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By Adam, May 3, 2010 5:25 pm

You do not have to move to a cabin in the mountains and live off the land if you are thinking about helping the environment. You must have noticed how environmental issues are in discussion everywhere these days, not to be ignored. Quite simply, we can’t continue to be conspicuous with our consumption habits and we have to understand what it means to be sustainable as we move forward. This will require us to think about every single action that we take during our daily lives. Look for as many ways to save electricity at home as you can, while learning about the benefits of renewable energy and seeing how these options or solutions can be applied for all of us.

What can you do to help save the environment? Here’s a small list of steps that you can take at home, right now, which would make a difference. If all of us were to apply what we read here, there would be a remarkable change over the long haul.

1. Look at all the bulbs you have in your house. Compact fluorescent bulbs are much better than incandescent bulbs which simply burn energy. Swap out all the lights in your house. Yes, there are a great number of them. You may be worried about the money that goes out of your wallet when you first buy this kind of bulb, but statisticians from the government assure us that we can save so much money during the course of the year with lower electricity bills that we can make this money back.

2. Be a much better steward. Send whatever is acceptable to the recycling plant. Bury biodegradable waste and food leftovers in the ground rather than clogging up the local landfills. People who know about these things tell us that up to 20% of the rubbish that we throw away is biodegradable and we could recycle it ourselves without stressing the system. Whenever this trash is picked up, a lot of energy is used to do so and we could save all of this.

3. Rethink your transportation. Consider whether you could share transportation with fellow worker/employees on a daily basis. You could cut down on both your bills by pooling resources this way. Why is it that those traffic jams that we experience daily on the motorway when going to work, are all made up of vehicles that just seem to have a single occupant? We have known about this for some time and cannot deny that it is really silly and as we wait for politicians to perfect public transportation systems, we should all exhibit some common sense.

4. Put some trees in your back garden. Trees are great for our environmental problems and the thorny subject of climate change. They attract carbon dioxide emissions that are otherwise spewed into the air by power consumption. By planting trees you can also keep direct sunlight away from your home and this could help to cut down your cooling bills in the summer, as well. In addition, well-positioned trees cut down noise pollution caused by a noisy highway that might be located close to you.

You see, just by being creative we can make a difference in almost every activity we engage in.

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By Adam, March 13, 2010 1:27 am

It’s not as if saving money has ever been “out” of fashion, as such, but it is certainly en vogue these days. We used to be concerned about receiving those energy bills and would mutter under our breath as we tore open the envelope. This would always be the time to make a resolution, vowing to turn off all unnecessary lights. Invariably though, we would forget as it didn’t seem quite so urgent for some reason. Fast forward to today and everything seems much more urgent now. Now we are looking for a whole array of different ways to save electricity, as we realise just how pressing this need is.

There was a time when only environmentalists and those known as “tree huggers” would seem to sense the true urgency of excess energy use and preach to us that we needed to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions or we would cause damage to the world we live in. We hear all kinds of reports on the news about how global warming is changing polar ice packs and that people in far-off countries are in danger of losing their ability to feed themselves, due to climate changes and weather pattern alterations. On our own doorstep we hear about companies, which will soon be penalised for failing to reduce their energy use and for emitting carbon, fairly sure that the consequence of these actions will result in additional costs for us to deal with.

Even if we don’t look at things from an overall perspective and express our concern for nature, we can see how energy costs themselves have exploded in recent times. The government has tried and seems to be failing to regulate the energy industry and infrastructure seems unable to cope and is constantly under pressure. Those seasonal spikes in energy seem to be causing more issues as we go along and we wonder how long the system will be able to put up with this, as we continue to rely on fossil fuels for our power. We all know the benefits of renewable energy, but we collectively have not moved forward fast enough to try and embrace them. Just think of the extraordinary ways in which we would be helping the environment if we were able to turn to wind, solar and other renewable sources for the majority of our energy.

Focusing close to home, what can we do to help the environment and ourselves at the same time? There are many things. For a start, we should always purchase highly efficient equipment for our kitchens and for our heating and air-conditioning needs. As an example, some refrigerators are available that consume only 100 kWh per year and these appliances are said to be four times more efficient than similar appliances found in the European Union. If you have to spend up to 10% more to actually buy a machine like this it would be okay, as you could save a significant amount of money annually, greatly reducing your electricity bill. These appliances may last for 4 to 5 years and the additional amount you pay to buy them up front will definitely be saved in the long run. Remember that they will need less repairing as well and you won’t be as annoyed by that fan circling on whenever you are trying to sit down and watch the television!

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By Adam, January 31, 2010 3:31 pm

You do not have to move to a cabin in the mountains and live off the land if you are thinking about helping the environment. You must have noticed how environmental issues are in discussion everywhere these days, not to be ignored. We use way too much energy and are very careless with our consumption and must all learn how to be more sustainable as we go forward. Yes, this means we will have to think about everything that we do as we go about our daily lives. Look for as many ways to save electricity at home as you can, while learning about the benefits of renewable energy and seeing how these options or solutions can be applied for all of us.

How can we help save the environment, individually? We have compiled a list of things you can do at home, immediately, which will help to make a difference. If every single one of us did only the things on this list, the resulting changes could be remarkable.

1. Consider all the bulbs in your home. It is much better to use compact fluorescent bulbs than those traditional incandescent items that use a lot of energy. Begin by changing all the light bulbs in the house. Yes, there are a great number of them. While you might be a little shocked when you buy these bulbs to start off with, government energy statisticians tell us that you could save the difference in cost within your lower electricity bills, during the space of a year.

2. Be a better steward. Send whatever is acceptable to the recycling plant. Bury biodegradable waste and food leftovers in the ground rather than clogging up the local landfills. Experts tell us that 20% of the rubbish that we produce is actually biodegradable and we could get rid of it ourselves without stressing the system unnecessarily. Whenever this trash is picked up, a lot of energy is used to do so and we could save all of this.

3. Rethink your transportation. Are you able to share transportation with somebody else on your way to work? Why not pool resources and cut down your bill, and the bill of a co-worker at the same time. It seems nonsensical when you look at all those cars jammed on the motorway in the morning, the vast majority of them with just a single occupant. This is craziness and while we wait for our politicians to come up with public transportation systems that really do work, we can all use our common sense.

4. Put some trees in your back garden. Did you know that trees are very good for our environment and considerably help the problem of climate change? Trees actually absorb carbon dioxide emissions that would otherwise end up in the atmosphere. By planting trees you can also keep direct sunlight away from your home and this could help to cut down your cooling bills in the summer, as well. In addition, well-positioned trees cut down noise pollution caused by a noisy highway that might be located close to you.

With a little bit of creativity, we can make a difference in virtually everything that we do!