Tips To Become More Eco-Friendly
HERE ARE A FEW SUGGESTIONS ON WAYS TO MAKE YOUR LIFE A LITTLE BIT GREENER:
1. Don’t Let Your Engine Run – Letting your car engine idle wastes gas and hurts you car over time not to mention your wallet. Just 10 seconds of idling your engine wastes more gas than your car uses to start up. Idling costs Americans 2.9 billion gallons of gas a year for a whopping $78.2 billion!
2. Give Your Computer A Break – Leaving on your computer at night or for extended periods of time when not in use wastes energy. Instead, simply shut it down. Doing so might just save you almost 100 bucks a year from your electricity bill.
3. Use Cold Water for Your Laundry – Turning the washing machine dial to cold instead of hot is a definite energy saver. Most loads don’t need the heated water and in washing machines about 90% of the energy used goes into heating water. More energy means more money spent on bills and more damage to our planet.
4. Online Billing – Not only is online billing convenient it’s also eco-friendly. Its saves trees and stops the use of the fossil fuel that goes into back and forth delivery of bills. It also saves you the hassle of going to the post office to buy stamps which are rising in cost.
5. Double-Sided Printing – Sure it’s less sexy but printing on both sides of the page saves trees and that fact alone should make it more appealing. Still not convinced? Consider this: Americans use 4 Million Tons of copy paper per year or approximately 27 pounds per person. Save paper and money by applying this tip.
6. Carpool – This tip will give you a buddy to sing along to your favorite tunes with and reduce your monthly carbon emission by 10%.
7. Use Refillable Water Bottles – This one’s a biggie. In the process of making and transporting disposable water bottles, fossil fuels and gases from harmful chemicals are emitted into our air and fresh water supply. Additionally, 86% of these bottles aren’t recycled and it can take up to 1,000 years for them to biodegrade in the ground. Save money on bottled water and reduce this huge carbon footprint.
8. Shopping With Reusable Bags – Americans use 84 billion plastic bags per year and considering what we just learned about disposable bottles, most of which are plastic, you can guess where this is going. Reusable and biodegradable bags save trees and reduce land, air, and water pollution. Let’s put an end to the plastic tumbleweeds.
9. Navy Shower – Water is this world’s most valuable natural research. The average American uses 17.2 gallons of water per shower. Turning off the shower when you lathering and shampoo/condition will save water and money from your monthly water bill. Do the same when shaving and try to take shorter showers for an even better reduction of water wastage.
10. Recycle, Recycle, Recycle – The average person produces 4.5 pounds of trash every single day totalling for about 1.5 tons of solid waste per year. Much of this could be reduced through recycling and composting. Here’s a fun fact for some motivation: The amount of wood and paper we throw away each year is enough to heat 50,000,000 homes for 20 years. Do your future grandkids a favor and start recycling now.
All info was found at the following sites. Visit them for more tips and stats on going green and reducing waste.
The Daily Green
http://www.thedailygreen.com/going-green/latest/green-tips-10-easiest
Home Water Works
http://www.home-water-works.org/indoor-use/showers
GreenWaste