Unplugging, Etc.

Today's Agenda: Take baby steps to being more "green"/energy conscious.

We've finally decided to take a few steps to make the house a little bit more green. After article on article about "10 Easy Steps" to saving energy, I am now determined to research those "easy" steps and take a few of my own. This month's Real Simple has a good article on ways to save energy and I'm taking a few of their cues and am starting with a couple of steps. It never seems as easy as they make it out to be...but maybe it actually is...Here's what we've done so far...

1. Unplugging:

- Plug items into a power strip or into multi-outlet wall plug-in. Then just pull those out. Plug all your chargers into one power strip and *bonus* you also know where they all are and can easily take the power strip to another room if you need to.
{I don't know if this works if you have children though since you probably don't want loose cords hanging around everywhere. When unplugged you could just set the strip on top of a table instead of just leaving it on the floor.}

2. Programming the Thermostat:

This is actually pretty easy to do. {Well, really easy for me because Aaron did this but I watched and it only took him about 10 minutes to do.} You can program ours to four settings. So we have it set for (1) morning when we are getting ready, (2) during the day, (3) when we get home at night, (4) when we sleep. If you don't have one already you may be able to replace the one you have with a programmable one.

3. Set computer to enter sleep mode, and other energy saving settings:

On your computer you can type into the Help tab at the top of the screen "saving energy" and a nice little "how to" will pop up. It's still not as intuitive as it could be. Why can't they just go step by step?

Here's what I did this morning. On a Mac. Step by Step.

Step 1:
Go to Finder.
Go to System Preferences.
Go to Energy Saver.
Select the Sleep tab on the Left.
Slide the number of minutes you want to "put computer to sleep after it is inactive" and when to "put the display to sleep when the computer is inactive". Also check "put the hard disk(s) to sleep when possible." {It's apparently better to put the computer to sleep vs having the screen saver come up.}
Select the Options tab on the Right.
Check "automatically reduce the brightness of the display before display sleep."

Step 2:
Go to Finder.
Go to System Preferences.
Go to Displays.
Turn down the display's brightness. {See slider in lower left corner.}

Step 3:
Go to the wireless signal in the upper right hand corner.
Click on it.
Select "Turn Airport Off" before you leave the house for the day or go to sleep at night.

A few more energy-saving tasks that are on the horizon:

1. Replace the air filter each month.

I just need to put this into our Google calendar and can remember to do this.

2. Consider if I need to seal electrical outlets in the exterior walls of the house.

Apparently they sell "foam insulating gaskets" that are less than $1 each. You unscrew the outlet cover, install the gasket and replace the cover.

3. Replace incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent lightbulbs.

Apparently the savings are huge. I just need to get over the mental block on this one and do it. Anyone want to come with me for a CFL shopping trip? Real Simple has a list of the best here.

4. Wash clothes in cold water (unless very dirty!)

I'm not sure how I feel about this tip.

5 . Keep blinds closed in the summer and open in the winter.

I can handle this one.

Check out these stories/sources courtesy of Real Simple for more information/inspiration:

Making Your Home More Eco-Friendly
Cut Your Energy Costs
Six Money Saving Fans
Eight Legitimate Earth Friendly Seals