All the media tell you how to go green and reduce your carbon footprint through these huge, expensive steps – putting in spray-foam insulation, installing tankless water heaters, converting to solar power, buying a smaller house, and so on.
Those things may be fine for the rich and famous, but for the working poor, those things aren’t always possible. Yet, even we feel the need to go as green as we can.
There are lots of ways we can go green – and save money! – and feel good about reducing our carbon footprint on the world. I don’t think we should aim for zero carbon output, because we’re here and alive, and as living beings, we all consume energy and resources. But, we also produce energy and resources - something a lot of people seem to forget. We don't just consume and damage, we also produce and repair.
Some of the things on the list below are easier than others for people to do, but I’m sure you’ll be inspired to find other things you can do to make yourself a little greener.
Assuming you want to, of course.
1. Unplug. If it’s not in current use, unplug it. A lot of appliances draw energy even when they aren’t in use, so unplug the toaster, the dryer, the washer, power tools, and so on when you aren’t using them. The radio, the CD player, the DVD player, an amazing number of appliances keep drawing energy all the time. Not only is this wasteful energy-wise, it's expensive paying for energy you aren't actively using. There are a few appliances that need to be constantly on: refrigerator, freezer, but the rest? Can be unplugged. Even your computer.
2. Save your containers. Many of them can be recycled to use for left-overs, storing small items like screws, paintbrushes, beads, wiggly eyes, sewing thread, baby teeth, string, and more. Some can actually be recycled at a recycling center, so take them there whenever you accumulate enough to be worth the trip. A lot of the Chinese soup containers are sturdy and see-through, making them excellent keepers. Other take-out containers can be used to re-heat leftovers a few times before they are unusable.
3. And if you can, try bringing your own“take out” containers, hot or cold beverage cups and even straws and your own utensils with you when you eat at work/school or on picnics or other eating-out venues, so you aren’t using up new resources. Some take-out restaurants are now allowing you to bring your own take-out containers, so you won't be collecting as much "trash" as before.
4. Up your light bulb wattage. I know it sounds counter-intuitive, but a single 100 watt bulb uses less energy than 2 60 watt bulbs and produces more lumens. It uses the same energy as 4 25 watt bulbs, but produces twice as many lumens, so if you suffer from SAD, using the higher wattage may help by keeping the room brighter while reducing your carbon footprint. Of course, once we switch over to the eco-light bulbs, this may be moot.
5. In your workshop, assuming you do woodworking, mix the sawdust with water and sweep them up – it cleans up better, doesn’t raise a dust storm of ultra-fine particles, and saves the energy a shop-vac would use, not to mention the reduction in noise pollution!
6. If you do a lot of painting – like furniture, walls, the exterior of your house – store used paint cans upside down so the solvent doesn’t seep out of the lid when it rises to the top of the pigment. Your paint will last longer, saving you money.
7. Speaking of saving paint money – try mixing partial cans of paint together – latex with latex and oil-based with oil-based. This works particularly well with all the many whites, or with paints of nearly the same color. If you mix semi-gloss and flats and eggshells, you get a lovely sheen that cleans up easily.
8. Set up a battery center. Buy a cheap battery tester. Use it on your batteries. That way, you can set aside the burned out, used up batteries to send to the recycling/hazardous waste center, and you’ll know which batteries are still good to go. If you have a battery charger and buy rechargeable batteries, so much the better. By keeping the batteries all in one place, you’re less likely to buy batteries you don’t need.
9. Take temperatures. Take the temperature of your fridge and freezer and keep them as close to the ideal temperature as possible. The refrigerator should be between 37 and 40ºF and the freezer between 0 and 5ºF. If they’re too cold, you could be wasting 25% of your energy consumption for the appliance. And while you’re taking temps, check out your oven. If it heats at a lower temperature than your dial indicates, it can take longer to cook your food, and may not cook it thoroughly. If it heats at a higher temperature than your dial, your food may burn and not cook thoroughly. In both cases, you’re using more energy than you need to. You can have the oven temperature professionally adjusted, or you can just remember how many degrees off your dial is from the oven temperature and set the dial for that difference.
10. Make sure the gasket on your refrigerator and freezer seal tight. Slip a piece of paper between the gasket and the frame of the fridge or freezer, close the door, and give it a tug. If there’s resistance, you’re good. If it slides right out, find out how to replace the gasket on the door and do it. A loose gasket can cost you up to 50% of the energy costs of the appliance –and it’s cheaper to buy a new gasket than spend all that money on electricity each month.
11. Rearrange your kitchen. If you can, that is. Move your refrigerator away from your range or oven, and out of direct sunlight. If you can’t move it, consider slipping some insulation between the refrigerator and the range, or setting up shades to keep the refrigerator out of the sun. For each degree over 70ºF the surroundings are for the fridge, it uses 2.5% more energy to keep the contents cool. A buffer or shades can reduce that, saving you money and energy.
12. If you have a dishwasher, use it. Especially if you have a newer Energy Star dishwasher, and load it fully, it will use less water and get your dishes cleaner than handwashing will. The dishwasher uses about 4 gallons of water compared to as much as 24 gallons to wash them in the sink. That can save you 5,000 gallons of water and more than 200 hours of time a year.
13. Dye the water in your toilet tank (not the bowl). Use food coloring, not red (that stains) but blue or green works well. After 2 hours, if the water in your toilet bowl turns colors, your tank’s flapper is leaking, either from worn parts or mineral build up. A toilet leak can take 43,000 gallons a year. It’s less than $10.00 to fix it.
14. End the water torture. Before you dash off to the hardware store for a tank flapper assembly, check your faucets for drips. One drip per second can waste 5 gallons of water a day. A 50¢ washer can fix that problem, saving you water and money. Plus, if you check for leaks regularly, you can avoid a potentially expensive leak that might be soaking the kitchen floor.
15. Check your shower flow. Put a 1 gallon bucket down and see how long it takes to fill. If it’s less than 20 seconds, invest in a low-flow shower head that sprays 1.5 gallons per minute. It’s still forceful enough to do the job, and uses less water, up to 14,000 gallons less a year per person, saving you on both your water bill and your water heating bill.
16. Lower the water heater. By lowering your hot water heater from 140ºF to 120ºF, you save on heating bills, and slow down mineral build-up and corrosion in the water tank, extending the life of your tank. That means you’ll be replacing it less often, which reduces your carbon footprint by consuming fewer appliances.
17. Wipe your feet. When you come into the house, wipe your feet so you bring in less grime and disease. It takes at least 5 steps for this to work. I recommend if you don’t have that much space for a dirt-trapping mat that you practice shoe removal, and keep a shoe rack near the door. Encourage people to take off their shoes before entering your house. Clean your shoes regularly as well. It extends the life of your shoes as well as keeping you healthier. In cold weather, keep soft slippers in the shoe rack and change into them in the house to keep your toes warm.
18. Wear sweaters. Turn your heater down to 65ºF in the daytime and 55ºF at night to reduce your carbon footprint and save on your heating bill. Don’t forget to put “sweaters” on your windows by hanging heavy curtains or blankets over them, and using “draft dodgers” on the window sills and bases of doors to block cold drafts. You can also put heavy curtains, or blankets, or carpet scrap over your doors so they extend a little over the door frame to block drafts from them.
19. Use local heat. When you’re sitting at the computer and getting chilled because you aren’t moving around a lot, consider the energy saving cost of under-the-desk heating with a small ceramic space heater, or using an electric heating pad under your feet or seat, or placing a mattress heating pad over your sofa to warm small private spaces. It uses less energy and provides a surprising amount of warmth.
20. Close off unused rooms. Heat or cool them only when you plan to actually use them. Hang blankets or heavy curtains in doorways to block drafts through the house.
21. Worship the sun. Use natural lighting when possible. Hang mirrors so they reflect more sunlight into the room. In winter, keep the drapes open during the time the sunlight shines through the window and close them when the sun is gone. In the summer, block hot sun with outdoor awnings or shutters, or interior blinds, adjusted to let light filter through, but keep the hot rays at a distance.
22. Also, consider using electrical weed eaters and lawn mowers in the summer for small lawns - they have a much smaller carbon footprint, work just as efficiently as gas-powered lawn equipment, and can be used on ozone alert days. Cut your grass a little higher and mow less often, and your lawn will be greener with less effort and less watering.
23. If you drink coffee, spend a few extra dollars to buy a gold or cloth filter - it will last years and reduce your garbage a bit.
24. If you or your children eat a lot of popsicles, buy popsicle molds and make your own - they're tastier, healthier, cheaper, and reduce garbage.
25. When you take your lunch to work, use reusable containers - vacuum thermoses, mason jars in insulated carrying bags, recycled baby food jars for condiments, metal cutlery, cloth napkins. You'll reduce trash by a considerable lot doing this.
26. Use cloth towels and napkins, and save $950 over 5 years. That's right. The average family spends $1,000 in 5 years for paper towels and napkins, and a set of cloth ones will cost less than $50, saving you substantially. The cloth kitchen towels and napkins can be tossed in with other laundry and not make any significant bump in your laundry.
27. If you regularly buy coffee at the same places, invest in one of their refillable travel mugs. You'll save on the refills and reduce your garbage.
28. Use cloth grocery bags - not only are they sturdier than paper or plastic, they last much longer, are prettier, are more stable traveling in your car, are easier to carry, can be washed, and you reduce your garbage again. It's not hard to remember to keep a stack of bags in your car or briefcase for shopping needs.
29. Use a water filter or a pour-through water pitcher (like the Brita) and drink tap water instead of bottled tap water. It's cheaper, you have less garbage, and you're drinking pretty much the same thing as what you buy in plastic bottles at the store. Store your water in 5 gallon glass carboys for survival, and in smaller glass containers for daily use. If you must have unbreakable containers, wide mouthed sport bottles (wide-mouthed for better cleaning) are good.
30. Read Choose to Reuse by Nikki and David Goldbeck, Kathy Stein's Beyond Recycling, Reader's Digest's Extraordinary Uses for Ordinary Things, and How Your House Works: A Visual Guide to Understanding and Maintaining Your Home by Charlie Wing, and re-invent ways to reuse the things you bring into your house.
Not all of these are going to apply to everyone, and there are many more energy saving, cost-effective tips I’ve not listed, but hopefully these will provide inspiration – easy, inexpensive, and not very time-consuming ways to be green, and still have time to enjoy living.
