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Going Green without making
Sacrifices
by Nazim Rahman
Most of us are aware that we are destroying our planet but we
are not ready to make painful sacrifices and radically change our lifestyles.
This is bad news for the planet, ourselves, and our future generations. The good
news is that YOU CAN MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE without a lot of effort and without
making sacrifices.
Save Electricity
The easiest way to go green is to save electricity. This is
extremely easy to do and will save you some money. First of all get in the habit
of switching off the lights, appliances, and other electronic devices when you
are not using them. Also remember to switch off the lights and your computer in
your office when leaving work.
Second. Switch to more energy efficient light bulbs. A typical incandescent
light bulb (ones that gives a yellowish light) converts only 5% of the
electricity to light, the rest is wasted as heat. Such bulbs last around 1000 –
1400 hours. An energy efficient bulb such as CFL or CCFL also known as energy
savers in many countries, converts 35% of the electricity to light and the rest
is wasted as heat. A 15W CFL is approximately equivalent to a 60W incandescent
bulb in terms of light generation. In addition, CFL and CCFL last around 10000
hours. Energy efficient bulbs are more expensive but you recover their cost
within months and they are several times cheaper over their lifetime. All this
depends on the cost of electricity in your area.
Old appliances are generally not as energy efficient as newer ones. Today, you
can find highly energy efficient appliances as well as energy-wasting
appliances. When it comes time for you to change your appliances, pay special
attention to energy conservation. It would pay handsome dividends in terms of
energy savings in the future.
Did you know that if you have a cell phone charger plugged in an outlet but not
connected to your cell phone, it still consumes electricity? So do most
electronic devices. According to US Department of Energy, such consumption
accounts for 10 – 12% of your monthly electricity bill. A simple solution is to
connect every electronic device to a power strip and simply switch it off when
you are not using those electronic devices. Think about it. What can you buy
with 10% of your yearly electricity bill?
Most of the electricity used today is generated by burning fossil fuels
following by hydro and nuclear power. Wind and solar energy account for less
than 1% of global energy production. This means that when you save electricity,
less fossil fuel is burnt which means less pollution.
Save on Heating and Cooling
It takes a lot of energy to change the temperature of air and
water. Since cooling and heating require a lot of energy, it makes sense to save
on your heating and cooling costs. There are two three ways to save:
1. Reduce Consumption. Reducing consumption is as simple as turning down the
heat and air conditioner when you are not home. You could use a programmable
thermostat which could be programmed around your lifestyle so that the
adjustments occur automatically.
2. Insulate your house. If your house is not insulated properly, you are losing
lots of heat in winter and lots of cooling in the summer. In addition, you are
reducing the life of your heating and cooling systems by overworking them. It
pays to have your house properly insulated. Pay special attention to the attic,
basement, doors, and windows. This is where you lose most of the heating and
cooling.
3. Use sun's heat. Even on a cold sunny winter day, the sun can warm up your
house thanks to the greenhouse effect. Get as much sunlight as you can in the
house in winter and as little as possible in the summer. Solar panels are
expensive but solar collectors are relatively cheap. They could be used to heat
your water.
Conserve Water
Fresh water is rare and a precious commodity. We generally do
not value water because our modern civil infrastructure makes it easily
available to us. Only 2% of the planet's water is fresh water, half of which is
in Canada. The other 98% is useless for drinking, cleaning, irrigation, and
industrial use. Water purification, transportation, heating, and sewerage
treatment is expensive and extremely energy intensive. So every liter of water
wasted is also energy wasted. When we supply water to our cities, industries,
and farms, we divert it from forests and wildlife. In other words, we reduce the
planet's ability to clean up our mess. Wasting water = polluting the planet.
Conserve water. Use only what you need to and no more.
Vehicle
An expensive mistake people often make when buying a vehicle
is that they don't factor in the cost of ownership i.e. mileage, maintenance,
insurance. When you factor in all three, you would realize that small and
mid-size vehicles are generally the winners. SUVs are the biggest losers.
Hybrids are more expensive than non-hybrid vehicles but they pay for themselves
in about 20,000 – 25,000 miles (32,000 - 40,000 km). After that you will keep on
getting 50% savings on your fuel. Vehicles that run on biofuels, CNG, and
propane are also good option if such choices are widely available in your area.
Car pooling and using public transport would be greatly appreciated by the
planet but many people are not willing to sacrifice the liberty of driving a car
even if it involves getting stuck in the traffic twice a day.
If you haven't realized this by now, the price of oil will not go down to the
levels of the 1990s in our lifetimes. We would be filling our cars with
expensive fuel so better mileage will remain desirable.
Reduce Waste and use Recycled Goods
Waste needs to be sorted, transported, processed, recycled,
and dumped in a landfill. And yes it also requires lots of energy. Think about
how you can reduce waste. Whenever someone decides to reduce waste, he/she find
a million ways to do it. I won't be telling anyone to use the flip side of paper
or avoiding plastic bags. When you decide that you want to reduce waste, you
will have a million ideas which would work better for you. Please do share your
ideas with us. And yes please use recycled goods whenever possible.
Summary
* Save electricity: switch off, change bulbs, and use energy-efficient
appliances
* Save on heating and cooling: reduce wastage, insulate, and use the sun
* Conserve Water
* Vehicles: Buy energy efficient and less polluting. Think about the cost of
ownership.
* Reduce waste and use recycled goods
You don't have to kill yourself to make a difference for the environment. It
doesn't have to cost you a fortune. In fact conservation could save you more
money than discount coupons, membership cards, and rewards programs. If everyone
on the planet remembers to switch off and change the light bulbs, we could save
at least 20% of the carbon emissions resulting from domestic electricity
consumption. If everyone switches to an energy efficient vehicle, we could
reduce carbon emissions from our personal vehicles by at least 25%. Think about
it! Save money and the environment.
About the Author:
Nazim Rahman is an author and webmaster of
http://www.selfimprovement.ch |
