This is a list of ways you can change your life today. Please feel free to share others. I’d like to live a sustainable, greener life. If you can save money and the world simultaneously, why not give it a try? Here’s what I came up with (with the help of my trusty green consultant and site contributor, RJ):
1. Don’t drink bottled water. Bottled water uses a tremendous amount of energy to produce and sell, between the plastic used to bottle it to the energy used to ship wherever it’s going. As much as 40% of bottled water is just filtered tap water (which you can make yourself!). Plus, water out of your tap is a lot cheaper. Instead of paying close to a dollar for 12 oz. of water, consider getting a cup of water out of your faucet for less than a penny. Check out this post for more stats and facts about bottled water.
2. Pay your bills online and opt for paperless statements. The less paper being produced to mail you stuff you can read online, the better. Paying your bills online saves paper, money and fuel. You don’t have to buy stamps and you make the mailman’s (or woman’s) job a little easier.
3. Along the same reasoning used in #2, check out Zumbox to reduce the amount of paper being used even more.
4. Take those golf clubs, or anything else that’s heavy, out of your trunk. Of course, you’ve got to keep the basics – jumper cables, air chuck, flashlight, etc. but you don’t need to keep the golf clubs/toolbox/whatever in your trunk all season. You’ll get more exercise lugging them back and forth and you’ll save gas in the process.
5. Replace your windows with an energy efficient version. Save money on heating and cooling and get a nifty tax credit thanks to the stimulus package.
6. Buy locally grown fruits and vegetables. Head down to the closest farmer’s market and buy some super fresh fruits and veggies. You save lots of energy on food being shipped, and they’re often cheaper than at the supermarket. Plus, you support your local economy this way. When you buy something at Wal-Mart (or any large corporation), the corporation takes the profits and reinvests them in the company or distributes them to shareholders. When you buy something from a local businessman or farmer, they’re likely to keep that money flowing through your local economy by spending it at local businesses. This is always a good way to help yourself – spend your dollars where they might come back your way.
7. Install a programmable thermostat. This is easy, efficient, and you’ll be more comfortable to boot. Have your temperature gradually go down as it gets closer to bed time, then gradually get warmer closer to the time you get up (you’re always coldest when you first wakeup). These bad boys save money – and energy.
8. Drive with your cruise control on whenever you’re on the highway. It takes less energy (gas) to stay constant than to constantly slow down and speed up.
9. Eat less meat. For big meat eaters this may be the biggest opportunity for reducing your impact. Why? For each pound of meat produced, the animal must consume substantially more feed – production of this feed requires energy, water, and fertilizers. According to a late 90s Cornell study, each year in the US an estimated 41 million tons of plant protein is fed to livestock to produce an estimated 7 million tons of animal protein. In terms of energy, on average animal protein production requires 28 calories for every calorie of animal protein produced for human consumption. The most costly are beef and lamb, with ratios of 54:1 and 50:1, respectively. Turkey and chicken production are the most efficient (13:1 and 4:1, respectively) and grain production is on average 3.3:1. Animal production also consumes a tremendous amount of water. Grain-fed beef production takes 100,000 liters of water for every kilogram of meat. By comparison, chicken production uses 3500 L/kg; rice uses 1912 L/kg; wheat: 900 L/kg; and potatoes: 500 L/kg.
10. Use energy efficient lightbulbs. I know you know about this one. Incandescents produce more heat than light. Check out this post for a side by side comparison.
11. Use rechargeable batteries. Anytime there’s a reusable alternative for something, use that instead of using something you’re going to throw away.
12. Whenever possible, walk or ride your bike.
13. If you have a choice between plastic and glass bottles, choose plastic. It’s lighter, and therefore takes less energy to ship.
14. Turn off the water while you brush your teeth or shave.
15. Eat fewer processed foods. Processed foods take an enormous amount of energy to produce and have many negative health implications. See here for a discussion of the US Food System.
16. Avoid styrofoam whenever you can. It sucks.
17. Bring your own reusable shopping bag. Last time I was in Europe, you were expected to pay for shopping bags if you weren’t going to bring your own. I’d like to see the US lean this way. I’m not one of those people that insists that everything about Europe is better than everything about America – but they really do seem to have a leg up on us when it comes to energy conservation and the environment.
18. Line dry your clothes. We have an energy efficient dryer. The only problem is it doesn’t dry our clothes very well. Your dryer uses more energy than anything else in your house. Think about line drying once in awhile if you can.
19. Reuse plastic bags. My wife and I have gotten very good about doing this. If they’re dirty, wash them out. They’re surprisingly durable – and it’s a waste of money to throw something away that you can just as easily use again.
20. If you bring your lunch to work/school/whatever invest in some tupperware. Plastic wrap is much better than aluminum foil, but there’s a clear reusable alternative. Take advantage of it.
21. Unplug your cell phone charger, laptop, coffee maker, etc. when you aren’t using them. If they’re plugged in, they’re using some energy. Save yourself a little energy/money.
Some of these ideas are fairly obvious. Hopefully you took something positive away from it. This post is a work in progress. Please leave your energy saving ideas in the comments. I’d like to update the post (and change the number of tips) as new ideas come in. As always, thanks for reading.
This post was co-authored by RJ and I.
Related posts:
- An Easy Way to Save Fuel and Money Unfortunately I did not have a lot of time to...
- 5 Ways to Make Your Kids Wealthy My wife and I talk about what we’ll do when...
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
I do many of these, but not all. I started the cruise control thing when I bought my car last year. It keeps you from speeding. Just set it and focus on your podcasts or NPR or nagging wife.
I reuse the same baggies over and over for work. I’ve been using the same sandwhich bag since October!
Thanks for the reminders. It is easier to forget how simple it is to save energy and how the little things add up. In addition to buying local foods at farmer markets, etc, some communities (my friend’s mom in Little Rock participates) have groups of farmers that will deliver a crate of in season veggies, eggs, milk, meat, jams, etc from local farms once a month. She said you can’t beat the freshness or the price. And you’re not only helping your community’s businesses, you’re also helping the environment, and typically eating more organic foods. You can find similar programs in your area online.
1 Done
2 Done
3 Not quite convinced, plus I don’t live in the US
4 Done
5 Nope, renting
6 Do this sometimes
7 Again, renting, and moving soon, so not really worth it right now
8 Don’t have cruise control
9 Been semi-vegetarian for nearly a year (eat meat 1-2 times a week)
10 Replacing my incandescents with compact fluorescents as needed
11 I’m slowly converting to rechargables
12 I walk when the weather is agreeable
13 Done
14 Done
15 Done
16 Done
17 Done
18 Done when the temperature is above freezing
19 I try not to use them at all, but when I do they have their second life as garbage bags for bedroom and bathroom
20 Done
21 Done (when I remember)
Not bad, though there are a few things I could check off.
These are all really good ideas,. There was another one that I thought of, for flower beds/gardens (aside from the composting/worm farm ordeal) that is really easy and requires an extremely small amount of time and effort. Set out a large bucket/jug/container/watering can next time it rains and store it in the garage so small animals can’t drown in it and then next time you have to water plants, you don’t have to mess with busting out the hose/sprinkler.