According to what the best historians tell us, since 1750 our reliance on fossil fuels has risen unabated as we turn to coal and oil for everything. As the years have gone by and as we have become smarter, we have invented new ways to use energy to make our lives easier. This has been going on in the background, just as we have ignored scientists and environmentalists who have warned us about greenhouse gas emissions and the damage that is being caused to the world all around this.

It has only been fairly recently that we have actually woken up to understand what is going on. A lot of damage has been caused so far and if we don’t do something about it soon, our reliance on fossil fuels will stop us from repairing and reversing this damage. The benefits of renewable energy represent a clear advantage to us now and we realise that we should be helping the environment by making tangible changes.

Unfortunately, only about 5% of our energy needs are satisfied by renewable energy forms such as solar, wind, water and geothermal. It is certainly possible for us to generate enough electricity from such sources for our own consumption, but again unfortunately, it is prohibitively expensive for us to invest in such systems for our homes alone. If we look at solar energy as an option, probably the most well-known of solutions, as used by home owners in sunny climes, are energy panels that can be mounted to the roof to run certain appliances and heat water.

Some appliance manufacturers are working on the development of “smart” products that can be run individually from external, renewable energy sources. By doing so, we might be able to run a refrigerator using a solar panel, for example.

All governments are waking up and taking notice of the problems and are providing appropriate funds to help pay grants and incentives. If, as a home owner, you are willing to replace appliances that use a considerable amount of energy by retrofitting the systems accordingly, you will have the opportunity to get grants from the taxpayer. This is a good investment, as in the long run, a lower reliance on raw energy needs can only be viewed as a security enhancement from a wider point of view.

When it comes to ways to save electricity around the home, we can do this by using a type of renewable energy in its most basic form. If the climate that you live in allows this, why not consider using solar energy to dry your clothes? A typical clothes washer and dryer cycle can add to your energy bill considerably. Remember that individual steps can all make a difference and if we take concerted action, we can get there.

If you’re not able to take advantage of renewable energy in your home, insist that those companies that you pay money to make considerable efforts in the right direction. Look for information on companies that favour renewable energy sources. As it is such good public relations, companies that do are falling over themselves to let us know that they are good corporate citizens. Hold them all to account!

Tags: environment, environmental sustainability, renewable energy, saving electricity, saving money

We seem so engrossed as we run in place, just to make ends meet, that we are not capable of standing back and looking at the bigger picture any more. Why are we so grossly inefficient at the way that we run our lives? For many years now, we have dealt with pretty good times and have not had to worry about putting such expensive petrol into our cars, nor be concerned about the fact that without those cars we simply cannot exist. It’s been so long since we had a recession, we can’t remember what it is all about and some of us are too young anyway, being forced to read about these downturns in reference books! Whether it was time for a wake up call or not, we certainly got one.

It is crazy that we rely on mechanical energy forms to help us do everything, without question. Energy inefficiency has led to huge amounts of greenhouse gas emissions, causing damage to the environment and forcing us to consider major changes, right now. We talk a good story about the benefits of renewable energy, but we are not helping the environment by diverting funds away from the research and development needed to actually make these options work for us.

Now we can see how vulnerable we are to an economic downturn and we can see that the “great recession” has exposed this vulnerability. Now, efficiency is everything and this most definitely includes the use of energy. We need to learn to turn things off, to think of alternatives and not to opt for the path of least resistance. It’s just not good enough to clog our roads with vehicles carrying just one occupant as we go back and forth to our work, and we should review our transportation activities carefully.

At home or in the office, think of ways to save electricity and if you are the decision-maker, you must be the one to take action. Just as an example, you could turn the thermostat down by a degree or so, insist that the family turn off all the lights when not in use, make sure the clothes are washed together and not individually and in general ensure that we are all better keepers of the space that we live in.

We shouldn’t rely on politicians to do our work for us. Few seem to doubt the validity of those environmental claims, but political agendas are still getting in the way of making any headway. The so-called “summit” attended by our leaders in Copenhagen failed to produce any realistic action, once again.

We don’t have to wait around for politicians to try and force big business to solve these issues. We need to understand that by working individually, we can end up working together and if we all do our own bit we can steadily reduce energy use and cut back on the size of our global carbon footprint daily. Start right away by putting “people power” into action and let’s all enjoy the journey, taking advantage of the fact that there are billions of us around the world with an almost unbelievable combined potential – but only if we act now!

Tags: environment, environmental sustainability, renewable energy, saving electricity, saving money

It’s important to keep in mind that you don’t have to live off the land or move to a cabin in the mountains to start helping the environment! Have you noticed how environmental issues have become hot news, quite literally, these days? Quite simply, we can’t continue to be conspicuous with our consumption habits and we have to understand what it means to be sustainable as we move forward. Yes, this means we will have to think about everything that we do as we go about our daily lives. Find ways to save electricity at home and really learn about the benefits of renewable energy, to see whether we can apply at least some of these ideas to our lives.

How can we help save the environment, individually? We have compiled a list of things you can do at home, immediately, which will help to make a difference. If all of us were to apply what we read here, there would be a remarkable change over the long haul.

1. Consider all the bulbs in your home. It is much better to use compact fluorescent bulbs than those traditional incandescent items that use a lot of energy. Begin by changing all the light bulbs in the house. Yes, there are a great number of them. You may be worried about the money that goes out of your wallet when you first buy this kind of bulb, but statisticians from the government assure us that we can save so much money during the course of the year with lower electricity bills that we can make this money back.

2. Be a better steward. Get used to sending a lot more to the recycling plant. Bury biodegradable waste and food leftovers in the ground rather than clogging up the local landfills. People who know about these things tell us that up to 20% of the rubbish that we throw away is biodegradable and we could recycle it ourselves without stressing the system. Think of the energy used to collect this excess waste and save them the trouble of doing so.

3. Rethink your transportation. Are you able to share transportation with somebody else on your way to work? Why not pool resources and cut down your bill, and the bill of a co-worker at the same time. It seems nonsensical when you look at all those cars jammed on the motorway in the morning, the vast majority of them with just a single occupant. We have known about this for some time and cannot deny that it is really silly and as we wait for politicians to perfect public transportation systems, we should all exhibit some common sense.

4. Plant trees in your back garden. Trees are great for our environmental problems and the thorny subject of climate change. They attract carbon dioxide emissions that are otherwise spewed into the air by power consumption. By planting trees you can also keep direct sunlight away from your home and this could help to cut down your cooling bills in the summer, as well. In addition, well-positioned trees cut down noise pollution caused by a noisy highway that might be located close to you.

With a little bit of creativity, we can make a difference in virtually everything that we do!

Tags: environment, environmental sustainability, renewable energy, saving electricity, saving money

Excess energy use is just bad news and we cannot run away from this problem any more and pretend it doesn’t exist. Change begins at home and it begins with every one of us. If we own or rent a home and use all the creature comforts that we are used to, then we are responsible for using a certain amount of energy and have, consequently, a carbon footprint to worry about. No longer can we expect big business to shoulder the blame and it’s no longer good enough to say that we take the bus to work and don’t drive. We all need to make big changes and look for ways to save electricity wherever we can find them. You need to take one single step if you are going to begin a journey of 1000 miles.

To start off with, you should make sure that all your windows and doors are fitting properly and you should go and check this right now. Don’t just give it a cursory glance as you likely won’t be able to see any problems with the naked eye – and as such, you should use an open flame to see if you have any drafts or even run your hand over the edges. Imagine how crazy it is to heat or cool the inside of your house according to the season, during these ever changing weather patterns that we deal with, when the money that you work so hard to earn is escaping through the window. Take steps to secure your home in this respect and then start to worry about your air heating and cooling costs.

Rooms that are only rarely used should be isolated and you can put timer activated lighting appliances in these areas. Motion detectors are good as well as they will activate and deactivate the lights when people move around. Almost every electrical item that you have actually wastes energy even if it is just plugged in and not switched on, and you should remove it from the wall socket just to be sure. It’s best if all computers are turned off at night. You have no need to keep them on for this period of time and they will only build up heat within, anyway. Remember every bit helps and it will all add up over the course of a year.

We all know of the benefits of renewable energy, but once again, we tend to think that it’s a project for somebody else. Solar energy panels could be a good idea? Some home owners run their entire property on solar power, using either roof mounted panels or additional panels in their garden. If you don’t extract as much electricity from the grid, you would be saving and reducing the size of your carbon footprint at the same time. We all need to buy energy-efficient shoes that fit us, rather than continuing with this extravagant way of life. When heating water, why not turn the thermostat down a degree or so and remember that heating water with electricity is highly inefficient normally. Did you know that two thirds of the energy used to produce that electricity, the product that you use to heat your water, is actually lost as it is being distributed to you? For efficiency’s sake, oil or gas fired water heaters are much better, more highly efficient and will be far more beneficial when it comes to helping the environment as well.

Tags: environment, environmental sustainability, renewable energy, saving electricity, saving money

Whoever said that saving money would be out of fashion – because it never is, but this is certainly a topical subject today. We all hate receiving those monthly energy bills in the mail and will silently curse as we open them. This would always be the time to make a resolution, vowing to turn off all unnecessary lights. Invariably though, we would forget as it didn’t seem quite so urgent for some reason. If we fast forward to today, we seem to be living in a different world. All of the ways to save electricity are being explored and we now understand how important this is.

There was a time when only environmentalists and those known as “tree huggers” would seem to sense the true urgency of excess energy use and preach to us that we needed to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions or we would cause damage to the world we live in. News reports tell us on a virtual daily basis how global warming is changing everything, threatening to melt polar ice packs and taking away the ability of people who live in remote countries to look after themselves, due to intense alterations in weather patterns and climate change. Closer to home, we hear that companies are going to be penalised for using too much energy and emitting carbon and imagine that these costs will be passed along to us as well.

Quite apart from the holistic considerations and our concern for Mother Nature, energy costs themselves have been going through the roof. Government attempts to regulate the industry have not been very successful and the whole infrastructure seems to be creaking and groaning under the strain. Those seasonal spikes in energy seem to be causing more issues as we go along and we wonder how long the system will be able to put up with this, as we continue to rely on fossil fuels for our power. You don’t have to be a scientist to understand the benefits of renewable energy, but nevertheless, we still seem hesitant to move forward and do something about it. We would be helping the environment in no small way if we were able to receive the majority of our energy from renewable sources, wind, solar, etc.

Focusing close to home, what can we do to help the environment and ourselves at the same time? There are many things. For a start, we should always purchase highly efficient equipment for our kitchens and for our heating and air-conditioning needs. As an example, some refrigerators are available that consume only 100 kWh per year and these appliances are said to be four times more efficient than similar appliances found in the European Union. If you have to spend up to 10% more to actually buy a machine like this it would be okay, as you could save a significant amount of money annually, greatly reducing your electricity bill. If you purchase new appliances, they will last for at least five years and the money that you pay upfront to purchase them will certainly be saved over that period of time. New appliances will need less repairing and you will do yourself a favour as well by eliminating the noise coming from that old and worn fan, which seems to circulate annoyingly whenever you sit down in your most comfortable chair to watch a film!

Tags: environment, environmental sustainability, renewable energy, saving electricity, saving money