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Hamandeggs
Citizen
Username: Hamandeggs
Post Number: 347
Registered: 8-2005
| | Posted on Sunday, July 23, 2006 - 10:28 am: | 
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What are you doing now that you haven't done in the past? Between the price of gas and Al Gore, I'm trying much harder this year and wondered if others are doing the same (though for your own reasons, of course). |
letters
Citizen
Username: Letters016
Post Number: 665
Registered: 5-2005
| | Posted on Sunday, July 23, 2006 - 11:02 am: |
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I'm saving trees by not buying Al Gores' book and saving electricity by not watching Al Gores' movie  |
Hamandeggs
Citizen
Username: Hamandeggs
Post Number: 348
Registered: 8-2005
| | Posted on Sunday, July 23, 2006 - 11:06 am: |
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Oh, darn. I really wanted this thread to be about useful conservation strategies. How disappointing that it has gone to cheap shots so quickly.
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Zoesky1
Citizen
Username: Zoesky1
Post Number: 1602
Registered: 6-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, July 23, 2006 - 11:07 am: |
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Using the air conditioning in my car a little less to conserve gas. This means driving around with the sunroof open and hoping to god I remember to close it before one of this summer's ubiquitous cloudbursts comes along.
What else? Replaced my ancient washer and dryer with new (unfortunately, very expensive) ones that supposedly use up to 70% less energy and water...front-loading washer really conserves water by just pouring on what it needs when it needs it instead of filling up huge bin like old top loader.
Can't think of anything else right now. But I am trying... |
letters
Citizen
Username: Letters016
Post Number: 666
Registered: 5-2005
| | Posted on Sunday, July 23, 2006 - 11:41 am: |
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H & E,
You brought Gore into this, not me. You could have easily phrased the question without being political, and bringing him into the question, IMHO, made it political. And it wasn't a cheap shot, it's called levity. Don't be so sensitive. I think he is a horses •••, but if it makes you feel better, I think Bush is, too.
Politics aside, there is more to my sentence. Going to the library instead of buying books, not going to a movie, or to the mall or whatever, unless you really want/need to.
We are a very mobile country. We think nothing of jumping into our car to do little, simple things. I see very few kids walking or taking their bikes anywhere. I know that they are over their friends house, so how did they get there?
How many people have/use ceiling fans. They really cut down on the AC/heater. We have awnings on our house to keep the sun out during warm weather. Cooking outside also keeps the house cooler.
My point is that I think everyone is aware of the really big things that we can do to save energy. I try to look at everything else that happens and see if there is any way to combine/cut down/do more effeciently/eliminate these. |
Innisowen
Citizen
Username: Innisowen
Post Number: 2149
Registered: 3-2004
| | Posted on Sunday, July 23, 2006 - 12:18 pm: |
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doing what my father always said to do: some quite simple things...
walk when I can. bicycle when I can't. use the car as last resort.
take public transportation.
turn out the lights in a room when I leave it. Turn off the radio and TV when I'm not actively listening/watching.
In today's world I can add: shut down the pc or laptop instead of letting it "sleep" and draw current.
Sort refuse into recyclables and non-recyclables. Build a compost pile.
Use ceiling fans instead of air conditioning unless it's really humid and sticky.
wear light clothing in summer and layered in winter.
Make sure the house is "tight" and keeps cool air in, in summer and warm air in, in winter.
In winter wear a sweater in the house rather than cranking up the heat.
keep the tires properly inflated and the car in good condition
keep the refrigerator at a low setting. don't open and close the refrigerator door all the time (which also translates into: "eat carefully and selectively.")
Lastly I'm making our house in south orange as energy efficient as our house in Vermont. I wish NJ was as environmentally conscious as is Vermont. |
growler
Citizen
Username: Growler
Post Number: 992
Registered: 11-2001
| | Posted on Sunday, July 23, 2006 - 1:57 pm: |
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We use the energy saving setting on our ac's. |
Joan
Supporter
Username: Joancrystal
Post Number: 7827
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Sunday, July 23, 2006 - 2:13 pm: |
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Suggestions not yet mentioned:
Using energy saving lightbulbs where ever possible.
Using lowest water level setting on clothes washer which will clean the clothes adequately, lowest possible heat setting on drier. Line drying when possible.
Using manual methods (such as manual can opener) rahter than electric/otherwise powered options when workable.
Serving more cold meals during the summer.
Taking brief showers and/or bathing in less water.
Running dishwasher and clothes washer only when there is a full load.
Avoiding dry clean only clothes when possible.
Buying wrinkle-free/wrinkle resistant clothing to avoid ironing.
Trying to avoid impulse buying. |
fiche
Citizen
Username: Fiche
Post Number: 208
Registered: 3-2002
| | Posted on Sunday, July 23, 2006 - 2:20 pm: |
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We installed a new computerized thermostat in our home so we could set the heat much lower during the day and while we were sleeping.
Ditto Innisowen: wearing warm clothes in the house when it is chilly. Shoe leather express for short distances, public transportation, when possible, for long distances.
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Michael K. McKell
Citizen
Username: Mckellconst
Post Number: 52
Registered: 5-2006
| | Posted on Sunday, July 23, 2006 - 2:39 pm: |
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I burn wood for heat. |
Innisowen
Citizen
Username: Innisowen
Post Number: 2150
Registered: 3-2004
| | Posted on Sunday, July 23, 2006 - 5:19 pm: |
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I burn wood as well, in Vermont.
I have found that wood always heats twice: once when you cut it and chop it, and once when you burn it.
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Joanne G
Citizen
Username: Joanne
Post Number: 388
Registered: 10-2004
| | Posted on Sunday, July 23, 2006 - 6:06 pm: |
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Actually, burning wood isn't seen as environmentally energy-wise: sends too many toxins up for the heat gained in exchange. Plus you have smoke and ash/grit in the air outside as people walk down their streets breathing it all in (increased asthma etc) and especially at night the smoke makes it difficult to see, as the smok becomes a de facto fog.
There are legislative movements in Australian cities to clamp down on solid fuel heating especially wood fires, which will leave us in a real mess as we rent and it's the only form of heating supplied in this house. |
Bailey
Citizen
Username: Baileymac
Post Number: 375
Registered: 3-2005
| | Posted on Sunday, July 23, 2006 - 6:09 pm: |
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I've read that opening the car's sunroof or windows affects the aerodymanics of the car, creating enough additional drag on the car so that there's no net fuel savings in turning the car's A/C off.
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Lou
Citizen
Username: Flf
Post Number: 211
Registered: 8-2005
| | Posted on Sunday, July 23, 2006 - 6:29 pm: |
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We do most of the things mentioned above as a life style and didn't just started doing it now, including buying a used car that uses the least amount of gas we could find and don't use AC that much.
One thing we also do that was not mentioned above is only use rechargable batteries. And we try to only turn on the lights at night only when we are in the room and feel is really necessary.
We are also pretty concerned about water and try to use it as little possible. |
Glock 17
Citizen
Username: Glock17
Post Number: 1541
Registered: 7-2005
| | Posted on Sunday, July 23, 2006 - 7:56 pm: |
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When I'm driving I generally roll the front driver and passenger side windows down and turn the AC off...when it's decent outside.
Also...for most of the day I'll open my window and turn on the fan and leave the AC off.
(although 20 bucks is almost a full tank for my car hehehehe even at 2.95/gal for regular!) |
Joan
Supporter
Username: Joancrystal
Post Number: 7835
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Sunday, July 23, 2006 - 8:17 pm: |
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Another tip during the summer is to perform heat generating activities such as cooking and running the clothes dryer during the coolest parts of the day. Causes the house to heat up less. |
Bajou
Citizen
Username: Bajou
Post Number: 1310
Registered: 2-2006
| | Posted on Sunday, July 23, 2006 - 9:37 pm: |
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I don't think that Al Gores movie is political. It's reality and we should not care about the political affiliation but the content. |
Michael K. McKell
Citizen
Username: Mckellconst
Post Number: 54
Registered: 5-2006
| | Posted on Monday, July 24, 2006 - 9:09 am: |
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God help us all. |
notehead
Supporter
Username: Notehead
Post Number: 3615
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Monday, July 24, 2006 - 11:02 am: |
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Almost all of our lighting is compact fluorescent.
We drive a 2003 Prius, which usually gets over 40 mpg and is a SULEV (Super Ultra Low Emissions Vehicle). Our other car is a Scion xB which gets close to 30 mpg.
We just bought, and will soon install, a tankless water heater. The size of a desktop computer, it's more than 98% efficient and just hangs on the wall. (And we will NEVER run out of hot water.)
Our laundry machines are super-efficient models.
Most of the batteries used in our house are rechargeables... we've been using some of the same ones for more than five years in things like remotes and clocks.
We're pretty scrupulous about recycling plastic, aluminum, glass, cardboard, and newspapers.
We use a couple of window units for air conditioning as needed, rather than keeping the entire house cool all the time.
We replaced the windows in one room upstairs a few years ago, and will do another room this fall.
My recording studio is insulated with Ultratouch batts, made of recycled denim. Very effective, and much easier to use and with a much lower "embodied energy" than fiberglass. We'll be using this stuff in a lot of the rest of our house over the next few years.
We don't water our lawn. If we have a dry period and it goes brown and dormant, I really don't care. Our veggie beds are a raised, self-watering design that I came up with. Big reservoirs underneath. I just fill them a few times during the summer. Much less water used that way, and it's better for the plants. |
tjohn
Supporter
Username: Tjohn
Post Number: 4546
Registered: 12-2001
| | Posted on Monday, July 24, 2006 - 11:08 am: |
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Joanne G,
I believe that modern wood stoves have catalytic converters so that they burn much more cleanly. Old fireplaces clearly are no panacea for a densely populated area. The wood smoke pollution would be considerable. |
K_soze
Citizen
Username: K_soze
Post Number: 576
Registered: 11-2005
| | Posted on Monday, July 24, 2006 - 11:50 am: |
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I'm conserving a huge amount of energy, I stopped going to the gym. |
Tom Reingold
Supporter
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 15125
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Monday, July 24, 2006 - 4:05 pm: |
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I'm starting to try the compact flourescents, too. They save 70%! That's SEVENTY PERCENT!
I bunch my errands up so that I take fewer trips. A huge percentage of your car's pollution comes from driving with a cold engine. If my wife has just returned in her car, I take her car, because it's still warm.
I also take her car if she lets me (which is pretty much always) when both cars are cold, because she has a Honda Civic hatchback, which probably gets over 30 mpg. My Subaru gets a lousy 23 mpg.
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LilLB
Citizen
Username: Lillb
Post Number: 2118
Registered: 10-2002
| | Posted on Monday, July 24, 2006 - 4:10 pm: |
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Hmmm....I'm not doing a damn thing differently. I was going to list all of the things I probably do anyway that may be considered helpful for the cause, but I'm just not in the mood to defend myself on this one. |
Cynicalgirl
Citizen
Username: Cynicalgirl
Post Number: 2990
Registered: 9-2003
| | Posted on Monday, July 24, 2006 - 4:50 pm: |
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Curious: We use our propane grill for many dinners from May to October rather than the stove/oven. Is that conservationist? I do it because it avoids heating up the house, etc.
I like the long-life lightbulbs a lot. I tend not to be terribly deliberate about conservationist matters, and hate recycling, though reading the above I realize I'm not doing as badly as I might (my black suv/van thing notwithstanding). Almost never use the a/c unit downstairs or in the car, don't water lawn ever, very efficient errand running. Got me curious about the tankless hotwater heater! |
mjc
Citizen
Username: Mjc
Post Number: 1248
Registered: 10-2004
| | Posted on Monday, July 24, 2006 - 5:27 pm: |
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Close the windows and blinds in the morning if it's going to be a hot day, open them again in the evening and run window fans on exhaust mode to cool the house. This works well unless there's a long hot spell with hot nights too.
Set-back thermostat for furnace, set to fairly low temp.
Go up to the attic and turn our only a/c to a higher temp again. Set to 77 if someone is coming to look at the house, otherwise 79/80.
Take my foot off the gas on down slopes (I'm probably going over the limit anyhow). This one actually increased our terrible old-car gas mileage by about 3 mpg on my tiny commute up the hill to West Orange.
Somewhere I read that plugging things like TV, Playstation etc. into power strips and turning the power strips off when not in use saves electricity, since electronics draw current even when they're turned off. Anyone know if this is correct? Applies to what? |
Joanne G
Citizen
Username: Joanne
Post Number: 391
Registered: 10-2004
| | Posted on Monday, July 24, 2006 - 5:40 pm: |
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tjohn, it's become a matter for legislation here. Which meeans you soon won't be able to instal such heaters into a new-built house and won't be able to source fuel.
Most of the woodcutting and reselling smaller businesses are now out-of-business. Getting a permit to either cut the standing wood or scavenge it (which is what we did), while differing from State to State, is becoming much harder and more expensive - in one State you now can't scavenge at all as you are ruining the microenvironment (as opposed to removing bushfire hazard material). So the solid fuel you are able to buy is hellishly expensive and even with a catalytic converter not very efficient in comparison to other heating methods being promoted at building-in stage.
I guess part of the difference is how prone your area is to fires - a couple of years ago most of our region was ablaze and two-thirds of Victoria (the State just south of my home, literally) was burning for a month. At that time New South Wales where I actually live had massive fires in several areas, our nation's capital - Canberra - was burning, and a large percentage of the country was sffering from drought so there was little water to just dump on the flames nationwide.
In terms of national energy use, solid fuel is just not seen as worth the effort any more over here - more people are trying to find ways to re-use bio-oils for machinery and heat, use solar or hot water storage in novel ways, reorient houses to maximum natural energy use for heat and cooling etc. |
thegoodsgt
Citizen
Username: Thegoodsgt
Post Number: 1022
Registered: 2-2002
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 25, 2006 - 7:36 am: |
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At the risk of a smug cloud hovering over my head (any South Park fans out there?), we are very diligent in monitoring our overall consumption. We're careful not to buy anything unless we really need it...and it's amazing at how little we actually need to be happy. |
notehead
Supporter
Username: Notehead
Post Number: 3621
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 25, 2006 - 1:23 pm: |
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Good for you, Sarge! I think that's the key to the whole thing. |
Psychomom
Citizen
Username: Psychomom
Post Number: 420
Registered: 5-2005
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 25, 2006 - 2:59 pm: |
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I'm not doing much differently because I have been doing the energy/cost cutting things all along...wish there was something new to save more $$ but I haven't heard it yet.
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LilLB
Citizen
Username: Lillb
Post Number: 2135
Registered: 10-2002
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 25, 2006 - 3:16 pm: |
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I stock up like I could live in my house for 3-4 weeks if I had to in an emergency. There's probably some dysfunction that makes me do this, but nothing goes to waste because it's a use and replace situation.
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Michael K. McKell
Citizen
Username: Mckellconst
Post Number: 55
Registered: 5-2006
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 25, 2006 - 7:52 pm: |
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So long as I have gas for the generator, beer in the fridge and a pile of wood in the yard, I'm a happy camper... I can't say the same for my wife. |
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