This year, Earth Hour has been transformed into the world’s first global election, between Earth and global warming.

For the first time in history, people of all ages, nationalities, race and background have the opportunity to use their light switch as their vote – Switching off your lights is a vote for Earth, or leaving them on is a vote for global warming. WWF are urging the world to VOTE EARTH and reach the target of 1 billion votes, which will be presented to world leaders at the Global Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen 2009.

This meeting will determine official government policies to take action against global warming, which will replace the Kyoto Protocol. It is the chance for the people of the world to make their voice heard.

Earth Hour began in Sydney in 2007, when 2.2 million homes and businesses switched off their lights for one hour. In 2008 the message had grown into a global sustainability movement, with 50 million people switching off their lights. Global landmarks such as the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, Rome’s Colosseum, the Sydney Opera House and the Coca Cola billboard in Times Square all stood in darkness.

In 2009, Earth Hour is being taken to the next level, with the goal of 1 billion people switching off their lights as part of a global vote. Unlike any election in history, it is not about what country you’re from, but instead, what planet you’re from. VOTE EARTH is a global call to action for every individual, every business, and every community. A call to stand up and take control over the future of our planet. Over 74 countries and territories have pledged their support to VOTE EARTH during Earth Hour 2009, and this number is growing everyday.

We all have a vote, and every single vote counts. Together we can take control of the future of our planet, for future generations.

VOTE EARTH by simply switching off your lights for one hour, and join the world for Earth Hour.

Dozens of global cities will participate in Earth Hour to turn off their lights and non-essential electrical appliances for one hour at 8pm (local time) on March 29, 2008.

Earth Hour is the highlight of a major campaign to encourage businesses, communities and individuals to take the simple steps needed to cut their emissions on an ongoing basis.

Teo May Lian | teomaylian@nus.edu.sg
the ridge news
A NUSSU Publication

April 4, 2008

Story Highlights:

The whole hour from 8p.m. to 9p.m. on March 29 marks the annual Earth Hour where countries around the globe can play their part to conserve energy by switching off all the electricity in their homes to save energy.

However, a convenience poll of 46 National University of Singapore (NUS) students conducted by the ridge before Earth Hour day revealed that 54% of those who took the survey do not know about Earth Hour.

Many students surveyed said that they were not aware of this and went on with their studying. They also showed surprise when they heard about Earth Hour.

Many students who reside on campus such as Prince George Park Residence and Sheares Hall were not aware of the campaign either.

According to Naomi Tan, 19, who has vaguely heard about Earth Hour but does not know the full details, she does not feel that this is extremely useful.

“I wouldn’t say I’m apathetic [towards Earth Day], because I do some things to save the earth too on a daily basis. Since all this is just a part of my daily life, Earth Day isn’t really a big deal,” she said.

“I think the only purpose of Earth Day would be to raise awareness, otherwise, I don’t really see a point,” Tan added.

Tan also said that more progress is attainable if everyone does things to save the Earth on a regular basis.

However, despite the low level of awareness of Earth Hour 2008 among NUS students, a large number are supportive towards it and future environmental conservation activities.

Results from the poll that showed that 56% of students surveyed are willing to participate in Earth Hour.

Residents from Temasek Hall reported that the lights along the street in front of it were switched off.

Students in some rooms in every block also switched off their lights and played basketball in the yard.

“As long as I can use my laptop, turning off the light doesn’t matter to me at all,” said Tracey Pham, a Temasek Hall resident.

Student using laptop after switching off lights in the room during Earth Hour 2008	Lights were switched off in some rooms at Temasek Hall during Earth Hour 2008
(photos by Hoang Thi Minh Ngoc)

Vu Hong Nga, a Business student said, “Though it lasts only one hour, it somehow can raise the awareness of protecting the Earth in students.”

Wang Yi, a first-year student from the communications and new media programme, said that she was not aware of Earth Hour because she had checked her email the day after the campaign. However, she thought it was a great idea and also showed interest in joining SAVE.

Earth Hour was first inaugurated in Sydney on March 31 2007 where 2.2 million people and 2100 businesses switched off their lights for an entire hour.

This resulted in a reduction of greenhouse gases, which if sustained for a year, would mean removing 48,616 cars off the road for a year.

This concerted effort encouraged people from other cities around the world to take action and this became a global movement this year.

With additional reporting by Hoang Thi Minh Ngoc (hoang_thi_minh_ngoc@nus.edu.sg) and Kelly Ang (kellyang@nus.edu.sg)

Editor’s note: This an extended version of a letter to the editor that I plan to submit to Time magazine about an article posted to its site called “Earth Hour ‘08: Did It Matter?“. To make some sense of this post, I would recommend reading that article first. I would promise you that it wouldn’t be a waste of time, but that would be a lie, which is why I’m writing this. My column this week in Jayplay also discusses Earth Hour.

In Sydney, Australia, where Earth Hour began.
Photo by Jamie Williams, flickr.com

Although not everyone claims to be a treehugger, I am hard-pressed to find people who say they hate the planet. Then by the transitive property of the basic human need for a home multiplied by the square root of Al Gore, I can’t see why the individual is left out of the equation in trying to solve global warming.

In Bryan Walsh’s article about Earth Hour, he completely dismisses the importance of the individual making a difference. But Earth Hour highlighted just that. This event showed how easy it is to reduce your personal carbon emissions in one of the simplest ways possible: turning a light switch the other direction.

In a country that can hardly do the basics when it comes to saving the environment (Americans still recycle only 32 percent of their trash), flicking the lights off for an hour should be a no-brainer.

Walsh writes that we must “live like monks” in an attempt to erase our individual 20-ton carbon footprints and later says that that will “barely scratch the surface.”

But he forgets the point of Earth Hour and has fallen into the carbon-dioxide-induced dumps. The main point of the event was not necessarily to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Instead, organizers wanted to make a statement about the importance of fighting climate change.

The biggest producers of carbon in Americans’ daily lives come from transportation and the energy used to heat and cool our homes. How can these not be changed at an individual level?

We can decide to turn the thermostat down a few notches in the winter and up a few in the summer. We can decide to walk or ride a bike to get groceries down the street. We can decide that we would rather have our electricity come from renewable resources instead choking down the pollution from America’s coal plants.

Individuals comprise the collective, so the efforts that we make at a grassroots level resonate higher up the chain.

Walsh may be right on one point, though: The statistics are monstrous, and it is hard for people to visualize what their 20 tons of carbon dioxide emissions is doing to the planet. But this oh-well-it’s-not-my-problem attitude has plagued efforts to electrify some sort of global environmental concern in the American people.

Historically, international failures like the Kyoto Protocol give even more clout to the importance of individual action.

Although then-vice president Al Gore symbolically signed the treaty, the Clinton administration never submitted it to the Senate for ratification. President George W. Bush said he has no intentions to submit the treaty for ratification, making the United States the only developed country in the world that hasn’t signed Kyoto.

Walsh’s pessimism is not shocking, considering the message this country sent by failing to sign Kyoto and its refusal to take action. It’s no wonder Americans think we can’t make a difference when this cynical attitude dominates the landscape.

By ignoring the significance of the individual, Walsh defeats any hope that Americans can make a difference. As a world leader, this country has an obligation to take on global challenges and be a role model to other nations. The United States has the highest carbon dioxide emissions per person, so it is up to us to change our ways.

It’s easy to fall into the trap of green fatigue that Walsh mentions by constantly being reminded of the tough changes we must make to the typical American lifestyle. But what we forget is the new American lifestyle that we can create — a smarter lifestyle that holds us accountable for our actions and our only home.

It’s time that we face the consequences of our choices, and it’s Time that is informing Americans about remaining the status quo.

—Lauren Keith

Submit to:

: : : : : : : : : : :

Well, I’m pretty proud that my roommates and I participated this year, although we started a couple minutes late. It was pretty crazy showering by candlelight but it was all for a good cause. I think a few of my neighbors participated as well. Hopefully Earth Hour made a difference.

Tuntini maapallolle:

Kiitos kaikille eiliseen Earth Hour 2008 – tempaukseen osallistumisesta. Hyvinhän se meni Raportit kommenttilaatikossa ja teidän blogeissa lämmittää sydäntä; minulla on ympäristöstä ja sen tulevaisuudesta välittäviä lukijoita. Uskon myös, että usea ohikulkija otti osaa tempaukseen.

Täällä tuo ‘Tunti maapallolle‘ hurahti uskomattoman nopeasti. Kuvailin kynttilöitä, kokeilin valotusasetuksia ja leikin lasipöydän heijastuksilla. Tuli taas opittua uutta tuosta pikku-Nikonista.

Blogiystäviä, jotka ovat tähän mennessä kertoneet blogeissaan eilisestä tunnista ja sen aikaansaamista ajatuksista:

Mehtäsielu
Katriina
MM
Auringonkukkametsä

Tuima

Vaiheinen (lisätty klo. 20:36) Vaiheisella on muuten muulloinkin kuin näinä teemapäivinä ympäristöasioihin liittyviä hyviä kirjoituksia. Suosittelen.

Virallinen Earth Hour kuvasivusto Flickerissä

Päivittelen tätä listaa sitä mukaan kuin niitä tulee eetteriin

Tästä on hyvä jatkaa ilmastonmuutoksen ehkäisemistä pienin jokapäiväisin teoin. Sähkössä säästäminen on oikeastaan aika helppoa, sen kuin napsuttelee niitä nappuloita kiinni. Toisaalta minä olen niin saita, että täällä ei ylimääräiset sähkösyöpöt pääse juhlimaan arkanakaan. Suurin kompastuskivi on ehkä tämä läppäri… Jospa opettelisi pitämään sitä vähemmän auki. Lupaan yrittää. (Kesä tulee, se pysyy kiinni jo luonnostaan huomattavasti enemmän.)

…

(joku on jaksanut värkätä )

Now they’re planning the crime of the century

Well what will it be?
Read all about their schemes and adventuring
It’s well worth a fee
So roll up and see
And they rape the universe
How they’ve gone from bad to worse
Who are these men of lust, greed, and glory?
Rip off the masks and let’s see.
But that’s no right – oh no, what’s the story?
There’s you and there’s me
That can’t be right

A song by Rick Davies and Roger Hodgson

We had wine, grapes, roasted pumpkin dip, water crackers and White Castello cheese with quince paste on slices of baguette.

We turned off the power and played Operation (battery operated!) by candle light.

It gets harder the more wine you drink.

I hope that your Earth Hour was as enjoyable as ours and that if you didn’t join us this year, you will in 2009.

Basil says: Candles make me hott.

Last night we took part in Earth Hour at 8PM, turning off all our lights and getting the candles out. Jake loved it, claiming it was like a return to the good old days. (Incidentally he has just started his own blog called Seb Said It, so if you feel so inclined, stop by and say ‘Hi.’ I know he would really appreciate it.)

I was heartened by how many of our neighbours joined in. There was a simplicity in the darkness, a pleasure. The night hadn’t grown colder, just longer and wider.

I stood in the garden. Remembering moments as a child in the Highlands of Scotland or rural Ireland where all the lights in the village were out after 9 o’clock and a cloak fell softly over the land, gentle as a quilt made from goose down.

Hello Earth. I whispered. It’s me. We’re trying to save you. Many of us care, most of care, but we are frightened our efforts will be too miniscule to make a difference. We want to make a difference, you have to know that.

I’ve probably never told you, Earth. But I love you. I stroll through the park and your trees shade me, their leaves made up of the most perfect daubs of green. Even the most seasoned of painters would be hard pressed to capture the endless variety of greens that make up a tree.

Some days I get up and I feel low. There is a darkness in my heart that won’t go away and then I walk outside and see the sky. The blue appears, unwavering, effortless. Psychologists who study such things have agreed about the calming effects of such a blue. I love you for that too, Earth. We get all that tranquility for free.

Then there is the ocean. Some days I gaze out at it and the waves are flecked with white, like a thousand little pixies are swimming there, each wearing a white bathing cap. Once, a friend and I did some charity work and we took some disabled kids to swim with the dolphins. After seeing those dolphins up close I was awestruck, and the kids – they knew the true meaning of joy. I love you for that too, Earth.

And for the animals. All of them. Even the nasty ones like snakes and bugs, for they are all part of the cycle of life. I thank you for the dogs and the cats. The horses and the bears. For the fish in the rivers and the birds which wake me on summer mornings. How would my heart continue to lift without them?

And flowers. When I go to my friend’s garden and her roses bow to meet me in their pink, white and yellow shirts I feel like royalty of some kind. Then I see the tulips stand in faultless orange, facing the sun like little fairy goblets. And the jasmine pops along the fences like Christmas lights, filling the air with incense.

Oh, and Earth. I’ve probably never told you that I love the wind. The wind is your music, your voice; cooling us, calming us, sometimes warning us. Sometimes when it’s so hot that the blue hydrangeas on the front porch wilt like old ladies after a sherry and the air is so heavy I can almost gather it in handfuls, the blessed wind comes and blows away the dust of the afternoon. It is a thing to love.

People make up the world too. Good and bad. I thank you for the people I know and love and the people they know and love. I thank you for all of us. And I hope you can see that some of us have courage and tenacity and believe it is not too late to make a difference. Many, many people see your beauty. I am not the only one. We are probably all standing here in the dark, collectively, saying Hello and thanking you for all that you are.

And we mean it, dear Earth. We want things to change. We want you, the Earth, to be a better place. So we are going to start by turning out just one light. And so it will go on. And so it will go on. And the darkness will give us the power not to give up. For we know, dear Earth, that you are the only world we’ve got.

อยากเป็นฮีโรพิทักษ์โลกกันมั๊ยครับ

นี่พูดจริงๆเลยนะครับ ไม่ได้ล้อกันเล่น

วิธีก็ง่ายๆครับ

1. เลือกชุดที่ใส่แล้วดูเป็นฮีโร่ เอาแบบที่ชอบเลย กกน.ครอบหัวก็ได้

2. หานาฬิกาไม่โอ้เอ้ซัก 1 เรือน

3. พอมันบอกเวลา 2 ทุ่ม ปั๊ป ก็เดินไปปิดไฟครับ

4. รอซัก 1 ชม.

5. ภูมิใจ

เวลาที่เราคิดจะทำอะไรเพื่อเปลี่ยนแปลงสังคม หรือแม้แต่นิสัยบางอย่างของตัวเราเองให้มันดีขึ้นนั้น

เช่น กินผัก ออกกำลังกาย พูดจาดีๆกับเพื่อนบ้าน ช่วยเหลือคนจน หรืออยากรวย อยากสำเร็จ

มักจะคิดว่ามันยาก ลำบาก เราคงทำไม่ไหวหรอก มัวแต่จะหาวิธีลัด วิธีเร็วๆ สบายๆ

หนังสือพวก ฮาวทู ถึงได้ขายดีกันนัก แต่ถามว่า เวลาซื้อมาอ่านกันแล้ว ได้ทำกันบ้างรึเปล่าครับ

แม้เราจะมีวิธีทำได้ง่ายจริง แบบ 1-2-3 เฮ้ เราบางคนก็ยังไม่ลงมือทำกันเลย

เพราะว่ามันเห็นผลช้า หรือไม่มีใครมอง ทำแล้วไม่ได้หน้า ก็ไม่อยากทำกัน เราติดมาตั้งแต่เด็ก

ที่ว่า ทำดีแล้วครูจะให้ดาว โตมาต้องได้จิตพิสัย แก่ไปก็ได้โบนัส โล่ ถ้วย เงินรางวัล

ทำให้ใจเรามืดบอด แยกไม่ออกระหว่าง ทำดี กับ ได้ดี

เอางี้ ผมจะให้ดาวคุณเอง

ปิดไฟ ออกไปนอกบ้าน แล้วเงยหน้าดูสิครับ

ทีนี้ เข้าใจรึยังครับ ว่าทำไมฮีโร่ต้องใส่หน้ากาก

เพราะเค้าไม่ต้องการจิตพิสัยไง

ไฟมืดได้ แต่ใจอย่ามืดนะครับ

Lights out from 8:00-9:00pm on March 29, 2008 for Earth Hour

In an effort to conserve energy, Google has turned the lights out on their home page for today. Evidently it is for a worldwide energy conservation effort called Earth Hour…………….

“Although the adjustment to the color of Google’s front page doesn’t actually save any money, they are hoping more people will participate in a one hour “lights out” event from 8:00pm – 9:00pm on Saturday, 29 March 2008.”

It is a great idea, and while I am all for “going green” I am having a party tonight and unfortunately will have movies, popcorn and little girls yelling and screaming so there is no way my lights are going out! I do, however, commend Google for their efforts to save energy and hope that they will consider some other great ways to participate in reducing our carbon footprint.

We’ve all heard about global warming or lack of global warming as some politicians would have us believe. We need to start somewhere. This is a small beginning, but it is a start. Will you join the millions of other people who will turn off their lights for one hour on March 29, 2008 starting at 8:00? I am. I think we can all do without for just one hour. It’s only an hour.

from www10.earthhourus.or posted with vodpod

 Earth Hour is due in less than 3 hours here in UK, (between 8 and 9pm GMT), and I have still not made up  my mind whether or not to take part in this hour of ‘Lights Off’.

I have read all the stuff, watched the propaganda, worried about power surges, global warming, the rain forests, population, warfare over oil and other resources…  and I don’t like it. Most of all, I dont like the way this event has been appropriated by those very organisations who are most responsible for causing all the trouble.

Maybe I am wrong, but I think the intention behind this event would have been to provide an hour’s space to sit quietly in the darkness, thinking about the earth and what we can do to look after it  - not to provide a publicity opportunity for multi-national companies, and a ‘feel-good’ bit of entertainment for the rest of us.

Last year, I spent most of the hour of darkness desperately trying to light a candle with damp matches, and crawling about  under the table, giggling, looking for my baked potato that had fallen on the floor. All rather silly, but… when the lights came on again, I  felt a huge new appreciation for the light and power I normally take for granted.

Still thinking about it.

Well why not?  I’m only going to live once (that I know of).  So if I do not respond to emails at this time, please do understand.  More about the Business Summit and a great bridal & evening wear shop owner I met with yesterday, to come.

First off, thanks everyone for your lovely comments about Mouse! At around sunrise this morning, Scampers jumped the gate we have blocking off the downstairs from the upstairs and attacked Mouse. Luckily, no harm was done and Scampers is relegated to a room in the downstairs by himself. *does karate action* TAKE THAT SCAMPERS!

In other, and somewhat late news, today is Earth Hour day. I think it’s from 8pm to 9pm so I guess everyone west of… somewhere in the Middle East has already had it! Apparently Washington, DC is far too cool to take part in it but Arlington, VA isn’t! I’m definitely going to take part and I hope you do/ did, too!

Saturday morning cartoons on Kids’ WB. ^_^

I quote from Wikipedia:

“Earth Hour is an international event that asks households and businesses to turn off their lights and non-essential electrical appliances for one hour on the evening of 29 March at 8 pm local time until 9 pm to promote electricity conservation and thus lower carbon emissions.”

In my opinion, this is a great effort in reminding everyone that the world is ailing. We need to do something so that our next generations would have a better place to live in.

Hong Kong is one of the participating cities. Many organizations and people have signed up to and pledged to power off during the stipulated period of time. Over in HKU, some departments and students have taken up the initiative to power off non-critical electrical appliances.

However not many people are aware of this program especially couples. They thought by powering down is to commemorate couples’ day or some sort of Valentine’s day. They took this opportunity to show affections at dark places.

After going through the 1-hour, I came to one conclusion. This noble program has been hijacked by ill-informed ignorance people -__-”

Earth Hour
Created to take a stand against the greatest threat our planet has ever faced, Earth Hour uses the simple action of turning off the lights for one hour to deliver a powerful message about the need for action on global warming.

Beyond turning off your lights for one hour at 8pm March 29, 2008, there are lots of things you can do to make Earth Hour 2008 an even greater success.

Today marks the day where residential houses and businesses all over the world participate in Earth Hour 2008 in a great effort to help the rapidly changing climate. It began in Sydney in 2007. Here’s a little exert from the ‘About’ page on the Earth Hour website:

“It started with a question: How can we inspire people to take action on climate change?

The answer: Ask the people of Sydney to turn off their lights for one hour.

On 31 March 2007, 2.2 million people and 2100 Sydney businesses turned off their lights for one hour – Earth Hour. If the greenhouse reduction achieved in the Sydney CBD during Earth Hour was sustained for a year, it would be equivalent to taking 48,616 cars off the road for a year.”

It is fast becoming the biggest symbolic event to fight the Global movement with currently 273,569 people who have signed up on the website, and just on 19,608 businesses in on the action too. The website even has the option of individuals, and businesses creating their own Earth Hour events, not to mention some great tips.

So between 8pm-9pm my local time, not a single light will be on in my house. This is evening is the time to take action and make a small difference.

I’m torn on whether or not to believe that the environmentalists actually understand what kind of message they are sending with these “actions”…

What they are basically telling us is that, if we want to “save the planet” and/or “stop climate change” (which is extremely stupid in a “I-don’t-know-whether-to-laugh-or-to-cry” way), is that we’ll have to give up all that technology we’ve acquired over the last few centuries. I don’t think there’s anything that symbolises this as well as “electricity” does – and what better way than “artificial light” to highlight that. Make an entire city go dark.

Read that last sentence again. Make an entire city go dark. To me, that doesn’t sound like something we’d want to achieve – that sounds like a horrible threat, the consequence of something going terribly wrong – not something that we’d want for pretty much any reason.

On the one hand, this is reassuring – as it means there won’t really be any terribly damaging measures in the name of fighting global warming because as soon as you start really inconveniencing people, they’ll start pushing back. Sure, “let’s fight global warming” but don’t you dare take away my American Idol!

On the other hand, it’s terribly frightning. I don’t belive that a majority of people understands the underlying message they are sending – the end of civilisation and progress as we know it. But I’m sure there’s a minority who do. These people aren’t worried about climate change or about the environment in any way, shape or form – they simply see it as the newest fad to use in trying to (re-)introduce their collectivist ideas. For now, they probably have the upper hand – with no way of ever winning a decisive victory, mind you – but I’m sure this’ll change over time. After it becomes more clear what exactly it is they are trying to achieve, “the public” will be less quick to embrace their messages.

I don’t really want to venture an opinion on climate change as I don’t feel sufficiently informed. To put this post into context I will say where my head’s at in terms of anthropogenic global warming nonetheless (and, rest assured, many other people have no such a doubts when spewing their uninformed BS):

I think it is probably real and there will be some consequences from it. I don’t think these consequences are as grave as they are made out to be by some people and by most major mainstream media outlets. I do belive that some scientists and most politicians are following a “hidden” agenda when talking about climate change and see it as more of a tool than a real problem.

With my – albeit fairly limited – economics background and some reading on the possible solutions, I can say that quite a few measures certainly won’t work and even some of the more convincing ones probably won’t be enough or even help significantly. In general though, I consider the costs of doing something drastic about climate change (and anything else wouldn’t be enough, right?) far too high. The costs of dealing with problems as we go along (and especially if I’m right and sea levels don’t rise 20 feet, for example) and bump into them seem far more reasonable. That solution would also make it possible to ensure continued economic growth and technological progress – but then again we’ve now come full circle. That’s probably more important to the people with the agenda: no more growth, no more progress – we already have “enough”, don’t we?

On March 28 from 8 pm to 9 pm, you can join millions of people around the world by turning your lights off for an hour for Earth Hour. The event, started by the World Wildlife Fund, is a statement about climate change. 

Earth Hour started last year in Sydney, Australia, when more than 2 million people and thousands of businesses turned out their lights. Power consumption dropped more than 10 percent in that single hour.

This year, 25 cities in seven countries have joined World Wildlife Fund as official partners. More than 100 cities across North America will participate, including the US flagships–Atlanta, Chicago, Phoenix and San Francisco and Ottawa, Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver.

Sign up for Earth Hour 2008 by clicking here.

More than an hour…

Lighting

1. Turn off lights when not using them. My father always said we didn’t own the electric company. I believed him – to this day I can’t go by a light-switch without turning it off.
2. Change your incandescent light bulbs to compact fluorescent bulbs where fixtures are on three or more hours a day.
3. Use low-wattage bulbs in closets or hallways.
4. Keep light bulbs and fixtures clean. Dirty fixtures reduce light intensity by as much as 25 percent.
5. Turn off your television when not viewing it.
6. Turn off your radio/stereo when not listening to it.
7. Use outdoor lights with a photocell unit or a motion sensor so they will turn on only at night or when someone is present.

Electronics

1. Turn off your PC when not in use for more than one hour. Many people believe that equipment lasts longer if it is never turned off. This incorrect perception carries over from the days of older mainframe computers.
2. If you’re in the market for a new computer - a laptop computer uses up to 90% less energy than bigger desktop models. 
3. Turn off your monitor when not in use. A screen-saver does not save energy no matter how cute it is.
4. Give your printer a break – print double-sided or don’t print at all.
5. Plug home electronics, such as televisions, stereos, CD and DVD players, computers, and kitchen appliances, into power strips; turn the power strips off when the equipment is not in use. In the average home, 75% of the electricity used to power home electronics is consumed while the products are turned off.
6. Unplug battery chargers when the batteries are fully charged or the chargers are not in use.
7. Use rechargeable batteries instead of throwaway.

Heating/Cooling

1. Turn up your air conditioner thermostat to 78° F. when you are at home and to 85° F. when you are away from home.
2. Turn off your air conditioner when you are not at home.
3. During cooler weather, set your thermostat to 68° F. during the day and 55° F. at night or when you are not at home.
4. Use a programmable thermostat to set your furnace/air conditioner to come on 30 minutes before your arrive home.
5. Clean or replace your air conditioner and furnace filters once a month.
6. Don’t block registers, baseboard radiators or cold air returns. Keep them clean.
7. If you have a wood-burning fireplace, close chimney dampers when you don’t have a fire.
8. When it’s cold outside, keep drapes and shades open on south-facing windows during the day to allow sunlight to enter and closed during the night to prevent heat loss.
9. When it’s hot outside, keep drapes and shades closed during the day to prevent solar gain.
10. Consider weatherstripping your friend.

Appliances

1. Set your refrigerator to 37°-40° F. and the freezer at 5° F. A separate freezer for long-term storage should be set at 0° F.
2. Discontinue use of a second “beer and pop” refrigerator.
3. Cover liquids and wrap foods stored in the refrigerator so the compressor doesn’t have to work so hard.
4. Run your clothes washer with only full loads. Fewer loads reduce energy and water use
5. Wash and rinse your clothes in cold water. About 90% of the energy use in a clothes washer goes to water heating.
6. Clean your dryer lint filter after every use. Make sure the outside dryer vent is clear.
7. If your dryer has a moisture sensor, use it to dry your clothes.
8. Line or air-dry your clothing. My sister hangs most of her clothing instead of tossing it in the dryer and she always looks sharp.
9. Run your dishwasher only when full but not overloaded.
10. Scrape, don’t rinse, food off plates. Dishwashers don’t require pre-soaking or pre-rinsing to get dishes clean.
11. Use the air dry or no-dry option on your dishwasher. You don’t need to bake your dishes to dry them.
12. Keep range-top burners and reflectors clean; they will reflect the heat better, saving energy. Besides your stove-top will look nicer.
13. Use a covered kettle or pan to boil water; it’s faster and uses less energy. Oh, and don’t watch it, either.
14. Unplug small appliances when not in use, e.g., toaster, toaster-oven, coffeemaker, hairdryer, styling iron. Not only will you save energy but small appliances can be fire hazards. A friend had a plugged-in hairdryer start a fire in the bathroom at her place of business. Fortunately she was there to put it out with a fire extinguisher.

Water Heating

1. Set your water heater to 120° F. Anything hotter and you risk scalding yourself and family members.
2. Turn your water heater to the lowest setting when you’re away. Water heating accounts for about 13% of home energy costs.
3. Take a shower instead of a bath – time it keep it down to 5 minutes.
4. If you do take a bath, fill the tub to no more than 3 inches.
5. Install aerating, low-flow faucets and shower-heads.

Driving 

1. Idling gets you 0 miles per gallon. The best way to warm up a vehicle is to drive it. No more than 30 seconds of idling on winter days is needed. Anything more simply wastes fuel and increases emissions. This includes picking your kids at school or at the drive-thru. Turn your car off! And stop driving around and around in the parking lot trying to find a parking spot 2 places closer to the door. Park it and walk, you know you need the exercise!
2. Aggressive driving (speeding, rapid acceleration, and hard braking) wastes gas. Besides, it pisses everyone else off.
3. Use cruise control on the highway to help you maintain a constant speed.
4. Avoid high speeds. Above 60 mph, gas mileage drops rapidly. See fueleconomy.gov to see how driving speed affects gas mileage. Of course, if the speed limit is 75 mph, you better keep up or you’ll get run over. My grandfather once got a ticket for going too slow. It’s called “impeding traffic” and isn’t safe for anyone.
5. Clean out your car. Extra weight decreases gas mileage. This one is for my daughter. Her car is always full of “stuff”.
6. Seek out alternatives to the single occupancy vehicle – carpool, public transportation, vehicle-sharing service, e.g., Zipcar or Flexcar, bike, walk.

Want to save more?

• Alliance to Save Energy
• Federal Trade Commission
• Flex Your Power - California Energy Efficiency and Conservation
• U.S. Department of Energy – Energy Savers

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