JustGreen Holiday Tips: Energy

With the holiday season in full swing, we tend to consume a lot of resources and create large amounts of waste. But this time of the year does not have to negatively impact our environment.

Here are some tips that will help you save energy during the holidays:

1. Running you dishwasher? Wait until the machine is full before you run it to save some energy.
    
2. Before guests arrive to your home, turn down your thermostat a couple notches. Their body heat will raise the temperature in the house and you won’t have to deal with having a stuffy house.
    
3. Put on a sweater and some cozy socks to keep you nice and warm without having to turn up the heat.
    
4. Switch to LED lights to use 80-90% less electricity. LED lights will also last 10-times longer than incandescent lights. Source: http://life.gaiam.com/article/energy-saving-light-bulbs-qa
    
5. Close the curtains on your windows they can help reduce heat loss by 10%. Source: http://energy.gov/energysaver/articles/energy-efficient-window-treatments
    
6. If you are planning to cook or bake several meals cook them in the oven at the same time.
    
7. Use your microwave and toaster oven for small holiday cooking tasks, and save the oven for big cooking tasks.
    
8. Consolidate your shopping trips. It will help save fuel, time and if you can plan it well enough you can get all your shopping done in one day.
    
9. Send e-greetings to family, friends and business associates who are on-line.
    
10. Many of the gifts you want to get can be found online and directly sent to their intended destinations. This will not only save you gas and the hassle of the large crowds but delivery trucks are more efficient on gas.

Source: http://energy.gov/energysaver/articles/energy-efficient-window-treatments

Source: http://life.gaiam.com/article/energy-saving-light-bulbs-qa