Things You Can Do Around Your Home!

It’s the place that we spend a large portion of our time. It keeps us out of the elements, it keeps us warm, we feel safe, we eat a lot of our meals there, we store most of our possessions there, we have birthday parties there, we decorate it, we clean it, we rest there, it’s our home.  And since it is such a big part of our lives, we don’t want our dream home of today to turn into our nightmare tomorrow.  It’s easy to think that we are just a tiny part of the problem and even though it’s true to some degree, there’s a lot we can do around our home to live a more sustainable and regenerative life and hundreds, thousands and millions of tiny parts can really add up!



Turning Stuff Off!

Some of the easiest things are simple, like, turning stuff off.   Turning the lights off in a room if you’re not in it, turning the T.V. and radio off if no one is using it and lowering your heat or raising your A/C a couple of degrees are all things that can be done with minimal change to your everyday life!  Did you know you could save about 5% of your energy bill for each degree you lower your thermostat in the winter or raise it in the summer?

When I first started thinking about how what I do in my little apartment impacts the City of Chicago and how the City of Chicago impacts the state of Illinois and how the state of Illinois impacts the United States, and so on., I realized what an overwhelming concept this can be.  It’s pretty intense to think that what I do as an individual can impact our planet, but evidence is growing daily.  So in wondering what turning the lights off really does and how electricity really impacts our systems, I did a little digging and landed on the United States Environmental Protection Agency website and what they say is:

Using less energy means power plants generate less, which reduces greenhouse gas emissions and improves air quality.  Energy efficiency is practiced during the use of the energy in your home or office. Of the total energy consumed in America, about 39% is used to generate electricity. Therefore, electricity consumption is an important portion of a consumer’s environmental footprint.  All forms of electricity generation have some level of environmental impact. Most of the electricity in the United States is generated from fossil fuels, such as coal, natural gas, and oil.  Using energy more efficiently through more efficient end-uses or through more efficient generation, such as combined heat and power, reduces the amount of fuel required to produce a unit of energy output and reduces the corresponding emissions of pollutants and greenhouse gases. Electricity from renewable resources such as solar, geothermal, and wind technologies generally does not contribute to climate change or local air pollution since no fuels are combusted in these processes.

Here are some other things you can do around the house!

We know this is just the tip of the iceberg!  If you’d like to share with us what you do around your house, tell us in the forum or write to us!

• Consume less. You will see this concept a lot here. Everyone says that its expensive to go “green,” actually, its one of the cheapest things you can do – stop buying crap (Check out: The Story of Stuff post)
• Perform a home DIY energy audit or bring in a professional
• Switch from bottled water to filtered water. Bottled water is about 1000′s more expensive then tap water and in most cases, its healthier
• Turning the faucet off while brushing your teeth
• Bring your own bags to when grocery shopping or stopping by the farmers market
• Swap out your plastic wrap and plastic baggies for reusable containers that have lids – old spaghetti, pickle or glass jars make a great options and they can be used over and over again, keep food pretty fresh and are good for taking leftovers to work
• Use cloth napkins or towels in lieu of paper towel
• Run the dishwasher only when it’s full and at night if possible
• Cut out the juice boxes (because most juice boxes mix material like foil and paper, it’s almost impossible to separate making it almost impossible to recycle) or other individually packaged beverages
• Switch to rechargeable batteries
• Change what light bulbs you can to compact fluorescent light bulbs or super energy efficient LEDs
• Switch to e-bills. Most bills these days have instructions on them on how you can log-0n and switch to getting them electronically.
• Use a service to cancel your junk mail like catalogs. Check out Catalog Choice or Do Not Mail or our post for complete instructions
• Clean green
• Drive less
• Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Bottom line is this:  Cutting down your energy use is a simple way to reduce your carbon footprint while also possibly reducing your utility bills!



Don’t Forget Your 4 Legged Family Members

Consider greening your pet practices, while you’re at it!  What are some ways to to reduce your pet’s carbon paw-print?

• Take a look at their food – look for natural, organic and even vegan dog food and click here for help selecting commercial pet food
  • Want to take it one step further?  Try making your pet’s meals
• Choose biodegradable waste bags
• Buy eco-friendly pet accessories

Green Your Home Improvement Projects!

Another way to incorporate more environmentally minded practices into your home, is when you are doing those things around your house to spruce up the place!   Things such as using low VOC paints and stains and hiring green minded contractors and green builders can really help you tally up your green points!  We recently did some research on some local “green” painting companies and flooring companies and here’s what we found!  Know of a green contractor?  Let us know by contacting us!

Painters

GreenTree Painting and Design
(773) 573-0583

Chicago Painters
(773) 789-8179

Flooring

Central Tile
(630) 330-5227

Lavi Construction
(847) 212-1746

What is a Carbon Footprint?

Your “carbon footprint” is the amount of greenhouse gases you produce over a year measured in tons of CO2. Because we rely on so many goods and services to support our power-hungry lifestyles, our footprint includes emissions from industry, agriculture, transportation, forestry, power generation and buildings. The weight builds up pretty quickly: The average American’s footprint is 26.5 tons, not far from Australia’s 28 tons per person, but in less-developed India the number dwindles to one ton.