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Stop Idling
Every moment you spend idling your car's engine
means needlessly wasting gas, as well as rougher wear on
your vehicle. Idling for more than 10 seconds wastes
more gas than is needed for startup. Overall, Americans
idle away 2.9 billion gallons of gas a year, worth
around $78.2 billion. |
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Turn Off Your Computer
Save energy and wear and tear on your hardware by
shutting down your computer at night. You'll save an
average of $90 of electricity a year. The Department of
Energy recommends shutting off your monitor if you
aren't going to use it for more than 20 minutes, and the
whole system if you're not going to use it for more than
two hours. |
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Sign Up for Green Energy
More than half of all electricity consumers in the U.S.
now have the option of purchasing green power from their
utility. Find out how you can buy it by visiting the
Department of Energy's
state-by-state list of providers. You can also check
with your own utility to see what's available. |
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Turn Down the Thermostat
It definitely pays to give a thought to your here and
thermostat, since most households shell out 50 to 70% of
their energy budgets on heating and cooling. For every
degree you lower the thermostat, you'll save between 1
and 3% of your heating bill. Do the same thing in
reverse with air conditioning |
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Wash Your Laundry in Cold Water
An easy way to clean green is to turn the dial on your
washing machine to cold. Most loads don't need hot
water, and 90% of the energy used by washing machines
goes into heating. The higher the water temperature, the
higher the cost to you and the planet. |
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Pay Bills Online
Save natural resources -- as well as late fees -- by
enrolling in online bill-paying options. Paperless
billing not only saves trees, it also eliminates the
fossil fuel needed to get all those billing envelopes
from them to you and back again. Plus, you'll save money
on stamps. |
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Jettison Junk Mail
Around 100 million trees and 28 billion gallons of water
are used to send junk mail to Americans every year,
according to
greendimes.com. You can
stop 75% of unsolicited mail by registering on the Mail
Preference Service on the Direct Marketing Association
Website (for a fee of
$1). Within 90 days, most unsolicited mail will stop.
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Print on Two Sides
Know what? It's not that hard to print on both sides of
the paper. But even though most software programs give
that option, most of us still print only on one side of
the page. Consider this: the U.S. alone uses 4 million
tons of copy paper annually, about 27 pounds per person.
Save dough and your local landfill. Print on two sides.
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Carpool It!
If your drive to work is 25 miles each way and at least
half is in typical stop-and-go traffic, you'll save
almost 10 percent of your monthly carbon emissions by
carpooling. Not to mention the gas dollars you'll save
and the fun you'll have sharing office gossip with your
friends |
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Choose Hormone-Free Milk
Look for milk that has been certified organic or carries
the words "no artificial hormones." Conventional dairies
inject cows with synthetic recombinant bovine growth
hormone (rBGH), aka bovine somatotropin (rbST), to boost
production. The practice has been implicated in udder
infections, requiring more veterinary antibiotic use,
and is banned in many countries. Some scientists worry
the hormones may affect consumers. |
