Medium Sustainability

Here are slightly more advanced ways in which we can think big while saving tons! Some of these items may require a trip to the store and maybe some handywork, but most everything are manageable by everyone. You may have heard some of these before but there may be some more information in there which you didn't expect. Also again, what we've found extremely useful is that for each area or idea, see how and where it can apply to you and your family. Just click each tep to reveal an explanation. If you have any others, please email us as we always welcome more suggestions!

	Install a new showerhead
	Let‚s imagine you live in a household where there are five people who each take a seven-minute daily shower. If you have an old-fashioned shower head that uses five gallons of water a minute, your household will use about 64,000 gallons of water a year for showers. The federal government requires that new showerheads use no more than 2.5 gallons per minute. By converting to one of these, you will save 32,000 gallons of water a year and will need to heat much less water in your home‚s water heater. You will save money on both your water and energy bills. And, you can even find showerheads that use less than the 2.5-gallon standard. If you are handy, you will find it easy to remove that old showerhead with just a wrench.

	Weather-strip and caulk
	Few people get excited by the prospect of spending a Saturday afternoon weather-stripping and caulking, but several hours spent this way can yield considerable energy savings. Many weather-stripping and caulking materials, such as caulking cord, are cheap and easy to use. Most houses and apartments have small gaps around doors and windows that can be quickly sealed. Considering one third of our energy is wasted due to poor insulation, checking your existing insulation levels and adding to them if required will make sure your heating and cooling is doing the job as cheaply for you as possible. It may be a small investment, but again, can pay for itself extremely fast!

	Install a compact fluorescent bulb or two... or three.. or all
	Most lighting in homes consists of ordinary incandescent light bulbs, which convert electricity to light by heating a filament. The technology has not changed much since Thomas Edison. They are horrendously inefficient; only about 10 percent of the electricity used produces visible light, while the rest goes into heat. Since the 1980s, compact fluorescent lighting has provided an alternative that is three to four times more efficient. Replacing just one 75-watt incandescent bulb with an 18-watt compact fluorescent will save about 570 kilowatt-hours of electricity over the fluorescent's 10,000-hour lifetime. That means, if the mix of fuels used to produce the electricity is typical, just one compact fluorescent will eliminate the burning of 300 pounds of coal. And, because fluorescent bulbs last longer, you won't have to keep changing the bulb. Over the life of the compact fluorescent, you'll probably save between $3 and $15 per year. If you tried compact fluorescents ten years ago and weren't satisfied, give them another shot, since they now have more appealing light quality and come in more shapes and light strengths.

	Shade your air-conditioner
	Of course, you will save the most electricity if you don't use an air conditioner at all, but if you are going to use one, you can make sure it is operating efficiently. An air conditioner won't have to work as hard if the outside part is in a relatively cool place. Try to place the air conditioner in a shady location. It's best if it can be on the north side of the building, away from the summer sun. However, note that there needs to be good air flow around the air conditioner, so don't put it in the middle of some bushes.

	If you need to buy a car, buy a hybrid
	If you're in the market for a new car or can upgrade your existing, this one will do the trick. Hybrids provide about twice the fuel efficiency of a regular mid-sized vehicle and with gas at about $3/gallon and more, that's an average savings of $720 per year. The more expensive the gas, the more you save. Also, you'd be saving 2.5 tons of CO2 per year. Although federal tax-incentives may have ended for many of the models, there may be ones out there that qualify for thousands.

	Choose Efficient Appliances
	If you need to buy a dishwasher, television, or other appliance, look for a highly efficient one. As a minimum, you should choose one with the federal government's Energy Star label, which means it is significantly more energy efficient than minimum government standards. By more closely comparing energy use labels or looking on the Energy Star website (www.energystar.gov), you can find the best of the efficient appliances. Even if it initially costs a little more, you will very often quickly recover the extra money through savings on your energy bills. For example, there is a 40% difference in electricity use between the most and least efficient 18-19 cubic foot refrigerator currently being sold. Even if you were not planning on replacing your existing appliances, it may make sense to go out and buy a new efficient one. This is especially true in the case of refrigerators and freezers. They account for about a quarter of an average household's electricity use. New models are much more efficient than older ones, especially if your old refrigerator no longer has tight seals or otherwise performs worse than when you bought it. The average refrigerator today uses only a third as much electricity as a 25-year old one of the same size and with the same features. You may be able to save fifty dollars or more annually on your electric bills by buying a highly efficient replacement model. And you will save a lot of coal, oil, and natural gas from being burned to produce electricity. If it turns out to make sense to buy a new refrigerator, keep in mind that it is usually a bad idea to keep the old one around for extra food storage. If you really need more storage space, it is more efficient to have one big refrigerator than two smaller ones. On the other hand, you shouldn't purchase a larger refrigerator than you really need, since the bigger it is, the more electricity it will use. Like houses, refrigerators have been getting bigger even while families have been getting smaller. Check our Standards Reference Guide for more information on EnergyStar as well as potential State and Federal Incentives!

	Refrigerator dollar test & more!
	Our refrigerator is essential and we pay for it dearly since it runs 24/7 and accounts for 25% of our energy usage! Take a dollar bill ($20 bill if you like, but we're cheap so we say $1), close the fridge door on it and see how much effort it takes to pull it out. If it comes out easy, it's too loose and needs to be fixed (sometimes just a good cleaning). If it's hard to pull it out and it rips, you'll be glad you only used a dollar bill... but at least your fridge seals well and is saving you money monthly! Also, check the door and make sure it closes automatically when open, adjust and prop as required to make this happen. If you have a 10 year old or older refrigerator, you could shave off about 9% off your monthly bill by switching over to an EnergyStar rated model (read the previous suggestion for more info on that). Old refrigerators can be easily recycled since their parts are archaic and heavy - recycling plants will be very happy to take that off your hands at today's metal prices! Before we leave the refrigirator - check to make sure the coils are clean from lint, cat/dog hair, etc. as it reduces it's ability to cool itself and reduces efficiency by as much as 6%. Here's a DIY on how to clean it.

	Insulate the attic
	This almost belongs in the mild sustainability area since this is a major saver and known fact but it requires money and time so we put it here. Hot air rises and a poorly insulated attic won't keep the hot air where it needs to stay - in the room. You can save about 5% or more in heating costs with proper insulation. Check with the packaging and your attic/roof access to see how much and what type you need. For standard flat attics with horizontal rafters, a rule of thumb is that if you can see your rafters with the insulation in, you don't have enough.

	Plant a tree, or two, or three
	Just one tree will absorb one ton of CO2 over its lifetime. Depending on where you plant it and type of tree, it will also provide eventual shade for your house - further decreasing the need to run the air-conditioner.

	When you buy, buy naked!
	No, this is not some sleazy commune proposition, what we mean is that you should buy food with as little packaging as possible since about 20% of our waste is from packaging! We've seen items such as grapes, apples, melons, and even individually plastic wrapped potatoes which don't need any packaging - it doesn't make them taste any better. In fact, it's more expensive since they had to pay for that packaging as well as someone to do it in the back room! Nope, don't need it. The natural skin of these fruits and vegetables are made for this very reason - we don't need to add any of ours.

	Bag the plastic and paper bags!
	Again, this almost needs to be in the mild section but many may feel daunted by the notion of walking into a large grocery chain with their own bags when everyone around them is getting their groceries wrapped in the plastic-ones in the bag-conveyor-belt by the register. So, we propose it here because it's important. In California alone, 19 billion plastic grocery bags are used each year creating over 147,000 tons of waste in landfills. They also end up in rivers and sewers creating millions of dollars worth of clean-up requirements. Yes, there are recycling bins but why go through the hassle when you don't need it in the first place. Why do we need a small flimsy bag to throw away for just a short car-ride home from the store? They barely hold anything and cut our fingers when over-weighted! As to what is being used to make them? Try 12 million barrels of oil per year! Paper bags waste 14 million trees per year! All just to take our groceries home one time. Re-useable canvas bags hold more, are far stronger, more comfortable to carry, much more fashionable, great for the environment due to its fabrication and longevity, and we make use of the word "re-use" - as we go grocery shopping so often! In fact, we recommend you have enough bags in your car for all your shopping needs (including malls). It may take a quick response to the bagging clerk to stop them from automatically bagging your things into the plastic, but you'll be much happier you did!

	Install a ceiling fan!
	Did you know that it's hard to know the difference between "feeling" cool and "being" cool? Running a ceiling fan on warmer days (air circulating down) will reduce the effective temperature by 4 to 14 degrees! By effective we mean "feeling" cooler. Running a ceiling fan versus the air conditioner will save you tremendous amounts! Here's a trick, use the low setting in the winter as well! Hot air rises (stratification) so you need to push the hot air where it belongs - down to you. This is especially important in tall-ceiling areas. For every foot in height, it's about one half degree warmer. In a tall space, it could be over 10 degrees warmer at the ceiling than the ground level! Let's bring that heat down! Your thermostat will also feel it as it won't kick on so much. Depending on your heat source, you'd also be distributing the temperature more evenly throughout the space / house rather than have isolated warm and cold spots.

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