Low Hanging Fruit

There are a number of ways to help reduce the amount of water, electricity and energy useage in our homes,some of these techniques require us purchasing new hot water tanks,heating systems, solar panels or renovation our homes. However,there are some easy and cheap techniques that can be cost effective. WE can always set the heat in out hot water tanks to 120 degrees and drain about a gallon of water from the bottom of this tank once a month. This will help extend the life of the tank and help reduce fuel costs. Tuning the heating system once a year and cleaning the filters on a monthly basis will help it run more efficiently,cleanly, help increase its life span and lower fuel costs. Installing and using a programable thermostat will also help lower fuel costs. Placing insulation in the walls and attic while placing weather stripping on the outside doors are also a help. The nice thing is the thermostat,weather stripping and insulation in Massachussetts, can be free or obtained through Mass Save.Using CFLs and low flow shower heads are also good ways to go. These techniques are not a cure all for you heating bills but its a start.

Recycling

Recycling is usually seen as a limited task where we taking our used bottles,paper,cans and other used items and place them out on the curb with the trash.In not so recent past,these items were usually thrown out with the rest of the trash and placed in the town dump never to be seen again.This was a real waste(begging the pun) because many of these items could be shredded,melted down and refored into new things that can be used at home or in the office.This noy only saves space in the landfill,but saves the expence of having to cut down trees to make new paper products,having to process ore from mines or create pastic out of petro chemicals.Newspaper can be reused as insulation that helps keep drafts out of our homes and keep us warm. Most people realize that it uses less energy and other resources to recyle rather than start using virgin material. Recycled materials go beyond trash placed in office or home bins. Wood chips and saw dust can be combeined resin and formed into beams used in construction or wood pellets used to heat our homes and office.Used vegatable oil can be recycled,cleaned and be mixed together with heating oil to heat our homes. There are any number of other examples where products can be reused for our benefit while helping to save money and resources