praveensg.com

View all posts on The Green Project

I and Khushi have decided that 2009 would be a completely green year for us. I’m not talking about going green with The Money Experiment that we have taken up recently but green as in ‘environmentally green’. We are totally charged and excited about all the cool things we will get to do, while at the same time, be able to give back to mother nature. We thought it would be one of the best new years resolutions we could make. However, the new year, even though is just a month and a half away, yet seems so far. So we thought why not start right away? Why wait till Jan 1st? In fact, I was thinking it would be kinda cool to see how green we have gone in the 45 or so days. And then maybe redefine our goals accordingly which would in turn be our real green resolutions for the coming year

A few things we are planning on doing as part of our initiative.

1) Will use CFLs.

In fact, we did change a few bulbs a couple of months ago and we have been seeing outstanding results so far. Just last week our community signed up some kind of a deal with the Austin Energy Company and gave us a free CFL upgrade. Right now, almost all our old bulbs have been replaced with CFLs. They did not change the ones in the closets, for some reason, which should not be a big deal after all.

2) Will drive a better car.

I don’t think we will be able to buy a Prius or a smaller car next year, but we shall try to get our ‘greener’ car out as much as possible. I just compared the stats on my two cars and I don’t think the 2000 Mitsubishi Montero scores well on the Green-o-meter. The CRV fared much better I must say. With the CRV, we would also be saving about $600 in fuel costs over the year.

3) Will keep all electronic equipment ON only when required.

Just this evening, I came home from the grocery store and as I enter our darkly lit living room, I see at least 8 to 10 LEDs glowing in the dark. That would be all my electronics running on standby mode. I’m sure they have been draining enough electricity everyday to light up an entire village street in India.

I do understand most of the equipment we use nowadays is Energy Star compliant but I don’t think there is anything out there that does not draw any power at all while on standby. Some of the equipment that is plugged in, I have not used in the past several months. I have a pair of rabbit ear antennas that has not been used ever since we got cable 4 months back. Time to unplug such stuff. Keep an eye especially on wall chargers. We tend to leave them on the wall almost 24X7. Even though the charger is not connected to a device, it can suck a lot of power. Unplug it as soon as you know your device is charged.

4) Shall use the laundry and the dishwasher smartly and sparingly.

This shouldn’t be too difficult. Many a times, we tend to turn the washer on even when we have a handful of clothes. Believe me, not only does this use more electricity, you end up wasting a lot of water as well. TXU has a few very helpful tips on using your washer, dryer and dishwasher. Check it out. Also, we tend to leave the dryer on even after the clothes have dried. Come up with an estimate as to how long your usual dry cycles might take. You can do this easily by checking on the clothes every few minutes to see if they are already dry. The next time, set your cycle to around that time.

This shall be a work in progress and I will keep sharing tips as and when I come across new ideas. Feel free to suggest your ideas as well by adding comments on this page.

Wish us luck and good luck to you too
Image courtesy: http://explore.toshiba.com/images/showcase/green-recycle-img.jpg