The Simple Things

We live in a very environmentally aware society. The problem is it is hard to act on that awareness. In plain truth, it’s just too hard to feel like you are making a difference. Some of the proposed solutions are too big of a changes too quickly and I think many of these once aware citizens have a bad taste in their mouth from trying too hard to save the earth, but the truth is there are plenty of easy, simple ways everyone can make a difference!

1. Unplug unused appliances. How can this possibly help burn less oil??? The amount of unused energy is the United states is very disturbing. According to the LUF Green team, “40% of the electricity used to power home electronics is consumed while they’re turned off.” This percentage is staggering to say the least. Imagine the energy we could save by simple unplugging the old toaster that is rarely used.

SOURCE:http://www.fotosearch.com/comp/Corbis/DGT373/electrical-plugs_~DSO0038.jpg

The projected difference simply unplugging things would make is simple phenomenal. The LUF Green team stated in its April 2008 web blog that, “If we averted phantom loads in all U.S. homes, we could shut down 17 power plants.” This shows how much our little changes can actually make a difference! Some still may say that the hassle out weighs the conservation, but that is just simply not the case. There are plenty of ways to stop this unneeded use of our precious energy. One way is the Smart strip power strip. This device “unplugs” your appliances for you!

SOURCE: http://www.germes-online.com/

2. Use warm or cold water when doing laundry instead of hot. According to CES Philadephia, “Up to 85 percent of the cost of operating a washing machine comes from heating the water. Cut that energy use in half by switching the temperature control from hot to warm.” That data is gives a clear picture of how much you help the enviroment and your check book! However, many critics of this solution claim tat washing with cold water does not have the same quality of washing with warm water. This is actually not the case. Cool water detergents actually produce the same results as warm water ones!

3.  Avoid buying products that are covered in layers of packaging.  According to http://www.seql.org, “About 33% of what we throw away is packaging.” If we conserve our waste and be mindful of how much we actually threw away, we could make make a world of difference!

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