- Reuse plastic bags. Forgetfulness is the reason behind why we use over 500 billion plastic bags every year – or rather a million a minute. It will take over a millennium for these to degrade in a landfill site.
- Use a clothes line. Reduce tumble-dryer use with a clothes line. Whether you use an indoor drying rack or an outdoor clothes line, natural drying is better for your garments (look at the lint on your tumble-dryer filter, which fills up with every load – this is your clothing being worn away). Plus, drying your washing on a line is cheaper and doesn’t waste energy.
- Use the cold-water wash Using the cold-water option on your machine – opting for 30C over the hotter options on your machine will save 80-90 percent of the energy costs from washing. The detergent you use is what really makes the difference in wash results, not the temperature of the water.
- Consider CFL light bulbs. Compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFL) are the funny-looking swirly bulbs. They may cost three times as much as a normal energy-saving bulb but they use a quarter less electricity and lasts for years. Remember to recycle them, though, as they contain 5mg or mercury, so they aren’t supposed to end up in a landfill.
- Reuse containers. Why buy kitchen storage containers when you can reuse old packaging such as large yogurt pots, glass jars and ice cream containers? At the same time, reuse old plastic bags, an estimated 3 billion kilograms of plastic bags, wraps and sacks enter the waste stream each year.
- Don’t replace – use it up. You may be tempted to go all out and be green in every aspect of your home life, but before you ditch all your old cleaners, and white electrical goods (fridge, washing machine etc), bear in mind the waste you are creating. It’s greener to use up what you have first than replacing everything and throwing goods aways, even if they aren’t eco-friendly!
- Avoid leaving the fridge open. Each minute the fridge door is open takes three minutes of the energy to then cool the food down again.
- Use less paper. Every year 900 million tress are cut down to provide materials for paper mills. Help lessen the load by using both sides of the paper you print on, recycling all paper products and thinking about the packaging you buy your products in.
- Use a microwave to cook Cooking with a microwave is faster and more efficient than using an oven and will reduce your energy usage by about 75 percent. But do check on the safe levels of microwaving before nuking your food till there is no more nutrition left.
- Dim your lights Dimming your lights by 25 or 50 percent with a dimmer switcher saves energy by the same amount.
- Put your air con on a timer Set a time for your air conditioner to switch off at the bedtime and back on in the mornings if needed and you could save on your electricity bills and even more in terms of energy.
- Don’t buy bottled water Buy a water filter and simply filter your water instead of buying water that’s bottled in plastic bottles.
- Recycle all your drink cans The energy saved by recycling one diet cola could run a television for three hours!
- Don’t charge your mobile phone overnight. Most phones take only an hour (or less) to charge. If you keep them plugged in all night, all you are doing is drawing electricity for no reason. So unplug the charger and while you’re at it switch your phone off. Are you really going to take a call at 3am?
- Take your DVD off standby. 85 percent of energy used by a DVD player is wasted when it’s on standby.
- Use rechargeable batteries. 600 million batteries are used in the UK alone every year – most end up as toxic components of landfill.
- Change your light bulbs. Only 10 percent of the input power in a traditional light bulb is converted into light, the rest is lost in heat. Lighting from an LED bulb is more efficient as it can convert 50 percent of input energy into light. According to a United States Department of Energy report, the report estimated that if LED bulbs were used widely by the populatio of the United States it would have alleviated the need for 133 new power stations in the U.S.
- Open your windows. Air your house when it’s chilly outside and open the windows wide when it’s hot. Turn off the air conditioning and/or fans – you’ll feel better and save energy.
Compiled by Janet Lee. Source: The Lazy Girl’s Guide to Green Living by Anita Naik
