Four days after Live Earth, what changes have you made?

[cally]

We got a wake up call this Saturday. We all have to make changes. I've read various posts at changes folks are making and I was hoping to have a thread to inspire others and recognize what we are doing.

So, here's what I did:

replaced all my lights with low energy bulbs (I had already replaced many but I replaced the remaining ones)

Remembered the canvass bags every time I shopped.

Had a plumber fix the leaking toilet and hired a person to fix the leaking heating ductwork.

I've also been on a rampage about turning lights off and remembering to disconnect the computers and TVs when we are not using them.

I also walked to the Farmer's Market instead of driving.

Little, little steps. But if we all do them we will start on our way to solving the crisis.

[SoFlaJet]

1. Adapters are no longer left plugged in

see that's the thing about those shows the other day it wasn't so much about global warming as it was an ideas exchange of how we can save energy and by doing that hopefully help protect the planet-that's what i was getting out of it anyway

[cally]

3. It's the first step

I agree with RFK that we have to change politicians but we also have to change our lifestyle.

[Aristus]

26. My wife and I used to leave our cell phone chargers plugged in even when our phones were in use.

Not anymore. As soon as we pull the phones off their chargers, we unplug the chargers themselves. I've been replacing the incandescent bulbs in my house with CFLBs for years...

[libnnc]

2. I'm turning off lights like a mo-fo

unplugging the cell phone charger when not in use, turning off the computer and monitor when not in use, washing all my clothes in cold water, trying to take shorter, cooler showers, we just ordered some reusable grocery bags, and we've turned the AC down two degrees in the evening. Gore says every little bit helps.

[cally]

6. What I'm embarassed about is that I knew I should do all this

but I slipped into bad habits. It was a wake up call for me.

[libnnc]

8. yep. me too.

We've wasted so much over the years. I'm embarrassed too.

[DavidDvorkin]

4. I've stopped eating and drinking

Stopping breathing is more difficult, but I expect the two preceding steps to take care of that in time.

(Actually, we've been conservationists in many ways, large and small, for decades.)

[Beaverhausen]

5. Decided to get books from the library instead of buying them

I already changed my bulbs, use canvas bags, drive a hybrid, turn off light and unplug appliances.

I will now try to simply pare down my "stuff" and I decided to start with books. There are some I will buy (Al Gore's new one for example) but for instance, I'm in a book club so every month I will get that book out of the library instead of buying it. I only really like half of the ones we choose, so it isn't worth it for me to own them anyway.

[Gormy Cuss]

7. cally, your final line is the key: little steps in the right direction are

better than none. Eventually all of those little steps add up.

I haven't made any changes yet, but we're already pretty frugal about energy use.
The irony is that we use so little energy now that our payback time frame on solar systems is about twice the average and that's why we haven't installed it. As soon as we can justify the cost, we'll have solar panels.

[ljm2002]

9. Already switched to CFLs a few months ago...

...but as a result of watching Live Earth, what I've done so far:

-- am now more religious about turning lights off when I leave a room
-- unplug chargers when not in use
-- turn off computer monitors when not in use
-- turn fans off when not in the room (one exception during hottest days, out of necessity)
-- don't flush until necessary (IOW: if it's yellow it's mellow, if it's brown flush it down)
-- even more careful with water than before

Just the easy steps to start, but hopefully it all adds up.

[Individualist]

10. Another suggestion - dry clothes on a clothesline whenever possible

instead of using the dryer.

"Appliances that create or remove heat use the most electricity."

Energy Hogs

5000 watts
Electric oven

5000 watts
Clothes dryer (electric)

3800 watts
Water heater (electric)

3500 watts
Central Air Conditioner (2.5 tons)

1500 watts
Microwave oven

1500 watts
Toaster (four-slot)

900 watts
Coffee maker

800 watts
Range burner

500-1440 watts
Window unit air conditioner

200-700 watts
Refrigerator

60-100 watts
Light bulb (energy hog because houses have lots of lights, and it's easy to leave them on when they're not being used)

Fans

100 watts
Floor fan or box fan (high speed)

15-95 watts
Ceiling fan (Bigger fans and faster speeds use more energy. My 2004 42" Hampton Bay uses 24/28/42 watts on low/med/high respectively, according to the manual. Progress Energy says on high speed fans use 55/75/95 watts for 36"/48"/52" models respectively.)

Computers (see more about electrical use of computers)

140-330 watts
Desktop Computer & 17" CRT monitor

1-20 watts
Desktop Computer & Monitor (in sleep mode)

120 watts
17" CRT monitor

40 watts
17" LCD monitor

45 watts
Laptop computer

Other

60-100 watts
Regular light bulb

4-165 watts
Video game (While playing game, 30W for PS2, 70W for XBox, and 165W for XBox 360. See full report at DX Gaming)

55-90 watts
19" television

18 watts
Compact fluorescent light bulb

4 watts
Clock radio

3 watt-hours
Total power stored by an alkaline AA battery. This is to put batteries into perspective. If you could power your clock radio with a AA battery, it wouldn't even last an hour. We have more on batteries on our Guide to Household Batteries.

http://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/howmuch.html

[shadowknows69]

11. Not much I admit

I am making a conscious effort to turn off unused appliances more than I used to. We're in a mandated recycling city but we could do better than they make us. I'm going to talk to our tree out front more than I have been. Been neglecting him for the one out back we put my dog on. I can feel his mild jealousy. Baby steps right? But every step helps.

[marions ghost]

12. Been doing this for awhile

and while I'm all for people doing the best they can & living lightly, it's going to take more than that. Appeals to individuals to cut down and pay more for less energy use (while energy companies retain their profits) without providing a focused big picture approach to the problems, will not really move us ahead in the long run.

We need some big steps now. Baby steps won't quite do it.

But I know you are sincerely TRYING to help. It's better than sleepwalking into a wall.

[Bluestar]

13. Replaced 12 more bulbs with CFL's n/t

[Nimrod2005]

14. I changed bulbs, about 10 more than I already had...My five year

old is turning off the lights in every room when she leaves, she started that day actually during the concert!!!
I turn off fans in two rooms, they have been on for years...

I called my city, recycle bins will be here on Friday!!! Did not recycle before...

[KarenS]

15. Little steps here too,,,,

~ Bought 2 CFL bulbs just to try them out!! We are planning to replace all of our bulbs.
~ Found a recycle place nearby to take these bulbs when they burn out ~ they contain some mercury.
~ Made sure all my fabric bags are in the back of my car for shopping.
~ Making my Daughter four fabric bags for her shopping.
~ Turning off lights.
~ Setting the water level in the washer to a lower level when I can.
~ Pulling clothes out of the dryer when they are still slightly damp & letting them air dry.


on edit: forgot to spell check :)

[Spazito]

16. Had already replaced my bulbs, most of them, and when I have

to shop again, will purchase enough to do the rest. Am turning lights off when I leave the room, unplugging surge bars re computer, television, etc, at night before going off to bed. Am planning my errands so that I will use my vehicle as little as possible and plan a route so I do not have to double back.

Have not gone shopping since Live Earth but have on my list to buy my own cloth bags and use them at that time.

I still have lots more to do re recycling but am working on it.

[MatrixEscape]

17. Ah good,

More juice and energy for the wealthy! I am sure they are thankful and proud. You know that they really need it and the rabble needs to cut back on everything. Better that it be voluntary than compulsory for now. Social engineering on a mass scale is very effective these days.

No, I am really glad that everyone is doing what lower income people always have to do in order to pay their energy bills and be able to just eat and survive. Nice to see everyone joining in.

After all the fuss about Al Gore's efforts lately, I spent more time looking into his history and what he did when he had a position to do something proactive about the current problems we face.

Since so many people seem so high on the event, and obviously motivated to act -- regardless of the much larger situation and the systematic problems behind the curtain. There will be a lot of money to make on caps, trade, etc. for the companies that get behind saving the planet. If I had the money, I would certainly invest in makers of cloth bags and energy saving light bulbs.

Enough from me. This is a party killer and unpopular thinking.

[ieoeja]

20. And those lightbulbs contain ... mercury! n/t

[Yukari Yakumo]

18. Nothing

And I suspect an overwhelming majority of Americans did the same thing too.

[ieoeja]

19. Nothing. What's Live Earth? n/t

[Javaman]

25. it's the opposite of what we are to become. nt

[doni_georgia]

21. we've been doing all this a while

We replaced all our bulbs with CFLs a while back. I always turn off lights when not in a room and try not to use lights during the day. I drive as little as possible and try to run all errands at one time. After Live Earth my husband did finally replace our leaky kitchen faucet (I bought a new one about 6 months ago and have been waiting for him to replace the old one). We also started shopping at consignment shops for clothes several years ago instead of always buying new clothes. The one closest to us takes trade ins, so I take the stuff the kids have outgrown and trade for newer clothes (often times the clothes we get are brand new with original price tags still on them). Our next big project is to re-insulate the house and replace the weather stripping around windows and doors. Our house is 15 years old and this is something that really needs to be done before winter. We're major tight wads, so we have always watched our energy consumption just from a cost perspective.

[EFerrari]

22. Started to replace bulbs, one at a time, every week, because

the low energy ones give me fierce headaches. Sneaking up on it.

Rethought how I recycle and am being obsessively careful about it.

Contacted Freinds of the Urban Forest to try to get a planting done in my 'hood. I need 23 more people to get it done. They're out there somewhere. :)

That's about it, so far. :hi:

[JBear]

23. Driving on Bio

Not only am I looking for places I can drive less, I am running at least B20 and most of the time B100 in my Jetta. Current Carbon!

:bounce:

[Javaman]

24. I've replaced all my CFL's with incandescents, have the a/c cranked down to 60

run the washer and dryer 24/7. bought 3 no 4 plasmas screen tvs that play all day long, run my sprinkler none stop, actually leave my car running all day long as I sit my fat ass at my desk at work, buy nothing but useless plastic gewgaws and have invested all my remaining dollars into clean coal research.

Oh but I do recycle my beer cans!

[WolverineDG]

27. Little steps for now

The bigger steps require $$ I don't have at the time being.

I have been using CFLs for over a year now. Yes, they do make a difference!

I dug out my canvas bags & washed them, tossed 'em in the car, ready to be used on my next trip.

I have told store clerks that I don't need a bag when getting 1 or 2 items.

I've decided not to drive anywhere on Sunday. If I want to get somewhere, I'll hoof it.

I plan to buy carbon offsets whenever I fly or drive out of town more than 100 miles.

Yeah, Live Earth was a complete & utter flop in my house. :eyes:

dg

[Rosa Luxemburg]

28. we are looking into solar panels

[taterguy]

29. Tried to encourage cycling on this site

That went over like Boy George at a Klan rally

[libnnc]

30. I'll make sure that my 81 year old MIL

understands that we can no longer waste fuel by driving her to the doctor. Her ataxia isn't that bad. She could easily cycle up Silas Creek Pkwy and down Miller St to Baptist Hospital for her cataract treatments. We waste so much fuel getting her groceries too.

We could be doing a whole lot more and we don't ask nearly enough of her. Thanks for your insight. It's always spot-on.

[radicalcapitalist]

31. None. However, I have been making changes that make sense for me for years.

In contrast, the "inspiring" hypocrites from Saturday wouldn't know how to calculate a watt, much less save one.

[Tesha]

32. Here at the Tesha family...

Here at the Tesha family, this weekend inspired the
following changes:

o In the kitchen, about 400W of quartz-halogen
downlighting became 123W of CFL (with a noticeable
increase in brightness).

The only non-fluorescent lighting left in the kitchen
area and adjacent laundry room is a 150W dimmable
halogen task light over the kitchen's island, 2x50W
halogen task lights in the vent hood over the cooker
(not changeable), and a 25W incandescent reflector
that teams up with 4x4W CFL reflectors to light the
sink area (the incandescent gives us some light
instantly while these particular slow-to-warm-up
miniature CFLs get going).

o In the bedroom, 125W of incandescent reading lights
became 20W of CFL. In the adjacent bathroom, a 200W
reflector flood became 2x19W of CFL reflector. In both
cases, the result was, once again, brighter light.

We also canceled the timer-based turn-on of one of
the bedroom lights and unplugged the power adapter
for a switched-off miniature plasma lamp.

o In Mr. Tesha's office, an always-on LED lamp was
turned off and its power adapter unplugged (eliminating
both the power actually drawn by the lamp and the
stand-by current drawn by its power adapter).

o In the stairways, two incandescent nightlights
(about 8W) became LED night lights (about zip watts).
Quite a bit dimmer, but much cheaper to run and
the LED lamps should last the rest of our lives
whereas the fragile incandescent night lights
croaked quite often.

o Some of the 50W quartz-halogen lamps from the
kitchen got recycled into the family room where
they replaced ordinary 75W incandescent reflectors.
Result: 33% energy savings, slightly brighter
light, better color temperature, and longer
lamp life. Nearly all the ordinary incandescent
reflectors are gone now or will be soon.

o Just because we had some spare CFLs, a rarely-
used incandescent lamp in Mr. Tesha's workshop
became a CFL (more light).

o I've turned off the scanner that I was routinely
leaving on (it's an older SCSI scanner and the
system needs to be rebooted to recognize it).

o On the house's programmable thermostats, we
turned the air conditioning up 3 degrees on
all the "cool" periods.

o A few weeks back, we installed a big piece of
shadecloth over the greenhouse that is attached
to our house (to minimize the summer heat gain);
it will come down in the autumn to maximize that
same solar heat gain over the winter.

o We'll do more work trying to kill off the various
energy vampires that are sitting around the house,
but we need to study some of these to see how
cost- and convenience-effective those changes
would be.

o We'll also be changing out a few more incandescents
for CFLs: four or five outdoor lamps are next.


We'd already been making changes (some CFLs, recycling
like crazy, reusable bags, and the like), but Al Gore
and Live Earth kicked us into a yet-higher gear.

Tesha