The more you use, the more you pay. Whether it’s electricity, water or packaging, everything we consume costs us money somewhere along the line. For anyone who grows their own food in an effort to cut down on packaging, saves rainwater to save wasting precious supplies or generates their own electricity to trim their bills – in short, a self-sufficientist – this is patently clear.
But how much does waste actually cost, and how much can you save by going green?
It’s never been obvious or easy to work out, but the New Scientist has produced a guide to ‘dumb eco-questions you were afraid to ask‘, and it answers plenty of them.
Like switching off lights. I’d always been told that it was best to leave a strip light on all evening rather than turn it on and off every time you enter or leave a room. And the magazine seems to agree, applying the theory to the energy saving bulbs we use throughout the house:
Switching the light on and off does saves energy, but there is a catch. Every time you flip the switch, the bulb takes a jolt of electricity, which shortens its life. Studies by the Electric Power Research Institute in Palo Alto, California, found that turning low-energy compact fluorescent bulbs on and off at frequent intervals can shorten their lifespan by as much as 75 per cent. The institute’s director of energy utilisation, Tom Reddoch, suggests leaving energy-saving bulbs on if you will be out of the room for less than 15 minutes.
It’s got advice for drivers, too. That’s less relevant for us these days as neither of us uses the car much and we do most of our shopping for fresh food by bike, but even so:
Avoid dramatic braking and acceleration and use cruise control if you’ve got it. Move through the gears as quickly as possible, changing up before you hit 2500 revs per minute (2000 rpm for a diesel). Where possible, drive at a steady 55 miles per hour (90 kilometres per hour). It is up to 20 per cent more fuel-efficient than driving at 75 mph. Check your tyre pressure once a month because underinflated tyres can raise fuel consumption by 6 per cent. Don’t carry excess baggage. Each extra 25 kilograms decreases fuel efficiency by 1 per cent. And avoid short trips – a cold engine uses twice as much fuel as a warm one.
It’s an excellent read for anyone who wants to know how to make best use of limited resources, so if you’re wondering whether a home wind turbine will ever pay its way, if washing your clothes at lower temperatures will really get them clean or what the carbon footprint of your cycle ride to work is, based on the energy consumption involved in making the food that will power your little pumping legs, check out the full article here.
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