Ok, so life got a little crazy and I failed to make good on my promise for two more tips on how to be more green. As a reward, I'll offer a bonus...or as marketers would say "10% more FREE"...
tip #9 Get a home water-filtering system or drink tap water.
I know, I know... it tastes funny. But if you think about how many trips to the grocery store you would save by not buying water from the store, or filling up huge jugs of water. Again you would win twice- you're making fewer trips to the store as a result of being out of water, and you're lessening the amount of CO2 that you're putting into the air....not to mention that by purchasing a Brita or PUR system, you might actually save money in the long run- most filters cost between 15-20 bucks and can last between 2-4 months. And if you can make the transition back to tap water (most areas are safe...remember, bottled water has been a phenomenon in the past ten or so years, and we didn't die out before then.)
tip #10 Turn your water heater down and wash your clothes on cold or warm...not hot.
Lowering the temperature can save you money on your bills, as the heater uses less energy to maintain the temperature of your water. As for the laundry, washing clothes in cold or warm water limits the amount of hot water you're using, and again saves you money by not having to heat as much water up to replace the water used during the cycle. (Also, this can be helpful to families with young children- by keeping the water temperature lower, you reduce the chances that your child may scald themselves accidentally).
Bonus tip #11 Encourage others to be green- share these and other easy strategies with them.
Most people want to be more green, but don't know how, or think it's too hard...show them it's not. I know this isn't really a tip, but if you think about it, you can save a lot more energy if you convince others to do so than you ever could alone.
PS- I decided to practice what I preach and went out to buy the weird looking light bulbs. I'm curious to see if I notice a difference on my electricity bills. I'll update you in about a month.
3 comments:
I replaced my bathroom light with a swirly funny looking one today. I didn't think it would fit in the globe I had but I found some that looked smaller. I can tell it doesn't produce as much heat, and the color is a little different too. I still need to replace the bulbs in a couple lamps, but otherwise I'm all swirlyfied.
yeah, there's a noticeable difference in the color of the light, but either your eyes get used to it, or it's like flourescent lights in that it just takes them a few minutes to get warmed up...i bought a pack of six of those things and i'm trying to put them on the lights that i use the most...we'll see.
I'll be interested to see what the change on your bill is. I've often wondered how much good they do.
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