Green Savings Strategies

It is easy to feel overwhelmed by the magnitude of the global warming and greenhouse gas emissions issues, but the good news is, as an individual or family making sustainable changes to your life can make a difference to the health of the planet and its future. The most important thing to remember is that you don’t have to make your entire home and life green all at once, and nor do you have to make every aspect of your life carbon-offset or entirely green – the most effective way you can make green savings is by making changes which you and your family can stick to now and in the future. The best part is, while you’re saving the planet, you’ll also be saving yourself money too.

Products to Help With Your Green Saving Strategies

While you may choose to wait and upgrade to some of the green money saving products, some can easily and cheaply be upgraded now, while you wait for the need to upgrade a hot water system or a washing machine.

Water saving showerhead:

• If you don’t want to cut back on the time you spend in the shower, cut back on the water you use by installing a water saving showerhead.
• You’ll not only save water but power too because when you use less water, you’re all paying less to heat less water.

Smart power boards:

• Have a primary plug and several supplementary plugs.
• You can plug in your computer hard drive to the main plug and plug in your monitor, printer, speakers and other office equipment to the other plugs.
• When the main plug is on so are the others but when the main plug is off, the others power down too, saving you money on equipment you’re not using.

Energy saving light bulbs:

• Fluorescent light bulbs use a fraction of the energy of ordinary incandescent bulbs.
• Where strips of fluro lighting isn’t possible there are now energy saving fluro light bulbs which screw into an ordinary light socket to save you money.
• By switching your home to energy saving bulbs you can save around $100 a year on your energy costs, and around 600 kg of green house gases.

Solar panels, back to the grid energy:

• An often significant investment, but take advantage of government grants and incentives for installation.
• Solar panels collect all the free energy from the sun and power your home.
• The power you collect but don’t use can then be sent back to the electricity supply grid and your home can then begin to profit as you will be credited on your power bill for the electricity you have generated.

Programmable heating and cooling:

High efficiency appliances:

• When you next need to replace an appliance look at its energy rating.
• Energy ratings are usually measured in kilowatts per year and one kilowatt will equate to 20 cents on your power bill beach year.
• Appliances such as washing machines and dishwashers will also have a water rating so look for low usage machines.

Lifestyle Strategies to Help You Achieve Green Savings

By making some simple green changes in your lifestyle you can not only save money and help the environment but you’ll also find you feel better too. Changing your diet and getting out of the house more will be good for all of your family and are sustainable change you can maintain to keep you all healthy and keep reducing your carbon footprint.

Vary your diet and eat in:

• Eating less meat will help reduce the amount of methane released into the air and atmosphere as cattle especially are responsible for this gas which has 23 times more global warming potential than carbon dioxide. Also, 30% of the earth’s surface which was once natural wildlife habitats is now occupied by livestock.
• Grow your own vegetables in a patch in your garden and you can save money and the environment as you are cutting down food miles by not buying items which have been shipped in out of season, plus a packet of seedlings is much cheaper than a bag of vegetables from the supermarket. Plus you can grow your vegetables pesticide free by companion planting, so reducing the poisons going into the atmosphere.
• Have a filter tap installed in your kitchen or use a filtered water jug instead of buying bottled water. You’ll find you drink more water having it ‘on tap’ so to speak and you’ll feel better, as well as reduce the number of plastic bottles going to the dump.

Get out of the house:

• Use the car less and walk whenever you can and you’ll feel better, save on fuel costs and on carbon emissions. Instead of driving to the shops for milk, take your family for a walk down the road, or meet your kids at the bus stop on foot rather than in the car after school and use the time on the walk home to catch on their day.
• Participate in outdoor activities rather than indoor video games. Take the dog for a walk or go to the beach instead of sitting in front of the TV and you will save power on running all your appliances, plus you’re making a positive lifestyle change you and your family can stick to.

Changing your lifestyle and energy saving strategies to be both sustainable and climate friendly can be something you get your family and friends involved in to really see the changes happening. Websites such as www.climatepositive.org allow you to calculate your current carbon footprint, set achievable goals like those above and then check back in a year’s time to measure your progress and your energy savings. So with green savings strategies so easy to master, start making positive changes in your life and lifestyle.