Simple Ideas for Going Green in Your Busy Life

Electricity is such an important commodity and must be used wisely.

You not only help save the environment, you also save a lot of money.

Find out how to buy efficient appliance brands and models that not only save on energy but also give you more bang for your buck.

Read the label.
The Federal Trade Commission requires manufacturers to place Energy Guide labels on every appliance they produce.

This is the piece of black and yellow paper you'll find hanging on the appliance unit. This label indicates the appliance's energy efficiency rating, its estimated energy consumption yearly and even a comparable range of energy consumption and efficiency with other appliances.

This will give you an idea of how much energy the unit will consume. By simply comparing labels of different appliance brands, you can then choose which one is more efficient.

Look for the EnergyStar.
When an appliance brand is accompanied with this logo, it means that the unit offers more in terms of energy efficiency than a comparable model that doesn't have the Energy Star.

Appliances with the EnergyStar logo have been tested and proven to exceed efficiency standards set by the federal government by at least 20% to as much as 110%.

So if you buy an appliance brand with the EnergyStar, you're buying a unit that has the seal of approval of the Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency.

Size matters.
Most consumers are overwhelmed by size and many of us are actually convinced that 'bigger is better'. With some appliances, it's often not true.

A 10' x 12' room, for example, doesn't require a 4.0 Hp air conditioning unit. The unit will cool the room, all right, but there is too much unnecessary consumption of energy.

If you're buying an appliance, measure carefully and determine whether the size is actually a necessity. Bigger appliances, even energy-efficient ones, generally consume more energy than their smaller counterparts.

Mind the numbers.
Lower isn't always better, so you'll have to find out what figures to take note and what to look for.

When comparing refrigerator brands, for example, choose the one that has the lowest consumption per kilowatt-hours (kWh).

This indicates the amount of energy the appliance uses. For heat pumps, you might have to pick the unit that has a higher HSPF or heating seasonal performance factor. For dishwashers, the best pick is the one with a higher energy factor.

You can also Save energy by insulating your house

Whether you admit it or not, with all the expenses you have in mind, no matter how big your salary is, you still want to save some extra bucks in one way or another.

And the best place to start saving is right at your very home; on your power bills. Yes, your power bills.

All your appliances and electric gadget consume electricity and pile up to your ever-growing electric bills month after month contribute to your burden as a homeowner (or a tenant on a rented place).

This calls for complete information on how to start lowering your home energy consumption while not depriving yourself with all the technology you have bought.

* Let us start with how well-sealed your home is

Ensuring that your house is totally sealed keeps your heating devices maximize its use, at the same time, save some energy.

If you live on the southern part of the country, a perfectly sealed home keeps the temperature of your house maintained. This will also maximize the power of your air conditioning system.

To do this, keep your window, sills, door frames, and joints tight. Apply sealant on these places so that the air from the outside does not mix with the air on the inside.

Whether you want to heat up or cool down your home, properly sealed house will keep your heater or air conditioning system in its best functions. You surely don't want the warm or cold air go in and out of your home. This will consume more energy than it should be.

Heat loss can also occur on windows. To prevent this, use plastic window cover. Plastics are best material to insulate and keep the heat of your home inside.

A free flowing heating vents and air grills will maximize the flow of heat in your home. Keep interference such as rugs, furniture and drapes away from them.

On moveable sections of windows and doors, you may want to use weatherstripping. Weatherstrips are rubber materials that seal the movable object from its non-moveable object. This will go on garage doors, exterior doors, operable windows, and door of attic.

* Then, proceed on the blinds and drapes

If you want to keep your home warm during cold weather, choose drapes that would cover the windows entirely. If it is sunny, open the drapes let the sun's heat insulate your home. In this way, you save a lot of money on heating system.

* The thermostat

You can lower down your thermostat while you are away and while you are asleep. A centigrade lower equals to 2% saved energy. Again, you may want to turn the heating down if you are not around.

* Then the laundry and dishwashing

You should know this: You can save as much as 85 to 90% when you turn the dial of your laundry to cold. Heating the water will consume a lot of energy.

Also, you can save a lot when you wash full load. One last thing: a front loading washing machine saves you 50% on water and 50% on energy.

Dishwashers consume the same energy regardless of wash loads. Therefore, it would be much energy efficient if you load your dishwasher full.

* Go to the basement

Most heat is lost when your basement has leaks and drafts on the walls. Make sure you seal these places so that you can conserve a lot of heat and energy. You may also add insulation in your basement to ensure that the heat is conserved.

One good way to know if your basement has leaks or draft is to look for spider webs. When there are web, there are leaks.

* Time to go to the garage

Do not turn on the heating system at your garage full time. Whether you stay at your garage often or not, you can always heat it up minutes before you get in there.

You can save a lot of energy if you do this. Remember: use your garage heating system only if necessary.

And finally- you electronic devices.

Whether it is your tv, stereo, lights, or any other devices that use electricity, make sure that you turn them off when not in use. These simple steps will start you toward living green.

Going green in the kitchen encompasses everything from what you eat to how you cook it.

There's a ton of things you can do in your kitchen that will help lessen your impact on the environment.

From using a water saving faucet, to energy efficient appliances to cleaning with non-toxic cleaners, going green in the kitchen can be great for the environment as well as for your budget.

One little thing you can do is reduce your use of paper towels. The average family uses several rolls of paper towels a week but you can reduce your usage by keeping some cloth towels handy in the kitchen and use those for wiping your hands, spills and other uses that would normally call for a paper towel.

You'll save money on paper towels and there will be less of them in the landfill which, in turn, helps the environment. Also, the less paper towels that are manufactured, the less pollution in the air from those manufacturing plants.

Did you realize that some types of cooking are more energy efficient than others? While many cooks love a gas stove, the fact is that the newer model electric stoves are more energy efficient.

Not only that, but if you opt for a toaster oven or microwave instead of using your big oven, you can drastically reduce the energy needed for cooking.

Another thing you can do in the kitchen to help the environment is buy local whenever you can. While this might seem like a small thing, transporting food is actually a big drag on the environment. Flying bananas into upstate New York from the tropics can be costly in terms of air pollution.

Not to mention that foods from the grocery store can be loaded with pesticides and your local growers probably don't put so much junk on their crops. Plus, it's nice to support the farmers in your own community.

Using reusable cloth grocery bags, reusing jars and composting organic materials are great ways to reduce waste. You can compost your kitchen scraps, paper and even cardboard.

This will make great fodder for your garden and does double duty as it acts as an organic fertilizer saving you from buying fertilizer which saves you money and ensures that harmful chemicals don't leach into the environment from commercial fertilizers you might have had to purchase.

Possibly the most important thing you can do to be "greener" in the kitchen is to recycle. Make sure you get a good handle on all the plastic and glass materials you use that can be recycled.

Check the rules at your landfill as to what has to be separated out and buy yourself some bins to help you keep things separate.

Lastly, you want to keep the environment in mind when you clean. Cleaners full of chemicals can be bad for the environment and the fumes from these can be harmful to the health of yourself and your family.

There are plenty of natural things you can use for cleaning like vinegar, baking soda and tea tree oil that will help keep your kitchen sparkling without harming you or the environment.

When it comes to saving the planet and saving some money on your energy bill, lighting can play a key role.

Lighting can account for about 30% of your energy bill, so changing your lights to more energy efficient options can save you quite a bit.

Not to mention the positive impact on the environment. Here are some tips for more energy efficient lighting:

The first thing you should do is switch to compact fluorescent lighting (CFL). That's those swirly lights that have a whiter glow to them than the incandescent lights.

While these might cost a bit more than the regular incandescent lights, they use only about 25% of the electricity so they can have a big impact on your lighting bill. They last a lot longer than regular bulbs too so you won't have to replace them as often.

LED light bulbs are a newcomer to the energy efficient lighting market and have a few advantages over CFL's. They have a brighter light and don't take time to "warm up" and reach their full lighting.

They also cost less to run and last even longer than CFL's reducing your energy usage by 80-90% and lasting over 100,000 hours.

When it comes to lighting outside the home, the energy conscientious consumer might want to consider solar lighting. Lights for walkways, driveways and outside the front door can collect energy from the sun during the day and use it to power their lights during the night. A great way to light up your home without using any energy at all.

In addition to using more efficient light bulbs, there are some things you can do to help reduce the amount of energy you use for lighting. First of all, you want to be sure that you don't use lights unnecessarily.

When no one is home or when a room is empty, be sure to turn the lights off. During the daytime, open the blinds and let the sunshine in instead of using indoor lighting. Using motion sensors can help to insure lights turn on only when needed.

When it comes to lighting, you need to have the right amount for the tasks you intend to do. While you don't want to skimp or have poor lighting in important areas like the kitchen, you also want to be cognizant of when to use the lights and when to flip the switch.

Remember reducing your use of electricity helps to reduce CO2 emissions into the air since the plants that produce electricity are largely coal burning plants which can add to global warming.

A little bit of prudence on your part can make a big difference in the stability of our environment

One mainstay of green living is using eco-friendly products and today, almost anything you want to buy can be had in eco-friendly version.

Eco-friendly simply means that the product is made in a way that is friendly to the environment. It could mean that it is made of sustainable materials such as bamboo flooring or that it takes an old material that would be dumped into the landfill and gives it new use such as recycled glass countertops.

Eco-friendly products and green construction materials aren't just reserved for major home remodeling however. You can get eco-friendly bamboo laptops, belts made from recycled bike inner tubes, and even shoes made from recycled quilts.

Whenever you look at buying something, you want to look at how it is made. Is it manufactured in an environmentally friendly manner? There are actually a couple of levels of eco-friendly products. One is that the product itself is made from renewable or sustainable materials and the other is the method of manufacture and its effects on the environment. The best of both worlds is to be able to get a product that is made from renewable materials and manufactured in an earth friendly manner.

You can take the concept of using eco-friendly products down to any level. For example, even your grocery shopping can be made more eco-friendly by buying locally grown, organic produce and using recyclable bags to carry it in.

When it comes to home renovations, you have a lot of great options. Everyone has heard of bamboo flooring which is both beautiful and made from a renewable resource but there other types of flooring that you can use as well. Cork flooring is also renewable and can be very beautiful and it is warm and soft on the feet. Marmoleum is a type of flooring that's actually been made for quite some time using earth friendly methods and has a great industrial or retro feel that fits right in with today's styles.