Green Tips10 Things to Do NOW! 1 Change the light bulb in your lamp to a CFL!
CFL’s generally use 65-75% less energy than incandescent light bulbs, and last up
to ten times longer. 2 Unplug your electronics when not in use.
(ex. Your cell phone charger) Even when you turn appliances off, if they
are plugged in they still use energy. 3 Take shorter showers!
You use 5 – 8 gallons of water per minute in the shower! And try to take
colder showers! (heating the water uses energy) 4 Wash your clothes in cold water.
About 90% of the energy used by clothes washers is for heating the hot
water used to wash the clothes, so using cold water will save a lot of energy. 5 Green your computer!
Set your computer to go into power saving mode (not a screensaver) when your
computer has not been in use for a few minutes. 6 Turn off lights when you leave the room. 7 Use a reusable water bottle.
Producing bottles to meet Americans’ demand for bottled water required more
than 17 million barrels of oil last year – enough fuel for more than 1 million U.S.
cars for a year - and generated more than 2.5 million tons of carbon dioxide. 8 Recycle your aluminum cans, paper, plastic bottles, and glass bottles instead
of throwing them out.
In 2004, Americans wasted between 2000 and 2500 tons of PET plastic and
aluminum. 9 Bring your own mug when you get a hot drink
…instead of getting it in a paper or Styrofoam cup 10 Turn off the faucet while brushing your teeth.
You use about 1.3 gallons of water if you keep the faucet on, as opposed to .3
gallons if you turn it off. Additional Tips Laundry tips

Dishwashing tips • Scrape, don't rinse, off large food pieces and bones. Soaking or prewashing is generally only recommended in cases of burned-on or dried-on food.
• Be sure your dishwasher is full, but not overloaded, when you run it.
• Don't use the "rinse hold" on your machine for just a few soiled dishes. It uses 3 to 7 gallons of hot water each time you use it.
• Let your dishes air dry; if you don't have an automatic air-dry switch, turn off the control knob after the final rinse and prop the door open a little so the dishes will dry faster.

Computers and Electronics • Many appliances such as cell phone chargers, tvs, and computers continue to draw energy even when they are turned off! To avoid this, plug them into a power strip that can be turned off or will turn off automatically.
• Computer equipment does not last longer if it is never turned off, and screen savers donʼt reduce the energy consumption of computer monitors. When you arenʼt immediately using your computer, turn it off or set it to go into sleep mode. Tips for greening your computer can be found here.