Buy Carefully

Buy carefully and stop global warming. Avoid buying food or household products in plastic or Styrofoam containers. If you must use disposable products, purchase paper products instead of plastic. Paper items are not fossil fuel (petroleum) based products, and are also biodegradable.

Purchase energy efficient appliances. Check the energy rating of major appliances when you purchase. Purchase only the most energy efficient models. Use your consumer power and shop for energy efficient models. You might spend a little more up front, but you will save a lot on electricity, and you will reduce carbon dioxide produced by power plants. Look at the Energy Rating labels, and compare to get the most efficient appliance. Refrigerators are the big electricity consumers in your home. Upgrading a refrigerator could mean large electricity savings in a household.

Replace light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs. These bulbs use at least 2/3 less energy than standard incandescent bulbs and provide the same amount of light, lasting up to 10 times longer. You'll save hundreds of kilograms of carbon dioxide. Over a period of 8000 hours, a 20 W long-life bulb produces about 600 kg less carbon dioxide than a 100 W incandescent bulb (if the electricity is generated in a coal-burning power plant).

Choose an efficient vehicle. Your transportation choice is probably the single most important decision you can make to reduce global warming.
So you can't give up your car...but you can choose the most fuel efficient vehicle to meet your needs. This might mean changing from a sports car or four wheel drive (one SUV puts 20,000 tons of carbon in the atmosphere every year) to a fuel-efficient small or mid-size car.

You might consider buying an electric car, converting your current gas-burning car to electric, or buying a car with a hybrid electric engine. These increasingly popular electric-powered vehicle choices are so much more efficient than gasoline engines that - even using coal-generated electricity, the dirtiest kind - they reduce carbon emissions and pollution dramatically.

Renewable Energy must be considered, and there are many ways to integrate small sized solar or wind systems into your home. The Renewable Energy eBooks section has some wonderful eBooks that will guide you through the process of building your own installations.

Insulate your house or unit. You can cut your heating and cooling expenses at the same time as reducing the burning of fossil fuels by using weather strips to seal drafts around windows and doors. If drafts come through from outside walls, install foam draft blockers behind the cover plates. Place covers (inside or outside) on air conditioners during cold months. Make sure your home is insulated adequately. Many of our older homes have little insulation, especially in ceilings or the attic. You can check the insulation yourself or have it done as part of an energy audit, provided by many utility companies. Call your energy company to see if it offers this service.

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