Green Team Tips of the Week

Indoor Household Tips

Yellow Pages Goes Green
The Remarks, March 3, 2009

Do you think of the Yellow Pages as too thick to prop up a wobbly table, but too thin to really work as a booster seat? Do you even use the Yellow Pages anymore? Do you just Google when you need a phone number or address? Here's a great tip. Yellow Pages Goes Green endeavors to remove your name from the distribution list for phone book delivery services in your area. It takes all of 2 minutes to register, it won't cost you anything, and saves trees. Why not sign up?

Curtains
The Remarks, June 3, 2008

By attending to the draperies on your windows, you can add some part-time insulation to your home and save a bit more on energy use. Close the curtains to make your house warmer on cold days and cooler on hot ones. For more insulation, try “thermal-backed” curtains.

Do your part: Up to 25 percent of a home’s energy loss takes place through its windows.

Energy Star
The Remarks, March 4, 2008

When buying nearly any appliance, electronic device, home heating or cooling equipment, or insulation, look for the Energy Star rating from the federal EPA and Department of Energy. To earn the rating, products must meet strict energy efficiency guidelines; choosing rated products is one way to make energy-wise choices. Do your part: The Energy Star program helped Americans save enough energy in 2005 to avoid greenhouse gases equivalent to those emitted by 23 million cars.

Stimulate the Economy with a Low-flow Toilet
The Remarks, June 24, 2008

If you're undecided about how best to spend your 2007 economic stimulus rebate check, consider spending a portion of it on a new, low-flow toilet. You'll converse water and reduce your monthly water bill.

Click here to take advantage of the City of Atlanta's toilet rebate program.

Drip, Drip, Drip
The Remarks, April 29, 2008

A leaky faucet may get on your nerves, but it’d make you really crazy if you knew how much water it wastes. A calculator at http://ga.water.usgs.gov lays it out. For instance, if three faucets each dripped 20 drops a minute, 2,777 gallons would be down the drain each year. So fix the leak!

Bleached Out
The Remarks, February 19, 2008

Chlorine laundry bleach degrades to water, oxygen, and table salt, but when sent down the drain it can also produce organochlorines—suspected carcinogens and reproductive, neurological, and immune system toxins. Non-chlorinated bleaches containing hydrogen peroxide, sodium percarbonate, or sodium perborate are viable alternatives.

The Remarks, August 14, 2007

Washing 4 out of 5 loads of laundry in cold water eliminates 460 lbs. of carbon dioxide from being emitted per household per year!

Fabric Softener
The Remarks, February 5, 2008

Liquid fabric softeners may contain derivatives of ammonium chloride (harmful to some aquatic life and a trigger for allergy and asthma symptoms). Keep it out of the wastewater stream by substituting a quarter-cup to a cup of white vinegar, which leaves your clothing soft and doesn’t leave behind any scent.

The Thermostat Rules
The Remarks, January 29, 2008

Warm your house to 68°F on winter days, and to 55° at night or when you’ll be out. Install a programmable thermostat to change settings for you automatically. For every degree you lower the heat, you can save 3 percent in energy costs. Do your part: by one estimate, every 100 households that practice careful thermostat regulation will reduce CO2 output by more than 30,000 pounds—15 tons—annually.

Junk Mail
The Remarks, November 27, 2007

At this time of year, your mailboxes are probably stuffed with catalogs that you never requested. Think about this:

• Over eight million tons of trees are consumed each year in the production of paper catalogs.
• Nearly half of the planet’s original forest cover is gone today. Forests have effectively disappeared in 25 countries, and another 29 have lost more than 90% of their forest cover.
• Deforestation contributes between 20% and 25% of all carbon pollution, causing global climate change.
• More than one billion people living in extreme poverty around the world depend on forests for their livelihoods.
• There are other significant environmental impacts from the catalog cycle. The production and disposal of direct mail alone consumes more energy than three million cars.
• The manufacturing, distribution, collection and disposal of catalogs generates global warming gases as well as air and water pollution. Reducing the number of unwanted catalogs that are mailed will help the environment.

To remove your name from the mailing lists for these paper catalogs, go to www.catalogchoice.org, a free online service. It's quick & easy. Click here to NPR report about CatalogChoice from November 23.

Toilet Water
The Remarks, November 13, 2007

Now more than ever, water conservation is critical. Install a water dam or water displacement device in your toilet to save up to 15 gallons per day and 5500 gallons per year.

The Remarks, July 24, 2007

Turn the air conditioner thermostat up a single degree. That avoids 220 pounds of carbon dioxide from being emitted per household per year.

The Remarks, July 17, 2007

Low-flow shower heads and faucet aerators can reduce your home water consumption as much as 50% - and reduce your energy cost of heating the water also by as much as 50%.

The Remarks, July 10, 2007

Some compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs use 66% less energy than a standard incandescent bulb and last up to 10 times longer. Replacing a 100-watt incandescent with a 32-watt CFL can save you at least $30 in energy costs over the life of the bulb. To calculate the potential savings resulting from changes in your own home, visit www.environmentaldefense.org.  There are many ways you can make a real difference in the health of our environment. Start now.

The Remarks, June 26, 2007

If every household in the U.S. replaced one light bulb with an ENERGY STAR qualified compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL), it would prevent enough pollution to equal removing one million cars from the road.

The Remarks, June 19, 2007

Considering a new washing machine? The newest, most-efficient washers use four times less energy than the least-efficient machines and save up to $70 a year in energy costs.

The Remarks, May 22, 2007

Cool your hot water heater down by 10 degrees. This change would save 660 pounds of carbon dioxide per household from being emitted into the air!

The Remarks, May 8, 2007

If you only run your dishwasher and washing machine with full loads, you can save up to 1000 gallons of water per month!

The Remarks, April 24, 2007

If every household in the U.S. replaced just one package of 20 count drawstring tall kitchen bags made from virgin plastic with 65% recycled ones, we could:

• Save 45,100 barrels of oil, enough to heat and cool 2,500 U.S. homes for a year;
• Save 824,800 cubic feet of landfill space, equal to 1,200 full garbage trucks; and
• Avoid 16,800 tons of pollution!

The Remarks, April 3, 2007

The U.S. Bureau of Mines estimates that roughly 1.5 million tons of clay are mined each year just to make kitty litter for the nation’s 60 million felines. Much of the clay is strip-mined, destroying land, its habitats, and creatures. Some experts claim that kitty litter accounts for more waste in landfills than disposable diapers. Consider using an alternative product that is nontoxic, biodegradable, and renewable. Many of these products can be safely composted, mulched, scooped, or flushed down the toilet; they are typically made from corn, wheat, walnut shells, peanut shells, or even recycled newspapers.

Click here to visit the Earthshare website. 

The Remarks, March 27, 2007

If every household in the U.S. replaced 1 bottle of 48 ounce chlorine bleach with non-chlorine bleach, we could prevent 8.2 million pounds of chlorine from entering our environment!

The Remarks, February 20, 2007

If every household in the U.S. replaced just one bottle of 32 oz. petroleum based all purpose cleaner with a renewable resource based product, we could save 6,800 barrels of oil, enough to heat and cool 390 U.S. homes for a year!

The Remarks, February 6, 2007

Turning off the water while brushing your teeth will save 4 gallons per minute. That equals 185 gallons per month and almost 2200 gallons per year per person!

The Remarks, January 23, 2007

If every household in the U.S. replaced just one roll of 120 sheet virgin fiber paper towels with 100% recycled ones, we could save: 1 million trees, 2.6 million cubic feet of landfill space, 367 million gallons of water, and avoid 38,000 tons of pollution!