Sustainable Planet Today

Saving energy and money goes a long way in helping our planet and our pocketbooks.  I spend a lot of time discussing the benefits of energy conservation.  And, I do practice what I preach to a certain extent.  Financial constraints prevent me from “going all the way” with solar power systems or wind power systems.  I have a goal to live completely off the grid someday.  But for now, my family works hard to do the things we can to save energy and the environment.

The first step.  In my journey towards helping the planet, the sensible and least expensive first step was to recycle.  We save all of our aluminum cans and cardboard.  It’s interesting just how much cardboard a four person family accumulates.  Most of it comes in the form of packaging when our young boys buy toys.  When the pile of boxes gets too high, I break them all down and drive to the nearest cardboard recycling bin in town.  When we lived within city limits the task of recycling was much more convenient as we had blue containers for recyclables in addition to the trash can that was picked up at the curb.  Now, living in a rural area, we only have the singe trash container.  As far as recycling our aluminum cans is concerned, I take them to a metals dealer and receive cash for my efforts.

Switching to CFL bulbs.  Our next step was to change all of our light bulbs to compact fluorescent versions.  We moved into our current home two years ago.  At that point we invested in a few CFL bulbs each week until the complete replacement of all of our incandescent bulbs was complete.  As I mentioned in a previous post, the upfront cost of compact fluorescent bulbs is high but you actually save money over the life of the bulb compared to buying and using incandescent models.

The little changes.  Other efforts to conserve energy in our lifestyle have been small.  During the summer days we close all of our (white) window blinds to reflect some of the suns energy back to the outside air.  As our home heats up in the day we use ceiling fans to circulate air and provide a sense of cooling before we consider turning on the air conditioner.  Driving as many miles as we do to work we are also concerned with saving money and energy by conserving gasoline.  We watch how we drive and avoid quick acceleration and braking maneuvers to cut down on fuel consumption.  I am also planning to add biking to my commute.

All of the examples above are easy ways my family is using to do our part to help the environment.  I would love to hear how you are implementing similar methods into your everyday life.  Please consider leaving a comment below to share your experiences with others.

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