Embracing Kingdom Hope for a Broken World
Posts tagged Energy
Tip #8 Computer Power Savings
Apr 5th
Green Living: a series in which we provide tips to help you implement practices, habits, and products into your life which respect and work towards the redemption of God’s creation.
This weeks tip is another simple change that yields valuable results. Cutting your computer’s power consumption is a valuable way to care for God’s creation while also saving on energy costs. The nice thing about this tip is that the work is really all done upfront. Once done, you really don’t have to do much of anything.
The tip: adjust your computers power settings so that it is not wasting energy while unused. Many of us get distracted, walk away from our computers, or leave for the day with the computer running unnecessarily for hours. Simply changing these settings can make a big difference not to mention putting money back in your pocket. According to Energy Star, adjusting your power settings could save $25-75 per year per computer. Also, by turning off the computer you may be saving on cooling costs since computers are a significant heat source.
I have included step-by-step instructions (for PC and Mac) below to help remove any obstacles.
Want some more tips? Try these:
- Put your computer, monitor, printers, and other peripherals on a power strip. When you will not be using them for a while, turn the strip off. The reason for this is that many of them (and other appliances as well) are actually consuming energy even when turned off.
- Turn off your computer at night. It does not seem totally clear when exactly to turn off your computer versus putting it to sleep. I recommend the following: when going away from your computer for short periods of time, put it to sleep. When going home or to bed for the night, turn it off. [I realize this is not perfect but it is something. Hopefully, we can perform our own tests someday to give you better guidelines]
- Do not use a screen saver. It does not save energy. It is simply designed to protect the screen (and/or entertain). Instead, adjust your power settings so that it goes to sleep when unused.
- You computer is not an effective source for heating. Because I know you all were wondering.
Use a more efficient method instead.
For step-by-step instructions for how to adjust your power settings on a PC or a Mac click more.
Tip #7 Natural Clothes Dryer
Mar 29th
Green Living: a series in which we provide tips to help you implement practices, habits, and products into your life which respect and work towards the redemption of God’s creation.
This week’s green living tip is a simple one that can have a significant impact. As I’m sure you guessed from the title, it is simply hanging your clothes to dry instead of using a clothes dryer. You can do this by stringing out a clothesline, setting up a drying rack, pounding in a few nails, laying clothes on furniture or other improvised rack, or even setting them out inside your car (seriously, sort of).
By making the effort to hang your clothes – which really only takes a few minutes – you can make a big difference.
- You can reduce the amount of energy you use. This results in savings on your energy (or gas) bill as well. Of course this depends on how many loads you skip, how efficient your dryer is, what your utility rate is, etc. Regardless, it will certainly save you more than a few pennies each year and result in an important reduction of energy.
- Your clothes (and other laundry) will last longer. Going through the dryer is not friendly to your clothes. Cutting out that process will extend the life of your favorite shirt, nicest pants, and most comfortable unmentionables.
- If you are a dryer sheet person, you can cut some chemicals out of your life. Dryer sheets often use weird chemicals like chloroform to soften your clothes. This way you don’t have to have any further contact with yet another chemical in your life.
By cutting out the necessary energy, making your clothes last longer, and cutting out the chemicals you are caring for God’s creation. Such a simple act which only costs a few minutes per load can have an important impact. Please consider it. Right now is an especially great time to begin as we head toward the summer and clothes dry quickly in the warmer air.
I just have to mention that I have been hearing about more and more stories, such as this one, where people are being forced to take down their outdoor clotheslines. You might want to check if hanging your laundry outdoors is allowed or not in your area. Aside from fighting this, there are other options which mostly include hanging them on clothes racks (which sit lower if you have a fence) or indoors.
Want to read more?
Tips:
http://laundry.about.com/od/ecofriendlylaundry/a/hangclotheline.htm
Another take with savings and CO2 estimates:
http://www.terrapass.com/blog/posts/how-to-finance-2
Organization that supports air drying laundry:
*Image from Project Laundry List’s Blog at
http://picasaweb.google.com/Loves.Nature/ClotheslinesAcrossAmerica#5432932130635996386
**UPDATE:
I forgot to add that drying your clothes in the sun has certain effects on your clothes. On the positive side, it can naturally bleach out stains. On the negative side, it can cause your clothes to fade. If you want to avoid this side-effect, simply hang your clothes in a shady spot.
Also consider:
