by: Dan Bossenbroek
If you don’t have any money to invest in green, sustainable, eco-friendly
products or strategies you are in luck! Here are 15
ways that you can start to trim your utility bills by using less energy and
water. Unless you have been living under a rock
you have probably heard some of these before, but they are still worth
repeating.
1. Turn Off the Lights: This is a favorite of dads everywhere. I can still hear
my dad, and now I’m repeating it to my kids:
“When you leave a room, turn off the lights.”
2. Turn Down / Up the Thermostat: By adjusting your thermostat down a few
degrees in the winter and up a few more in the
summer you can make a significant cut in your heating and cooling bills. There
can be added benefits to doing this: more
snuggling in the winter and less clothing in the summer.
3. Stingy Showers: By taking shorter showers or even skipping one here and
there, you can save thousands of gallons of water
a year. As an added bonus, your energy bills will go down as well, since it
typically costs more to heat the water for your
shower than for the water itself.
4. Wear it Once More: Wear your blue jeans and dress shirt more than once before
you wash it and save hundreds of gallons of
water and cut your energy bills at the same time.
5. Power Down: Don’t just let your computer sit there and let the screen saver
run all day. If you are going to be away from
your computer for more than a half an hour, go ahead and turn it off.
6. Line Dry Your Clothes: Hanging your clothes out to dry will not only save you
energy, but your clothes will smell better
(no dryer sheets required), be less wrinkled (saving you on ironing), and will
last longer – effectively saving you money
four ways.
7. Open the Windows: On those wonderful days where it is in the 80’s in the
afternoon, but temperatures drop to the 60’s over
night, open all your windows when the temperature drops below 78° (recommended
thermostat setting in the summer) at night and
let that cool air in. Then in the morning close all your windows to keep the
heat of the day out. With the help of a couple
of window fans you can easily avoid turning on your air conditioner well into
May or even June (depending of course on where
you live).
8. Open the Drapes: On those wonderful sunny winter days, open the drapes and
let the sunshine in. This energy from the sun
will help to warm your house and help to lower your heating bills a little too.
9. Close the Drapes: Yet, on warm summer days that very same sunshine can be an
unwelcome guest in your house and a
considerable burden on your air conditioner. On those days, closing the drapes
can keep the temperature in your house several
degrees cooler and keep your air conditioner from running quite as much.
10. Wave it: On of the most efficient method of cooking is with a microwave
oven. Microwaves concentrate the cooking energy
on the food and avoid heating up an entire oven, stovetop or even kitchen.
11. Keep it Raw: Better yet, eat it raw. Avoid cooking all together and enjoy a
green salad, but keep in mind that a green
salad need not be limited to some lettuce and spinach, with a few baby carrots
and cherry tomatoes thrown in. Consider adding
several of the following: onions, radishes, any one of a variety of nuts,
broccoli, peas, cucumbers, celery, bell peppers,
cheese. Along with your salad you could enjoy a deli sandwich and some fruit.
Why heat up your food and your kitchen,
especially on those how summer days?
12. Wash in Cold: Many laundry detergents these days do a fine job of cleaning
clothes in cold water. By washing your clothes
in cold water your clothes will still get clean and your hot water heater will
get a break.
13. Close it Off: Many houses built over the past ten to twenty years have a
room that is called a living room on the floor
plans, but it is there primarily for resale value and is seldom used. Many of
these same houses have a guest bedroom as well
that may be used a few times a year. By closing off these rooms your heating and
cooling bills could be significantly
reduced.
14. Up with the Sun: "Early to bed early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy,
and wise." This may be an old idiom by
Franklin, but is also good advice if you want to save some money on your
lighting bills. If you don’t stay up so late you can
turn off all those lights and save a little money.
15. Be a Water Miser: Only turn the water on when you need it when you are
brushing your teeth and shaving and you can save
hundreds of gallons of water a year.
Take a few free steps to save some energy and water, along the way you will find
a little extra money in your wallet as well.
About The Author
Dan Bossenbroek is a registered architect and has been incorporating energy
conservation design strategies into his projects
for over seventeen years. He has extensive experience in residential design, is
a Leadership in Energy and Environmental
Design Accredited Professional (LEED™ AP) and his area of expertise is high
performance buildings and sustainable design.
Furthermore, he is an avid do-it-yourselfer having renovated several older
homes. For indoor air quality products and home
improvement advice he recommends www.justgreenhomes.com
Article Source:http://www.articlecity.com/articles/environment_and_going_green/article_281.shtml
Tags:
The Green Free Fifteen –
15 Ways to Save Energy and Water in Your Home |
