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Friday, June 20, 2008

Saving the world?

OK.. So in an effort to be come less of an American (Massively wasteful consumer) we have begun a trend of becoming more environmentally friendly. While it does take some changes it is not really that hard to do.

Around the house-
We have Fans in almost every room- This is good for both winter and summer as it is summer now We constantly have a breeze in the house that has a nice cooling effect. This also helps move air in and around the house at night when we turn off the AC (set at 78 degrees) open the windows and enjoy the cool night air. - It is currently 88 degrees outside and with just fans and cooling the house down at night it is 76 in the house - That is less electricity than running the AC :)
I am going to be building a Shade for the AC unit that is on the south side of the house to increase its efficiency next week :) Talking about shades we got darkening shades for the girls room and the playroom and they have made a world of difference as to how hot it gets in there :)
Turn off the lights.. there is no reason to have a light on if you can see well enough to read so keep them off during the day, we have also switched most of our lights over to florescent lights :)
Cooking - We try to cook with the BBQ or the Toaster oven as much as possible as both of these use less power than the Stove and Oven, also try to use 1 pot when possible to cut down on cleaning costs :)
We have cut back dramatically on the amount of Beef that we eat - Do some research on the amount of energy that a 1lb of beef takes compared to say.. chicken..
The watering system on our garden is very efficient, Peat moss to hold in moisture and the watering system directly waters the plants with very little waste

These are just a few of the things that can be done

In the car we have begun "Hypermiling" basically doing our part to 1 Save fuel and $$, and Lower emissions.. you just have to pay attention to how a car works, aerodynamics and use gravity :) you will be surprised how much you can improve your fuel economy - you do have to leave earlier though - Just the other day my wife came to me and said that she could get the Forester up to 40 on our road by just putting it in neutral... SWEET!!!

1 comment:

Katie and Chris said...

You are forgetting the best way to "save the world", Shower With A Fried!
I actually was taught that in my freshman science class in high school...lol.