Green Living Tips 11.10.08

Did You Know…

Five Ways to Lower your Energy Bill by Treehugger.com: 

Audit Yourself A home energy audit is a way to inventory your energy use, where energy is lost, and where it can be saved. You can do an energy audit yourself or get a professional.

Reduce Your Use The lowest hanging fruit just begging to be picked are simple energy-saving practices. They're also the most cost effective. Top tasks include: Replace your light bulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs. Clothes driers gobble up a lot of power, so line drying can be a great energy saver.

Put Your House on a Diet Homes consume an enormous amount of energy, especially in heating and cooling, and American homes consume around six times the world average.

Buy Wise After cooling and heating, appliances and other plug-in devises are the next biggest users of energy in your abode. When looking for new appliances, seek out the most energy-efficient models. Most new appliances come with a yellow EnergyGuide label which, like mileage ratings on cars, shows its consumption in terms of kWh per year. Also look for Energy Star rated products (more on Energy Star below). Electronics like computers and audio equipment can be big power suckers, too. See below for more on greening your computer usage. Being smart with lighting is another key way to green your power usage. See How to Go Green: Lighting for more.

Homemade Juice You think making your own bread at home feels good? There's nothing quite like the feeling of making your own electricity from the sun, wind, or water. Installing a home alternative energy system is becoming more and more cost effective as technology improves and assistance programs spread.

See the remaining Energy Saving Tips, visit www.treehugger.com.