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Basic Green Tips
I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man
if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness
and respecting her seniority.
~Elwyn Brooks White, Essays of E.B. White, 1977
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- Lower your thermostat. Buy a programmable thermostat.
- Buy compact fluorescent light bulbs. You'll find more on energy-efficient products and practices at
Energy Star.
- Turn off lights and electronics when you leave the room. Unplug your cell phone charger from the wall
when not using it. Turn off energy strips and surge protectors when not in use (especially overnight).
- Consider buying a fuel-efficient car or a hybrid.
- Opt into a clean energy program. Check out the Green Power Network at the US Department of Energy.
- Turn your car off if you’re going to be idle for more than one minute.
- We spend 20 percent of our electricity bills running our appliances. But we can shrink that number
dramatically by replacing them with fridges, clothes washers, and dishwashers that qualify for the
Energy Star.
- Set the thermostat to no lower than 78°F in the summer and no higher than 68°F in the winter.
- A laptop uses just a quarter of the power required by a desktop computer.
- Generating enough electricity to cook for an hour in a standard electric oven creates 2.7 pounds of
carbon dioxide. Here's a list of what can do it for less: toaster oven, 1.3 pounds over 50 minutes;
slow cooker, 0.9 pounds over seven hours; and microwave, 0.5 pounds over 15 minutes.
- Install a programmable thermostat that lets you automatically lower the temperature when no one is
home or when the family is asleep. The Energy Star people say this device can save a family budget
up to $150 a year.
- Save energy, and make your clothes and linens smell extra fresh, by putting up a clothesline. Automatic
clothes dryers use up 6% of total electricity consumed by American homes, according to the federal
Energy Information Administration.
- Select ground transportation, instead of rush delivery, for your mailing needs and cut down on fossil
fuel use and pollution.
- The simple act of planting trees can decrease the energy you need to cool your space . . . Deciduous
plants work well in temperate zones, because they block sunlight in summer but let it in during chilly
months.
- In one year, if you shut your machine off before bed each night, you’ll save an average of $90 worth of
electricity. The Department of Energy recommends shutting off your monitor if you aren't going to use it
for more than 20 minutes, and the whole system if you're not going to use it for more than two hours. The
agency says time spent off extends your machine’s life.
- Tests have shown that a well-insulated toaster oven, with plenty of room for air to circulate around it,
consumes a whopping 50 percent less energy. As an added bonus, using a toaster oven will keep your
kitchen cooler.
- By setting your home and office heating systems just a few degrees lower, you’ll save a sizable amount
of energy. . . for every degree you lower the thermostat, you'll save between 1 and 3 percent of your
heating bill.
- Swap your old incandescent bulbs for compact fluorescents (CFLs). Each bulb may cost a little more
(between $2 and $7), but a compact fluorescent will pay for itself in mere months and prevent 450
pounds of power-plant emissions over the bulb's lifetime.
- Reduce energy loss by making sure your water pipes are properly insulated. In cold climates insulation
also helps decrease the chance of pipes freezing, which can be disastrous. In warm weather, insulation
cuts down on sweating by cold water pipes, which can encourage mold growth.
- Cordless phones are energy vampires: sitting in a recharging cradle they suck up power 24-So replace a
cordless phone or two that you don't really need, and you'll save energy.
- Here's one easy way to clean green: turn the dial to cold water. With most clothes, you really don't
need hot water to get a good cleaning. Ninety percent of the energy used by washing machines goes into
heating the water. The higher the temperature of the water, the more electricity you're running and
the higher the cost in terms of both energy use and money.
- No bulb saves energy like one that's turned off, however. So flip the switch.
- It takes a tremendous amount of fossil fuel to transport foods from far-flung locales to your grocer's
shelf. That's one reason more and more people are adding locally sourced foods to their diet. The
other reason: They're fresher and taste better.
- The EPA recommends keeping refrigerators at 37 degrees F and freezers at 3 degrees. Anything colder
is probably overkill, and a waste of energy.
- Every moment you spend idling your car's engine means time spent needlessly wasting gas, as well as
rougher wear on your vehicle. So give it a rest, and avoid idling through your days.
- Lowering the temperature from 140 to 120 would reduce your water heating costs by 6 to 10%. Give it a
try. Many people find that tweaking the dial can be addictive, and it’s easy to reduce the temperature
further to 115 or even lower.
- Cut down on waste, and breathe cleaner air, by using an electronic furnace filter instead of those
throwaway fiberglass screens. Electronic models are permanent, washable and easy to install and clean.
- Get smart by installing a tankless water heater, also called a demand water heater, which heats up H2O
when you need it. Standard water heaters result in wasted energy, since so much of the time water just
sits in the tank unused, slowly losing heat.
- A pitcher full of water will help your refrigerator keep your food cool more efficiently, much like how
a cold ice pack works in a cooler. Also, whenever you want a glass of water, you won't have to let the
tap run for a few moments to obtain a cool temperature, cutting down on waste. You won't need as much
ice, which requires energy to make.
- Consider wrapping your old heater in a layer of insulation. For the nominal cost of about $15, an
insulating jacket can reduce heat lost through the walls of the tank by 25-40%.
- Power strips can help put an end to vampire power. There's a wide range of choices from simple to
sophisticated, but the general concept is the same. If you plug your electronic devices into one and
turn it off when you're not using, you'll reduce standby power consumption and save more than $100 a
year according to the Natural Resources Defense Council.
- Purchase 10 percent of your electricity from a green-power source, such as solar or wind. Annual
pollution reduction: 625 pounds of CO2.
- Rely on natural light to meet your illumination needs wherever possible. Even an overcast sky can
provide more than enough light if your home is designed to take advantage of it. If not, you can position
desks, workspaces and reading areas near windows. Control glare with light curtains, shades, and blinds.
- Perform simple maintenance tasks to retain lighting efficiency. Since dirt interferes with illumination,
dust your bulbs and fixtures. Cleaning or repainting walls every couple of years helps as well.
- Reuse your water bottle. Avoid buying bottled water. In fact, reuse everything at least once,
especially plastics.
- Recycle your newspapers.
- Buy products that use recyclable materials whenever possible.
- Take your batteries to a recycling center. Earth 911 gives you the scoop. Better yet, use
rechargeable batteries.
- If you use plastic grocery bags, recycle them for doggie poop bags or for small trashcan liners.
- Bring your own bags to the grocery store. Given a choice between plastic and paper, opt for paper.
- Recycle. If you’re not at home, take the extra steps, (literally), to find that recycling can.
- Reuse. Plastic food containers make good crayon and marker holders. Use padded envelops more than once.
- Buy your toddler or preschooler’s clothes from a thrift shop and give away those that don’t fit
to friends. Goodwill or the Salvation Army can help.
- Give away your goods and find new ones at FreeCycle.
- Recycle your technology. Dell, Hewlett Packard, Apple, and IBM, among others, offer recycling programs.
- Recycle Your Inkjet Cartridges. Over 13 cartridges are discarded in the U.S. every second,
according to CartridgeFundraising.com. Hundreds of millions of cartridges that end up in
landfills every year, made with plastics that can take at least 1,000 years to decompose.
- More than 15 billion batteries are thrown away each year. Save money and resources by using widely
available rechargeable batteries, many of which can be reused up to 1,000 times. However,
rechargeables are allowed to have less-toxic metals, such as cadmium and lead, so it is
imperative (and legally required) that you dispose of them properly.
- Donate instead of dump. On average, each one of us tosses out four and a half pounds of garbage
every day, adding up to a whopping total of 245 million tons per year. A lot of that material
is perfectly serviceable stuff, and could be readily used by the less fortunate.
- Reuse Paper Bags. Few paper bags are made of recycled or alternative fibers, meaning trees have
to be cut down for their manufacture. True, many communities have paper recycling, so you can
often drop old bags into those blue bins (or use the bags to hold other paper for pickup). However,
paper fibers can only be recycled a few times, because they start to break down. So it's better to
press old bags into service before you send them off to the recycler.
- In order to support recycling efforts, look for products made from high percentages of post-consumer
waste, which is the waste produced by the end consumer of a material stream. Post-consumer waste
is the garbage that individuals routinely discard, either in a waste receptacle or a dump, or by
littering, incinerating, pouring down the drain or washing. Buying products with post-consumer
content is an easy way to keep landfills lean. It avoids using virgin resources like forests and
strengthens the market for recycled materials.
- Instead of tossing out old and worn furniture, reupholster it to bring new life, and cut down on
waste and further resource use. Between 1960 and 2001, discarded furniture and furnishings swelled
from 2.2 million tons a year to 8.1 million tons, reports the EPA. Furniture is bulky stuff that
takes up a lot of landfill space.
- Recycle or donate cell phones. Almost all cell phones contain enough lead to qualify as hazardous
waste under federal regulations. And even lead-free phones are considered hazardous because of the
high amounts of copper, nickel, antimony and zinc that leach into landfills.
- Freecycling (sometimes called freesharing) is a growing, volunteer-driven movement that makes it easy
to clean out the garage without filling up a dumpster. Just register your stuff on the Web, and the
neighbors you didn't know you had will take it off your hands.
- Reuse Resealable Plastic Bags.
- Reuse Vacumn Cleaner Bags.
- We use 100 million trees and 28 billion gallons of water to produce junk mail for just one year,
according to greendimes.com. Remove yourself from junkmail lists and save trees and water.
- Check out your bathroom. Use low-flow faucets, showerheads, and toilets.
- Limit the length of your showers. Even better, take a “navy shower,” shutting off the water while
soaping up and shampooing.
- Landscape with native plants. Check out the article on the EPA website.
- Do full loads of laundry and set the rinse cycle to “cold.”
- Don’t run the water when brushing your teeth. Learn about water scarcity.
- Wash towels after several uses.
- Learn about threats to ocean life and help Greenpeace take action.
- Find your local watershed and learn how to protect it.
- We can all help minimize the problem of storm water runoff by planting rain gardens 6 to 12-inch
deep depressions filled with native plants. Rain gardens can capture hundreds of gallons of
rainwater, filtering out up to 90 percent of pollutants while allowing the water to drain deep
enough into the soil to help recharge groundwater supplies.
- You can save up to 8 gallons of water a day simply by turning off the tap while you brush your
teeth in the morning and at night. Do the same while you shave.
- If you are in the market for a new washing machine, make sure you get a front-loading model, which
uses a third less water, heat energy and detergent than standard top-loading designs.
- Look for the new label from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) called WaterSense. This
program's mission is to protect the future of the water supply by promoting water-efficient
products and services. You'll find the label on a variety of plumbing equipment scheduled to
roll out this year and next. WaterSense partners for high-efficiency plumbing equipment include
some of the biggest manufacturers in the business: Kohler, Delta Faucet, Hansgrohe, American
Standard and Crane. In fact, Kohler and its sister brand, Sterling, already have eight toilets
that have earned the WaterSense label, meaning they use at least 20% less than standard toilets.
- A single slow leaky faucet dripping 30 drops per minute wastes 3 gallons per day, or the equivalent
of 27 baths per year. The USGS also estimates that many of our toilets leak approximately 22 gallons
of water per day. So one easy eco-friendly thing: fix that leak.
- One of the top users of water around the home is the shower, where Americans stand under more than
1.2 trillion gallons of H2O each year, reports the EPA. A typical shower uses up to 25 gallons of
the wet stuff, while each American uses an average of 100 gallons of water a day total. Low-flow
showerheads slash bathing water consumption 50 to 70%.
- An aerator -- that cylindrical device that threads onto the end of a faucet -- reduces the amount of
water needed to do jobs such as hand washing and dish rinsing. Look for one at the hardware store;
it will be marked with the flow it permits, measured in GPM. A 2.0 GPM aerator is ideal for kitchen
faucets, while a 1.0 GPM version works great for the bathroom sink.
- Homeowners and businesses can stem the tide of polluted runoff threatening our waterways by setting
up a simple rain garden. The idea is to create a depression filled with plants that collects the
rainwater that runs off a building and its landscape. The plants — such as sedges, rushes, ferns,
wildflowers, shrubs, trees and so on — absorb the water and release it slowly. This reduces the
surge of water running off the landscape, which picks up fertilizers, pesticides, motor oil and
other contaminants and carries them into waterways.
- Mornings tend to be cool and without strong winds, so the amount of water lost to evaporation is
much less than during the middle of the day. Yes, evenings are typically similar, but if plants
stay damp over night they are more likely to be damaged by fungal and bacterial diseases. Ideally,
use a drip or soak system instead of a regular sprinkler, which wastes a lot of water and drenches
the leaves, which are prone to damage as well as disease.
- Start a compost in your back yard or on your rooftop.
- Landscape with native plants. Check out the article on the EPA website.
- Start a compost in your back yard or on your rooftop.
- Mow Your Grass Long. Longer blades discourage weeds and pest insects, which means you are
under less pressure to apply toxic pesticides and herbicides. Longer grass also shades the
roots more, and helps prevent the soil from drying out. It tends to lead to healthier roots,
so your green carpet will be hardier, and should require less water in the long run.
- Mulch around your trees to save water and cut down on weeds. Gardening experts recommend
spreading mulch at least 3 to 4 inches thick around trees, but make sure it is spaced several
inches away from the trunks, to discourage rodents and rot.
- Buy in season.
- Buy locally. Find farmers’ markets, family farms, and other sources of sustainably grown food
near you.
- Good to the last drop. Switch to fair trade coffee.
- The majority of water bottles do not make it into the recycling stream. Not only do they
accumulate and stress landfills, they are made from polyethylene terephthalate (PET), a
petroleum product, and their manufacturing process uses oil, a nonrenewable energy source,
and increases CO2 emissions.
- Grapes are among the most pesticide-laden produce, it is no wonder we are reaching more often
for organic wines to fill our glasses. 100% Organic carries the United States Department of
Agriculture (USDA) organic seal (the certifying agency must be listed) and indicates the wine
is made from 100% organically grown ingredients and has been monitored throughout its entire
production process. Organic also carries the USDA organic seal and indicates the wine has 95%
organically grown ingredients (the other 5% must not be available organically). Made with Organic
Grapes or Made with Organic Ingredients means the wine contains at least 70% organic ingredients.
Biodynamic wine is not only 100% organic, in addition, the grower has gone beyond to try to bring
the farming process more closely in tune with nature. For instance, biodynamic wine growers may make
their own compost and/or watch the stars and planets to time what they do.
- Buy Food from Bulk Bins Packaging materials make up more than 30 percent of all consumer waste,
according to the EPA. So making a dent in all those boxes, cans and piles of plastic wrap will
have a real impact. Ideally, bring your own reusable containers to the store and fill up with what
you'll need.
- Look for the words "no artificial hormones or antibiotics used" on your milk carton the next time
you shop. According to the FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine, cows injected with rBGH tend to
have a higher instance of udder infections called mastitis. As a result they are treated more often
with antibiotics. This increase in drug use can contribute to the growth of antibiotic resistance in
bacteria, a major public health concern.
- Don't order Chilean sea bass, which scientists have warned is critically overfished and possibly on
the road to extinction. Also, Chilean sea bass is caught with bottom longlines, which damage the
seafloor and lead to high rates of bycatch, meaning the death of seabirds, turtles and other nontarget
species.
- For health reasons, it's safer to opt for heat-resistant glass or ceramic containers for use in
microwaves. It's also greener: It reduces our reliance on plastics, which create CO2 in their
production, and cuts down on trash.
- Look for Fair Trade Certification. When you buy coffee that is fair-trade certified, you are
guaranteeing that the farmers who grew the beans are paid a fair price, are provided much-needed
credit and given technical assistance, such as help in making the transition to organic growing.
- Select organic coffee. It is worth the small cost premium to use organic coffee beans, too, which
eliminate your exposure, and that of the environment, to hazardous pesticides that are commonly
applied to conventional crops.
- Look for shade-grown beans. Coffee was originally a shade-loving plant, and was traditionally cultivated
underneath existing trees in a process that protected the native forest. Today, many farmers continue
to raise coffee beneath shade trees, and the plants provide sanctuary to important migratory birds,
many of which are now threatened. These are many of the same birds that fill American yards with song
during the warm months.
- Because local farmers' markets cut out the middlemen, most of every dollar spent goes straight to the
people who grow your food. In a conventional grocery store, growers receive less than 10 cents on the
dollar.
- Plant an edible garden, even if just in a few pots, to reconnect with nature, provide fresh, healthy
food and attract beneficial insects.
- Heirloom vegetables sound fancy but are simply the kinds of vegetables everyone ate before the days
of mass-produced produce. These are veggies that look and taste the way nature intended. Heirloom
vegetables keep our food supply bio-diverse, and reduce our dependency on monoculture farming,
hybridization and genetic engineering.
- Track down the manager of your local supermarket and ask him or her whether they buy local products,
and encourage them to do so. You may be surprised to find out just how much they're already locally
sourcing, particularly in states with a relatively high amount of agriculture.
- Car pool. Connect with other commuters.
- Ride a bike.
- Walk, jog, or run.
- Consider buying a fuel-efficient car or a hybrid.
- Select ground transportation, instead of rush delivery, for your mailing needs and cut down on
fossil fuel use and pollution.
- Combine trips and try to avoid rush hour because of the stop and go nature of traffic. Flooring the
gas pedal can waste gas, so drive less aggressively. Forget warming up: Today's cars don't need to.
Keep your tires properly inflated and keep you car tuned up.
- Drive 55mph. At 65 mph you're burning 10% more fuel than at 55, according to the American Council for
an Energy-Efficient Economy. At 70 you lose 17% of your fuel economy, and at 75 it’s 25%. The numbers
get worse from there.
- For every three pounds that your tires are below their recommended pressure, your fuel economy drops
one percent, reports the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy.
- When you are picking up food, going to the bank or even filling a prescription, park your vehicle and
walk inside instead of using the drive-through. It will cut down on unnecessary fuel use as well as
carbon emissions. Every time you use a drive-through, you burn about 18 cents worth of gas idling
your car.
- Cruise control helps save gas. Although fuel economy can vary significantly with model and conditions,
the optimal range of efficiency is generally between 25 and 55 mph, according to the EPA. On the open
road, try not to exceed 55.
- Cut down on gas emissions, which fill the air we breathe with ozone (smog) and contribute to global
warming, simply by avoiding buying gas during the heat of the day, since heat increases evaporation.
- Rather than driving your car to work every day, try other ways, even if only one or two days a week.
You can walk, ride your bike, take the bus or the train or join a car. You’ll be cutting down on air
pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, oil consumption and your the costs of fueling and maintaining
your vehicle. And mixing up your commuting routine helps you avoid falling into the workday rut.
- Consider organic cleaning products like vinegar, borax, and baking soda.
- Go paperless. Consider reading your newspaper and magazine subscriptions online. Switch to
electronic banking and credit card payment, too.
- Whenever you can, try using green cleaning products. Check out Cheap, Clean, and Green.
- Opt for eco-friendly and holistic health products.
- Shop smart. Choose eco-smart products.
- If every household in the U.S. replaced just one roll of virgin fiber paper towels (70 sheets)
with 100% recycled ones, we could save 544,000 trees.
- Traditional cotton is one of the most highly sprayed products. By switching to organic cotton
you'll be keeping the environment and your family safer.
- Instead of harsh chemical sprays, get those windows and mirrors crystal clear with a simple
solution of white vinegar, newspaper and a little elbow grease. Mix 2 tablespoons of white
vinegar with a gallon of water, and dispense into a used spray bottle.
- Reuse Resealable Plastic Bags.
- Plant a tree as a memorial for a loved one.
- Opt for a green burial which could mean choosing cremation or a green burial site.
- If using solid wood for a project, select products with the Forest Stewardship Council label,
certifying the wood was responsibly grown and harvested. Or find salvaged wood products at local
used-building materials retailers.
- Dimensional lumber that is 2-by-10 and larger often comes from increasingly rare old-growth
forests. So for larger lumber and beams, consider engineered materials made of wood harvested
from faster-growing tree species and glued together to form a finished product. These products
often perform better than solid-sawed wood, which is subject to warping, splitting and cracking.
- Choose low-toxic paints that also are low in volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, which convert to
gas at room temperatures. Outdoors, certain VOCs react with sunlight to create smog. Indoors, VOCs
can irritate lungs and cause allergic reactions. Check the paint label for a VOC level below 150
grams per liter. Zero-VOC paints also are available.
- Buy locally made products and locally produced services.
- Go to your local library instead of buying new books.
- Buy products that use recyclable materials whenever possible.
- Bring your own bags to the grocery store. Given a choice between plastic and paper, opt
for paper.
- If you have a baby, consider using cloth diapers. To sign up for a diaper service to do the
dirty work, check out the National Association of Diaper Services.
- Go zero! Log on to the Conservation Fund’s Carbon Zero Calculator and in less than five minutes,
you can measure and then offset your carbon dioxide emissions by planting trees.
- Go paperless at work. Distribute company information and post company material online.
- Eliminate junk mail at work. For no fee, the EcoLogical Mail Coalition will eliminate the junk
that former employees receive at work.
- Paper towels or electric dryer? There's no contest. Did you know electric dryers are twice as
energy-efficient as paper towels, even towels made from recycled paper? Although the production
of the electricity that powers electric dryers generates greenhouse gases, the production of paper
towels is twice as energy-intensive and creates more greenhouse gases overall. Also, the manufacture
of paper towels emits pollutants, including chlorine, and many paper towels are made from virgin
wood rather than recycled material. Your small choice can make a big difference.
- If everyone in the U.S. said "no thanks" to ATM receipts, it would save a roll of paper so long it
could circle the equator fifteen times.
- We use 100 million trees and 28 billion gallons of water to produce junk mail for just one year,
according to greendimes.com. Remove yourself from junkmail lists and save trees and water.
- Paper accounts for more than half of all trash. Do your part to reduce that by sending only exactly
what you want to the printer. Preview your documents before you print, make sure you have the correct
number of copies and destination.
- In order to support recycling efforts, look for products made from high percentages of post-consumer
waste, which is the waste produced by the end consumer of a material stream. Post-consumer waste is
the garbage that individuals routinely discard, either in a waste receptacle or a dump, or by littering,
incinerating, pouring down the drain or washing. Buying products with post-consumer content is an easy
way to keep landfills lean. It avoids using virgin resources like forests and strengthens the market
for recycled materials.
- Say no to plastic or paper ones now. Instead, bring your own reusable shopping bags. Reduce the billions
of plastic and paper bags headed for a landfill.
- Use a Refillable Mug. If you buy your daily cup of coffee in a disposable container, you are
generating about 22.75 pounds of waste per year. Across the country, 25 billion polystyrene (commonly
known as Styrofoam) cups are thrown away every year, according to the EPA. That's troubling, because
polystyrene takes hundreds of years to break down, and is made of nonrenewable petroleum. Scientists
have also discovered carcinogenic compounds leaching out of polystyrene, possibly even into your hot
drink! Cups made of paper products are easier on the environment, but they are made of trees and can
result in destructive deforestation. Even recycled paper cups require considerable energy to produce
and distribute.
- At holidays and birthdays, give your family and friends the gift of saving the earth. Donate to their
favorite environmental group, foundation, or organization.
- Good to the last drop. Switch to fair trade coffee.
- Teach kids about the environment.
- Put your money where your mouth is—invest in green investments. Web sites like Co-op America's National
Green Pages™ can help.
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