Going Green (solar panels, recycling, mpg, recycle bin)

[tet tea]

With everybody seemingly jumping on the "green" bandwaggon I was wondering on how to make my home and lifestyle greener. How many of you out there practice energy saving tricks, and have you seen the rewards from it when you look at your utilitiy bills?

Here's me ...

Recycled for years and years
Collect rainwater for my garden
Intend to have solar panels installed when I buy my own home
Intend to have a compost heap when I buy my own home
Want a veggie garden
Never let the water run
Use cold water when washing clothes and air dry on nice days
Unplug vampire appliances when not in use
Keep the thermostat low
Take old clothes to the Red Cross
Use energy efficent bulbs
Turn lights off when not needed

There's probably more that I can't think of at the moment. The above are like second nature after so many years of doing them.

[BrianH]

Ive recycled for years and have had veggie gardens, but its so hard and expensive to grow veggies in NM. I unplug and turn off everything at night time and when theyrenot in use. If i could afford solar panels, id definately do it. I have them squigly lightbulbs in all my sockets in the house,

Ive definately seeen the monitary benifits of the lightbulbs and turning everything off. How do you go about having your own compost heap ?

[mainebrokerman]

tet,,,good thread, ive gone green for about 10 years,,,i no longer buy my meat at the supermarket,,,because of those damn foam trays and film (made from oil) ..so i shoot most of my food, from deer, to moose, to bunnies.. if we all did our part,,,just think what we could accomplish..

[Miss Blue]

I saved a big bundle on energy last month when my daughter and her three children moved out. My electric went from 387 down to 158, my water went from 80 down to 35. I also contributed to the save our green space (made that un up) by lowering our plastic amd other wastes from the grocery store from about 300 each week to about 100. I am sooo proud to help the energy and recycling millions.

[ellie]

For the past three years, since I moved to my current town, I've been very good about recycling. My last town didn't have an organized program so I simply saved aluminum cans and gave them to a man who collected them. Big scrap metal went to the recycler as well as magazines and plastic bags.

I've always had a compost bin, even when I lived in an urban area. I raised chickens for years and had a vegetable garden of some sorts in each place I've lived.

I probably lived greener 20 years or so ago when I was living in an alt community, but out in the real world it's not as easy.

[tet tea]

BrianH ... This is a good link for making a compost heap

http://www.boldweb.com/greenweb/compost.htm (broken link)

Mainbroker ... I've been a vegetarian for years, but I totally know where you are coming from. I hate all that pre-packaged meat and veggies. I've even stopped using the plastic bags at the checkout. I take my own cloth ones. All you have to do is throw them in the wash if they get dirty.

One thing I wish more places in the States would do, like they do here in Europe is recycle beer bottles and soda/water bottles. You buy them by the case (crate) and are charged a crate fee. When you're done you take the whole case (crate) back and get the fee back. Probably why beer over here is so cheap

I found out another energy saving tip. Use the child saftey caps in your outlets. Apparently we lose a lot of heat through them.

BTW: If you install solar panels in your home, you can get a tax deduction!

[vpcats]

I try.

Curly light bulbs
put plastic/glass containers in recycle bin for special recycle p/u days
don't let the water run if not in use
do use cold water for laundry and hang outside when nice and sunny (only sheets, quilts and dog bedding/blankets though)
clothes/shoes to Salvation Army
A/C on 78 weekdays from 9-5

Can't think of too much more but maybe I do have some other energy saving habits.

BUT....no moose, deer, rabbit, frogs' legs, or any of that stuff for me. I draw the line there! :-)

[dreamofmonterey]

I am vegetarian
Cut down majorly on driving unless absolutely necessary
recycle.

Is a hybrid car really worth it? I havent looked into it, but am considering it.


sunny

[mystree]

Just bought the twirly bulbs today.

[BrianH]

Sunny, i saw a report stating that the Hybrid MPG is bogus. Something to do with the fact that its based on a slower speeding up than the regular MPG of regular cars.