Get your daily tip from The Green Life (Sierra Club)
Benefits of Using GE Energy Smart CFL's
Compact Fluorescent Light Bulb (CFL) FAQs
Counting Kilowatts Tip (tip #4)
Sustainable Tips for Summer Grilling
ENERGY
Everyone can easily reduce their energy consumption by 10% by taking steps that have minimal impact on daily routines. The important thing is to be consistent and to apply these steps at home, work, and school.
I. Lights
A. LEDs (light emitting diodes). It is time to start changing over from standard Christmas lights to LED Christmas decorations. The Rockefeller Center tree in New York and the National Christmas tree in Washington, D.C. were both decorated with LEDs this year.
Facts:
1. LEDs last 20 times longer and are 90% more efficient than standard lights
Both of these factors will lead to a fast return on investment even though LEDs are
slightly more expensive than standard lights. One additional benefit is they burn cooler
and are a lower fire hazard.
2. The use of LEDs has grown rapidly for use in other areas such as traffic signals,
emergency lighting, and street lamps. A project in Ann Arbor, Michigan is replacing all
of the city lights with LEDs. They expect a total return on investment in 4.2 years
(reported on NBC National News 12/2007). Perhaps it is time Wilmington, N.C.
consider this.
B. CFLs (compact fluorescent light bulbs). Perhaps no single item has garnered as much attention as the CFL in the past year. There are pledges online to buy them and concerted efforts by companies (Home Depot, WalMart, and others) to promote them. And there are countries (Australia) that are committed to changing all of the incandescent bulbs to CFL types. But do you know the dollar, kilowatt, and greenhouse gas savings that you, the county, and the country can make by using these bulbs.
1. CFLs: Initially costs 6 - 8X more (~$5.00 versus $0.75) but they lasts 7 – 10 times as long (8000 hours versus 750 hours) and they use ¼ of the wattage (23W CFL = 100 W incandescent). There are many ways to calculate savings but let’s say we use this one bulb for 5 hours each day for a whole year.
By replacing this one incandescent with a CFL the Individual during one year will:
- Save $12 – 15 annually
- Reduce the kWh used by ~137 kWh
- Reduce CO2 by 183 pounds (1.34 lbs of CO2 is generated for each kWh used)
Now if you want to calculate the benefits for New Hanover County (Census 2006: 93,000 households) or the U.S. (Census 2005: >113,000,000 households) if each household were to just replace one bulb you can see the value of CFLs - billions of dollars of savings, reduced need for power plants, and large reductions in greenhouse gases.
Savings for the New Hanover County if each household (93,000) changed one 100w incandescent to one 23w CFL
$Savings = $1,286,190.00
kWh Savings = 12.7 million kWh
CO2 Savings = Reduction of 8,536 tons
Savings for the U.S. if each household (>113,000,000) changed one bulb
$Savings = $1,564,809,200.00
kWh Savings = 15.5 billion kWh (~4 of our 500MW powerplants)
CO2 Savings = Reduction of 10,385,671 tons
You can do your own calculations at: http://www.energystar.gov/ia/business/bulk_purchasing/bpsavings_calc/Calc_CFLs.xls
Note: Remember that CFLs do have a small amount of mercury so proper disposal is very important. You can find information on proper handling techniques and disposal at EPA.gov, earth911.org, and your local New Hanover County Waste Management group will also provide information. New Hanover County also has a hazardous waste collection day where these may be discarded.
II. Appliances and More
A. Heating and Cooling
These are the largest consumers of energy in the household.
1. Use energy efficient/energy star rated units
2. A reduction in heating by 1 degree in the winter or raising the thermostat by one degree in the summer will each cut energy consumption by ~3%.
3. To be more comfortable put on a shirt or sweater in the cooler house and use ceiling fans in the summer to feel much cooler.
4. Properly insulate and caulk your house and consider getting an energy audit of your home.
B. Appliances
1. The refrigerator is the biggest user of electricity in the house exclusive of heating and cooling. Replacing that old refrigerator with a New Energy Star appliance may easily save $40 – 60 yearly on the electricity bill. And of course, as above, the reduction in energy consumption and greenhouse gases is the added benefit.
C. Computers and More
- Use power strips to fully cut off your appliances, chargers, and computers
(Most use power even when they are not on; computers that are not put to sleep may use 15 – 45 w; and even most cell phone and other chargers use 0.5 – 3 w.
- New Energy Star guidelines went into effect this year for computers that require standby and sleep modes as well as reduced energy consumption while being used (Est. savings = $1.8 billion over 5 yrs and reduction in GHG emissions equivalent to removing 2.7 million vehicles from the roads)
- Older computers that don’t have sleep or that have screen savers are better to be turned off. And in fact all computers, even the new ones, should be turned off if they will not be used for days
- For new computers learn to put them to sleep to save energy (go to Microsoft.com)
III. FOOD
This fits in with most of the other Green Ideas. Buying local reduces energy consumption as transportation is not used and we support the local economy.
And if you buy some of the organic foods you are reducing the use of herbicides, pesticides, and fertilizers
So go to your local farmer’s markets and support the local economy
WASTE AND RECYCLING
The primary goals are to reduce the amount of materials that we use daily and/or reuse them. Several ways to quickly change your use are to:
A. Accept less packaging; don’t ask for or accept that extra bag when shopping
B. Use your own bags over and over especially for grocery stores (one thing you can
do with those grocery store bags is use the bags for trash and not buy plastic bags
as liners; and of course you can bring your own cloth bag for reuse)
C. Use cloth napkins and less throwaway plastics for your holiday gatherings
D. Buy a Nalgene-type water bottle (the plastic doesn’t break down like normal water
bottles) and re-fill it with tap water (it is just as good and cheaper) instead of buying
that designer water that uses so much plastic (which is made from hydrocarbons)
and that is often shipped from great distances using more energy.
You can find information on water quality from the Water Treatment facilities in Wilmington at this website as well as many water conservation tips that are mentioned elsewhere on our sustainability website.
http://www.wilmingtonnc.gov/watertreatment/tabid/225/Default.aspx
II. Recycle
Recycling Materials accepted in New Hanover County
Cardboard, newsprint, mixed papers (phone books, magazines, paper bags, junk mail,
boxes), glass bottles, aluminum cans, plastic bottles (#1 and #2), and rechargeable
batteries
WEBSITE: http://www.nhcgov.com/AgnAndDpt/ENVM/Pages/DeptInfo.aspx
Additional Comments
A. Christmas Trees
1. Christmas tree – the trees will be collected and used for boiler fuel or mulch
after the holidays
2. Christmas tree – if you have a live one plant it outside for future or even for the
health of the air (remember trees provide beauty and sequester carbon)
3. If your preference is an artificial tree make sure and use it for as many years
as possible to minimize the waste associated with the plastics and metals
B. Wrapping Paper
Either reuse the paper or recycle it. Wrapping paper is recyclable and will be taken
in residential bins and in the collection site recycling bins in New Hanover County
C. Glass, plastic, and aluminum cans
The volume of these materials, along with other wastes goes up 25% from
Thanksgiving to the New Year. Recycling of these products saves energy and raw
materials.
Example Facts from the NHCGOV.com website
- Every second 17 pounds of waste is created in New Hanover County
(1,468,800 lbs/day or 734 tons/day)
- For every ton of paper recycled 17 trees are saved
- It takes 90% less energy to recycle aluminum cans than making a new one
- The energy from recycling 1 glass bottle could operate a 100 w bulb 4 hours
Drop Off Sites for recyclables in New Hanover County in addition to your Home Collection box are:
- Ogden Area - Market Street/Highway 17 at Blair School Road (Blair Elementary)
- Castle Hayne Area - Castle Hayne Road/117 behind Hardees in Castle Hayne
- Murrayville Area - Murrayville Road & North College in the Lowes FoodLot
- Monkey Junction Area – Parking lot of the Moose Lodge 343, 1 mile north ofMonkey Junction on Carolina Beach Road
- Highway 421 Area - WASTEC at 3002 Highway 421 North
- Highway 421 Area – Landfill at 5210 Highway 421 North (M-F 7AM-5PM,Sat 8AM – 11:45 AM)
WATER
Of course you know we are in a severe drought – I hope. But how much water do we use and what can we do to reduce our usage.
Facts: (modified from http://www.wilmingtonnc.gov/watertreatment/tabid/225/Default.aspx)
- The average Wilmingtonian uses 138 gallons of water per day and generates 80 gallons of wastewater
- The largest indoor user of water is the toilet (27%) and 50% originates in the bathroom; the second largest user is the clothes washer (22%) and the shower (19%) is third
- The largest outdoor user is irrigation
- Only ~1% of the treated water is used for consumption
- Everyday the average school generates 10-15 gallons of wastewater per person
- Your water comes from the Cape Fear River (mostly) so conserve
So what can you/we do to reduce consumption? Most importantly, follow the conservation guidelines provided locally and statewide. It is very important to reduce our overall water consumption. But here are easy and fast things that you can do to reduce your usage.
1. Shorten your shower time; try to shower in less than 5 minutes. Since many showers
use 2.5 gallon/minute shower heads, you can save hundreds of gallons per month.
2. Install a low flow shower head to reduce water usage also.
3. Wash clothes only when there is a full load; this can save up to 600 gallons/month.
And of course use cold or warm water and not hot to reduce energy usage too.
4. Wash dishes only when the dishwasher is full
5. Don’t flush unless you must (don’t just flush that tissue)
6. Catch the water that you use trying to get warm water. You can save 3 – 4 gallons per
day for watering plants and pets.
7. Turn off the water while you:
a. Brush your teeth
b. Wash your face
c. Wash the car (but don’t wash it now w/ the restrictions)
8. Irrigate, when it is allowed, at the right times to minimize evaporation
9. Stop leaks: drippy faucets, leaky toilets can use 100’s of gallons per month
10. Replace that old toilet (uses 3.5 to >5 gallons/flush versus new efficient ones at <1.6
gallons/flush
Remember if you could reduce usage by 5 gallons/day, New Hanover County (2006 est. census 182,591) could save ~913,000 gallons per day. And our water supply = secure.
Small steps, big payoff.
