Save Energy And Money By Living Green At Home

There are numerous things that you can do around the house to save energy. You can have plants around your place to help clean your immediate environment. Cutting down indoor pollutants by more than half can be done by merely adding plants to your home. Some plants that absorb gases which are toxic such as benzene and formaldehyde are English ivy and peace lilies. If you have small children or pets, get plants that are non-toxic.

There are numerous ways to avoid wasting water, such as using less when you bathe. It's better to take a bath than to shower because you utilize less water. If you have to shower, be sure that you shower for 10 minutes or less. Installing low-flow shower-heads and faucets can reduce the amount of water utilized by nearly half. Installing new lavatories that use less water can be a great idea as well. You can conserve a good amount of water with the new low-flush toilets, and they actually produce less greenhouse gases during the process of purification. If you are not planning to get a new toilet, you can place a plastic bottle with the cap on in the toilet's water tank so the tank uses less water.

Save money by getting your gadgets restored instead of having them replaced unless there are energy saving models. The advantage of getting them repaired is not merely saving money, but keeping them out of the landfills. Yet another way to save energy is to not make use of an appliance at all, by hanging your clothes out to dry. The typical family does 400 loads of laundry per year, so that's a lot of energy being expended if they all used dryers. By drying your laundry on a rack, you can save a considerable amount of electricity each year. There are a variety clothes-line designs and many can easily be put away when not needed. Clothes can be hung wherever, even outside if the weather is nice and sunny.

If you are taking medications, you may have a couple that you didn't finish. They could be in your cabinet and may be past their expiration dates. Don't try to flush these down the toilet, because that puts the drugs into the water supply, which could be really dangerous. What you must do instead is take the expired pills to your local pharmacy and they will be able to get rid of it for you.

If you have an open fireplace, do not waste the heat, instead burn more efficiently using a direct-vent gas fireplace. About 85% of the gas used in an open fireplace is wasted. The most terrible type is the wood-burning hearth because the heat is sucked in and directed up the chimney. If this occurs, make sure that you have the correct settings so that the heat won't escape your home.