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Check out our guide on how to be more green in your daily life:
How does your house run?
Purchase Green Power
Install a solar hot water system
Use of energy in your home
Food
Greenfreeze fridges
Transport
Simple and natural
How does your house run?
As our gas and electricity bills show, energy in our homes isn't cheap. Our heavy energy use drains our wallets and our energy resources. Coal, oil and natural gas are all non-renewable resources - they will run out, and burning coal and oil is a major contributor to climate change. It is up to all of us to cut back on our wasteful consumption rate to save the environment and money.
Purchase Green Power from your electricity supplier
Most electricity suppliers now offer green power, sourced from clean renewable sources such as solar and wind. Contact your supplier and talk to them about their sources to ensure that you receive it.
Visit the Green Power website for more information.
Install a solar hot water system
You can cut up to 50 per cent of your power bill by installing a solar hot water system. For suppliers check your local Yellow Pages under Solar Energy Equipment or Hot Water Systems.
Purchase energy efficient products
- Many electrical products now come with an energy rating. Check any product you are about to purchase and make sure it has a five star rating.
- Question and value every use of energy in your home.
- Use energy-efficient appliances and light globes, and use them less often.
- Turn down the temperature on hot water heaters. Switch to solar power if possible.
- A well-maintained wood-burning slow combustion heater is the most environmentally friendly way to heat your home.
- Although airconditioning uses energy, reverse cycle airconditioners are very energy efficient.
Food
The universal consumer item. Though most of us are fortunate enough to take it for granted, eating meat takes a big toll on our natural resources. Growing grains, vegetables and fruits uses only 5 per cent as many raw materials as meat production.
Twenty pure vegetarians can be fed on the land needed to produce food for one meat eater. No matter how you look at it, the best environmental choice is to eat low on the food chain. You might feel better for it too.
Greenfreeze fridges
Many people think that the ozone and greenhouse damage from hydroflourocarbons (HFCs) was overcome with the phasing out of several particularly potent ozone-depleting and greenhouse polluting elements. However, HFCs still exist and there is still a good chance they are used in your fridge or car airconditioner. HFCs generally have an enormous global warming potential (GWP), meaning their capacity to heat the atmosphere is far greater than that of other greenhouse gases, like carbon dioxide and methane.
There are fridges out there that use alternative refrigerants with far lower GWP. You may want to consider looking for a Greenfreeze fridge (R600a fridge) or consider using natural refrigerants (air, water, CO2, ammonia & hydrocarbon) for any refrigeration and air conditioning needs. The availability of R600a fridges has increased in Australia through Bosch, Miele, AEG, Leibherr, Vestfrost, Hagemeyer and Transtherm. Unfortunately, most Australian fridge suppliers lag well behind their European equivalents when it comes to offering environmentally friendly Greenfreeze technology. Samsung plans to offer Greenfreeze fridges later this year. Lobby other suppliers to follow suit.
Transport
Australia is an incredibly mobile society. We owe this freedom, of course, to our cars and we take this privilege utterly for granted. The idea that our mobility may be too costly for us in terms of global warming and burning fossil fuels, in terms of the process of oil production, in terms of wasted resources is not an easy or comfortable one.
But it is an idea that each of us must come to grips with. We need to begin questioning some of our habits. We need to rethink how and where we live and how we structure our daily lives. A switch from car-based living for at least some of our travelling is our only option. To make the switch, start slowly.
Figure out where you go and when you use your car in an average week. Make sure each trip is really necessary. Try combining several trips into one. Try taking public transport at least once a week.
If you live close enough, try making at least one weekly shopping trip on foot or bicycle. It's good for the environment, good for your health and good for your local community. Cutting back on driving and slowing down our lives is not only good for the long-term survival of our planet but also for the long-term survival of us.
Simple and natural
Rather than using a product with several complex chemical ingredients, make or buy a simple substitute. Natural materials usually involve less pollution and interact more gently with the environment and our bodies than highly processed synthetic materials.
Plastics
Plastics are popular because they are cheap. Their price tags, like those of many other petroleum products, do not include the health and environmental debts incurred during their production and disposal. Plastics cause pollution in all stages of their production and use. Some forms of plastics, such as styrofoam and vinyl, constantly give off harmful gases. And, of course, styrofoams are made with gases which contribute to global warming. Remember to recycle plastics whenever possible.
Solvents
Petroleum-based chemicals are used as solvents in thousands of household products. These synthetic solvents are sold alone as cleaners and degreasers. The solvents in many household items - paints, polishes, cleaners, glues, some correction fluids and thinners - evaporate quickly, filling the air with toxic fumes.
Aerosols
Banning ozone-destroying propellants doesn't end the aerosol problem. The unrecyclable canisters are a waste of resources and a long-term pollutant. Every time you use an aerosol product, minute particles of the propellant and polish, paint or hairspray contaminate the air you breathe. Also, the propellants contribute to global warming.
