30 ways to make your home more ecological

This is not what dishwasher you use, but how do you use it.


Forking coming out of half of your year's salary for a Prius is not the only way to make your life more ecological. Although many people combine green with low-practical and expensive lifestyle changes, there are currently several cheap and easy adjustments that you can do around the house to significantly reduce your carbon footprint.

For this to be as easy as possible for you to transform your home into a clean energy hut, we have gathered a list of the easiest ecological changes here. So, read it and soak to the satisfaction that comes with a do-gooder! And for more ways to start living a more responsible lifestyle, consult the40 ways to make your 40 years the greatest decenary the healthiest.

1
Use a pressure cooker

kitchen, stove, pressure cooker
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You will make both the environment and yourself a favor by investing in a pressure cook. The kitchen gadget, which speeds up the time it takes to cook a meal of cooking plates, would have reduced the cooking time as much as70%, which means less energy used preparing your roasts, pasta and preferred potatoes.

2
And opt for the oven toaster

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If you cook a small meal for one, opt for your toaster instead of your larger electric oven. The American Energy Departmentfind This ovens toaster used until half of the energy and a conventional electric oven, mainly because a conventional oven requires preheating or is more frequently open and closed throughout the cooking process, which Lets come out of heat.

3
Turn on the house with LEDs

Lamp in a room
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According toU.s. Department of EnergyThe light-emitting diodes (LEDs) use 75% less energy and 25 times longer than incandescent lighting. And not only do they have the potential to save the environment, they will also save you a huge piece of money on your energy bill. And for more ways to keep extra money in your portfolio, discover these52 ways to be smarter with money in 2018.

4
Compost your remains

Food Waste
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Even the most effective eaters will meet with remnants of food to throw at the end of a meal. But instead of throwing them in the trash, more to do is to store them in a trash can for composting. Like ato study From the University of Washington found, food waste in landfills are one of the main causes of methane, but composting prevents the decomposition of food and subsequent release of greenhouse gases.

"Putting your food waste in the compost basket can really help reduce the emissions of landfill methane. So it's easy to do that can have a significant impact", author of the main studyBrown sally said in a press release. And the American composting board created aconvenient card Composting locations across the United States to find a location near you!

5
Place the plastic bottles

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Putting your plastic water bottle in the recycling basket does not compose the fact that you use a plastic bottle in the first place, unfortunately. According toThe water projectAbout 80% of all plastic water bottles in the United States mix with the trash and only 20% of the recycled bottles can be used for recycling. And as for bottles that are thrown, they take more than 1,000 years in Biodegrade. Buy a reusable bottle instead and save the environment with each sip.

6
Adopt Mondays without meat

tofu gets rid of wrinkles

Jump on the sausage for a day a week can have a surprisingly huge impact on the environment. According toNetwork of the Earth Day, Eating a burger less than a week for a year has the same environmental impact as taking your car on the road for 320 miles. And if you really wanted to engage in the cause and become a vegetarian in its own right, you can potentially reduce global greenhouse gas emissions by63%. If you are interested in making the switch, you can alwaysFly this firefighter vegetarian to stay torn.

7
Repair a fleeing tap

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The slow and painful drain of a fuzzing tap is sufficient to drive any insane person. Add to that the fact that a drip every second adds tofive gallons Water washed per day and you have no excuse for not calling a plumber as soon as possible.

8
Shorten your showers

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Do not sled in the shower just because hot water feels good about your skin. Shorten your shower by as little as a minute can save up150 gallons water per month. And if you keep your shower up to five minutes in total, you can save up to 1,000 gallons per month.

9
Unplug unused electronic components

power strip, plugs, energy

Want to save the planet in seconds? Just unplug. "The simplest and most obvious way to eliminate power losses is to disconnect products when not in use,"write The authors ofConsumer Guide for Home Energy Savings - 9th Edition. If you do not want to pull each lamp and charger from the output jack when you leave the house, use a power strip, it will simply leave you one thing to unplug.

10
Dry line your laundry

laundry, line dry, energy efficient

You want to save energy and money? Nix the dryer completely and rather, try the line drying your laundry. TheEpa Determined to determine that a dryer uses more energy than a refrigerator, a washer and a dishwasher and the drying of the line can reduce the energy use of the main devices in a typical household by at least a third. For more laundry hacks saved money savings and ecological, try them20 ways to do the laundry in your freezer.

11
Do not pre-rinse your dishes

dishwasher dishes silverware plates
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In maybe the greatest news of all time,Energy efficient experts to advisenot Pre-wash your dishes before throwing them in the dishwasher. In fact, this is a waste of water and time. Instead, fosse the double wash and scrape all the remains of food in the compost, then make your dishes directly into the machine.

12
Buy pre-loved products

woman browsing thrift store bags shopping

Take a page of the Macklemore book and head to the savings store for your next shopping trip. AsRichard Robbins Underline in his bookGlobal problem and culture of capitalism, consumerism and the production process have an impact detrimental to the environment.

"The production, treatment and consumption of commodities require the extraction and use of natural resources (wood, ore, fossil fuels and water)," wrote Robbins. Whenever you buy new clothes, you contribute to the release of environmental toxins and, if you are fashionable, a ton of easily avoidable waste. By buying pre-loved property, we can stop contributing to this negative cycle. But if youto do want to make fools on something new (and a room will not hurt), try them15 killer style accessories that you never knew you needed.

13
Limit your electronics consumption

sharper brain
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It is difficult to avoid the temptation of technology, especially when you come home at home with a long day of work and you want to relax with an episode ofKimmy Schmidt unbreakable. But if you want to break your carbon footprint, you must visualize at least the use of the device.

How exactly are your electronics and the environment, you ask? Well, according to ato study From McMaster University, data centers that conduct our electronics consume a little energy and the majority of them are fed by fossil fuels. "For each text message, for each phone call, each video you download or download, there is a data center that occurs ... [and they have] consuming a lot of energy to serve you," said the author of the studyLotfi Belkhir. Instead of wasting energy (word set) on the electronics, try to entertain yourself with these20 ways of Genius kill time without smartphone.

14
Turn the lights off

light switch, energy

Turn off the lights is a simple act that goes very far. According toresearchFrom the Imperial College London, the estimate of the British government of the amount of carbon dioxide that can be saved by extinguishing the lights is 60% too low and the seemingly insignificant action has another consequence than experts.

"Any discount we do in our use of electricity - for example, if everyone turned off the lights that they did not use or off electric heating earlier in the year - could have a more impact on the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by the power plants that previously thought, "the study authorDr. Adam Hawkes noted. And if you are too lazy to physically turn off the light switch, you can still invest insmart lights who meet audio controls.

15
Tinker with your toilet

Toilet with lid up
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According toEpaThe toilet represent nearly 30% of the average use of household inland water. An easy way to reduce this number is to modernize an older toilet model on a Watersense model certified by EPA.At national scale Believes that ecological models can save up to 13,000 gallons of water a year, as well as Slash water bills of $ 90.

16
Pass on paper towels

paper towel rolls Organized

You do not need to completely give up paper towels, but it is better to use them sparingly.Scientific At Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) compared the seven most common methods of drying hands and found that the use of paper towels generates 70% more carbon emissions than cold dryers. Of course, you probably do not have a hand dryer, but even the use of a cotton towel is 48% more ecological than drying with a paper towel.

17
Wash your clothes in cold water

man putting clothes in washing machine relationship
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Believe it or not, nearly 90% of the energy a washing machine uses goes to the heating water, according toENERGY STAR. Using the cold water adjustment of your washing machine, you can eliminate up to 1,600 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions per year.

18
Decorate with the plants of the house

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Take care of the plants of the house takes a lot of responsibility. However, the extremities justify the means:Scientific From the University of Technology in Australia found that the soil of potted plants could clean the indoor air of toxic substances such as benzene. ScientistBill Wolverton, which has written a NASA study famous on air purification, recommended the Boston Fougere and Golden Pothos for efficient cleaning of the air.

19
Reuse shopping bags

grocery bag in car
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Whether you opt for paper or plastic, it's out of order, as long as you reuse the bags you get from the grocery store. Extensivereport From the Environment Agency determined that paper bags should be reused at least three times to compensate for their environmental effects compared to those of plastic bags. And reusable cotton bags must be reused at least 131 times to even break up with a plastic bag due to the environmental impact of their production.

Of course, the paper is compostable, while the plastic contains a high carbon footprint, so at the end, any bag you use is good, as long as you continue to use the same.

20
Keep your cat inside

cats use their whiskers to navigate tight spaces
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Americafavorite household animal holds the destiny of the environment in his claws. On ato study Published inNature CommunicationsCats that are allowed outside (Strasys included) are responsible for the death of 3.7 billion birds and 20.7 billion mammals in the United States a year, resulting in dramatic ecosystem changes in progress. road. If you find yourself possessing a cat, make sure it stays inside all the other animals.

21
Use natural beauty products

woman putting on makeup in mirror

As the summer is getting closer and we are starting to worry more about the harmful effects of UV light, it is important to consult our beauty products for nano-titanium dioxide. According toresearchers From the University of Toledo, these sun locking particles enter the water supply when we wash our beauty products and can affect the natural environment. This does not mean that you should not wear a sunscreen, however: find a good natural sunscreen or risking these20 ways of sunburn hurts to your overall health.

22
Locally shop

farmer's market, organic, produce, environment
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The fewer hands that your food passes, the better. TheCarbon compensation to mitigate the organization of poverty (COTAP) indicates that 13% of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States come from the production and transportation of food. Opt for local biological and commercial products, especially those in farmers' markets.

23
And grow producing in a garden

Girl Gardening Valentine's Day

If you want to take your ecological eating habits, an extra step, you can use your garden space to start developing your own products. "By developing your own food, you eliminate emissions from the transport of goods to your local markets and mass grocery stores," Arcadia Poweradvise.

24
Cook more meals at home

elderly couple cooking a healthy meal peppers
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We can not control the portions we receive in restaurants, but wecan Check how much food we do at home. And these portion sizes could help reduce the amount of food in America, which is a lot: a recentreport found that nearly 50% of all products in the country - about 60 million tonnes - are thrown into the trash.

25
Turn off your ice machine

ice maker, fridge, kitchen, ice
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Most people do not consume dozens of ice cubes a day, yet they leave their ice manufacturers running all day. This small slide has a significant impact on energy consumption: according toTIMEThe average ice machine increases energy consumption up to 20% when operating 24/7. Turn off your ice machine when you do not use it, nor better, buy an ice tray and create carbon emissions without cubes.

26
Stop buying plastic plates

plastic silverware, plates, environment

When you do not want to do the dishes, plastic plates and silverware are suitable for easy way, but these single-use products are expensive for your bank account and your environment. "Going the disposable plastic to sustainable alternatives is an investment in the long-term future of our environment," saidErik Solheim, responsible for the United Nations environment, which has ledresearch on replacing plastic products with greener products. "The packaging and other one-use items are a large proportion of the plastic litter leaking at the ocean."

27
Mitigate the use of the microwave

Man opening his microwave oven.
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Microwave meals are cheap, easy and sometimes even delicious. But oneto studyFrom the University of Manchester asks us about our dependence on the kitchen apparatus: Apparently, microwave use in the European Union issues as much carbon dioxide a year under 6.8 million cars. Instead of throwing your microwave, the authors of the study suggest adjusting the cooking times according to the type of prepared foods and using your microwave until it is really on its last legs.

28
Dry your dishes by hand

woman drying dishes, energy
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Although the use of the dishwasher to wash your dishes can save water, dry in the machine will only contribute to your energy bills. According to the energy companyConstellation, Drying your dishes by hand can cut the power consumption of your dishwasher up to 50%.

29
Isolate heating ducts

insulation, home, heating ducts, ducts, air conditioning, home improvement

As much as30% Air moving through your duct system is lost for leaks. By insulating your heating ducts, you can save money on heating invoices and keeping energy in your home.

30
Use a programmable thermostat

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Being green sometimes means becoming green too. Installing a programmable thermostat to effectively monitor your heating and cooling systems can reduce your heating bill up to 15% per year. Looking for more ways to live your best life? Check these20 sound rules of life you should live.

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Categories: Smarter Living
Tags: Garden / Home / plants
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