Discuss
What is Green Living?
Being Aware of Your Personal Energy and Water Footprint
- How much energy does your living space use?
- How much energy did it take to make all your material possessions?
- How much energy did it take to transport your possessions to the store, and to you?
- How will you recycle your possessions?
Living Lightly (Minimizing Waste)
- 2/3 of all energy is lost from generation to point of use. It’s cheaper to save energy than it is to make energy.
- Going green doesn’t mean sacrificing luxury goods. Buy durable goods, to avoid higher embedded energy and landfill costs. Avoid disposables.
- Buy more energy-efficient goods.
- Buy equipment only powerful enough to meet your needs.
- Buy in bulk; refuse excess packaging. Over 25% of your daily household waste consists of excessive packaging used to ship your purchases to the shelf. (Source: www.liveearth.org)
- Operate lean. Turn lights off when a room is vacant. Reduce peak hour electricity usage.
Living Sustainably
- Be aware of local resource constraints, and try to reduce your energy demand accordingly.
- Don’t use resources more quickly than the Earth can replenish them.
Living Invisibly (Zero Net Energy and Water Use)
- To prevent our planet from becoming an unhealthy living environment, we must make a dramatic change in our energy behavior. Dramatic changes in our energy supply/demand balance require a “zero net” design in all new buildings.
- Buildings must generate as much energy and recycle as much water as they consume.
- Go green over time. ...With 6 billion+ people, a little help from everyone adds up!
More Resources
- United States Department of Energy (DOE)
- Consumer Buildings Energy Consumption Survey (…from the Energy Information Administration)
- Sustainable Development Tips (…from Awesome Library)
- 20 Ways Your Home Can Save the Planet (…from Home and Garden Television)
- GreeNYC
- The Carbon Trust UK
- Energy Statistics and Information (…from Spray Foam Insulation)
- Carbon and Home Energy Use (…from Energy Center of Wisconsin)
- A Home Guide to Reducing Energy Costs and Greenhouse Gases (…from the Australian Government’s Department of Environment, Water, Heritage, and the Arts)
