3 Ways Living Green Can Save You Money

3 Ways Living Green Can Save You Money

 

Living green is becoming a way of life more and more everyday for more and more people. People are more aware of the danger this world is in from global warming and the green house effect. I have noticed that big companies are even adopting the living green way of doing things. Car companies are making and pushing hybrid and electric cars. Energy companies are looking in to using alternate energy sources such as wind and solar energy. TV stations are promoting green activities. Politicians are even starting to put saving the environment on their agenda. If you just look around you can see that living green is really catching on.

 

 

For most people saving the environment is enough for them to start living green. But there are still others that might just need a little more of a nudge. Well, money is always a great motivator for people to do anything so here are some ways you can save and make money by living green.

 

Save Money On Your Energy Bill

Did you know that even though an electrical item be turned off as long as it’s plugged in it’s using energy and costing you money. Unplug all unused electrical items or use an energy efficient surge protector.

Even though those energy efficient compact florescent bulbs may cost more then regular light bulbs, in the long run they can save you money. The compact florescent bulbs lasts a lot longer then regular bulbs and use less energy thus saving you money on your energy bill and keep you from paying bulbs as often.

Here’s how you can save money on your energy bill with your laundry. First make sure you have a full load and wash in cold water. Cold water works just as well as hot with most laundry items. Next line dry your laundry. Line drying is more environmentally friendly and also keeps clothes from shrinking and fading and saves you money on energy.

 

 

Save Money On Gas

Get some exercise and save money gas by walking to short distance destinations or riding a bike to them and longer distance destinations.

Something people have been doing for years to save money on gas is carpooling. If your neighbors, friends or relatives are headed to the same place at the same time, why take more than one car? Let the person that has an automobile that can accommodate the most people if needed do the driving and every one in the auto cheap in a dollar or so. It’ll be cheaper in the long run than paying three four or five dollars to get to your destination.

Public transportation may not be the most desired form of transportation, but with the high price of gas it is one of the best ways to save some money.

Converting your car to run no biofuel or some other alternative fuel might cost a little now, but will save you a lot in the long run. Have you seen the price of gas?

Smaller cars, as we all know, saves money on gas. I know it’s hard, but give up those gas guzzling SUVs and Hummers and keep more money in your pocket with a smaller car. Maybe even a hybrid.

 

 

Make Money Living Green

Recycling not only helps keep material that’s harmful to the environment from being put in landfills, but you can also make a little money from doing. There are places all over the place that will pay you for such things as aluminum cans, scrap metal, those plastic bottles you get water and soda in and other materials.

Recycleinme.com is a site that allows you to sell recyclables such as rubber, plastic, glass, paper and various scrap metals to online buyers.

Places like Staples will give money for empty ink cartridges you use toward a purchase.

Make money by making your own non-toxic cleaning product and sell it. It’s easy to make using everyday stuff you might already have in your home like baking soda and lemons. You can find out how to make your own non-toxic cleaning product by doing a search online.

 

 

I’m going to leave it there. This gives you a taste of how living green and saving as well as making money can go hand in hand. So if you’re one of those that needed an extra nudge to start living green I hoped this pushed you over that edge.

No Hybrid? Smaller ways to Go Green

No Hybrid? Smaller ways to Go Green

Ever gotten a parking ticket from the carbon-footprint police? I drive a gas-wasting Chevy Tahoe, and for a time someone in the neighborhood would routinely plant orange, “Violation: Earth” citations on my windshield. “To SUV Driver,” they read. “Time to buy a Hybrid!”

My Tahoe has served me well, but it gets an abysmal 12 miles per gallon. Do I need such a big vehicle? No. But buying a new car can be expensive, let alone a new green car. While I am, in fact, saving up for a hybrid or a clean-burning diesel, I’m probably a year away from such a purchase.
Still, for those of you in my position, there are ways to “greenify” your not-so-green car. You can save gasoline by keeping your tires inflated and by driving in less of a rush. You can carpool. And you can buy environmentally friendly car parts, such as recyclable windshield wipers and air filters.
With Earth Day approaching April 22, here’s a list of some simple, green purchases for your clunker. I know I’m going to try at least a few.
Reusable filters
Your oil-change guy points out how disgustingly dirty your air filter is, so you fork over for a new one. The good news is you’ll be upping your miles per gallon, as clogged filters decrease engine efficiency. But your old filter is probably going to a landfill. Next time, buy a reusable, cotton air filter that you can wash out when it gets dirty. K&N Engineering of Riverside, Calif., has been making such air filters for more than 40 years, but others are on the market as well. They cost about more. Buying one is “the single most important thing one can do to greenify their ride,” pledges the greenest auto mechanic I know, Somerville’s Frank Marotta Jr.

Recyclable wipers
Jamak Fabrication, a Texas company, sells windshield wiper blades made from silicone, instead of rubber, that are being marketed as “the world’s first fully recyclable wiper blade.”  When the blades fray, you send the squeegee portions back to the company, which grinds them into new manufacturing materials. The wiper frames go in your residential recycling bin.  Tripledge Green blades save landfill space and require no oil to produce, as silicone rubber isn’t petroleum-based, the company says.  And they cost about as much as standard, rubber blades.
Energy-making shocks
Shock absorbers resemble pumps, right? So, what if you could capture the energy created when your shocks pump away on a bumpy road?  Well, three recent MIT graduates have created shock absorbers that do just that.  “Now more than ever, looking at all the sources of waste on the vehicle is essential,” says Zack Anderson, one of the cofounders of Cambridge-based Levant Power, maker of GenShock.  The concept has won numerous awards, with the shocks promising to increase fuel economy by as much as 6 percent for heavy vehicles.  The drawback is that GenShocks aren’t available yet for passenger cars. But stay tuned.
Biodegradable motor oil
You know that famous quote about how laws are like sausages — it’s better not to see them being made? My guess is that G-Oil falls in the same category. The biodegradable oil is made with “renewable animal fats,” or, put more bluntly, waste cow fat from Oklahoma slaughterhouses.  But if you focus on the fact that the product is organic, has won a Popular Mechanics magazine editor’s choice award, and is good enough to be the official motor oil of the American Le Mans Series racing competition, you might be swayed. “Our motto is save the Earth, sacrifice nothing,” says Courtney Jacobs, spokeswoman for Stamford, Conn.-based Green Earth Technologies, G-Oil’s manufacturer.
Waterless soaps
There are a number of them on the market — such as Freedom Waterless Car Wash and Laura Klein’s Green Car Waterless Car Wash & Shine — that claim to save hundreds of gallons of water per car per year. Just spray and wipe off the grime.  Klein’s soap “is made with plant-based, nontoxic ingredients so it won’t contaminate our waterways or harm wildlife or pets,” says the company’s website.  Sounds good, right?  Well, before you buy, make sure you read all the ingredients, as no one’s monitoring such green claims, says Jonathan Scott, spokesman for Clean Water Action, the nation’s largest grass-roots water issues group.  And if the prices scare you away — the soaps run about a bottle — all is not lost, Scott says. Using a bucket, a light-mist nozzle on your garden hose, and a squirt of dishwashing liquid, all you need are a few gallons of water to wash a car, he says.
Carbon offsets
If your guilt over driving an SUV or some other big clunker is too much to bear, you can do what I just did: Purchase a carbon offset.
To make amends for the fuel you’re wasting, donate to an environmental project that helps society conserve energy or reduce emissions.
For instance, if you purchase an SUV offset at envirocitizen.org, your donation funds the Greater New Bedford Landfill Gas Utilization Project, which uses greenhouses gases seeping from the landfill to fuel generators that produce electricity.
You can find several offset programs online — some reward you with bumper stickers — but I picked EnviroCitizen because it supports a local cause.
“No calculators, no questionnaires. Just choose from the prebuilt offsets we have created and check out,” organizer Mike Valenti told me.
“We e-mail a certificate within 24 hours.”
Maybe now the carbon-footprint police will leave me alone.

No Hybrid? Smaller Ways to Go Green

No Hybrid? Smaller Ways to Go Green

By Peter DeMarco

Ever gotten a parking ticket from the carbon-footprint police? I drive a gas-wasting Chevy Tahoe, and for a time someone in the neighborhood would routinely plant orange, “Violation: Earth” citations on my windshield. “To SUV Driver,” they read. “Time to buy a Hybrid!”

My Tahoe has served me well, but it gets an abysmal 12 miles per gallon. Do I need such a big vehicle? No. But buying a new car can be expensive, let alone a new green car. While I am, in fact, saving up for a hybrid or a clean-burning diesel, I’m probably a year away from such a purchase.

Still, for those of you in my position, there are ways to “greenify” your not-so-green car. You can save gasoline by keeping your tires inflated and by driving in less of a rush. You can carpool. And you can buy environmentally friendly car parts, such as recyclable windshield wipers and air filters.

With Earth Day approaching April 22, here’s a list of some simple, green purchases for your clunker. I know I’m going to try at least a few.

Reusable filters

Your oil-change guy points out how disgustingly dirty your air filter is, so you fork over for a new one. The good news is you’ll be upping your miles per gallon, as clogged filters decrease engine efficiency. But your old filter is probably going to a landfill. Next time, buy a reusable, cotton air filter that you can wash out when it gets dirty. K&N Engineering of Riverside, Calif., has been making such air filters for more than 40 years, but others are on the market as well. They cost about more. Buying one is “the single most important thing one can do to greenify their ride,” pledges the greenest auto mechanic I know, Somerville’s Frank Marotta Jr.

Recyclable wipers

Jamak Fabrication, a Texas company, sells windshield wiper blades made from silicone, instead of rubber, that are being marketed as “the world’s first fully recyclable wiper blade.”  When the blades fray, you send the squeegee portions back to the company, which grinds them into new manufacturing materials. The wiper frames go in your residential recycling bin.  Tripledge Green blades save landfill space and require no oil to produce, as silicone rubber isn’t petroleum-based, the company says.  And they cost about as much as standard, rubber blades.

Energy-making shocks

Shock absorbers resemble pumps, right? So, what if you could capture the energy created when your shocks pump away on a bumpy road?  Well, three recent MIT graduates have created shock absorbers that do just that.  “Now more than ever, looking at all the sources of waste on the vehicle is essential,” says Zack Anderson, one of the cofounders of Cambridge-based Levant Power, maker of GenShock.  The concept has won numerous awards, with the shocks promising to increase fuel economy by as much as 6 percent for heavy vehicles.  The drawback is that GenShocks aren’t available yet for passenger cars. But stay tuned.

Biodegradable motor oil

You know that famous quote about how laws are like sausages — it’s better not to see them being made? My guess is that G-Oil falls in the same category. The biodegradable oil is made with “renewable animal fats,” or, put more bluntly, waste cow fat from Oklahoma slaughterhouses.  But if you focus on the fact that the product is organic, has won a Popular Mechanics magazine editor’s choice award, and is good enough to be the official motor oil of the American Le Mans Series racing competition, you might be swayed. “Our motto is save the Earth, sacrifice nothing,” says Courtney Jacobs, spokeswoman for Stamford, Conn.-based Green Earth Technologies, G-Oil’s manufacturer.

Waterless soaps

There are a number of them on the market — such as Freedom Waterless Car Wash and Laura Klein’s Green Car Waterless Car Wash & Shine — that claim to save hundreds of gallons of water per car per year. Just spray and wipe off the grime.  Klein’s soap “is made with plant-based, nontoxic ingredients so it won’t contaminate our waterways or harm wildlife or pets,” says the company’s website.  Sounds good, right?  Well, before you buy, make sure you read all the ingredients, as no one’s monitoring such green claims, says Jonathan Scott, spokesman for Clean Water Action, the nation’s largest grass-roots water issues group.  And if the prices scare you away — the soaps run about a bottle — all is not lost, Scott says. Using a bucket, a light-mist nozzle on your garden hose, and a squirt of dishwashing liquid, all you need are a few gallons of water to wash a car, he says.

Carbon offsets

If your guilt over driving an SUV or some other big clunker is too much to bear, you can do what I just did: Purchase a carbon offset.

To make amends for the fuel you’re wasting, donate to an environmental project that helps society conserve energy or reduce emissions.

For instance, if you purchase an SUV offset at envirocitizen.org, your donation funds the Greater New Bedford Landfill Gas Utilization Project, which uses greenhouses gases seeping from the landfill to fuel generators that produce electricity.

You can find several offset programs online — some reward you with bumper stickers — but I picked EnviroCitizen because it supports a local cause.

“No calculators, no questionnaires. Just choose from the prebuilt offsets we have created and check out,” organizer Mike Valenti told me.

“We e-mail a certificate within 24 hours.”

Maybe now the carbon-footprint police will leave me alone.

More for Less: Energy Conservation and Ways to Improve Energy Efficiency [Race to Save the Planet Series: A Comprehensive, Global Overview of Major Environmental Questions]

More for Less: Energy Conservation and Ways to Improve Energy Efficiency [Race to Save the Planet Series: A Comprehensive, Global Overview of Major Environmental Questions]

From Los Angeles to the Amazon, the demands of human populations are changing the face of the planet. This series provides a comprehensive, global overview of major environmental questions. Hosted by Meryl Streep and filmed on every continent, the programs focus on solutions, constructive ideas and new approaches from leading scientists, economists, politicians, and environmental activists. Based no the Worldwatch Institute’s “State of the World” reports, the series provides scientific backgroun on each topic and inspires viewers to help preserve the environment through their own activities. No. 6 MORE FOR LESS centers on the search for efficient sources of energy.

List Price: $ 75.00

Price:

Other ways to go natural and green?

Question by InkedBarbie: Other ways to go natural and green
We recycle, We use re usable bags, we have fuel efficient compact cars, We have all fluorescent energy saving light bulbs in our home. We turn the water off while we brush our teeth…..so on.

I have recently started canning food and jam with no added preservatives. Are there other methods we could be using to ease our use on the planet

I want to eliminate my dependency on large grocery stores and expand.
Rachel, There is no need for the nasty attitude.

Best answer:

Answer by mr.treadmill
Use solar panels to make your hot water and get a heat pump to heat your home.

Add your own answer in the comments!

What are ways we can go green and help our Earth?

Question by Me, who else: What are ways we can go green and help our Earth
I care deeply about our environment and want to help but i need easy ways for kids and teens that don’t involve cars because i am too young to drive. I will very much appreciate it if you answer this.

Best answer:

Answer by Baba
You can list out many. But small small things what ever is possible for use we can start doing it. For example avoid plastic carry bags, slowly avoid even paper – use only e-communication, avoid using air conditioners, wherever possible avoid using 4 wheelers – and so many. Thanks for asking this question. Please read more below.

Add your own answer in the comments!

Ways to get online cheap motor car insurance

Ways to get online cheap motor car insurance

It is good to get cheap online insurance quote for your car. Provided you make use of web systematically. There are several websites that provide cheap online insurance services for your car even both new and used cars. Online is a good avenue to get cheap motor insurance quote.

You can get cheap quote for your motor insurance using online calculate available on the companies’ websites. Accepting this offers either low or cheap, you must be fully prepared for it. There is a form on there websites where you will required to provide the details of your vehicle such as its make, model, mileage traveled and present condition of your car. Once you through with these details simply submit it and wait for few minutes to get the quote.

Using the calculator available on these insurance sites, you have to ensure that the companies have updated the calculator in order to get accurate quote.

You can look for insurance companies that offer cheap motor insurance services online, which actually meet your desire. Some of these companies do not have agents and that is why they offer cheap online quotes for car insurance as well as saving the agents commission.

You can also get cheap insurance quotes for your car by contacting them through their Toll free –1-800 phone numbers to make a best deal. Ensure that you understand details of the offers and there policies for reimbursement claim because some are fraud as well. Having comparative data from different insurance companies on quotes for motor insurance is very important. There is different information available on the comparison site than the calculator sites; these sites have details information about the insurance companies and their quotes. Also available on the sites are the direct link to the official websites of these companies. Therefore, you can choose anyone that best suite your economic condition and your car’s condition because these are part of determined factors to the ultimate cost of insurance quotes.

By following these tips, you can get as many quotes as you can find time for. Compared and come up with best of cheap car insurance quotes

Car Insurance & The Ways To Get It – A Brief Snapshot

Car Insurance & The Ways To Get It – A Brief Snapshot

Car insurance is a kind of insurance is usually taken a policy holder to protect his or her car. Each and every one wants to save their hard earn money, so they look out for various ways through which they can cut their expenses. It is often seen that people are left with a very small amount of money because they have to pay heavily for purchasing house, insurance policies, paying bills etc. So what is new, it is your new car insurance that costs you more than any other expenses and is your highest bill.

To cut short the payable money you need to be smart enough that you can be by interacting with your colleagues, friends, family and most importantly with your expert car insurance agent. He or she is the one whom you can rely on completely. There are several questions that you need to ask your agents such as the ways to save maximum amount on car insurance, where to go for taking affordable car insurance and the factors required for it.

Always gather significant information to make a well informed decision before buying car insurance.

The Ways To Take Car Insurance

You can take car insurance in two ways.

1. Online Purchase
Now a day’s it is very easy to shop without going out from your home. You need not to interact with the insurance agents time and again and moreover you can get rid off the phone calls that simply waste your precious time by elaborating their insurance plans. Now you can just log on to the internet and you will be amazed to see the countless offers that are in front of you and you are just a single click away to your most affordable deal of auto insurance.

2. Offline Purchase
You can also purchase such policies directly from the insurance companies or through brokers or agents.

In both the online and offline ways you need to pay insurance premium at a predetermined rate.An active should always ask for the available discounts that are reserved for senior citizens, multi-car ownership, club membership and professional association memberships.

What are some inexpensive ways to go green?

Question by asdfjkl;: What are some inexpensive ways to go green
Going green seems expensive. Right now a hybrid car or installing solar panels is out of my budget. What are some inexpensive ideas, besides recycling, to help save the environment

Best answer:

Answer by Tony
Set your thermostat at 68 in the winter and 78 in the summer.
Take shorter showers.
Start a compost pile.
Carpool.
Use a clothesline to dry your clothes.

What do you think Answer below!

How can larger families reduce their “footprint” and ways to “go green?”?

Question by Cammy: How can larger families reduce their “footprint” and ways to “go green”
I feel that it seems way much easier for single people and couples to “go green.”

I on the other hand am interested but have a larger family. Our trash waste is about the same, but we recycle as much as we can.

Hand washing dishes and line drying is certianly out of the question for a family as large as mine, even with help. We do however own an energy efficient washer/dryer (although however efficient it is like I always have it on). And when we go grocery shopping, we come home with enough plastic bags to stuff a 13g trashbag and we resuse as many of these as possible and recycle them much as possible.

And because of the size of the family we have two cars, and we live in one of those cities were you have to have a car to get anywhere!

Besides recycling and energy effient washer/dryer what are other ways a large family to to help contribute to the “going green” effort.
PS. for those who are going to suggest using paper bags from the grocery store, it isn’t offered at any of the locations to shop available in my area.

Best answer:

Answer by Del Piero 10
Put your trash in your neighbors’ bins after dark.

Know better Leave your own answer in the comments!