Green Apartment Living Tips
One thing that frustrates me about apartment living is that I don’t have control over things like choosing Energy Star-certified appliances. In this post, I’m talking about apartment renting. If you own your apartment or have a special arrangement with your landlord, you may have more flexibility.
Here are a few suggestions to help you live a greener apartment life:
•Make sure your air conditioning filter is getting changed regularly. Energy Star recommends checking monthly and changing at least every three months. Most apartments change them for you, but some (like mine) need to be reminded.
•Check to see if the outside dryer vents are being cleaned. Dirty vents can greatly impact your drying time.
•Try an indoor clothes drying line or rack.
•If an appliance breaks, suggest an Energy Star replacement.
•If your water heater isn’t insulated, ask about getting that done. You may be allowed to do this yourself.
•Choose PVC-free or nylon shower liners.
•If your apartment doesn’t offer on-site recycling drop-offs, find your nearest center. I know it stinks to drive your recycling, but it’s better than throwing it away.
•Try to get your apartments to add recycling drop-offs. This is a complicated matter. My city won’t provide these services to large apartment complexes, and my apartment manager said that everyone’s rent would rise to pay for a private company. As new laws are passed, this problem will go away.
•Since many apartment ovens don’t include self-cleaning features, try a baking soda paste solution.
Do you have more green apartment living tips to add?
Image via MorgueFile.
Tags: air conditioner filter, apartment living, change air filters, dryer vents, Energy Star, green apartment living, PVC-free shower liner, recycling laws for apartments, water heater insulationRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Earth Friendly Living Ideas, Energy, Green Home
7 opinions for Green Apartment Living Tips
Rebecca
Apr 23, 2008 at 5:50 pm
Living in an apartment is great for the environment, despite some of the downfalls you mentioned! You occupy much less space than a family in a single-dwelling house, and your place is insulated by the people around you, so you use much less energy to heat your apartment.
A note about Energy-Star appliances: Just because an appliance has the energy-star rating does not mean it’s more energy-efficient than one that doesn’t. The appliances are ranked by size. So all the 20 cubic-ft refrigerators are compared to the other 20-ft refrigerators, and the most energy-efficient ones get the Energy Star rating and the least-efficient ones don’t. The smaller refrigerators are then ranked alongside their peers. So although ANY 16 cubic-ft refrigerator uses less energy than a bigger one, it won’t necessarily have the energy star rating.
That was a long little lead-in to my point: many apartments come with smaller appliances. Whether they have the Energy Star symbol on them or not, they are most likely more efficient than someone’s gigantic appliances.
Peggy
Apr 23, 2008 at 6:17 pm
Rebecca, you are right about apartments being more efficient. I use much less energy here than I did in my four-bedroom house. Plus, I’m on the second floor. I think that helps a lot.
Did I sound too negative on apartment life? I’m a little bitter about not having recycling services here. : ) Plus, my apartments say they change your filter, but they never do and I can’t access it. So I have to call. It’s the little things like that and the massive speed bumps that wear on my nerves.
But I do agree apartments can be greener than homes in general. An exception would be older apartments that haven’t been maintained very well. I’ve seen some with horribly outdated appliances that have to be using more energy than the newer models. Plus, I don’t know what the lawn service sprays on the grass here but it smells like gas and I can’t walk on the trails for at least two days after they’ve serviced them. That can’t be natural!
So, it’s the choice aspect that does annoy me a bit with apartments. I think that’s what I was trying to get across with the Energy Star mention.
Thanks for your comment.
Liz.
Apr 25, 2008 at 4:57 pm
Since our dryer takes so long to dry our clothes we have opted to hang our clothes to dry, for the most part, which I think works just as well if not better. : )
Peggy
Apr 25, 2008 at 5:03 pm
Hanging is great Liz. My dryer used to take a long time too, but I discovered it was because the ground’s keepers were only cleaning the outside vents of the first floor apartments. What about us on the second floors?!? It’s much better now, but I try to hang things when I can.
Thanks for commenting and visiting Liz.
Rebecca
Apr 25, 2008 at 7:00 pm
Peggy, no, I did not think you sounded bitter! Just frustrated. I think it’s disappointing that your apartment–all apartments–wouldn’t make recycling easy for their tenants. All of the apartments I’ve lived in have had huge recycling bins for everyone, so I know it’s possible!
Peggy
Apr 25, 2008 at 7:45 pm
Hey Rebecca. Well, I probably am bitter ; ) But I’ll work on it. Yeah, I don’t get why recycling shouldn’t be offered to everyone in apartments. But some areas are passing laws to make it possible, so progress is coming.
Thanks.
anthony
Aug 7, 2008 at 10:25 am
on recycling programs, try this:
my apartment has 68 units and no building wide service, but we do have a neighborhood drop off site just three blocks away. so we get a few volunteers together and place several large recepticals (large rolling garbage cansproperly marked) inside the building near the alley entrance (paper/ comingled/ aluminum/ corrugated & paperboard). the aluminum carries a monetary value that, when recycled can help pay for the recepticals and any gas used to transport the materials. the volunteers then take turns by week to monitor and dispose of the material. depending on the number of volunteers, the weekly shift can be as infrequent as once a quarter per member, and the building doesnt charge anything for the service. add in the benefit of keeping any after-cost money from the aluminum cans that can be used for building parties, improvements or micro profit sharing among the volunteers and you have an extremely attractive recycling program for urban apartment living.
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