6 Ways to Go Green and Save Money
One of the biggest myths in the world today is that “going green” is an expense most people cannot afford. This is untrue. An underlying principal of “going green” is to rethink our daily practices and routines. We need to make them environmentally friendly and more efficient. This change will not only result in positive impacts on our planet but also our pocketbooks. Below are six easy ways to start “greening” up your life and saving money.
Buy Compact Fluorescent Lights
This is one of the easiest things everyone can do. When a light bulb goes out, replace it with a CFL. They are far more efficient than an incandescent bulb and the impact to the environment and savings to you add up fast.
*CFL’s use 75% less energy than the standard incandescent and last up to 10x longer.
*If every American house switched one standard bulb with a CFL, we’d prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions of 800,000 cars.
CFL’s save about $30 or more in electricity cost over the each bulb’s lifetime. So if your house has 25 light bulbs- do the math.
Source: Epa.gov
Reduce Your Paper Footprint
Take a moment and think about all the paper that is a part of your daily routine. Paper comes from mature trees that add nutrients to our soil, clean our water and purify our air of carbon. Replacing these simple household items with reusable options, or ones made out of recycled content, can dramatically reduce the number of trees that are being harvested every year.
Paper Towels
*If every household in the U.S. replaced just one roll of virgin paper towels (70 sheets) with 100% recycled ones, we could save 544,000 trees.
Napkins
*If every household in the U.S. replaced just one package of virgin fiber napkins (250 count) with 100% recycled ones, we could save 1 million trees.
Bathroom Tissue
*If every household in the U.S. replaced just one roll of virgin fiber bathroom tissue (500 sheets) with 100% recycled ones, we could save 423,900 trees.
Many leading brands of recycled paper content are actually cheaper than their virgin fiber counterparts. This should be reason enough to make the switch.
Reusable Bags
The amount of plastic bags used annually worldwide is stunning. To produce such a large quantity of bags consumes resources like energy, water and oil. Reduce your impact by investing in reusable bags and spare our landfills and wildlife this waste.
*The U.S goes through 100 billion plastic shopping bags annually. Less than 3% are recycled.
*Each plant that produces plastic emits an average of 300-500 gallons of waste water per minute.
Many grocery stores offer reusable bags and a discount of $.05-$.10 for every use. Used once a week, an investment in 5 bags (with a $.10 discount) would be a savings of $26 a year.
Source: Earth Island Institute,
www.reusablebags.com, fast facts
Bottled Water
Bottled water is nothing more than tap water, dolled up in a package that is easily portable for our fast-paced lifestyles. The three main problems associated with bottled water are production, shipping and the amount of bottles that end up in our waste stream.
*Americans buy an estimated 25 billion single-serving, plastic bottles of water per year. Eight out of 10 (22 billion) will end up in a landfill.
*1.5 million barrels of oil are used annually to produce water bottles for America alone. This is enough to fuel 100,000 U.S. cars a year.
Investing in a water filter and a reusable bottle will save you some serious cash. If you had a bottle-a-day habit, and each bottle cost $1.49, you would save $544 a year.
Source: Container Recycling Institute, Earth Policy Institute, reusablebags.com
Rechargeable Batteries
While batteries have added convenience to our lives, they are extremely harmful to our environment. Batteries contain several toxins that can leak into our soil poisoning our wildlife and contaminating our water supply.
*Every year in the U.S. more than 3 billion alkaline batteries are sent to the landfill.
*Rechargeable batteries can be used more than 100 times if charged properly.
Switching to rechargeable batteries throughout our house will save tons of money and lessen our negative impact on our environment.
Source: www.greenbatteries.com
Automotive Maintenance
With gas prices soaring this should be atop of everyone’s to-do list. Generic automotive maintenance can dramatically improve our vehicle’s efficiency and result in better gas mileage.
Replace a clogged air filter
*An unclogged air filter can improve gas mileage by as much as 10%. This can have an equivalent savings of up to $.32/gallon.
Keep tires properly inflated
*Properly inflated tires can improve gas mileage by around 3.3%. This can have an equivalent savings of up to $.10/gallon.
The savings from routine maintenance is staggering. If you use 10 gallons of gas a week, the savings would add up to $218 a year.