Eco-Tuesday: Some Advanced Eco Tips

I really loved Young House Love's recent blog post on some fresh eco-friendly/energy saving tips. As they write, so many of the eco- friendly tips out there are repetitive and we've been hearing about them for years... I couldn't agree more! We need some more tips beyond recycling, using CFL bulbs and programmable thermostats. If you already live an eco-friendly life then you are probably looking for ways to step it up even more when it comes to your home and energy savings practices. Here are some of the tips as presented on Young House Love:

• Turn Your Burners Down! Did you know that food cooks at exactly the same rate whether the water is rapidly boiling or just a simmering boil? I often try to speed up cooking noodles (usually due to my kids nagging about "when are the noodles going to be ready!") by keeping the noodles on a high flame for a rapid boil- I always thought it really did speed up the process but come to think of it, it's a big waste of energy. I am going to pay close attention the next time I make noodles and see if it really takes the same amount of time on a lower flame. Share your burner experiences below- do you cook on a higher flame thinking that it will speed up the process?

• Don't Sweat it- It's more cost and energy effective to turn down the heat in the winter than to turn down the a/c in the summer. Here's the thought behind it: "if an average summer day in NYC is 80 degrees and you use your AC to make it 70, you are using enough energy to maintain a ten degree differential between inside and outside. If an average winter night is 30 degrees and you use your heat to make it 70, you are using enough energy to maintain a forty degree differential between the air inside and the air outside". In other words, it's more energy efficient to use less heat in the winter than less air in the summer.

• Cut Down on Cattle Eating less meat can actually help the environment. This is because cattle produce methane gas when digesting their food, which is a far more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. Chaya G told me that "cattle produce more methane gas in the United States than cars; they are a major producer of greenhouse gases".

Here are some additional advanced eco-tips that Chaya G and I came up with:

• Open the Oven Door - As winter approaches why not consider opening up your oven door after just using it. The heat from the oven can really warm up the room which means that you can turn down your thermostat for a while the heat of the oven works to heat you up.

• Limit Your Usage of Disposable Goods- There's nothing better than a quick weeknight dinner cleanup after using disposable plates and cups and having cooked in a aluminum pan with a baking sheet! But think about how much your family's dinner just contributed to filling up a landfill somewhere- that's a lot of disposable goods for just one dinner. I have been steadily decreasing the use of disposable goods in my home and it hasn't been easy. I love cooking and freezing with disposable aluminum pans in all shapes and sizes and baking sheets-it's my favorite cooking tool! I haven't stopped using them altogether but we have really slowed down.

• Wait Before Placing Warm Food in the Fridge- Placing warm food in a fridge will decrease the temperature in the fridge causing the fridge to work harder and use more energy. Give your food a few more minutes to cool down before placing in the fridge.

Posted by: Marcy Tate