greenHo.ws

There has been buzz over the last few months as news hit about how much power is used by new technology TVs.  Specifically, plasma and LCD TVs constantly use power and significantly more power than traditional tube TVs when turned off.

There have been lots of tips out there on how to handle this, like unplugging the equipment or using a power strip.  But there are some factors to keep in mind when taking these actions.  Here’s a short guide on how to green your electronics and entertainment center power consumption.

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With summer time coming, I thought this would be a good time to start planning. With drought in many parts of the country, it’s not going to be easy to stay green this summer. It will be worth it to try though!

Action 1: water the lawn less. We told you about this a few weeks ago in 6 Tips for Saving Water on the Lawn. The key message is to keep your lawn healthy and it will need less water.

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There is so much news about how to save energy, be green, and use fewer resources in general, it’s hard to know where to start. So, to pull a few tips together, I perused a few green sites, racked my brains, pinged a few friends, then finally asked my wife for a few good and relatively new ideas.

I got lots of ideas. Before I share the new ones, here are three popular ideas that are not new, but always worth repeating. Hopefully you’ve heard them before:

1. Swap your old technology, incandescent light bulbs out for new CFL light bulbs. There is lots of information about CFLs on Wikipedia and a nice writeup on Consumer Reports.
2. Minimize shower time. We’ve all heard the jokes about “shower with a friend,” which never gets old. Reality is that even with low flow showerheads, showering still uses a lot of water. So, keep it short or share it with a friend.
3. Get a ride from someone or offer to drive. This is especially true in bigger cities where traffic is insane (Atlanta), but holds true everywhere. Even if you live in a smaller town, remember that pollution adds up.

These first few are a nice start with lots of information widely available. Here are five more ideas that are much less publicized:

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