Meanwhile, In Ohio…
These days there is nothing so in vogue as being green. Even teen celebrities talk about being environmentally friendly within the pages of the pre-teen and teen gossip magazines. What matters, though, is not what or who inspires you to save energy and reduce your carbon footprint. What matters is that you do it. Even if you live in a small town in Nebraska or Indiana or Ohio, you can help save the planet. Here are a few ways to get started.
Switch to Natural Gas
Natural gas is better for the environment and can be used to power almost as many things as electricity. There are lots of different gas companies out there, though, so even if you are only using natural gas to supplement your regular power, it’s important to Home automation (or Nebraska or Indiana or wherever) to make sure you’re getting the greenest and most cost effective power possible.
Automate Your Home
Home automation has come a long way. Now you can automate your home’s temperature and energy usage. The best places to apply this automation is with your HVAC system—program it to stick to a certain temperature when you will be home and lower that by a lot when you aren’t. Automate the power being delivered to the different parts of your home. You can set it up so that only the appliances that actually need them (refrigerators, freezers, water heaters) get power all day and the power to the rest is turned off (at the source so you don’t get phantom surges).
People-Powered Savings
Beyond switching sources of power and automating the availability of power throughout your house there are things that you and your family members can do each day to reduce your power consumption.
- Only turn on lights when natural light isn’t sufficient for you to see and turn off the lights whenever you leave a room, even if it will only be for a few minutes.
- Use LED lights instead of incandescent or CFLs.
- Wash your clothes in cold water
- Hang dry your laundry instead of using a dryer in the summer.
- Unplug electronic devices when you aren’t using them (radios, TVs, microwaves, etc).
- Take showers instead of baths and make sure those showers are quick.
- Use natural air instead of a hair dryer whenever possible.
- Use solar powered device chargers instead of A/C power.
- Only run your dishwasher and do your laundry in the evenings (when power costs less)
- Turn off the water while you are brushing your teeth
- Get out of the house as much as possible—go on walks, go to the movies, go to indoor play areas that are kid-friendly. The less time you spend at home the less power you’ll use and the more fun you’ll have together as a family.
- Have everybody do their homework and hang out in the same room as much as possible so that you don’t have to light up a bunch of different rooms in the house.
- Use ceiling and box fans instead of an air conditioner.
- Wear extra layers of clothing and use blankets to warm up in winter instead of jacking up the heat.
- Use microwaves as much as possible instead of your stove or oven. In the summer, use your grill or barbecue instead of the microwave or the stove or the oven!
- Make sure that your home is properly insulated and regularly check for air leakage (the easiest way to do that is to hold a ribbon up in front of a door or window. If the ribbon moves, that means air is getting in and out and something needs to be fixed.
Good luck!
*This is a guest post written by Becky W.
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