There are many reasons that people have been exploring the benefits of going green. For most people it is to save some green (money). There are many cost effective things that you can do that will pay for itself overtime and conserve on energy use which helps lower green house gases.
1. REPLACE INCANDESCENT BULBS WITH COMPACT FLORESCENT LIGHTS (CFL'S). One major thing that is so simple to do is to replace your regular incadescent lights which usually is between 60 - 100 watts, to fluoresent lights that emit the same amount of light, but uses between 8 - 15 watts. By reducing the amount of watts, you use less electricity, which means more money in your pocket. The fluorescent bulbs are more expensive, but over a matter of about 5 months in savings they have payed for themselves and they last 5 - 10 years.
2. REPLACE YOUR WASHER WITH AN ENERGY STAR FRONT LOADER. Another major appliance that you may consider is to purchase an Energy Star rated front load washer. The front load washers use much less water, which means less hot water (which usually is electric or gas) so there is savings already. I have switched to COLD WATER detergent so I am not using hot water at all for laundry. The front load washer actually gets your clothes drier before going into the dryer so you can use less time drying your clothes, another great savings. Since the front loader does not use an agitator, your clothes will last longer and they actually get cleaner, so there is more savings on purchasing new clothes. Using less water is also great for the world and less abusive on your septic tank and leach field, even more savings!!!!
With just these two small changes you can save yourself a lot of money and help the world by reducing the amount of green house gases needed to make the energy to light your home and wash your clothes.
3. Purchase Re-Usable Cloth bags to take your groceries in. The grocery store usually gives away free plastic or paper bags that are only used once and use a lot of energy to make. Also plastic takes 1,000 years to biodegrade, 1,000 YEARS. What wil we do with all that plastic in the future??? My grocery store sells cloth bags for $1.50 and gives me $0.05 every time I use them, so they pay for themselves after 30 times, which going to the grocery store once a week, will pay for themselves in about 8 months and they last a long time.
4. Use a Re-Usable Metal Water Bottle. No need to worry about the toxic chemicals from the plastic that get into your drinking water and save the earth by using less plastic!
If you have had the chance to read this please pass it on to as many people as possible to help the world and to save money!!!!
Shawn King, Realtor, NH 603-986-4462 www.ShawnKingRealty.com
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