10 Tips for Going Green and Saving Some Too
By Jason Cook
I am well aware of the fact that none of these tips will solve all of the world’s environmental issues, neither will they make your bank account look like Warren Buffet’s. They can, however, go a long way towards reducing your environmental impact and the cost savings can add up to serious money.
1. Reusable water bottles:According to The National Resources Defense Council, "at least 90% of the cost of bottled water covers things other than the water itself," and that adds up to a lot of unnecessary waste. The Mayo Clinic recommends the “8x8” rule, drink eight 8 ounce glasses of water per day, as an easy to remember guideline for the amount of fluids to consume. With a quick internet search, the least expensive bottled water I found was $4.99 for 24, 16 ounce bottles. This comes to about 21 cents per bottle. Following the 8x8 rule you would need to drink 4 bottles per day or 1,460 bottles per year per person. That’s a total of about $307 per year. For a family of 4 you will spend about $1227 a year just for bottled water. When thinking about it in these terms the cost of a good reusable water bottle is just a drop in the bucket.
2. Conserve electricity/gas: The simplest way to do this is to turn off the lights as you leave a room. Switch to compact fluorescent bulbs. They require less energy to operate and last longer. Incandescent bulbs also generate heat, making it more difficult to keep your home cool in summer. Speaking of keeping your home cool, each degree you raise your air conditioner can save you 3-4 percent on cooling costs, and each degree you lower the heat in winter can save about 3 percent. With a 2 degree change in heating and cooling you can save up to 2000 pounds of CO2 a year.
3. Reusable coffee filters/mugs: There have been some classy designs in travel mugs lately, some even look like those disposable Styrofoam cups you get at most coffee shops. By making your coffee at home instead of stopping for that $5 latte every morning you can start seeing savings almost immediately And with a reusable filter you’ll never have worry about not getting your coffee because you ran out of filters!
4. Homemade Cleaners: Everyone knows by now that chemical cleaners can have many harmful effects on you and the environment. To avoid those costs, and the ones to your wallet, try some homemade cleaner recipes. You can make a good all purpose cleaner by dissolving 4 tablespoons of baking soda in 1 quart of warm water. This is effective even without pre-rinsing the surface.
17 million barrels of oil are used in producing bottled water each year. Switching to a reusable water bottle is just one way you can go green and save money at the same time…
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