Eco Friendly

Being Eco friendly means a lot of things. It means

Here are 5 tips on how to be Eco friendly around your house. We can all make a difference!!!

Turn things off - This tip sounds so simple, yet it's rarely done. You can save energy by simply flipping a switch. At S.A.M the green team is trying to do this. What we are doing is that we the grade 7's and 8's go at lunch time and go to every room in the school and see if all the lights are off. Try doing this for 30 days, you can turn off appliances, lights, and so on. When they are not in use it develops a new energy saving habit.

Take Shorter Showers - When you take a shower, specifically log showers, which means you are wasting a whole lot of water while taking a shower and yes that means staying in the shower for so long because it feels so good in there (I do that sometimes if I'm really tired, but I'm trying to stop) it wastes a lot of water that can be used more more useful reasons. Obviously shorter showers use less than log luxurious and relaxing showers. As a matter of fact baths in a shallow tub are more efficient because you’re using a fixed amount of water. If we take at least only 1 minute for each person off our shower time we will definitely save water.

Clean your Refrigerator Coils - Fridges are energy hogs (not trying to be mean). An easy way to help make your fridge run more efficiently is to clean the coils. If they're covered with some nasty and gross 'gunk' they can't work the way they should, and your refrigerator won't run longer and more often. Once or twice a year you’ll need to turn your refrigerator off and to clean those coils. Cleaning those coils enables your refrigerator to operate more efficiently.

Put On a Sweater - Finding an optimal temperature is a challenge in itself, but reducing the thermostat a few degrees can reduce use as well as raising your temperature when cooling. If you wear a sweater you will become warm and won't need the thermostat. If you don't like to wear sweaters or heavy layers, try reducing the degrees of the thermostat. In the winter, set your thermostat at 68 degrees during the daytime and 55 degrees during night time. In the summer keep it at 78 degrees. If you lower your thermostat degrees by just two degrees during the winter time it saves 6% of heating-related CO2 emissions. You may think that 6% is not a lot, but think again. By doing this it's a reduction of 420 pounds of CO2 per year for any typical house.

Wash Full Loads of Clothes in Cold Water - Most detergents work well with cold water. They even have specific detergents designed to work in cold water. In fact, washing clothes in cold water allows fabrics to retain their colour and strength longer. Even if you wash with warm water, you’re saving more energy then if you were washing in hot water. Warm water can be substituted for hot water, but only if you are willing to take the risk... JUST KIDDING!!! Substituting warm water doesn't really do anything but save energy.

So there you have it, these few tips for environmentally friendly living can be done by anyone that wants to make a difference for the environment. These small changes can make a big impact on the environment and impact the environment greatly. Go GREEN!!!