You are probably like the vast majority of consumers, who don’t really consider the environmental impact of using common household items. It’s probably hard to believe but most things you do will have some sort of impact on the environment. Protect the environment by using green energy. The article below discusses some of the best ways to go green.
Simply lessening the amount of daily energy consumption can save lots of energy. If an appliance is not in use, unplug it. Turn off all lights and televisions when they are not being used. This little tip will save you money in the long run.
Check whether your furnace filters need to be replaced each month. Make sure that you actually replace these filters at least once each year. Also, put filters on vents that dispense warm air. This can prevent anything from getting caught in the ducts.
Don’t waste money or energy by running a half-full load of dishes. The machine should not be used when only a few dishes need to be washed. The amount of dishes that can be placed in a washer is astounding. Just make sure to align the dishes in an orderly manner to maximize the available space.
Replace an energy-hogging water heating tank with a greener, tankless variety. Tankless water heaters still require power to heat the water, but they heat only the water that you want to use, rather than heating a tank of water that you’re not always using. You can get a tankless water heater to heat your entire home’s water supply or you can get a smaller one that heats only water that comes out of a particular faucet.
There are active and passive options for solar energy systems. Passive solar power doesn’t require the costly power-storage cells that active power does. Active solar powers requires solar panels that need installations as well as mechanical systems and cells. Passive power, instead, just stores the energy gotten from the sun inside your home.
Pay attention to any federal or local rebates offered for making alternative-energy updates to your home. In some instances, the local company gives rebates for upgrading to green tech. If this is not possible, you can find out if upgrades can be used as tax deductions. You may also be able to get credits from the government, either state or federal. You’ll find that these discounts can effectively reduce the price of adding green energy alternatives into your home.
Have your friends and business associates contact you via email rather than snail mail. Basically, this means using as little paper as possible. Businesses will have a much easier time communicating with you, and they will be saving energy. This also keeps the environment in better shape for everyone.
Watch how many watts you use. Use gadgets like the Watt Minder and the Kill-A-Watt so that you can discover what uses the most energy. Plug your appliance or gadget into the watt-checking device, and it will tell you how much the unit consumes in energy in one hour, month or year. This will make you realize what a given appliance costs you over the long run.
Use LED lights on the holidays to save electricity. The use of LED lights reduces the use of electricity according to research. The Department of Energy show that 2,000,000,000 kilowatt hours of electricity could be saved if all Americans switched to LED lights. This is enough energy to power 20,000 houses in one year. But for your own part, this is a great way to cut that power bill down.
Save money and fuel by carpooling for errands as well as work and school. Talk with other parents and try to arrange a carpool schedule so that you all take turns driving your kids to school. Also, create a joint grocery shopping day with friends or family.
Energy Star
Trade in your old major appliances for new ones with the Energy Star rating. This rating will guarantee than your appliance is using less energy! The amount of energy saved varies by appliances; you can save a lot of energy on your washing machine, refrigerator and dishwasher use if you switch to Energy Star appliances.
Consider more efficient home appliances, such as water-saving toilets. People have estimated that you flush about 50% of the water from your house down the toilet. Older models used 5 or more gallons of water to flush; today’s water saving models uses a little over 1.5 gallons per flush. That is a 70 percent water savings.
An on-demand water heater is a very effective energy saver. Traditional water heaters waste a lot of energy because they heat water constantly, even when no hot water is needed. An on-demand water heater instantly heats water as it is needed resulting in tremendous savings.
Green Energy
You may not be used to thinking about energy use and environmental considerations; and truth be told, you are not alone. However, based on what you now know about green energy technologies, you can see that making the environment a priority doesn’t have to be time consuming or expensive. If you apply the tips laid out here, you will be able to use more green energy and leave a positive impression on the environment as well.
