also uses a great deal of energy. Instead of investing in these processes, look for natural flooring materials, such as bamboo or cork. These will not be as water-resistant, but they take a lot less energy to produce.

When you remodel your kitchen, look for light fixtures that have that Energy Star certification as well. Not all lines of fixtures receive it, so make sure that you talk to the home improvement professional about this when you are shopping. Choosing the CFL bulbs will also help you ensure that your lights are energy efficient. Open window blinds in your kitchen to allow more natural light to come in, so that you don’t have to turn on the lights for as much of the day. Every kilowatt-hour adds up.

You can use a similar procedure when choosing your counter tops that you did when you were choosing your flooring. Instead of choosing that marble or granite, or even that composite plastic, think about using a chipboard that has been stained or even some recycled tiles. This will give you a much “greener” vibe in your kitchen, and there are many older items out there that are coming back into vogue. You can end up with a look in your kitchen that will be the newest trend!

It’s also important to remember that your microwave cooks with much greater energy efficiency than your oven. When possible, nuke your food instead of waiting for that big box to get to 350 degrees.

When it’s remodeling time in the kitchen, making it “greener” will help the environment as well as the value of your home. You don’t have to spend more to do it, if you research in a smart way.