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Green Basics to Save You Money and the Environment

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The Best part of going green is you can save money! It is very easy to do, just start with a few basics and watch your checking account grow! 

Energy: 

  • Households with only Energy star appliances can save up to 39% per year.  
  1. Call your local utility company for an energy audit. 
  2. Unplugging appliances and electronics that glow can save you up to $200 per year. 
  3. Use power strips instead of wall sockets 
  4. Use Compact Fluorescent bulb (CFL) =Saving per year per light = $35.00. Choose only products that are EnergyStar Labels

Dryer: 

  • If Americans cleaned the lint screen, we would save about 350 millions of gallons per year. 
  1. Clean the Lint Screen after every load: Savings about 5% 
  2. Don’t overload the dryer 
  3. Use a Clothes Line 

Water 

Washer:

  • Average American Family does 540 loads of laundry per year. = 21,000 gallons of water 
  • If Every American switched from Hot- Hot to Warm Cold cycles= Savings 100,000 barrels of oils per day. 
  1. Wash 2 fewer loads per week 
  2. Wash only full loads 
  3. Hang dry clothes 
  4. Use cold water 
  5. Use Warm and Cold water only. 

Fix Drips: 

  • More than 36 states are expected to face water shortages in the next 5 years. 
  • Leaking Faucets can waste up to 75 gallons per day
  • Leaking toilets can waste up to 200 gallons per day. 

Shower: 

  1. Take a 3 minute shower 
  2. Install Shower aerators or low flow Showerheads. 
  3. If it takes too long to get hot water, put a bucket under shower  or install point of use Tankless Water Heater 

Water Heater

  • Payback: Instant Hot water Heater: $450.00 added cost, 3 year payback- $120.00 annual savings. 
  • By doing the below you would save up to 25% of your home energy costs 
  1. Wrap in insulating blanket to store heat.
  2. Set Thermostat to no higher than 120 degrees.

Refrigerator: 

  • Payback if buy EnergyStar: about $30 added cost- 
  1. Clean the back coils 
  2. Fill up with ice or paper- a full refrigerator uses less energy. 
  3. If refrigerator is old, consider replacing with EnergyStar appliances  

Heating and cooling

  • If 1 in 10 household used programmable thermostats it would eliminate 17 billion pounds of greenhouse gases/
  • Payback: $115 added cost, 2 year payback, annual savings= $180 
  1. Replace filters
  2. Seal the windows 
  3. Adjusting your thermostat by 2 degrees in the winter and summer can save 2,00 pounds of carbon dioxide per year. 
  4. Install Programmable Thermostat: Savings $100 per year. 

Dishwasher – 

  • 140 loads of dishes= 1500 gallons of Water saved per year 
  • Purchase and EnergyStar- $13.00 annual savings 
  1. Wash 2 few loads per week 
  2. Use less dishes. 

Toilet: 

  • Dual Flush Toilet: Added Cost, $150.00, 6 year payback, $23.00 annual Savings 
  1. Use a low flush toilet or dual flush
  2. Try to flush one less time per day. (4.5 gallons) 

Electronics: 

  • 5.5 billion pounds of electronics are thrown out each year 
  • The average American has 3 cell phones stashed in a drawer. 
  • If 1 Million people recycled on e cathode ray tube TV this year= 4 Million pounds of lead out of the ground .
  • Millions of pounds of chemicals and metal ended up in the ground and groundwater 

1. Turn off your Computer when not in use 

  • My Green Electronics.org: will help you find a recycling center near you 
  •  Greenphone.com 

2.) Buy only Rechargeable Batteries 

  • 4 rechargeable AA alkaline batteries can reduce the need to buy/dispose of 100 conventional batteries: 
  • Savings: $40.00 
  • Hazardous Waste= 8 pounds 

3.) Unplug any appliances that you don’t use

4.) Only charge when you need to charge 

5.) Use a Smart Power Strip 

Outside: 

  • Americans disposed more than 12 Million tons of Yard Waste 
  • 30-40% of the water is evaporated during the day

1.) Solicit Birds and other good creatures 

2.) Let the grass grow and leave the clippings on the lawn. (adds nitrogen to the solid, discourages weeds, less fertilizer needs. 

3.) Water before 6 and after 6 pm. 

4.) Buy Native and drought tolerant plants 

Buy Locally: 

  •  The average grocery store food travels 1500 miles till it get to the stores 

1.) Support Your local farmers; Less energy in travel 

  • Local Harvest.org
  • sustainable.org
  • Farmers Markets. com 

Home Goods: 

1.) Use Non Toxic Cleaners:

  • Hot Sauce (Cleans copper) 
  • White Wine
  • Baking Soda (Cleans anything) 
  • Vinegar 
  • Lemon Juice 
  • Borax 
  • Seventh Generation: Complete Line of environmentally sage non=toxic household products 

Go Paperless: 

1. Stop Junk Mail 

  • 1 Million Trees are used each year to produce Junk Mail 

2. Pay your bills on line 

  • 1 Billion Tons of Paper would be saved annually if every US Home switched to online bill paying (16.5 Million Trees) 

3. Eliminate Paper Products such as, Napkins, Paper Plates, Paper Towels

  • Americans go through 1 Million Tons of Paper Towels per year. 

Eliminate Plastic 

  1. Take Your own grocery bags 
  2. Store food in plastic reusable containers: 
  3. If you do use plastic bags wash and reuse
  4. Stop buying bottled water 

Reusable Bags 

  • It takes 4x more energy to manufacture paper bags than plastic. Result more air and water pollution. 
  • 1 Trillion plastic bags are produced every year, the majority ending up in landfills and the ocean 

Eliminate Waste 

  1. Buy less, recycle more, reuse as much as possible 

Compost

  • If Americans composted their kitchen scarps, organic waste from landfills could make a 3 ft. high compost pile to cover San Francisco  

Buy Less Stuff: 

  1. The less you buy, the more you save
  2. The less you buy, the less the waste 
  3. The less you buy, less goes into landfills 
  4. The less you buy, saves more energy 

Recycle 

  • Recycling 1/2 of your homes waste will save 2400 pounds of carbon dioxide yearly 

Drive Less 

  1. Map your route
  2. Take public transportation
  3. Telecommute 
  4. Car pool 
  5. Walk 
  6. Ride your bike 

Reuse or Repurpose instead of throwing away 

  1. Give Away
  2. Swap
  3. Sell 
  4. Donate 
  5. Barter 
  6. Remake 

Think Durability and Sustainability 

  1. Buy products that last. The longer you have them the better 

Plant a Tree 

  • Trees, $1,200 added cost, four years payback, $300 annual savings

Car Wash

  • Taking the car to the car wash is better for the environment. If every American went to a car wash 1x instead of washing their car at home – 8/7 billions of gallons of water could be saved. 

1.) If you do wash your car at home, wash it on the lawn. Over 12 billion gallons of soapy polluted water from home car washes goes into the storm drains.

2.) Use biodegradable car wash soap 

3.) Use old rags, newspaper instead of sponges and paper towels 

 

Resources: 

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 

Greener Choices:

Green and Save: 

These Come From Trees 

Guide to Responsible Consumption

The Green Guide

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