Overflow: A Guide to Greening Your Life
Home / Residence
A. Bathroom - about 75% of the water we use in our homes is used in the bathroom and 1/3rd of that water is flushed down the toilet
1. Put weights or other objects in toilet tank to use less water
Put a half gallon jug half-full of water or a brick into every toilet tank in your home to make your existing toilet a low flush toilet and you will save up to 75 gallons of water per person per month
2. Don’t shower for longer than 5 minutes and you can save an average of 1/3 on water used in the shower
Only use water in shower to wet down and rise, turn water off when lathering up with soap and shampoo
3. Turn off the water when brushing your teeth
The average bathroom faucet flows at a rate of 2 gallons per minute. Turning off the tap while brushing your teeth in the morning and at bedtime can save up to 8 gallons of water per day, which equals 240 gallons a month
4. Put a low-flow aerator on faucets that don’t have them or replace older aerators to reduce water usage by 20-40%
B. Kitchen
1. Only run dishwasher when full
You will run fewer loads and this will reduce water usage and energy consumption to heat the water
2. Put a low-flow aerator on faucets that don’t have them or replace older aerators to reduce water usage by 20-40%
3. Put a filter on your faucet or refrigerator so that you can fill up reusable water bottle instead of buying more plastic water bottles. You will cut down on your use of plastic and save money.
4. Use your microwave for warming up or defrosting small amounts of food as it uses 50% less energy than a conventional oven
Home / Residence
C. Other
1. Use cold water while doing your laundry and save up to 90% on energy cost
2. Fix leaking faucets immediately as a leaky faucet can waste up to 11 gallons of water a day
3. Open windows at night and keep your shades drawn during the day when the sun is out in the summer to save 20-50% on cooling costs
4. Install a programmable thermostat and use energy efficient settings to save 10-20% on cooling costs
5. Turn off lights and unplug electrical devices when not in use. Don’t forget that cell phone and laptop!
75% of electricity on home appliances is used when they are off and lighting consumes up to 34 percent of electricity in the United States.
6. Use compact eco friendly fluorescent light bulbs
Compact fluorescent light bulbs produce the same amount of light, use one third of the electricity, and last up to ten times as long. If every household replaced its most often-used incandescent light bulbs with CFLs, electricity use for lighting could be cut in half.
7. Shut all doors in your home
8. Line dry clothes and use drying rack instead of dryer and you can save 75$ per year on electricity and gas costs
9. Put a water heater jacket on your water heater and you can save 4-9% on water heating costs
10. Replace air filters in furnace and clean condenser coils on refrigerator and air conditioner regularly to increase efficiency and reduce maintenance costs
11. Insulate your house properly
Improperly sealed / caulked windows can account for 25% of total heat loss from a house
Yard / Garage
1. Capture rainwater in rain barrels using water captured to water the garden and lawn. It is possible to do all outdoor watering from rain barrels.
The typical single-family suburban household uses at least 30 % of their water outdoors for irrigation. In some cases, more than 50% of landscape water use goes to waste due to evaporation or runoff caused by overwatering!
2. Grow your own garden w/out using pesticides
Examples can be found at http://www.extremelygreen.com/fertilizerguide.cfm
3. Grow your own fruits, vegetables and herbs to save money and eliminate transportation costs and pollution. Also, they taste better.
Plant plants native to your area – these grow naturally in your area and require little to no irrigation. They also usually come back every year, reducing maintenance.
Transportation
A. Automobiles
1. Drive more efficiently
Drive the speed limit
► Lower speeds saves gas with average savings of 12% when driving 50 miles on the highway with the cruise control set at 65 MPH as opposed to 75 MPH
Use cruise control on the highway
► As an example: the first time cruise control was set to 70 mph; the second time, with cruise control off, speed was varied between 65 mph and 75 mph. This provided an average savings of 7% with a high of 14% when using cruise control.
Avoid excessive idling
► If you are stopping for more than a minute, turn the car off as avoiding excessive idling can save up to 19%.
2. Drive less
Almost half of all trips are less than two miles and could easily be accomplished by biking, walking or using public transportation.
B. Utilize car sharing programs
1. The American Automobile Association (AAA) estimated the annual average cost of operating a vehicle in 2006 was $5,586, including vehicle depreciation, insurance, finance fees and standard maintenance.
I-GO research from 4 years of data:
► Each I-GO car replaces 17 cars on the road
► 25% increasing their walking
► 14.5% increased their biking
► 17.6% increased their public transit usage.
► 45.9% gave up or postponed purchase of a vehicle or considered selling a vehicle because of joining I-GO.
► Members report driving only 9.6 miles/week, or 500 miles/year, whereas the typical car owner in Chicago drives 10,000 miles/year.
► Of those who did not own a car at the time of orientation, 56% postponed buying a car because of I-GO or gave up a car prior to joining I-GO
► http://www.igocars.org/
► http://www.zipcar.com/
Transportation
C. Use public transportation
1. Using conservative assumptions, the study found that current public transportation usage reduces U.S. gasoline consumption by 1.4 billion gallons each year. In concrete terms, that means 300,000 fewer cars filling up every day and a savings of 3.9 million gallons of gasoline per day.
2. The average household in which at least one member uses public transportation on a given day drives 16 fewer miles per day compared to a household with similar income, residential location and vehicle ownership that do not use public.
3. Households who use public transportation save a significant amount of money. A two adult “public transportation household” saves an average $6,251 every year, compared to an equivalent household with two cars and no access to public transportation service.
“Public transportation household” is defined as as a household located within ¾ mile of public transportation, with two adults and one car.
D. Walk or bike whenever possible
1. Walking and biking produce no emissions, are safe and easy, promote good health and community
Recycling
Please refer to the following links to find information about recycling initiatives in Chicago including recycling drop off centers, blue carts and an A-Z list of how you can recycle everything from appliances to computers to tires to shoes.
http://www.chicagorecycling.org/
http://www.bluecartschicago.com/
On average, it costs $30 per ton to recycle trash, $50 to send it to the landfill, and $65 to $75 to incinerate it.
Source: http://members.aol.com/ramola15/funfacts.html
Recycle everything you can and focus on the easy ones you use everyday which include paper, plastic, glass, aluminum and junk mail.
Review the following list for some easy tips.
Recycling
1. Paper
Each ton (2000 pounds) of recycled paper can save 17 trees, 380 gallons of oil, three cubic yards of landfill space, 4000 kilowatts of energy, and 7000 gallons of water. This represents a 64% energy savings, a 58% water savings, and 60 pounds less of air pollution! If all our newspaper was recycled, we could save about 250,000,000 trees each year!
Here are a few easy things to do:
► Read more documents online and print them less often
► Print documents on both sides of paper
► Decrease the margins so that more of the paper’s surface is used when printing
► Sign up for e-statements of credit card bills, “no catalogues” mailing list and utilize online cards and electronic magazine subscriptions
2. Aluminum
Aluminum can be recycled repeatedly with no limit. Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a TV for three hours or a 100 watt light bulb for three hours – or the equivalent of a half a gallon of gasoline!
3. Plastic
According to Earth911, if everyone in NYC gave up water bottles for one week they would save 24 million bottles from being land filled.
Here are a few easy things to do:
► Bring your own fabric bags when shopping (put them in your trunk for grocery store visits). It will be much easier to carry and you won’t end up with a large stock of plastic bags under your sink!
► Buy reusable food containers, water bottles, eating utensils and coffee cups. Carry them with you and bring them to work to reduce the use of disposable products.
4. Glass
Glass never wears out -- it can be recycled forever. The energy saved from recycling one glass bottle can run a 100-watt light bulb for four hours.
5. Styrofoam
Styrofoam is un-recyclable- you can't make it into new Styrofoam. The industry wants you to assume it is - don't BUY it!
6. Batteries
Where do I take old batteries?
► Twice a year, the City of Chicago Household Hazardous Waste Collections will take batteries. You can call the Department of Streets and Sanitation at (312) 744-4611 for more information.
► They also can be dropped off at any City of Chicago Library or Walgreens drugstore.
Recycling
7. Household hazardous waste (HHW)
This includes materials such as oil-based paints, strippers and thinners, pesticides and herbicides, automotive fluids, mercury thermometers, batteries, fluorescent light bulbs, drain cleaners, aerosols, and antifreeze. (Note that latex paint is not considered a hazardous waste.)
► Reference Chicago Recycling Coalitions web site (listed at top of section) for more details on how to recycle HHW.
8. Shoes
Where do I take old shoes?
► Sneakers of any brand name can be brought to Niketown in downtown Chicago and there is a list of shoe stores that accept old shoes on Chicago Recycling Coalitions web site (listed at top of section).
► Nike has created a Reuse-A-Shoe program. Over 2,000,000 shoes have been recycled and transformed into basketball court surfaces in low-income urban areas and/or into fluff used in carpet pads. Reference their web site for more details.
9. Junk Mail
The junk mail Americans receive in one day could produce enough energy to heat 250,000 homes.
The average American still spends 8 full months of his/her life opening junk mail.
What can I do about Junk Mail?
► Simply writing "refused" on the mail envelope is not enough, instead, register with the Direct Marketing Association's Mail Preference Services using the link below. They can also remove you from many mailing, telemarketing, and e-mail lists. You can register free online, or in writing by a mail-in registration form (this will cost you$1).
http://www.dmachoice.org/consumerassistance.php
Advocacy / Education
1. Teach your children about recycling.
It is important to instill these habits in your children at a young age. Here a few easy things to do:
► The environmental protection agency has a list of games and children friendly web sites that help teach children about recycling and the environment. They can be found by following this link: http://www.epa.gov/kids/
► Include your children in your recycling efforts around the house.
► If your child has too many toys and clothes, encourage them to select some of them and bring them to a shelter to donate them.
2. Watch An Inconvenient Truth
http://www.climatecrisis.net/
3. Send this toolkit, Overflow: A Guide to Greening Your Life, to everyone you know
4. Buy items like reusable grocery bags and water bottles at:
http://www.reusablebags.com/
http://www.nubiusorganics.com/
5. Do an energy audit on your home
http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=home_improvement.hm_improvement_audits
6. Buy produce at farmer’s market or through CSA
7. See what the world gains by recycling by looking at the facts
http://www.oberlin.edu/recycle/facts.html
http://members.aol.com/Ramola15/suggestedlinks.html
http://www.pacebutler.com/blog/recycling-facts/
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