April 2, 2010

Ways YOU can help

Wash and rinse your clothes with cold water. About 90% of the energy used for washing clothes is for heating the water. Using cold water keeps your energy bill and carbon emissions down.

Bring reusable bags when you go shopping. More items fit in a cloth bag than paper or plastic. If you forget your bag when running an errand, decide at the check out counter if you really need a bag for this purchase and, if not, tell the clerk to skip the bag.
Use revolving doors instead of swing doors when possible. An MIT study claims that one person walking through a revolving door on a cold day can save enough energy to light a 60-watt light bulb for nearly half an hour.
Kick the water bottle habit. Americans buy 28 billion water bottles a year, many of which end up in landfills.
Use less paper by using both sides of the sheet. And only print out materials or emails if you absolutely must have a hard copy.
Car pool, bike, walk or take public transportation at least once a week, and you can save thousands on gas and maintenance.
Call the companies that send you catalogs and ask to be taken off their mailing lists.
Use power strips that can be turned off for appliances and electronic devices to avoid energy vampires. These devices often use power and act like vampires silently sucking away energy even when they are turned off.
Reduce energy consumption at your home and office. Turn off the lights and TV when no one is in the room and if you haven’t replaced your light bulbs with florescent bulbs get with the program and buy some today.