Tree Hugging Family » Save Energy

One small step: programmable thermostat

Jennifer — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 01:54:19 +0000

Installing a programmable thermostat in your home is a simple way to save energy and money. If you get an ENERGY STAR qualified programmable thermostat and use it properly your household will save about $180 a year on energy bills. That, along with all the other energy saving steps you take can add up.

Also, a good programmable thermostat saves you time. ENERGY STAR qualified programmable thermostats come with four pre-programmed settings that regulate your home’s temperature in both summer and winter and even when your family is asleep or away. This means a programmable thermostat automatically help to reduce heating and cooling in your home according to your families schedule.

Visit the ENERGY STAR programmable thermostat page to learn about choosing the right programmable thermostat how to make sure that your thermostat is properly installed, and how to properly set and use your thermostat.

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Would You Dump Your Refrigerator?

Jennifer — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 12:27:05 +0000

The New York Times recently ran an interesting piece; Trashing the Fridge. The article (not surprisingly) focuses on individuals who have decided to save energy by dumping their fridge. Folks in the piece note that “The refrigerator is unnecessary, as long as one is careful about shopping choices and food storage.”

One of the families covered in this article get around fridge use by keeping a small freezer in the basement along with a cooler upstairs. They keep the cooler cold with “Two-liter soda bottles full of frozen water, which are rotated to the freezer when they melt.” This family’s fridge is sitting empty and unplugged in their kitchen.

There are some pros to this practice. For example, my favorite anti-fridge quote in the articles is…

“Refrigerator lust is one of the things driving huge energy-use increases in the developing world,” wrote the blogger “Greenpa” on his “Little Blog in the Big Woods” two years ago. “A great deal of what’s in your fridge absolutely does NOT need to be there.”

I agree. Having a fridge can likely lead to over consumption and a general lack of consideration toward purchases. People buy a ton of junk that’s unnecessary, although you don’t need to dump your fridge to be smarter, greener consumer. The fridge also uses about a sixth of all energy in a typical household, making it by far the largest energy hog appliance in most homes.

On the flip side:

Refrigerators have gotten much better over the last two decades. Basic models now use about 60% less electricity than the fridges from 20 years ago while ENERGY STAR qualified refrigerator models use at least 20% less energy than required by current federal standards and 40% less energy than the conventional models sold in 2001.

Additionally, the fridge is obviously very convenient. No fridge, in my opinion, could lead to impulse buys (you’d need to make more frequent trips to the store) and along those same lines, it would waste time. I don’t have extra time to run out every other day for a smaller container of milk.

Lastly, there are plenty of ways to save energy that don’t require giving up your fridge.

With some basic maintenance your fridge can be more energy efficient.
You could have more family activities over electrical activities.
You could plant windbreakers.
Try some solar lighting.
Turn off lights when you leave the room and unplug items when they’re not in use.
And so much more – placing all the energy drain blame on one appliance is silly.

DON’T FORGET: If you do give up your fridge or trade up to a newer, more energy efficient model, you should recycle your old refrigerator.

What do you think – could you live without a fridge? Personally, I’ve lived with a super small, energy efficient fridge for years, because a large one seems unnecessary for my family, but to have none at all seems excessive.

[image via stock.xchng]

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Six easy ways to save power and money

Jennifer — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 03:23:34 +0000

When it comes to powering up your house it can take a lot of energy and cost some big bucks. Nowadays we power up everything from lamps, to laptops, to toothbrushes, and more. To save energy and money try the following…

Use rechargeable batteries whenever possible. This not only saves you cash but saves landfill space as well. Some studies show that it can take as many as 1,000 regular batteries to cover the lifespan of one rechargeable battery.
Install light sensors that automatically turn off when people leave the room.
Use voice mail service vs. an answering machine. If you have only a cell then you likely already use voice mail. If you still have a land-line phone, and an answering machine, consider switching to a voice mail service in order to cut out a little clutter plus save energy. Because your answering machine is plugged in 24/7 it drinks up energy.
Use compact fluorescent bulbs, solar charged lights, or LED lighting where possible (both inside and outside) over incandescent bulbs.
Unplug anything that’s not in use. While one lamp sitting plugged in doesn’t drain too much energy during the day, consider everything you have plugged in. It all adds up. In the kitchen alone people have their microwave, toaster, blender, and more plugged in all day. It’s unnecessary.
Close air vents in all unused rooms of the house. It’s silly to heat or cool unused rooms, and it’ll save you money.

[Image via Stock.xchng]

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Scary Movie

Jennifer — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 07:53:17 +0000

In honor of Halloween why not watch a video? Yeah, it’s not Buffy, still, the treehugger tv message is a little more upbeat than, “Here comes another apocalypse!”

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One Small Step: Give Up One Tiny Luxury

Jennifer — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 13:00:03 +0000

I’m serious about coffee – almost to an obsession. I always brew in the morning, and then usually at least once in the afternoon. (Yeah, not the healthiest habit, but this isn’t about that.) Anyhow, Friday night I was up late writing, and on Saturday when I got up I REALLY needed coffee. Much to my anti-delight, I woke up to a completely dead coffee maker. Mine is old, but to be broken first thing in the morning; that’s a crisis.

I tried to fix it. I tried to will the thing with my mind to work. Nothing. It was dead. I managed to get dressed sans coffee, and headed out to buy a new coffee maker. At the store, I was going to buy the same old coffee maker. Mine was nice, and had automtic brew, which is really nice when I have to be up and going early. However, the downside of an auto brew pot, is that you have to leave it plugged in. I unplug most everything when it’s not in use, but not my coffee pot.

At the store, I started thinking, do I really need auto brew? This may seem like a small question, but I sat there on the coffee maker isle for a good long while. I don’t really need it. If I don’t have it, I can unplug the coffee maker for most of the day. That saves energy. I’m nice and green in other ways though, do I really need to cut out the auto coffee?

In the end, I bought a non-auto pot; just a basic, brews your coffee deal. I figure what, it’ll cost me a few minutes on early mornings, but no big. Over time, I’ll save more resources. That’s the little luxury I gave up this week. Maybe you can give something up too. Some ideas:

One magazine subscription
Your home phone – if everyone in the family has a cell, do you really need a home phone?
Packaged cookies – save packaging, make your own
The newspaper M-Sat, try cutting down to Sunday only
Part of your lawn – have a deck instead
Use the same towel more than once – perfectly clean linens are overrated
Buy one less pair of shoes this year

Find something that can save a little energy, or some resources; something that makes your life a wee bit better, but that you can live without, and give it up.

Click here to learn about all the current contests, themes and everything else going on at Tree Hugging Family in October 2008 – that includes Blogtoberfest, (we’re giving away over $7,000 in prizes)!

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Around the Web with Jennifer & Peggy

Peggy — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 13:00:54 +0000

We haven’t done one of these posts since May! Yet, we’ll be good and try not to overwhelm you, too much.

Jennifer and I chose these links to other posts we’ve written because we thought you’d find them interesting and some shade of green.

Misc. Fun

Reuse / Craft

Green Home & Living

Green Baby

Green Art

Luscious Green

Click here to learn about all the current contests, themes, and green challenges going on at Tree Hugging Family in September 2008

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Ten easy ways to beat the heat

Jennifer — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 08:00:05 +0000

I’m one to talk; here in Washington it’s seriously sweater weather. Kind of chilly. For the rest of you, here are some beat the heat ideas that can help your house and you stay cool without blasting the AC. And no, none of them involve you surprising me with a visit here in WA. I’m not up for cleaning the bathroom for company.

Turn on the bathroom vent fan. This allows that warm shower air to escape. If all you’ve got is a bathroom window, take an early morning shower, or late evening shower, and open the window. You could also take cooler showers.
Eat hot peppers – or some other spicy hot seasoning. Research shows that eating hot stuff can cool you internally. Odd but true.
Drink all day long. As you lose liquid through perspiration, your body heats up. Drink all day to stay cooler. That’s water folks, not something kooky like beer or coffee all day (just checking).
Turn off the lights. No brainer.
Shut the shades. Another no brainer. Actually, you should open your windows and blinds during the cool parts of the day (early morn and evening) to let cool air in. Once the sun pops up, shut the house down.
Live on in a single level. If you can, living in a single level is a better choice than say, living in a third, or even second floor apartment.
Quit with the oven already. Don’t turn it on. Live on cold sandwiches, grill outside, or microwave your food. Your oven heats up your kitchen considerably.
Hang up your clothes to dry. If you must dry use cool settings. This conserves energy and you won’t be releasing heat into your home.
In New Mexico, and actually other desert areas, people hang damp sheets on their open windows. This is not the best trick for high humidity areas, but if it’s dryer and deadly hot outside, this trick can cool down the hot air that pushes through the window.
Get naked. Ok, don’t get all naked; especially if you’ve got friends coming over (unless they like naked you). Still, hats on your head, and shoes on your feet conserve warmth, so… take some stuff off.

[image via stock.xchng]

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Save Money and Use Less Gas

Peggy — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 20:48:52 +0000

Think you know everything about using less gas? Try out these resources below.

Conserve or Move… the fight against change by Hilary at eco friendly driver.

Consumer Reports tells you what they learned in Fuel economy: Save money on gas.

And here’s a video with a some great tips. For instance, I never thought about keeping the tank between half full and empty. The lower weight means better mileage. Of course, you might have to fill up for longer trips…

Click here to learn about all the current contests, themes, and green challenges going on at Tree Hugging Family in June 2008

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LED Lighting for Your Green Wedding

Jennifer — Tue, 27 May 2008 21:05:38 +0000

If you’re having an evening reception, outside party, or just want to make your wedding dinner tables sparkle, LED is a great choice. Energy efficient, safer than lit candles, and clear and beautiful, LED lights are the best.

Here are some ideas…

For a winter wedding: Blue Starburst! LED Light String

For table tops: LED Tealights – these are silver plated, but they come in different base colors, and some with color changing flames.

For outside eating: Umbrella Nights Lights or Soji Lanterns.

For added beauty: White Led Cherry Blossom Tree in the UK or U.S. – also available in multiple colors.

You can also string LED ropes on trees outside, or even across rooms. We had LED lights for Christmas this year and they were so clear and sparkling; we loved them.

Click here to learn about all the current contests, themes, and green challenges going on at Tree Hugging Family in May 2008

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One Small Step: Digital Copies

Jennifer — Mon, 19 May 2008 05:00:01 +0000

Productivity 501, is a pretty cool blog. More office-minded then green, but also green, if you know what I mean. I read it all the time because I also write an office blog; but I digress. In any case blogger Mark had a great tip posted a short while back; Handheld Copy Machine.

His tip: make copies of receipts and rebates (or other things like these) with your digital camera vs. your copy machine. Save power, save paper, it’s a great green idea. It’s such a waste to make copies of one time things.

In other news, and since I stole his tip, Mark’s had this whole paperless office challenge going on for a while now – if you’re looking to go paperless at your home or work office, his blog is the perfect place to start gathering ideas.

Click here to learn about all the current contests, themes, and green challenges going on at Tree Hugging Family in May 2008

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