BellaOnline Forums Beauty and Self Self Development Anyone trying to lower their environmental impact?

The goal in my house is to leave the heat off until at least November 1st. I live in Ontario, Canada, so it does get a bit cold. We have a vellux blanket that is very warm and cosy (it does make it hard to get out of bed on cold mornings).

My husband and I live where we work, (his office is five minutes from our house, I work from home, my son's school is within walking distance from our house) so we don't drive a lot. I know this isn't realistic for everyone, but it works for us.

We don't have a huge home, (less space to heat) and I have started using reusable cloth bags whenever I shop.

A lot of our environmentally sound choices are also money saving choices, so it's a good win-win situation.

Those are great efforts, Lisa.

I just heard on BBC News tonight that a study contracted by the United Nations has just been released and it IS definite that humans are mostly responsible for the recent environmental problems, but also, alarmingly, that it is definitely a threat to humankind in various ways, but primarily, by reducing the amount of available drinking water and by desertification.

It wasn't reported in any melodramatic way, just the facts about the increase in desertification, population, and species going onto the threatened list. It still choked me up and made me decide that in addition to trying to lower my impact in little ways now, i'm going to develop a personal plan for having a house with lower impact. For one, some people in town have been getting geothermal pumps put in, so they are actually off the grid for heat. I've heard very good things about them... in fact a very old and well respected heating and cooling repairman in our town put one in at his own house! But i hear they are about 3x as expensive as an ordinary new furnace because they have to drill two small wells. I'll try to get an estimate and then start a savings plan for it.

Oh... here's a check for everyone. If you're reading this post and it's night time, look and see how many rooms you are lighting with no occupancy, and turn the lights off. I just realized i left the light on in the bathroom!

My Father was not an environmentalist, he was a Scotsman who could pinch a penney until Lincoln screamed. He drummed into my head that you don't leave the lights on in rooms your not using AND you make sure to turn the ceiling fans off as well. He left the water heater down so low that when we had guests, we would run out of hot water.

I remember one time in my home in Texas I got in the shower and the hot water ran out almost immediatly...without a second thought I muttered something about my Father having been out to my house and fiddling with my hot water heater...then I remembered that was imposible because he had passed away just months before...thats how deeply engrained his habits were in my mind. Turns out my hot water heater needed some work, thankfully it was still under warranty.

I still live by them and do my best to teach my daughter the same. We live in Florida so we RARELY use the heat in the house. When we do, its only to knock the slight chill off when I am taking a shower in the morning. My heat is gas so thats better then electric. I am also very fond of turning off the AC as soon as posible in favor of the fresh air flowing through the house.

Lisa, your father taught you something very valuable.

We're in a water crisis here in Aus. We're completely in the habit now of catching some of our shower water while we're showering (and especially waiting for the water to heat) and using that to pour into the loo instead of flushing. We've modified a gutter down pipe to capture some rain water from the roof and that goes on the garden. The birdbath gets the water that I save from waiting for it to heat up when I do the washing up.

We're not allowed to wash our cars anymore, except at a carwash that uses recycled water. We're not allowed to use a hosepipe on our driveways and we can only water the garden on certain days of the week after certain hours (unless we're using grey or rain water).

It's made a huge difference. For us, obviously the easiest way to tell is the drop in our water bill, although that's not the (main) reason we're doing it.

On energy use, I think the biggest difference we've been able to make is switching to energy saving globes. We probably don't try as hard with the energy, though, as we do with the water. But in compensation I have to say we have planted, my hubby estimates, about 200 plants since we moved into our house, including many trees. All indigenous.

you are truly serving Mother Earth.

Yes, Lisa, he did teach you very valuable habits. I want some day to switch to on-demand water tanks, like they tend to use in Europe.

Elle, you offer some great suggestions on water conservation. We are not in shortage here, so we tend to take it for granted. When i had a toilet replaced a few years ago, I shopped very carefully and selected one that uses less water and has air injection so that it flushes well. I'm quite happy with it, and it's probably paid for itself by now in water savings.

We looked at on-demand water heaters a couple years ago when our old water heater bit the dust. No one had any in stock and the prices were more than we could spend at the time anyway. (side note: I didn't know this could happen with those, but I was visiting friends in the UK and after a party, cleaning up, showers, etc. when I went to take my own shower, the water would not heat.) We ended up with a high-efficiency 50-gal model.

We also installed a new high-eff. furnace a year or so ago. DH routinely cleans/changes filters, etc. A few years ago, we invested in having our house super-insulated, new windows, new siding, etc. It's been great at keeping the house evenly heated/cooled. I will say, however, I am not willing to make myself uncomfortable in my own home. My therm. is at 70 - I don't need it set at 80 to wear shorts in the dead of winter, but I can't tolerate setting it in the 60's and freezing, either. DH and I battle over this ever year (and of course in the summer, he wants the air set super-high so the AC doesn't kick on). We also battle over the hot water tank setting. I want HOT water; he sets it at "warm." Aargh! I think it balances out anyway because at the hotter setting, I use less water overall.

As our other appliances get replaced, we'll continue to buy high-efficiency/energy star, etc. We've replaced several light bulbs with fluorescents or longer-life bulbs. I do tend to like some lights on all the time for safety reasons.

I also drive a Prius; DH drives a flex-fuel truck and uses primarily E85.

Well a lower setting on your hot water heater actually DOES save a lot of energy... much more than changing light bulbs because heating water takes a lot of energy. It doesn't even out to use less of the hotter water because the thing is, most of the time the water is being kept hot but it's not in use. At most you're using it two hours out of 24 hours, wouldn't you say? On the other hand, I remember it's a health hazard to set your water heater below a certain temperature... if i remember right it's 130 degrees fahrenheit, but you might want to look this up. Below that point, bacteria can grow in your water tank. Anyone know what the temp should be in celcius?

Recently i was researching the largest energy drains in households for an article i was writing, and i had a few surprises. Everyone thinks lightbulbs but they are only a tiny percentage of your electric bill. Where you can get the most savings is on your large appliances, and after the several articles i read, i started to believe that if your appliance is more than ten years old, it's better to get a new one because the energy savings from design development and wear are very significant.

The most important items to think about are:

Air conditioning. Air conditioners are the number one cause of energy shortages and black outs. It's worth it to get a new, energy efficient one. ALWAYS use fans along with your air conditioner because it has a huge impact on reducing your useage!

Ceiling fans are not only great for improving the effectiveness of your air conditioner (or allowing you to get away without one), but it also greatly helps reduce your heating costs if you get one that is reversible and will slowly push the heat down from the ceiling.

Then look at your hot water heater. Gas is more efficient than electricity in heating water or anything else. Make sure your unit is relatively new. Compare carefully for energy use when buying a new one. It will pay for itself in savings in just a few years. If you wish, you can even call the utility company and do some number crunching to find out how many months it will take for a new appliance to pay for itself. Also, some people now use solar water heater boosters. These work very well and reduce your costs.

Your refrigerator is also very important. It is best to replace it after ten years because the savings are significant. Each month, remove dust from the vents and back of the refrigerator. Play with the thermostats on your refrigerator and freezer until you have it cold enough, but not more than you need. Check and clean the seals regularly so there are no leaks. And how many people out there leave the door open while they're making a sandwich? Bad, very bad.

When i purchased my frige, i was fooled by the energy label so i want to mention this: energy labels only compare apples to apples. I bought a frige with the freezer on the bottom because i like the design better. The energy label indicated it was highly energy efficient, but i didn't know it was only comparing to other models with the freezer on the bottom. The ones with the freezer on the top are all more energy efficient because cold air sinks. Same with side by side designs. They only compare to other side by sides. Again, the friges with the freezer on top are more energy efficient.

Check out your furnace, too. If you have an old, inefficient furnace like mine, start budgeting to replace it because it's like plugging any other drain in your house only this one is bigger! Also, make sure you get an annual tune up for your furnace and change filters monthly. If your heating ducts aren't insulated, insulating them can yield good savings. And close off any room you don't use every day and don't heat it unless you need to. I am able to close off three rooms in winter and this is very significant to my heating bill!

I'm afraid i don't know much about boilers or other forms of heating, but perhaps someone else who lives with other heating can speak up about this.

Other appliances to look at are your washer and dryer and dishwasher. You get the picture, it's much like the considerations for the other appliances. The clothes washer is anothe case where the energy labels only compare apples to apples. Side loading washers are much more energy and water efficient than top loading.

Which reminds me, the other thing to consider is your useage. We've been talking about that a bit already, but for instance laundry... do you have to wash your towels after one use? If i can use one towel for a week, that uses 1/7th the energy and water. Something to think about!