Go Green Guide: Little Changes for a Big Impact - Green Living Tips

Appliances and light bulbs are the biggest energy draining products in your home. It is easy to make a big impact on your electrical usage by making some small changes to the types of appliances and products in your home.

One of the easiest, cheapest switches you can make is to replace all the incandescent light bulbs in your home with compact fluorescent light bulbs. According to Energy Star, if each home in America would replace a single light bulb with a compact fluorescent light bulb, the U.S. would save enough electricity to power three million houses for an entire year. More than $600 million would be saved in energy costs, and the greenhouse gas emissions savings would be equal to the emissions output of over 800,00 cars.

Compact fluorescent light bulbs also produce 75 percent less heat than traditional light bulbs, so they can help you save money on your summer cooling bill as well. Compact fluorescent bulbs last up to ten times longer, making less waste and reducing manufacturing costs.

Light bulbs are an easy way to get started, but to extend your energy conservation, you should look for products that have the Energy Star logo. Energy Star products are rated according to energy efficiency. If just ten percent of all U.S. homes would switch to Energy Star products, it would be equivalent to the planting of over 1.7 million trees.

All of our energy comes from the sun. Solar powered lights offer a low cost and do not pollute the environment. Such lights are very popular for garden use and landscaping. They are hassle free. There are no cables to worry about or the possibility of being electrocuted.

Are solar powered lights right for your home?
These lights produce an intense glow and shadowing around the surrounding areas. Solar powered lights are perfect for those applications where a regular power source is unavailable. The solar panel collects sunlight and converts electricity. The electricity is stored in rechargeable batteries. The lights will be strongest during the first few hours of operation and then slowly diminish in output.

There are many styles and brands of solar powered lights to choose from. They are inexpensive. They are designed to accent your home. Many choose this option because it is much cheaper that installing electricity to another area as well as the environmental impact. Most individuals can install solar powered lights easily by themselves. This again saves money over having a professional come to set up for electricity. The internet offers many reviews on brands of solar powered lights. It is a great resource for comparing cost and effectiveness of the products available.

Several towns have taken to installing solar powered lights as street lights. They are able to store up energy from the sun during the day and operate on that energy until early morning. The Solar Outdoor Lighting company donated and installed such lighting at the Ocala National Forest. Miami International Airport installed solar powered lights to offer additional security for their employees. They chose them for their low cost, environmental friendliness, and the fact that they took a fifth of the time to install as regular lighting fixtures.

- In affiliation with Allposters.com

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the average American produces approximately 1,600 pounds of trash per year. Too much trash going into landfills contains material that can be recycled instead. Here are a few simple tips for recycling plastic bottles and bags on Earth Day (April 22) and throughout the year.

Be Plastics Smart:
Find out which plastics are recycled in your community. Though recycling varies across communities, most curbside programs collect plastic bottles and many grocery stores recycle plastic bags.

Recycle These Items with Your Bottles:
Milk jugs; beverage bottles (e.g., water, soft drinks, juice, beer); shampoo, toiletry, detergent and household-cleaning bottles; salad dressing, cooking oil and condiment bottles; food jars (e.g., peanut butter, mayonnaise).

Recycle These Items with Your Bags:
Grocery and retail shopping bags; newspaper bags; dry-cleaning bags; bread bags; wraps from paper towels, napkins, bathroom paper and cases of soda.

Clean and Empty:
Recycle only clean and empty bottles and bags. Unless directed otherwise, remove bottle caps. Do not recycle bags that have food residue or material that has been painted or glued.

Bring it Back to the Bin:
Many bottles and bags are used away from home, so remember to bring them back to the recycle bin. When you're out, store them in a backpack or briefcase, or simply leave them in the car until you arrive home or at the grocery store.

Pitch in Beyond the Kitchen:
While many recyclable bottles come from the kitchen, don't forget to check bathrooms and the laundry room for recyclable plastics, such as shampoo and detergent bottles.

When in Doubt, Leave it Out:
Keep in mind that mixing the wrong types of materials can lower the quality of the recyclables, so include only the items your community accepts. Avoid recycling items such as automotive, pesticide or solvent bottles, the pumps from spray bottles (the bottles themselves should be recycled) and toys.

Remember that recycled plastics are valuable and go on to become second-generation products. Bottles are used to make hundreds of everyday items, including carpets and fleece jackets. Plastic bags can be made into durable backyard decks, fences, benches, shopping carts and new bags.

For more information, visit http://www.plasticsinfo.org/recycling and http://www.plasticbagrecycling.org.

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Seattle-based Earth Class Mail launched its service commercially to consumers and businesses in the U.S. in April, 2006 -- with a goal of licensing its technology to national postal operators within five years.

The current U.S. operation, which includes retail stores and mail-processing locations in New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, and Beaverton, Oregon, has validated the Earth Class Mail platform, which currently supports consumer, small business, enterprise, government, and military users in over 175 countries who receive the mail at one of 23 U.S. addresses. The company will continue to make its platform available to enterprise channel partners who specialize in outsourced mailroom services and document management.

Earth Class Mail's system digitizes envelopes at midstream of the delivery process, presenting two-sided color images of incoming envelopes to customers via
email and in customers' secure online accounts. Then, for each new mail item, customers can use Earth Class Mail's patent-pending Recipient Choice(TM) technology to have the item opened and the contents confidentially scanned for secure online viewing, or to have it shredded, archived, delivered to the right desk, transferred to another person without need of interoffice mail systems, or forward-shipped to another location without delay.

Earth Class Mail allows customers to access and manage their postal mail online, 24x7 -- with benefits ranging from mobility and convenience or a business presence at a fraction of the cost of an executive suite to cost-savings and productivity. For enterprises and government agencies, Earth Class Mail digitizes paper mail at its entry point, injecting it directly into an organization's electronic workflow and saving 75% of typical document lifecycle costs. To find out more, or to set up your own Earth Class Mail account, click here.

This year, 800 schoolchildren and volunteers will help plant 1,000 trees in 13 cities. It's an idea that is growing in popularity -- by planting trees, people can help create healthier, more livable cities.

For the fourth consecutive year, the Arbor Day Foundation and The Home Depot Foundation are teaming up to plant trees in schools, city parks and affordable housing communities across the United States. This year, the Trees for Success campaign will plant nearly 1,000 trees in 13 cities with the help of 800 schoolchildren and volunteers.

Spring is a great time to plant trees. Here are six steps everyone should take when planting a tree:

• Call before you dig. Several days before planting, call the national 811 hotline to have underground utilities located.
  
• Handle with care. Always lift trees by the root ball. Keep the roots moist until planting.
  
• Dig a proper hole. Dig 2 to 5 times wider than the diameter of the root ball with sloping sides to allow for proper root growth.
  
• Plant the tree at the proper depth. The trunk flare should sit slightly above ground level and the top-most roots should be buried 1 to 2 inches.
  
• Fill the hole with proper soil. Backfill with native soil unless it's all clay. Tamp in soil gently to fill large air pockets.
  
• Mulch right away. Allow a 1- to 2-inch clearance between the trunk and the mulch. Mulch should be 2 to 3 inches deep.

For more tree-planting tips and proper tree-care information, and to learn about the Trees for Success campaign, visit http://www.arborday.org.

Going green is a predominant trend in the world of scrapbooking and paper crafting. Ironically, these hobbies can require a lot of materials, especially paper. Thankfully, eco-conscious crafters can create projects without impacting the environment.

Eco-Friendly "How To's":

• Reuse and recycle paper scraps that you would otherwise throw away.
  
• Incorporate household materials into your projects (for instance, old magazines, old children's books, maps, old calendars, wrapping paper, old greeting cards and postcards).
  
• Spread the eco-word by using green as a scrapping topic.
  
• Buy local products to reduce the amount of fuel it would take to get the products to you. Check the paper for sales and coupons from nearby stores.
  
• Donate leftover paper to schools or nonprofit organizations.
  
• Plan projects out in advance so you get only the minimum necessary to complete your projects.
  
• Use eco-friendly paper, including paper with recycled post-consumer fiber and sourced from an FSC-certified forest (Forest Stewardship Council: http://www.fscus.org). Products bearing the FSC logo guarantee that the wood used is from a certified well-managed forest.

The Wausau Paper© Creative Collection line offers scrapbooking and paper crafting enthusiasts many environmentally conscious products made from 30 percent recycled post-consumer fiber without sacrificing beautiful colors, textures and quality.

The paper manufacturer is also known for other environmental efforts and processes. It's part of an innovative partnership with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the goal of which is reducing greenhouse gases and air pollutants and improving fuel efficiencies. For more tips and information, visit http://www.wausaupaper.com.

For a special introductory price of $99, a Green Irene Eco-Consultant will walk through your home with you and develop a customized set of recommendations on what you can do to save money, energy, water, and live a healthier life. Your Eco-Consultant sells many of the green solutions you select.

Green Home Makeover Topics:

• Energy conservation improvements
  
• Energy efficient lighting replacements
  
• Water conservation and purity tools
  
• Green energy sources available in your area (i.e. electricity from wind power and other renewable sources rather than coal)
  
• Improving indoor air quality
  
• Toxic free living by reducing harmful chemicals in use
  
• Recycling and waste reduction
  
• Safety and emergency preparedness
  
• Tax Credits, rebates and other financial incentives available in your area
  
• Your carbon footprint and Carbon Offset Programs
  
• Referrals to members of Green Irene's Sustainable Contractor Network

For more details, or to find a Green Irene consultant in your area, visit their website.

The Freecycle Network is made up of 4,682 groups with 6,459,000 members across the globe. It's a grassroots and entirely nonprofit movement of people who are giving (& getting) stuff for free in their own towns. It's all about reuse and keeping good stuff out of landfills. Each local group is moderated by a local volunteer, and membership is free.

One Click Resources:

Battery Reconditioning Report
Build Your Own Wind Generator
Carbon Credits Brokering
Convert Your Car to Burn Water
DIY Powersystem
Efficient Planet Guide
Electric Car Conversion Manual
Geothermal Heatpump Installation Guide
Go Green for Energy
Recycle Household Waste w/DIY Worm Farms
Solar & Wind Solutions