You’ve heard all about global warming and the dangers it poses to our environment. You may wonder what can you do to help. The answer is to reduce your carbon footprint in as many ways as you can. Your carbon footprint is the total of greenhouse gases produced by your use of electricity, the car you drive, and the manufacture and distribution of all the products you use. You don’t have to make major, expensive changes to reduce your carbon footprint. In fact, there are many free steps you can take to save money on gas and electric bills while reducing your impact on the environment.
If you aren’t sure how much energy you are using, try having a home energy audit that can tell you what your current usage is. You can have this done professionally or, if cost is an issue, you can perform one yourself by either comparing your meter readings at the beginning and end of one month or using a handheld power meter. Either of these ways will give you a baseline for measuring savings. The next step is to start reducing your energy consumption. This is much easier than you think. You can create large savings for yourself by following a few simple steps:
- Make sure your home is well insulated, especially the roof.
- Turn off all lights and water when you aren’t using them.
- Seal any cracks around your windows and doors and make sure West-facing windows are shaded.
- Use LED or CFL light bulbs in place of incandescent bulbs. This includes switching to LED garden lights for outdoor use.
- Wrap your water heater with an insulating blanket and, if possible, switch to a solar water heater.
- Turn off appliances at the wall or unplug them when not in use.
- Unplug all charges when you are finished with them to save energy drain.
Making several small changes like these can greatly reduce your carbon footprint and create big savings for you on your energy bills.
