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Energy Saving Tips For Apartment Dwellers

July 23, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Energy

Image by Claudio Schwarz via Flickr

If you live in an apartment, you may think that you won’t really be able to implement effective energy saving tips. How wrong you are! You can become more energy conscious as well probably saving yourself some money. You can also reduce your usage of resources. Here are a few tips and tricks for those who live in apartments and how they can save energy.

Don’t leave your refrigerator door open. If you keep your refrigerator organized, you will be able to find items quickly. Unless you have a frost-free freezer, defrost your freezer at least once a month to prevent front build up. The freezer temperature should be set a 5 degrees Fahrenheit for optimal energy savings.

When washing clothes, don’t do partial loads — wait until you have a full load. This will conserve water. Also, select the appropriate water level setting. Additionally, you can save energy by washing your clothes in cold water when ever possible. Clean the lint filter of your dryer before each and every load.

Turn off all those lights you are not using. Replace your old bulbs with more energy-efficient models. Consider installing timers and motion sensors so the lights are used only when necessary.

If you have central heating and air, try to keep the thermostat at 68 degrees during the winter months and around 78 degrees during the summer months. If you have a window-unit air conditioner make sure it is properly maintained. If there is water build up it may cause the unit to have to work harder.

Filed Under: Eco-Friendly Lifestyle, Energy Savings, Green at Home Tagged With: , ,

Creating Compost is an Easy Task

July 22, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Materials in a compost bin.

Image via Wikipedia

If you have a garden, you may wonder whether you should start a composting process to help your garden grow. Well, the answer is a resounding yes. Compost will act as a conditioner, fertilizer and mulch. It will also help the health of your plants, as well adding soil nutrients. And of course, let’s not forget that it helps the environment through the recycling of kitchen and yard wastes.

Here’s how you can easily create a compost pile that will be beneficial and will not smell bad.

  1. Choose an out-of-sight location that is close to both your garden and kitchen.
  2. You can either use a compost bin or create a compost corral. The bins generally look better, but a well-designed natural compost is just as effective.
  3. Whether you choose a bin or not just make sure that you can add the materials easily. It is also essential that you be able to turn the piles easily. If you live in an especially rainy area, make sure you compost heaps are covered.
  4. The two main elements of compost are garden debris that is green, such as grass clippings and brown debris, such as dry leaves. The compost should be two parts brown to one part green. Add a shovel of garden soil, which will add the microbial element.
  5. Add water so that the material resembles a damp sponge. Adding too much water will create unwanted odors.
  6. The pile should be turned once a week, moving the material from the outside to the inside.
  7. Your compost should be finished and ready to use in about two months.

 

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Environmentally Friendly Redecorating Tips

July 22, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Recycle Logo From Recycling Bin

Image by chrissatchwell via Flickr

It is not at all difficult to join the growing movement to “go green.” This is the newest environmental push to help protect our planet and there are many ways you can join the effort. For instance, use these great tips for going green during a remodeling or decorating project.

Be gentle to the planet. Unless it is absolutely necessary, try not to purchase new items. Look around for items you can use in your project that are gently used or recyclable. Check out garage sales and thrift shops.

You probably think that if you use recycled items you are stuck with a very bland color palette of browns and tans. Nothing is further from the truth. You can find many items that are very colorful and exciting. Again, if you do have to purchase a decorating item make sure you look for the “green” logo on the packaging that indicates that they contain recycled materials.

The reason it is important to try to use recycled products is that less raw or new materials are used in the production of the item. In addition, you can look for materials such as hemp and cotton that have been grown in a green environment — using no pesticides or other harmful chemicals.

If you are planning on replace or updating your floor covering, look for the new companies that are coming out with flooring made with recycled materials. You will find these materials attractive and easy to install — all without harmful chemical glues.

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Going Green In Your Home

June 12, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Sodium bicarbonate, sodium hydrogencarbonate, ...

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You don’t have to go to extremes to help protect the environment (unless you want to—just make sure the extremes you go to are legal) but there are ways you can go green, especially in your home. Here are a few suggestions.

With the advent of air conditioners and other climate control systems, the amount of recirculated air is increasing in homes. While climate control system filters, vacuum cleaner filters, and other things can help remove particulates from the air, more are being added each day, particularly when commercial cleaning products are being used.

One of the best ways you can improve air quality in your home is to use natural cleaning products. The benefits of this extend to more than just making the air in your home cleaner, you also save money. For example, vinegar and baking soda and both natural products. Used alone or together, these products can substitute for a number of commercial cleaning products.

Vinegar is good for cleaning and shining glass, countertops, appliances, and other surfaces that you would normally use a commercial window cleaner on. Baking soda can act as an abrasive, helping remove stains and soap scum from sinks and tubs/showers (don’t use it, though, if your bathroom fixtures scratch easily).

Baking soda can also be used as a laundry booster. It freshens clothes and helps remove odors. A mixture of vinegar and baking soda can be poured down drains to help them run better and to get rid of odors. Neither substance will harm pipes, so you can do this as often as you like.

 

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Going green in the kitchen and bathroom

May 22, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Take a look under your kitchen or laundry sink.  How many half used bottles of cleaners, soap powders and detergents do you have? Plenty I bet.  Bathroom cleaner, mould cleaner, bleach, dishwashing liquid, sink descaler and many other cleaning conconctions.  Have you thought about where the chemicals go when they flush down your toilet or sink?  Some chemicals can be harmful to our marine life and find their way out into the see.

Below are some tips to choosing the right cleaners which do the job without harming our planet.

  • Biodegradable does not automatically mean that its environmentally friendly.
    Dishwashing liquid in use

    Image via Wikipedia

    Biodegradable means that certain compounds and elements in the detergent break down into a more simpler form but the chemicals are still there.  These chemicals still find their way out into our waterways and do damage to ecosystems.

  • Phosphate free is what you should be looking for. Phosphates are harmful to our environment. Over production of phosphates can reduce the amount of algae and plant growth which can throw out the delicate balance of marine and river way ecosystems causing plant life, fish numbers to reduce which in turn has a direct impact on the surrounding ecosystems and food chains
  • Check for endorsements from registered environmental agencies on the products you’re buying or check out organisations such as the Safer Detergents Initiative for advice on buying the right products.

Doing a little research before you go shopping will reduce your impact on the environment and educate you in which products are best to choose.  This helps not only spread the word but protect our planet for future generations to come.

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Teaching Your Children to Go Green

February 10, 2011 By Leave a Comment

One of the best ways to teach your children green principles is by example. The more your children see you conserving and recycling, the more likely they are to do the same. As a parent, you can structure activities for teaching your children the importance of going green. Here are a few tips for getting your family members to do their part to protect the environment.

Teaching Green Principles to Children by Example

If you have young children in the home, they will watch you very closely. Little kids are like sponges. They will imitate everything you do. You can teach them at a very young age to recycle, turn off the lights when they’re not in use, and to practice other environmentally-friendly behaviors by actively doing these things yourself.  To draw attention to your green activities with young kids, announce your actions as you do them: “I’m going to throw the aluminum can in the recycling bin.” Making sure to turn off the lights or the TV when you leave a room are ways to provide a good example for kids.

Structure Green Activities for Children

You might save a week or two of recyclables and then sit your kids down and ask them to help you sort the materials. Separating plastic, paper, aluminum and glass is a useful exercise for kids. They might ask you why you are separating them and why these items don’t just go in the regular garbage can. These are opportunities to advance their knowledge of the environment. You might explain that these items can be reused and how much energy it saves when you don’t have to create glass or other materials from scratch.

Starting children at a young age with these practices is helpful for creating a future generation that values energy conservation and thinks twice about tossing recyclables into the garbage can.

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Become an Eco-Mommy for Your Baby

January 29, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Unlike earlier times, mothers today are more conscious about providing a green living atmosphere to her children. However, it is easier said than done. When a mother is in the sea of diapers and laundry, it is quite impossible to maintain the eco-mommy image. Believe it or not, there are times when moms want to just chuck out the cloth diapers and use disposable diapers instead because they are more comfortable!

Like cloth diapers, there are other small green living measures which moms can imbibe for the betterment of the household and to care for the baby. By raising your kids to be aware of green issues, you are doing a wonderful job and giving them hope for a sustainable future. Green living is all about Recycling and Optimum Use of Resources. Whenever you are using paper, plastic or cloth, recycle them rather than throwing them.

For instance, ask your kids to use both side of white paper for drawing. If you have a stack of printed papers at office, bring them home and ask your kids to use them instead of buying new drawing sheets. Similarly you can buy biodegradable or ‘green’ paper that can be preserved for long. Another way would be to reduce dependency on dryers. If the weather is sunny, feel free to hang the washed clothes outside. This helps to reduce electricity consumption and also allows the washed clothes to absorb sunlight. In the kitchen, place two separate garbage bins – one for recycling biodegradable waste and one for placing non-biodegradable waste.

Recycle the biodegradable ones and throw the non-recycling items. Finally, replace every electric light bulbs with less consumption electric bulbs and/or if possible, use renewable source of energy. You may think of these as inconsequential measures but when every house pitches in like this to save the environment, it matters a lot. 

 

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Facilitating Green Living With Children

January 25, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Increase in environment pollution and carbon footprint makes it imperative that we think about the Earth we reside in. If nothing is done in the coming few years to preserve the environment, we will soon lose our earthly abode to calamities. Our natural resources are steadily depleting and our existence is no more than concrete web. To preserve our earth, the present and the future generation have to understand and imbibe green living into their lifestyle.

Of course, the onus of making them aware of the impending danger lies with us. Parents must make sure that they teach their children about the environment we live in and prepare them to preserve it in future. Unless parents inculcate love and respect for nature in children from the younger years, they won’t understand the importance of green living. Kids raised in natural and green environment will definitely grow up to become aware citizens.

Kids of today will become conscious adults of tomorrow and they will prevent jeopardizing the planet. In this day and age, newer technologies are being developed to facilitate better green living. Newer technology is being channelized to find out new ways of preserving green energy.  With our fossilized resources steadily depleting, measures are being taken to conserve the remaining resources and find alternative method of generating energy. We have abundant resource of renewable energy; however, more than half of the world population is still unaware of its use.

Unless governments and private agencies propagandize importance of preserving natural energy and take to green living, our planet will remain in danger. Ecological departments should conduct awareness programs and people should be educated about maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Citizens should be given the means to use natural resources reasonably and steps should be taken to curb wastage of resources like water.

 

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Raising Baby Green

January 8, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Raising children is an expensive feat no matter how much effort is put into cutting corners. Everyone wants what is best for their children and even better yet ensuring they have a clean, healthy, and toxic free environment to grow up in. There are quite a few changes you can make to raise your baby within a green lifestyle.

Consider making your own baby food with fresh organic fruits and vegetables. With a food processor, you can blend all their fruits and vegetables, freeze, and defrost as needed. A few wonderful easy foods to cook and blend are peas, carrots, green beans sweet potatoes, plums, pears, apples, peaches and apricots. Some items can be blended and given fresh to your baby, such as bananas. This is just a short list of food items, for the possibilities are endless.

Diapers are the most expensive item when it comes to baby. Not only are they expensive, but they sit in landfills forever, as they do not decompose. The best way to work around this is to use cloth diapers. The money saved is significant comparative to laundering costs. If you do not feel comfortable dealing with the soiled cloth diapers there are eco-friendly disposable diapers available on the market as well as diaper services.

Not all those lotions, baby powders, baby oils, and baby washes need to be utilized. Infants are sensitive to chemicals and therefore water with a dime size amount of baby wash may be all that is needed to keep your infant clean. As always, when it comes to these precious bundles consult the advice of your pediatrician.

Lastly dress baby in organic cotton. If you crochet or knit, you can create all different types of garments for your baby that are eco-friendly. If purchased in a store these items can be quite costly and nothing is better than dressing baby is in homemade organic cotton.

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Simple Choices Create a Greener Lifestyle

January 4, 2011 By Leave a Comment

As we become aware of the ecological state of planet Earth, more and more are choosing to live a greener lifestyle. There are simple everyday choices and changes you can make in the home, workplace, health, and environment, which will influence the environment for years to come.

One of the easiest changes that you can make is with food choices. Processed foods are not healthy for the human body or the environment. Buying from local food vendors is a healthy and environmentally friendly choice. Purchasing fruit and vegetables from local growers, will aid in lessening the negative impact caused by transporting these items, as well as provide garden items healthier for the body. These foods will be the freshest possible and rich in antioxidants and minerals. Organic foods are a healthy alternative, as they do not have additives, which can lead to health problems. Locally grown foods also avoid pesticides and any ingredients that could genetically modify the fresh food. Organic meats are a very healthy choice considering the animals are tended to with standards that are carefully monitored and fed only organic foods for their growth cycle.

The place you call home can be green friendly with a few simple changes. One the easiest changes are to install an in-home water filter rather than purchasing bottled water. For as little as $25.00, you can purchase a filter that will be healthier on your body and an excellent environmental tool. Water bottles fill landfills, are not decomposable and are not recyclable as much as they should be. Another lifestyle change, which will help your health and the environment, is to consider walking or bicycling rather than using your automobile to commute to and from work. This will help in burning unwanted calories and not burning unnecessary fuel, which will cut down on pollution.

These are only a few simple changes that can be made to influence our Earth positively as well as enhance your health. Going green is simple.

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