Brillant ideas for an earth-friendly new year

As Oklahomans ring in a new year, resolutions abound. Among the most common resolutions are spending more time with friends and family, losing weight and saving money.

Only in recent years has another resolution become increasingly popular and important. Earth's changing climate has shed light on the universal need to conserve the planet's resources and incorporate sustainable practices into our daily lives.

The bad news is that recycling, reusing and conserving resources have only begun to become common practice in American households. Each American produces about 4.4 pounds of trash per day, but only about 30 percent of that is recycled; and free recycling is not available in every city, according to NSF International, a public health and safety company.

But the good news is that incorporating some simple changes to your daily routine at home and at work can save your family thousands of dollars each year.

"That's just like a raise. To get more money, you can either work harder or you can do small things which taken separately don't do much but when taken in combination they really make an effect,” said Jeff Tate, chairman of Sustainable Edmond, a chapter of Sustainable Oklahoma, a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating the public and implementing more Earth-friendly public policies.

Hundreds of ideas exist for conserving energy, recycling and cleaning the environment, many of which can save you big money. Tate suggests thinking of conservation and recycling as not only a way to save the planet but also a way to save for your retirement.

"Take the money you save and put it in your 401-k,” he said.

Many of these methods are inexpensive and easy to implement. For example, each compact fluorescent lightbulb (CFL) in your home uses 75 percent less energy than its incandescent counterpart and lasts years longer. The result is about $30 in savings per bulb over its lifetime. CFLs also save about 2,000 times their own weight in greenhouse gases, according to Energystar.gov.

The bulbs are so efficient, Australia recently banned the use of traditional incandescent bulbs, requiring that consumers and businesses install high efficiency lighting to cut greenhouse gas emissions. But CFLs are just one way homeowners can conserve energy and save money.

Did you know that many of your electronics draw electricity even when they are powered off? It's true, Tate said, and our electricity bills can be reduced by just unplugging those pesky "energy vampires.” He suggests plugging all related electronics, like a television, DVD player and stereo, into a single surge suppressor and turning off the surge suppressor every night. The same is true of computer equipment and other electronics.

"Conservation of the environment really walks hand in hand with conservation of personal funds, so good stewardlines, making energy-saving improvements from installing huge skylights and motion activated lights in their freezers to doubling fuel efficiency in their vehicle fleet, individuals can take smaller — but no less important — steps to save money (not to mention the planet) through conservation, recycling and thoughtful use of resources.

Here are some ideas from the state Environmental Quality Department to lower your carbon footprint and save money in the process. For more ideas like these, go online to www.deq.state.ok.us.

•Check for leaks. A dripping faucet can waste between 300 and 4,000 gallons of water per month.

•Run the dishwasher only when it's full and save 15 gallons of water per load. Washing and rinsing dishes in a filled sink basin instead of running the dishwasher can save up to 15 gallons of water per day.

•Clean the coils on your refrigerator to improve efficiency by as much as 30 percent. Also, make sure your refrigerator seals tightly by closing a dollar bill in the door. If it slips out easily, the door doesn't seal tightly enough.

•Ban disposable dishes. Americans produce enough foam cups (made from nonrenewable petroleum products) each year to circle the Earth 426 times. That's one hundred cups per person per year that end up in landfills.

Use compact fluorescent lightbulbs wherever possible. The original investment is greater, but they last for years and use about one-fourth of the energy that an incandescent bulb uses.

Homes lose much heat through openings in their ceilings where canned lights are installed. In the attic, place small plastic buckets over the canned light installations and seal the buckets with caulk to keep heat from escaping.

Buy food from local farmers markets and food cooperatives. The benefits of buying local are huge. It helps support state agriculture, ensures fresher food, and saves you and producers money for transporting, packaging and processing. Local foods such as honey can also help alleviate allergies. Check out Oklahoma Food Coop and Sustainable Green Country for fresh local foods.

If every gas-heated home were properly caulked and weather-stripped, Americans would save enough natural gas each year to heat about 4 million homes.

Increase efficiency and prolong the life of air conditioners by changing the filters at least monthly during the cooling season and every few months other times of year. Have the unit professionally cleaned and serviced annually.

Lower the thermostat in winter and raise it in summer. If every household in the U.S. lowered its average heating temperature only 6 degrees over a 24-hour period, it would save more than 570,000 barrels of oil per day.

To keep cooler in summer, use ceiling fans. They only require about as much energy as a standard lightbulb — far less than most air conditioners.

Install a thermostat with a timer and set it to only work hard when you are home.

To get more efficient cooling, keep your air-conditioning unit cool by shading it with trees, shrubs or a canopy.

Don't treat your toilet like a wastebasket. Flushing the toilet accounts for 38 percent of in-home water use. Each flush uses two to seven gallons of water.

Install a low-flow showerhead, which allows about two gallons of water per minute compared to regular heads that allow about seven gallons per minute.

Taking a five-minute shower instead of a bath will save up to 26 gallons of water.

Turning off the water while shaving or brushing your teeth will save an additional four to six gallons per day.

Your washing machine uses 30 to 50 gallons of water per load, so only wash full loads.

About two-thirds of the energy used in a wash cycle is from heating the water, so save money and energy by washing everything in cold. (Writer's note: This seems to work as well as hot, but clothes don't get as worn out washing them in cold as they do in hot. Plus, there is less shrinkage.)

Be sure to water in the early morning hours or late in the evening when less water will be lost to evaporation.

Use manual lawn rakes, push mowers and hand edgers when possible to groom your lawn and garden without polluting the air.

Plant trees to absorb air contaminants and carbon dioxide and release clean oxygen into the atmosphere.

Compost leaves, grass and food waste instead of sending them to the landfill. Most natural garden wastes can be composted, creating free fertilizer without polluting the air, land and water, as many chemical fertilizers do.

Use rechargeable batteries to save money and reduce the pollution needed to produce new ones. New chargers are available that will recharge almost any battery, even ones that usually corrode in landfills and contaminate groundwater with cadmium, mercury and lead.

Every year, Americans throw away enough paper to build a wall 12 feet tall stretching from Los Angeles to New York City. All that paper is recyclable. Making new paper from waste paper results in 74 percent less air pollution and 35 percent less water pollution than using raw materials.

Recycle all aluminum cans. Recycling just one can save enough energy to run a television for three hours, and you can make 20 aluminum cans from recycled materials with the same energy it takes to make one can from raw materials.

Recycle all plastic drink bottles. Americans dispose of 4 million of them every hour, yet only one in four gets recycled.

Each glass bottle that is recycled saves enough energy to light a 100-watt bulb for four hours.

Ask your local auto supply store for recycled motor oil. Motor oil does not wear out — it simply gets dirty. It can be used again and again. Americans throw away enough used motor oil every year to fill 120 supertankers, and it could all be recycled.

If your city provides bins for home recycling, use them. Guidelines of accepted recyclables are slightly different for each community, but they generally include dry paper (newspapers, magazines, junk mail, etc.), aluminum, steel and tin cans, glass jars and bottles, and plastic bottles and jugs. On plastic items, look for a triangular recycle symbol with the numbers 1 to 7 inside the triangle. Many cities accept items with recycling codes from 1 to 7.

Dumping out a quart of used motor oil can pollute 250,000 gallons of water. Used motor oil contains heavy metals from your vehicle's engine and should never be dumped into the storm drain or on the ground.

Make sure your vehicle's tires are properly inflated.

Low air pressure in tires can reduce gasoline mileage and cost big money — at $3 per gallon, as much as $432 per year, according to a Carnegie Mellon study.

Driving a bit slower and less aggressively than usual will save an average of 31 percent in fuel costs, according to www.edmunds.com.

Cruise control can control your fuel consumption, reducing your use by about 11 percent.

Don't use the drive-through lane.

Idling in the drive-through boosts fuel consumption by about 11 percent.