If you change one thing a week you can make a difference! So aim to start with some of these tips from Kiwi Magazine below!
1. Which is better: Hand washing dishes or using the dishwasher?
Dishwashers use half the energy, one-sixth the water, and less soap than washing dishes by hand does! If you run a more efficient Energy Star dishwasher (look for the logo on the dishwasher), you’ll save 5,000 gallons of water, $40 in utility costs, and 230 hours of your time annually versus hand washing.
There’s going to be twice as much carbon released from a charcoal grill as from a propane grill,” says Tris West, a researcher at Oak Ridge. Even though lump charcoal comes from wood, which is a renewable resource, it’s not readily available to most people, meaning it takes a lot of carbon emissions to get the charcoal to you.
Don’t confuse lump charcoal with pressed-charcoal briquets (a mix of sawdust, igniters, and other chemicals). Briquets emit harmful amounts of carbon monoxide as well as volatile organic compounds, so they should never be used.
1. Which is better: Hand washing dishes or using the dishwasher?
Dishwashers use half the energy, one-sixth the water, and less soap than washing dishes by hand does! If you run a more efficient Energy Star dishwasher (look for the logo on the dishwasher), you’ll save 5,000 gallons of water, $40 in utility costs, and 230 hours of your time annually versus hand washing.
- Scrape, don’t rinse. Prerinsing dishes can use up to 20 gallons of water every time you wash.
- Run a full dishwasher. Most of the energy used by a dishwasher goes toward heating the water, and you might as well get the most from each cycle.
- Use short cycles for everything but the dirtiest dishes, recommends consumerenergycenter.org.
- Turn the dishwasher off after its final rinse and open the door to let dishes dry without using electricity.
There’s going to be twice as much carbon released from a charcoal grill as from a propane grill,” says Tris West, a researcher at Oak Ridge. Even though lump charcoal comes from wood, which is a renewable resource, it’s not readily available to most people, meaning it takes a lot of carbon emissions to get the charcoal to you.
Don’t confuse lump charcoal with pressed-charcoal briquets (a mix of sawdust, igniters, and other chemicals). Briquets emit harmful amounts of carbon monoxide as well as volatile organic compounds, so they should never be used.
3. Should I hand-wash my car or take it to the car wash?
The seemingly harmless summer driveway ritual of hand washing your
car is a significant source of water pollution. Commercial car washes
use 60 percent less water than backyard car washers, according to the
EPA. Ick factor: The EPA says that dirty water containing soap,
detergents, residue from exhaust fumes, gasoline, heavy metals from
rust, and motor oils can wash off cars and flow directly to storm drains
into the nearest creek or stream—where it can harm water quality and
wildlife. This is more likely to happen at your home, since most car
washes recycle wash water several times before sending it to a treatment
plant.
