5 Easy Ways to Save Energy

1. Use an Energy Monitor: Measure your way to savings with an energy monitor.Research has found that such info leads consumers to reduce their electricity consumption significantly.



2. Pay less for hot water by insulating pipes: Check to see if your pipes are warm to the touch. If so, they are good candidates for insulation.Pipe insulation is often R-3 or, for batt styles that you wrap around, a stronger R-7.



3. Upgrade your appliances: If your furnace is old you could save a lot of money in the long run by upgrading to a new unit.



4. Use a Laptop Instead of a Desktop: Laptop computers draw only 15 to 25 watts during regular use, as compared to the 150 watts used by a conventional desktop computer and monitor.



5. Get an Energy Audit: An energy audit will help you determine exactly how much juice you are using, and will identify ways you can reduce it, through better insulation and other techniques.

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5 Green Living tips

• Carry your own bags for grocery shopping.Stores should also keep this policy,either bring a reusable bag not a polythene bag or buy one from the store.

• As far as possible use dark, infact black background on your PC or laptop or dark desktop, it looks cool and saves energy.

• Don't Buy movie videos and books.Hire videos and DVDs, and borrow books from a library. Download songs instead of buying audio CD's.

• Regularly cleaning the condenser coils found in the back or bottom of the refrigerator will maximize its efficiency.

• Develop an awareness chart in your office or home where everyone can see a list of ways they can reduce their carbon footprint.

Source: www.commonfloor.com/green-living

Animals at risk as oil spill

Marine scientists studying the effects of the BP disaster are seeing some troubling phenomena. The animals' presence close to shore means their usual habitat is badly polluted. Already, scientists say they're seeing more sharks and dolphins in unusually shallow waters.Rescuing birds and cleaning off the oil from their bodies only serves to keep them alive temporarily.Cleaning birds with detergents strips away the natural oil which acts as a protective water proof layer for sea birds.

Seabirds are strongly affected by oil spills.The bird then eats the oil to clean its feathers and poisons itself. If workers have found sea birds that are not dead because of oil, they will take the birds to a cleaning center or captivity where they are kept in a facility because they can not live in the wild on their own. Many people don’t realize all the animals in the ocean that oil spills affect. When hundreds of plankton die because of oil, that specie of animal may become extinct. Then, fish won’t be able to eat the plankton, so they will become extinct. A killer whale could then become extinct because it can’t eat the fish. The oil spills can damage the entire food chain in the area.

Day by day, scientists in boats tally up dead birds, sea turtles and other animals, but the toll is surprisingly small given the size of the disaster. Figures show that 783 birds, 353 turtles and 41 mammals have died. Researchers said there are several reasons for the relatively small death toll such as many can't be found after sinking to the bottom of the sea or getting scavenged by other marine life, scientists can locate only a fraction of the animals and large numbers of birds are dying deep in the Louisiana marshes where they seek refuge.

Nils Warnock, a wildlife specialist with the Oiled Wildlife Care Network at the University of California says, "The public demands that something be done. It's heart-wrenching—you see this totally oil-covered animal. The only way you can see that they're alive is that their little eye blinks. That kills me every time."

Past studies suggest that oil drenched birds have a high death rate.German biologist Silvia Gaus contended that studies show that more than 99 percent of rehabilitated birds will die as a result of oil exposure, leading to kidney and liver damage. Birds covered in oil are crawling deep into Louisiana marshes, never to be seen again.

Source: rescuers-clean-decision

Green lifestyle brings down the carbon footprints and save earth

The need and importance of conservation of water, energy and natural resource are known to people all over the world.Water conservation helps in bringing down the water bill saving money and environment. Today Green is a buzz word associated with environment or earth. Water conservation is important and vital for better future.

Adopting Green Lifestyle

• Encourage your family to keep looking for new ways to conserve water in and around your home.

• Promote water conservation need and methods in community newsletters and on bulletin boards.

• Apartment owners can form an association or group for implementing rainwater harvesting system in the apartment.

• A faucet that drips once every second could be wasting over 2,500 gallons of water a year. Replace or repair leaky faucets as early as possible.

• Turning the water off while you lather the soap can save as many as 5 gallons of water each time you wash. Use one glass of water for brushing teeth instead of running the faucet.

• In order to reduce the usage of water during toilet flushes, put a 1-liter bottle filled with water inside each of the flush tanks.

• For cleaning toilet and flushing, use recycled water.

• Upgrade your toilet with new water efficient models.

Read More @ Water Conservation in Apartment Complex

Check the star rating before purchasing an electrical appliance

Energy star for your appliance plays vital role in saving energy and reducing your carbon footprints. Energy Star is an international standard for energy efficient consumer products.The Energy Star program was created in 1992 by the United States Environmental Protection Agency in an attempt to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emission by power plants. Energy Star specifications differ with each item, and are set by either the Environmental Protection Agency or the Department of Energy.The star labeling was made mandatory for refrigerators, AC's, tubular fluorescent lights and distribution transformers from January 2010.


How many of you actually check the star rating before purchasing an electrical appliance? The Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) has started a national education program on star labeling for AC's. They, along with Emerson Climate Technologies and International Copper Promotion Council of India, launched a program on Wednesday to train 450 salesmen across 120 showrooms in Bangalore. They will be trained by BEE on star-rated products. These salesmen will help customers choose energy-efficient AC's. BEE will also provide 24 touch screen energy calculating kiosks for designated showrooms.

Window AC's have got up to three star rating and may soon get a four star too. However, other models have already got five star rating. From January this year, one to five-star labeling, depending on the energy efficiency of the appliance, has been made mandatory for refrigerators, AC's and tube-lights. The room fitted with AC should be fully covered on all sides, with a firmly closing type door. If you are air conditioning your living room, which is open to the kitchen on one side, then you need to provide a partition.If any windows are exposed to direct sun rays, use a drape or venetian blind to keep away the radiation heat from entering the room.

Reduce electricity Consumption

when you switch off TV , VCR or DVD player using the remote then also there is power loses so unplug this equipment when not in use.



Use a motion sensor for outside lighting. This helps to save energy and use lights only when light is required rather than keeping light on for whole night.

Turn off the monitor when your computer is unattended, for instance when downloading files overnight, listing songs or going away from your desk.

Use bulbs and other electric apparatus that consume comparably less electricity.

Replace old home appliance with energy star home appliance. Research and collect information on energy star equipments and energy saved by using them.

Switch off lights and fans when not in use.Set the monitor to automatically shut off or switch to standby mode when idle

Save Water, Living beings and the Environment

It takes a considerable amount of energy to deliver and treat the water you use everyday. By reducing household water use you can not only help reduce the energy required to supply and treat public water supplies but also can help address climate change.Leaks inside your toilet can waste up to 200 gallons per day.Here are some tips for conserving water in your home.

Toilet flushing is responsible for about 30 percent of all water used by the household, which means that almost 44,000 gallons of quality water is flushed away per family every year.Stop using potable water for Toilet flushing.

Turning the water off while you lather the soap can save as many as 5 gallons of water each time you wash.


Plant one little sapling for each and every little occasions you celebrate for it grows to remind you of the happiness time and again.

Throwing chemicals in the trash or down the drain means they might end up back in your water supply and come back to haunt you.To ensure sustainable availability of water, every citizen has to play a vital role not only in conserving water but also preventing contamination of groundwater.

Do not dispose of food waste in kitchen sink as it requires lots of water for disposal and also increases unnecessary load on septic tank.

Water should be used properly.Don't leave the tap open while shaving, brushing your teeth etc.

Residents can use one pipe for drinking, bathing and utensil cleaning where other pipe will bring in rain water and treated water for toilet, lawns, washing cars, floors etc. This will enables to save 40% of potable water.

Old toilets consume more water, replace old toilets with new one that helps to save water and consumes less water.

You can save energy by unplugging the appliances which are not in Water your plant or garden in early morning or in evening, this helps is minimizing evaporation of water.

If your faucet is dripping at the rate of one drop per second, you can expect to waste 2,700 gallons per year which will add to the cost of water and sewer utilities, or strain your septic system.Repair dripping faucets by replacing washers.

Read More Green Living Tips @ commonfloor.com/green-living