What are some ideas you have to conserve energy, and put a lid on gas emissions?
Filed in Conserving energy on Jan.23, 2009
Mike asked:
Some of mine:
Some of mine:
Build extremely tall wind turbines, tall enough to reach the jet stream which is extremely windy.
REQUIRE structures to have solar panels on their roofs.
Create some kind of a filter which will be placed on the exhault pipe of cars and stops the greenhouse gasses from being emitted
Stop drilling for oil, and invest our science in discovering natural fuels
Drill extremely deep into the earth and use it’s thermal power to generate our own power
Stop using paper, and invent some kind of electronic device which will act as a notebook for schools, and plant millions of trees.
Also, open a lot more plants which desalinize natural sea water and make it drinkable
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January 23rd, 2009 at 5:31 am
I found your site on technorati and read a few of your other posts. Keep up the good work. I just added your RSS feed to my Google News Reader. Looking forward to reading more from you down the road!
January 23rd, 2009 at 5:46 am
Nice writing. You are on my RSS reader now so I can read more from you down the road.
Allen Taylor
January 25th, 2009 at 7:22 pm
cool ideas i had an idea too. salt water can give energy (i learned this as an experiment in school) so we could take energy from the oceans instead of burning coal
January 27th, 2009 at 10:21 pm
Stop urban sprawl. One of the biggest problems in the United States especially is the fact that people are moving farther and farther away from where they work. I’m not sure what the statistics are behind it but I would bet money that a little research would show a drastic increase in the distance that the average American commutes to and from work.
Decreasing urban sprawl would mean saving our already decreasing natural environments and preventing the needless waste of energy for transportation. Lets take those run-down sections of our cities and refurbish them. Yes, it costs more money that just paving over some field and sticking a building on it but, if we don’t do it soon there may be no more fields left to pave over.
January 29th, 2009 at 5:03 am
Save energy at home. Such as unplugging things when they are not in use, shutting off your lights or TV when they are not needed…etc
January 29th, 2009 at 7:56 pm
“Build extremely tall wind turbines, tall enough to reach the jet stream which is extremely windy.”
The superstructure this would require makes it pretty impractical.
January 31st, 2009 at 12:13 am
If we are trying to conserve energy, then we really need to think beyond personal transportation and consider the fuels used to generate the power required to manufacture and transport goods from one place to another. So, beyond turning off lights, chaining trips, and walking and biking more, we have to consider our own consumption habits. The food we purchase at the store requires the use of fuels to get to us. Relocalization is one way to become reliant on your local environment for things like food production. That and limiting how much stuff you purchase will go a long way towards reducing emissions, wasteful use of fossil fuels, etc. Think of what it costs to purchase goods made in other countries. It’s hard to believe that the transportation fuel costs are included in what you pay for the goods. We definitely need to acknowledge some sacrifice and flexibility when making such changes to our lifestyles, but in the long run, we’ll probably realize more enjoyment of our natural surroundings when we stop getting immediate gratification by going shopping.
January 31st, 2009 at 4:53 pm
Well, something that our class thought of was making a car that uses the emissions already in the air as fuel. Basically, it wouldn’t need gas, just suck up the air! All the pollutants are the fuel and in the end, the “exhaust” would be clean oxygen!
I really liked that idea but how to do something like that, I haven’t the slightest idea! Maybe one day…I’ll figure something out!
February 1st, 2009 at 8:40 am
An easy way is to replace your incandescent light bulbs with compact florescent bulbs. The CF bulbs use much less energy and they last much longer, so you save money and energy. It is a win-win situation.
You can save a lot of energy if you drive your car less, get it tuned up, inflate the tires to the manufacturer’s recommended level, change the fuel and air filters regularly, and drive the speed limit. Also, buy energy star appliances when it is time to purchase a new appliance and check out the sites below for more info!
February 1st, 2009 at 2:30 pm
I was wondering the same thing so i did some research and found out these helpful tips (I know its long, but atleast read the first sentence of each paragraph)..
Turn your refrigerator down. Refrigerators account for about 20% of Household electricity use. Use a thermometer to set your refrigerator temperature as close to 37 degrees and your freezer as close to 3 degrees as possible. Make sure that its energy saver switch is turned on. Also, check the gaskets around your refrigerator/freezer doors to make sure they are clean and sealed tightly.
Set your clothes washer to the warm or cold water setting, not hot. Switching from hot to warm for two loads per week can save nearly 500 pounds of CO2 per year if you have an electric water heater, or 150 pounds for a gas heater.
Make sure your dishwasher is full when you run it and use the energy saving setting, if available, to allow the dishes to air dry. You can also turn off the drying cycle manually. Not using heat in the drying cycle can save 20 percent of your dishwasher’s total electricity use.
Turn down your water heater thermostat. Thermostats are often set to 140 degrees F when 120 is usually fine. Each 10 degree reduction saves 600 pounds of CO2 per year for an electric water heater, or 440 pounds for a gas heater. If every household turned its water heater thermostat down 20 degrees, we could prevent more than 45 million tons of annual CO2 emissions – the same amount emitted by the entire nations of Kuwait or Libya.
Select the most energy-efficient models when you replace your old appliances. Look for the Energy Star Label – your assurance that the product saves energy and prevents pollution. Buy the product that is sized to your typical needs – not the biggest one available. Front loading washing machines will usually cut hot water use by 60 to 70% compared to typical machines. Replacing a typical 1973 refrigerator with a new energy-efficient model, saves 1.4 tons of CO2 per year. Investing in a solar water heater can save 4.9 tons of CO2 annually.
Be careful not to overheat or overcool rooms. In the winter, set your thermostat at 68 degrees in daytime, and 55 degrees at night. In the summer, keep it at 78. Lowering your thermostat just two degrees during winter saves 6 percent of heating-related CO2 emissions. That’s a reduction of 420 pounds of CO2 per year for a typical home.
Clean or replace air filters as recommended. Energy is lost when air conditioners and hot-air furnaces have to work harder to draw air through dirty filters. Cleaning a dirty air conditioner filter can save 5 percent of the energy used. That could save 175 pounds of CO2 per year.
Use less hot water by installing low-flow shower heads. They cost just $10 to $20 each, deliver an invigorating shower, and save 300 pounds of CO2 per year for electrically heated water, or 80 pounds for gas-heated water.
Weatherize your home or apartment, using caulk and weather stripping to plug air leaks around doors and windows. Caulking costs less than $1 per window, and weather stripping is under $10 per door. These steps can save up to 1100 pounds of CO2 per year for a typical home. Ask your utility company for a home energy audit to find out where your home is poorly insulated or energy inefficient. This service may be provided free or at low cost. Make sure it includes a check of your furnace and air conditioning.
Modernize your windows. Replacing all your ordinary windows with argon filled, double-glazed windows saves 2.4 tons of CO2 per year for homes with gas heat, 3.9 tons of oil heat, and 9.8 tons for electric heat.
Plant shade trees and paint your house a light color if you live in a warm climate, or a dark color if you live in a cold climate. Reductions in energy use resulting from shade trees and appropriate painting can save up to 2.4 tons of CO2 emissions per year. (Each tree also directly absorbs about 25 pounds of CO2 from the air annually.)
Small investments that pay off:
Buy energy-efficient compact fluorescent bulbs for your most-used lights. Although they cost more initially, they save money in the long run by using only 1/4 the energy of an ordinary incandescent bulb and lasting 8-12 times longer. They provide an equivalent amount of bright, attractive light. Only 10% of the energy consumed by a normal light bulb generates light. The rest just makes the bulb hot. If every American household replaced one of its standard light bulbs with an energy efficient compact fluorescent bulb, we would save the same amount of energy as a large nuclear power plant produces in one year. In a typical home, one compact fluorescent bulb can save 260 pounds of CO2 per year.
Wrap your water heater in an insulating jacket, which costs just $10 to $20. It can save 1100 lbs. of CO2 per year for an electric water heater, or 220 pounds for a gas heater.
… oh yeah, and don’t forget to recycle!
Hope this helps!
February 3rd, 2009 at 7:30 pm
We Should all convert to Amish & Menionite as they very clean life in every respect and Very Earth friendly!!
Not like the Inventor of the Internet “Al Gore”
February 5th, 2009 at 12:46 pm
How about the BIGGIE
Vote for politicians with enough courage to impose MPG restrictions on Autos.
There is no reason we cant be getting 30 or more MPG on every car. Government is going to have to mandate it to make it happen. Its time to step up.