Ways To Conserve At Home

There are many things you can do to help reduce climate change and its effects on people and the environment. Click on the items on the image below to learn some simple ways to reduce your impact on the planet in your home.

ENERGY AND FUEL USE DEFINES OUR CARBON FOOTPRINT:

A carbon footprint has historically been defined as "the total set of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions caused by an organization, event, product or person.

Resources for more information:

Saving Energy

We All Use Energy

All of us use energy every day — for transportation, cooking, heating and cooling rooms, manufacturing, lighting, and entertainment. The choices we make about how we use energy — turning machines off when we’re not using them or choosing to buy energy efficient appliances — impact our environment and our lives.

Saving Money and Energy in the Winter

Georgia Power recommends setting your thermostat to 68 degrees Fahrenheit in the winter. On average, you will use 3 percent more energy for every degree it's set above 68. Consider using a programmable thermostat that adjusts the temperature automatically according to your schedule.

Efficiency and Conservation Are Different but Related

The terms energy conservation and energy efficiency have two distinct definitions. There are many things we can do to use less energy (conservation) and use it more wisely (efficiency).

Energy conservation is any behavior that results in the use of less energy. Turning the lights off when you leave the room and recycling aluminum cans are both ways of conserving energy.

Energy efficiency is the use of technology that requires less energy to perform the same function. A compact fluorescent light bulb that uses less energy than an incandescent bulb to produce the same amount of light is an example of energy efficiency. However, the decision to replace an incandescent light bulb with a compact fluorescent is an act of energy conservation.

Recycling

It almost always takes less energy to make a product from recycled materials than it does to make it from new materials.

Recycling means to use something again. Newspapers can be used to make new newspapers. Aluminum cans can be used to make new aluminum cans. Glass jars can be used to make new glass jars. Recycling often saves energy and natural resources.

Natural resources are things of value provided by the Earth. Natural resources include land, plants, minerals, and water. By using materials more than once, we conserve natural resources.

Recycling Saves Energy in Production of New Products
It almost always takes less energy to make a product from recycled materials than it does to make it from new materials. Using recycled aluminum scrap to make new aluminum cans, for example, uses 95% less energy than making aluminum cans from bauxite ore, the raw material used to make aluminum.