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7 Completely No-Brainer Ways To Go Green And Save Money
Going green doesn't have to mean losing green. There are so many ways to be eco-friendly without getting rid of the paper in your bank account. Sometimes, being green is not only pricey, but also complicated, and inconvenient for the average person. Composting, making your own bio-fuel, buying only organic-- all are great for the environment, but unrealistic for the newly green. Follow these steps to make your life greener, with less money spent.
Dry Clothes the Natural Way
Return to the virtuous days of old, when laundry was hung outside to dry. Let your clothes air-dry instead of wasting massive amounts of energy in the dryer. Not only will your wallet thank you, but your clothes will benefit from the open-air freshness.
Use Body Heat This Winter
Find someone to cuddle with by Winter. This is free and fun, and it actually works. Your body is a toasty 98.6 degrees, so hugging someone else is the best form of insulation. It's cheaper than raising the thermostat, and it doesn't put a strain on the earth.
Say No to Vampire Power
Appliances like printers, blenders, and blow-dryers that remain plugged in while not in use drain your energy slowly. It's a process called vampire power. You may think that because these items are not in use, you're not using electricity, but the truth is that these appliances are always in stand-by mode, and require small amounts of electricity constantly. The more appliances you have plugged in, the more energy you consume. And it can really add up. A simple remedy is to go around the house and unplug unnecessary things, like that old VCR that you never use, or the TV in the guest room. At night, when you shut off your computer, switch off the power strip as well. Unplug fully charged cell phones from the adapter, and unplug the adapter from the wall, too!
Digitize Your Reading
Don't allow more trees to die! Take your reading into the 21st century by reading online or using a Kindle. Of course you can still check out books from the library (or read them an hour at a time at your local bookstore), but both of those option require you to leave home and burn up some more fossil fuel! And remember that websites like Barnes & Noble allow you to buy used books directly from their site. It's cheaper than buying new, and you can feel better about your impact on the environment.
BYOB: Bring Your Own Bags
Leaving the grocery store with a heap of plastic bags is so not cool anymore that many cities are banning them. Although paper is a smidgen better, using cloth bags is that much closer to perfection. Bags are not really necessary at all if you compartmentalize your trunk with a recyclable box and put your food directly from your cart into your box. When the cashier asks, "paper or plastic," you can say "neither!" and feel good about reducing the amount of plastic in landfills. It may feel weirdly pedestrian initially, but the awkwardness will wear off!
Bye Bye Bottled Water
Recent studies have shown that filtered tap water is just as healthy as expensive bottled water. It's time to say goodbye to bottled water that pollutes the earth with long-lasting plastics. Invest in a metal bottle and a simple tap water filter. It'll definitely be cheaper than constantly buying bottled water, and it's healthier for the earth.
Work From Home
Everyone knows that gas prices are going up, but so are all energy prices. Carpooling is so yesterday. If you can convince your boss to let you telecommute a few days a week, you'll be saving both you and your company money. With freely available remote access technology at your fingertips, you can easily work from home without skipping a beat.
These are just some of the many low-to-no-cost things you can do to make a positive impact in the environment, have a lighter carbon footprint, and make the world a little greener. Don't just sit there: be the change you wish to see in the world.
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Great post! We all need to start doing more of this. These things are so easy to do yet people are still having a hard time making the transition. Thanks for the info :)
Have you tasted tap water in the early hours when little is being used mine seems to be under gas pressure and spits out stinking and tasting of a disinfectant that is called TCP in the UK, it burns the mouth and causes vomiting if you try and drink it without running the tap for ten minutes. Waste of time complaining you just get a standard letter implying that you are a liar or a lunatic trying to spread disease.
Not sure about buying a Kindle (made of plastic and therefore oil a non-renewable resource, which uses electricity to recharge, produced from coal, another non-renewable resource ), when you can read a book, that as you point out can be recycled and was made from a renewable resource. . .Nothing wrong with cutting down trees as long as you replace them! And who says going to the library requires fossil fuel, how about riding a bike or even walking?
yeah that's it everyone knows running down our computer takes energy wich has to come from somewhere. This could be either way nuclear plant or coal so what's the point as long as we recycle old books that no longer use and that we make sure we are not cutting downs trees faster than they grow.
Okay okay really? A few of these ideas are decent. Two are just ridiculous. The vampire thing is widely disputed by anyone who works in the electrical industry as ridiculous. Not to mention, sorry but I am NOT giving up my classic books in order to read them on an electrical device. There is merit to having books, especially in the case of electrical malfunction/extinction of such classics. I don't mind going green but there are limits to the ridiculousness.
I will always use a dryer. The washing machine only gets rid of stains not bacteria, unlike the nice warm dryer.
You do realize that you have more bacteria and other organisms in/on your body than there are on your "clean" clothes right? Unless you are the bubble boy, sterilizing your clothes isn't doing much.
Hate to be Captain Obvious, but that is why we shower as well. Nothing like a fresh, clean person wearing crap stained undies with a t-shirt a bird crap on. /worst case scenario. Vise Versa. I will never give up my washer & dryer, my 2-3 showers a day, and air conditioning. I do, however unplug EVERYTHING that is not being used (spare TV, computer, stereo system, phone charger, laptop charger) I save ~$50 a month because of this. That is as "green" as I get. God, I can't wait till the term "green" dies off. like Y2K. stupid and played out.
Some sort of bag is necessary if you walk everywhere or take a bus, but that's why we have a tote ^^
For the person regarding the tap water in the UK. Try using a Britta, Pur or some other type of home filter. Most of the bottles water sold is filtered tap water and it takes two to three gallons of water not to mention oil to produce the plastic bottle. If a basic filter doesn't meet your needs then try a in line reverse osmosis filter and your water will be purer than 95% of the bottled water sold. The whole bottled water industry is such a sham. The average profit for the bottler for the water it's self is over a thousand percent. By using your own water you are not only saving water but saving money and with the price of everything going up, I sure you can find better uses for that bit of extra cash.
I agree with the reader about there is nothing better than a printed book but there is something to be said about ebooks. Making paper uses vast amounts of water and the waste from the process is toxic. The new electronic readers like the Kindle can store hundreds of books and the price for new ebooks is far cheaper then the printed version. If you are like me then most of the book I end up reading are not really something I need to keep. If I do find one that I really want to add to my collection only then will I buy the printed version.
To the person writing about using a dryer:
The hot water cycle of the washing machine gets much, much hotter than your dryer, not to mention the variety of bleaches, including color-safe, that you can use. Drying clothes in the dryer doesn't get rid of any bacteria that a wash cycle would not.
To the author:
The body is only 98.6 degrees on the inside... thank goodness. However, cuddling up for warmth is still a cute and reasonable idea. Also getting under the sheets and using comforters.
More important than the actual tips themselves, I appreciate the point of this article -- to show that it's easy to make little changes that can have a positive effect on your wallet and the environment. Thanks for the positive attitude and advice!
This is such an important issue that deserves attention. You rock!
Tumble driers wear clothes out faster too. Another reason not to use them, especially on your favourites.
It's all around winter at my house turn on the water an snow flakes come out. Now that's hard water LMAO
The books advice is a little retarded - i'm not taking my laptop to read on the beach.
I'm surprised you didn't suggest audiobooks.. as Audible, emusic, or Itunes offer downloadable books.. which use very small amounts of energy to keep.
You know, there are alot of web services now popping up that are focused on using renewable energy. This is a good one: http://www.thinkhost.com/?p=f0d9a65a
# 8
kill yourself
not sure how people can argue against vampire power. and the person quoted research done by electrical companies? come on now, theyre just as devious as oil companies - you think they're really going to tell you to turn your electricity off? no flippin way. what the hell do you think charges those little red lights on your electrical equipment in stand-by mode? not that those lights are the biggest vampires if you will, but it's a simple point that YES some appliances can and do waste electricity when not in use. electricity is made by electrons. for the most part there's always going to be some electrons running through a circuit, therefore wasting electricity.
besides, arguing against unplugging appliances not in use is absurd. esp nowadays. its going to forever be disputed this way or that. just unplug the damn machines!
Nice vampire graphic.
These are fine suggestions but none of them (not even all of them together) come even close in efficiency to if you switch to a vegetarian or, even better, vegan diet. You can do it today. Heck, you can do it right this second. It doesn't cost anything. It will not take time for any other work against climate change that you engage in. It only takes some effort and enough courage for you to question your own habits. It should really be on the top of any list like this.
If you don't take my word for it, see
http://www.ciwf.org.uk/news/factory_farming/lecture_calls_for_dietary_ch...
How about planting a tree for every 10 books you buy instead of investing in environmentally costly electronics? Batteries and plastic and power vs. renewing the resouces you used as well as turning carbon dioxide into oxygen!
For vampire power, get those power strips that have some continuously on outlets, and switch-controlled outlets. Then the stuff that needs to be constantly plugged in remains safe.
disputing vampire power is retarded.
On our boat -- At night, we turn off the generator. If you leave a couple of cellphone chargers plugged in (without cellphones attached), the battery WILL die.
@this guy-- "You know, there are alot of web services now popping up that are focused on using renewable energy. This is a good one: http://www.thinkhost.com/?p=f0d9a65a"
Everyone hates that. I normally wouldn't have looked at the site, but just because you put a refer link in it, I manually typed in thinkhost.com without your p=BS.
well then your battery is faulty
modern cellphone chargers are SMPS type which use almost no power at all when in standby (once the circuit is charged, no more power flows unless you take some out by pluggin something into said charger). And even the old laminated transformer type, the bigger walwart style - the type that get hot when sitting there doing nothing. Its true those are wasting power, hence getting hot. However, even charging your phone only draws a few watts. When not in use, it draws much less - maybe a single watt. Cost per month? less than one cent.
"Bye Bye Bottled Water"
Excuse me? What about those of us living in areas of the world where the tap water is unsafe to drink? I live in China and not only does the tap water here taste disgusting it's also unfit for human consumption. I don't know about the author of this article, but lead poisoning doesn't sound like a fun way to check out for me. Boiling and filters (at least those that I've researched) don't remove hard metals, so that isn't an option for me either.
Also, the poster who brought up the fact that e-book readers require energy to run is exactly correct. Your 'solution' is preposterous at best.
Author (pearlofafrika) please do some research (and/or thinking) before writing your next article.
Regarding books, your advice is actually completely opposite to the truth. Paper is made from trees. Paper companies PLANT trees to make paper. Each time you buy more paper, you're placing an order for MORE TREES, and by keeping the books you're making a carbon sink. The more paper you throw away or store, the more trees will be grown and the more carbon will be captured from the atmosphere. Paper recycling is actually far worse for the environment because you're using energy to break down the paper and produce more paper with no carbon absorption like you'd get from a new tree.
On the Kindle vs. paper books debate, more details here: http://fatknowledge.blogspot.com/2008/08/e-books-vs-newspapers.html
So don't read books. Read it on your computer? Another HUGE POWER HOG! That's just stupid.
To read books on a computer is laughable. If you've got your pants so much in a knot over being green, how does one validate using all of the electricity required by a computer rather than lounging with a paperback?
Oh, that's right: paper. As a bachelors of science in forest management I should need only tell you that pulp farms grow trees that are 30-feet high in three years. The United States is in a state of aforestation. You know, the opposite of deforestation when, because of our paper use, means more trees are grown than are being cut? Wanna really be green? I guarantee you use more paper after using the toilet than you read. Haven't seen many campaigns to switch over to washable cloths or any other disgusting method.
What about all the fuel used to deliver that used book to your door? Why not just ride your bike to the library to read books and buy used ones from the local thrift store?
One issue to note... Switching off the power strip on your computer causes the CMOS battery in the computer to run down prematurely. This batter is responsible for maintain the system time and date clock. When this battery fails a host of issues including simply broswing the web start to arise. This battery is important but can be costly of it continues to be drained. The amount of power a computer draws when it is powered off is minimal. For about $100 you can buy an APC green battery backup power strip. It detects when the computer has been shut down and completely switches off a bank of plugs (except the computer). This prevents the vampire efftect.
I think most people will agree time is money, therefore doing your laundry the old fashioned way would cause you to lose a significant amount of time/money.
It is good to bring attention to standby power consumption, but most of the examples (blow dryer, blender) are bad examples of this. Blenders and blow dryers are usually an "open circuit" when not in use and therefore consume no power at all. A better example of a "vampire power" appliance would be a television, DVD player, or game console. As a rule, if the appliance clicks when you turn it on, it probably won't consume power when plugged in.
how about you ride your bike holmes? It's not that hard. Buy something different than your old huffy and you'll be fine
Don't forget about reuse in the 3 r's.
bottled water is fine as long as you reuse the bottles 10-20 times. coupled with an active charcoal filter a case can last you a year.
I know those crunchy types will disagree; but lets be realistic, no matter how many times i postpone my 3 minutes shower till tomorrow; it only makes me smell bad and is canceled out by my roommates 45 minute excursion anyway.
Only widespread attention to such matters will reduce our waste consumption. Recycle everything.
If you really want to help, only eat fresh and local.
Lets block em out with purchasing power.
Here's another one:
* Re-use disposable cups at work for tea and coffee. Bringing a cup from home might be a hassle, so if you need to use a disposable cup ... at least use it for a while.
... but about the Digital Books, I don't know. Reading digital is a different experience than reading a paper book. Maybe at least read only good books that are printed ?! :)
and the manufacturing of the plastic bottles don't ruin the earth right folks!
Cool blog! I love the "vampire power" metaphor. I would add that people can wear organic clothing, which is greener than non-organic and synthetic alternatives. Not all organics are super-expensive. Check out Queensboro.com's Luxury Organic Polo and T-shirt. http://www.queensboro.com/7560.html It's only $8.95. I think more people would buy organic and green clothing if there were more affordable options available. It is great for designers to "go green" but if more main-stream clothing sources provided affordable organics that compared in prices to other, similar quality clothes, wearing organic clothes would also be a no-brainer!
--Kate
K who wants to spoon?
If you have not actually measured the 'vampire power' usage of your appliances, and then computed how much they are using per month, you have absolutely no business commenting on the subject.
I have never read of a subject where the vast majority of commenters are clueless to the reality. Everything they "know" on the subject is second hand info they got from someone else who is also clueless.
If you have not actually measured the 'vampire power' usage of your appliances, and then computed how much they are using per month, you have absolutely no business commenting on the subject.
I have never read of a subject where the vast majority of commenters are clueless to the reality. Everything they "know" on the subject is second hand info they got from someone else who is also clueless.
Say no to vampire power? Yes, good point, but my wife's blow dryer doesn't have a standby button when it's off, it's off, it's not using any power at all.
Don't allow more trees to die? Digitize your reading? Hmmm. I'd have to point out that the R&D and the manufacturing processes involved in producing and running a device like a Kindle, which requires servers and systems using electricity 24/7 far outweighs the energy costs of paper pulp production especially if it's recycled paper pulp. But, more to the point, those trees dying for your books are farmed trees, we're not talking ripping out rainforest to produce the latest Lemony Snicket.
i love the last one
All this is TOO obvious or unsuitable. Why this is on front page diggers?
Good list, a lot are obvious things. Unfortunately, a lot of people STILL don't do them!
cool website saving the planet
-treehugger
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