Lately been kinda of obsessing about power consumption of my electronics, which made me think about some of the other things I do to try and save energy/help the environment. Here are a few of the things I do, almost all of them are pretty small and alone might be insignificant, but they seem to add up to something much larger.
I'm hoping this doesn't seem like a lecture, I mean this more to be helpful..maybe there are a few things here you haven't tried, and might work for you.
Electronics: I turn off (power down) electronics off when they aren't in use. This especially means computer monitors and speakers, which consume a lot of power even when not in use (but on). You can put your computer into sleep or hibernate mode whenever it's not in use or off. I turn my work computer completely OFF every night.
Power Adapters: a lot of things use power even when you aren't using them, largely because they have power adapters on them. Whenever possible, I try to unplug the power adapters (especially computer or phone battery charger adapters...don't just leave those plugged in, they are pulling and using power all the time). A trick you can use is to put all your adapters/power chargers into one power strip, then just turn off the power strip when none of the devices are still in use. If you want to be really thorough, unplug your computer too when not in use -- it also still draws power. You could extend this to items like your microwave and TV as well, but not even I am that ambitious.
Home heating: we do not use the heat at night. we do not leave the heat on when we are out of the house. [we live in a pretty temperate area, which make this easier.] we do not have any airconditioners.
Recycling: Seattle has mandatory recycling, but I have been pretty crazy about this for years. We also now have City pick-up composting, so basically nearly everything we have gets recycled. According to one carbon footprint calculator, recycling everything you can cuts your home-based carbon footprint by up to 50%. I also only buy recycled paper products.
Packaging: I try to buy things with as little non-recyclable packaging as possible. So I'll intentionally buy things with less plastic wrap on them, or fewer layers of plastic. Reseable bags are also great.
Re-Use: Trying to get better about this. one thing we do is wash and re-use sandwich bags. I don't throw away any re-usable object - I either leave by the curb (if large) for someone to take if they want (always works within 24 hrs) or I take stuff to Goodwill and let them decide if it's reuseable or not.
Car: I keep the tires inflated and get it tuned up twice a year. I've also made it a personal goal to never live more than 15 minutes from work. This keeps my total miles driven pretty small each year.
Stairs: I take the stairs at work for any trip of 3 flights or less (and freqeuntly for more...there are only 6 stories in our building).
Plastic bags: yes, we now take bags to the store, though I kind of feel like a freak for doing so. We're trying to find a cost effective alternative to plastic grocery bags for our kitty unmentionables.
Food: ok, here is where I'll probably lose a lot of people, but here is the truth: eating vegetarian consumes a lot less energy and fuels (and fewer pesticides to boot) than eating meet. A recent UN report says that twice as much greenhouse gases are consumed for a meat meal than a vegetarian meal (and 7 times more than a vegan meal). Think of all the transportation and refrigeration it takes to get meat around, how much more wrapping and handling it takes. Not to mention all that grain that needs to be produced just to fatten up the animals. So think about what would happen if you just cut your meat consumption in half. If you eliminated half your meat eating (home and out), you'd be reducing your food related carbon footprint by 50%. I don't think there is any single better thing you could do that would have that scale of change.
Except maybe giving up flying. Air travel is increadibly bad for the environment - on the carbon calculators air travel is my single largest contribution- larger than an entire year of driving my car or all of my household-related emissions for a year. I have't figured out this one yet. My in-laws live 4000 miles away on an island.
Cost-wise, I think we're coming out ahead. The reduction in the electric and/or heating bill and gas consumption is somewhat offset by some more expensive purchases (recylced paper towels...yikes!) and the more frequent car tune ups.
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