Today I came upon a website called WattzOn, which I found through a website called Carsharing.US, which is written by the guy who started the first carsharing company in the U.S., which was later swallowed up by Flexcar. I found Carsharing.US through a blog called Diamond-Cut Life, which I also recommend, and I found Diamond-Cut Life by Googling, believe it or not, global warming and fun. WattzOn offers a great tool for thoroughly examining your energy consumption, which is directly proportional to your carbon footprint, that is, the amount of greenhouse gases that are produced by you living your life the way you do. I took the test, and the WattzOn badge to the right tells you the result. You can click on it for more details, and do your own test at WattzOn. There's also a video to watch about individual energy consumption. My only complaint is that the site is a bit short on solutions. The intent is to create a community to share ideas, which is also my intent for this blog, but with a little more emphasis on solutions here. So send them in!
Stay cool,
Bonney
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GO TO BOTTOM OF PAGE FOR 10 THINGS WE CAN DO TO KEEP GLOBAL WARMING IN CHECK
Facts and actions to reduce our carbon footprint
GO TO BOTTOM OF PAGE FOR 10 THINGS WE CAN DO TO KEEP GLOBAL WARMING IN CHECK
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- Bonney Hughes
- Santa Fe, NM, United States
- Ordinary mom looking for ways to keep the planet from overheating. M.S. in environmental toxicology. Worked for NM Environment Dept. for 10 years.
10 Things We Can Do to Reduce Global Warming
- 1) Buy energy-efficient appliances. Look for the Energy Star label. Refrigerators consume most electricity of any home applicance. Today's refrigerators consume less than one-fourth the energy of 30 years ago. If your fridge is more than 10 years old, you could save a lot of money and reduce global warming by buying a new one. Some utility companies will buy your old, working fridge.
- 2) Set your thermostat 2 degrees lower in winter and two degrees higher in summer to save about 2,000 pounds of CO2 per year.
- 3) Wrap insulation around your water heater to save 1,000 pounds of CO2 a year. Or install a tankless water heater, which instantly heats water when needed, can save 50% on utilities, and can get you a $300 federal tax credit.
- 4) Get your car's engine tuned up and keep tires inflated -- both help fuel efficiency. We just pumped up our tires and gained 2-3 miles per gallon. A new air filter could get you 10 percent more miles per gallon.
- 5) Contact elected officials and ask them to pass laws requiring higher gas mileage and cleaner emissions from cars, cleaner power plants, energy efficient buildings and more.
- 6) Sign up for an alternative power program if one is offered in your area. In New Mexico, PNM's Sky Blue can provide up to 90% of your household electricity from wind power for a small monthly fee.
- 7) Drive less. Take the bus or ride a bike. Combine errands to take fewer trips.
- 8) If you buy a car, pick the least-polluting, most fuel-efficient vehicle you can. A car that gets 20 miles per gallon will emit about 50 tons of CO2 over its lifetime. A car that gets 40 mpg will emit half that much and save you roughly $3,000 in fuel costs.
- 9) Replace regular light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs. A CF bulb will lower your energy bills by $15 a year and more than $60 over its life and will keep half a ton of CO2 out of the air. Compact fluorescents last 10 times as long as incandescents, too.
- 10) Offset CO2 emissions generated when you fly with programs like TerraPass or others below.
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