Green tips from our house to yours
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By Paula Cotton Global Warming is an indisputable reality. The most powerful players in the solution will surely be our scientists, businesses and government but there is definately a role for the rest of us to play. Cutting our carbon emissions as a community of people can make a small statistical difference. I believe it is our responsibility to try. What about Y-O-U? There is a plethora of information available on potential global warming solutions, both big and small. It can appear somewhat overwhelming at times. To simplify the message I would like to share with you my family’s green tips which we apply in our home on a daily basis. They are simple, practical and realistic. I’m sure many of you are doing them already and may have better ideas which I would love to hear about. Ideally we should all be making the following BIG changes in our households. Our household is not quite there yet! Maybe yours is. 1) Using renewable energy in the home such as solar power 2) Driving hybrid cars 3) Downsize to a smaller, space efficient, green design home 4) Using only energy saver appliances 5) Lobbying congress My smaller changes are as follows: 1) CARS – Making sure your vehicles are in great shape. Giving your engine a tune-up can improve gas mileage 4% or more. Replacing a clogged air filter can boost efficiency 10%. Keeping the tires properly inflated can improve gas mileage more than 3%. 2) LIGHT BULBS – As your light bulbs fail, replace them with compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs). The cost up to 5 times as much yet uses ¼ of the electricity and lasts many years longer. There is a catch however. Due to their mercury content DO NOT dispose of them in the garbage. They need to be recycled. 3) ELECTRONICS - 75% of all the electricity consumed in our homes is standby power used to keep electronics running when our TVs, DVRs, computers and stereos are “off”. We need to unplug them! Using power strips can make this exercise easier to manage. 4) LIGHTS – Remember to turn off the lights in rooms that are not being used. We are very strict about this in our house and our children have become very responsible about it. It just takes practice to form a good habit. 5) TEMPERATURE CONTROL – Use your AC sparingly. There are really only a few select weeks in the summer when the weather is unbearable. To control the summer heat we open all the windows at night and then close up the following morning by 9am. We also close the blinds and drapes at that time. And of course we use fans. That serves us well most days. If you must use an AC set it to 78 in the summer and 68 in the winter. Personally I like to wear a sweater and slippers in the winter and keep the heating off as much as possible. You can insulate your home better by caulking and weather-stripping all your doors and windows and putting insulation in the walls and ceilings. 6) WASHER/DRYER – Set your washer to the cold wash cycle. It works perfectly well for most clothes. Use a mixture of line drying in the summer and tumble drying at other times. So many families dry their swimming towels in the dryer after an afternoon of swimming. Why not make a small change by hanging them on a clothes line. They will dry very fast. 7) DISHWASHER – On days when we are able to wash soon after a meal we set the machine to “quick wash”. It does a good job. We do not pre-rinse dishware in the sink. It wastes water and is usually not necessary. If you really like or need to do this, try filling the sink with water and rinsing them all in the same water. We also only run a FULL dishwasher. 8) WATER – Be mindful of how deep a bath you run and how long a shower you take. When you are washing your hands and brushing your teeth turn the taps off until you need to rinse. Replace your water heater with an Energy Star option. If that is not feasible, wrap your heater in a $20 insulated blanket from Home Depot. Also turn down the heat on your thermostat if possible. About the author: Paula Cotton is a stay at home mother of two in Danville. She runs the GREEN club at her daughter's elementary school, Sycamore Valley. Although her background is in psychology and public relations, she has an active interest in environmental issues. © siliconmom
