Day 2: Recycle

We've all heard it: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle! Most towns now have a recycling system. It takes just a little time to separate your garbage but it's so worth it. Here's a tip: rinse out containers that have had food in them so you don't get ants.

Day 1: Clothes Lines

I got this idea from one of my good friends. When she moved into her house, she noticed a clothes line in the backyard. She has used it ever since. Besides the obvious financial benefit to using a clothes line to dry your clothes, I wondered how much energy one could save using this idea. The average clothes dryer uses between 1800 and 5000 watts per year. The only other house-hold appliance that uses more energy in the average house is the water heater. I read the following in an article I found online:

"If only 500,000 US households dried one load a month for a whole year in lieu of using their drier for 1 hour:
At 4000 watts hr X 500,000 households X 12 months =
24,000,000,000 watts hr/year = 24,000,000 kw-hr/year
if 1.64 lbs CO2 /kw-hr then 1.64 *24,000,000 kw-hr/year=

39,360,000 lbs (39 million lbs) of CO2 that will not be released into the atmosphere each year."

You can also reduce your power bill by almost 10% by using a clothes line instead of a dryer. There are a lot of companies now that make many different kinds of air dryers. Visit http://www.ecowashinglines.co.uk/home for a better idea about the types of air dryers you can buy.

I live in an apartment so I wasn't sure how I could implement this but then I tried just hanging clothes along our banister and railings and it may take longer than an electric or gas powered dryer but if you do a little planning and have some patience you can really cut down on CO2 emission and you'll have a few more dollars. Try it and let me know how you liked it!

P.S. You're clothes won't be as soft unless you use a liquid fabric softener.

Introduction

Hello,

I've recently begun to become more concerned with trying to live a "green lifestyle." By that, I mean I'm trying to reduce the amount of waste and toxins I use to in some small way help our environment. I thought, since I'm doing all this research, I might as well let everyone know! For a year, I will blog daily, introducing one new way to help protect our environment. Every week I'll post a blog where readers can make suggestions for things they would like me to research.

Help save our planet for future generations!

KV