15 Greening Steps

tracking our carbon footprint

transportation

The burning of fuels releases carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere and contributes to climate change, but these emissions can be reduced by improving your car’s fuel efficiency.

Reduce the number of miles you drive
Use public transportation, carpool or walk or bike whenever possible to avoid using your car. Leaving your car at home just two days a week will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by an average of 1,600 pounds per year. Whenever possible, combine activities and errands into one trip. For daily commuting, consider options like telecommuting (working from home via phone or over the Internet) that can reduce the stress of commuting, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and save you money.

Keep your vehicle's engine properly tuned
A well-maintained car is more fuel-efficient, produces fewer greenhouse gas emissions, is more reliable, and is safer! Keep your car well tuned, follow the manufacturer’s maintenance schedule, and use the recommended grade of motor oil. Also check and replace your vehicle’s air filter regularly. For more details, including potential savings from these actions, visit the Fuel Economy Guide Web site.

Keep your vehicle's tires properly inflated
Check your tire pressure regularly. Under-inflation increases tire wear, reduces your fuel economy by up to 3 percent and leads to higher greenhouse gas emissions and releases of air pollutants. If you don’t know the correct tire pressure for your vehicle, you can find it listed on the door to the glove compartment or on the driver's-side door pillar. More details on the Fuel Economy Guide Web site

Buy smart
Before buying a new or used vehicle (or even before renting a vehicle), check out EPA's Green Vehicle Guide and the jointly-run EPA/DOE Fuel Economy Guide. These resources provide information about the emissions and fuel economy performance of different vehicles. The Green Vehicle Guide provides detailed information on emissions (including Air Pollution and Greenhouse Gas scores for each model) and the Fuel Economy Guide focuses on fuel efficiency (including side-by-side fuel economy comparisons and a customized fuel cost calculator). These Web sites are designed to help you choose the cleanest, most fuel-efficient vehicle that meets your needs. There are a wide range of cleaner, more fuel-efficient vehicles available on the market today that produce fewer greenhouse gas emissions.

Drive smart
Many factors affect the fuel economy of your car. To improve fuel economy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, go easy on the brakes and gas pedal, avoid hard accelerations, reduce time spent idling and unload unnecessary items in your trunk to reduce weight. If you have a removable roof rack and you are not using it, take it off to improve your fuel economy by as much as 5 percent. Use overdrive and cruise control on your car if you have those features. For more tips to improve your gas mileage, visit the Fuel Economy Guide.

energy

Making a few small changes in your home and yard can lead to big reductions of greenhouse gas emissions and save money. Explore our list of nine simple steps you can take around the house and yard to reduce greenhouse gas emissions:

Raise your thermostat in the summer and lower it in the winter
The rule of thumb is that you can save about 3% on your heating bill for every degree that you set back your thermostat full-time. Turn down the thermostat 10 degrees when you go to work, and again when you go to bed -- a total of 16 hours a day -- and you can save about 14% on your heating bill. Also consider purchasing a programmable thermostat if you don’t currently have one

Enable sleep feature on your computer and monitor
Spending a large portion of time in Sleep and Off Modes not only saves energy, but also helps your computer and monitor run cooler and last longer. Most computers and monitors consume only a few watts in sleep mode. In contrast, screen savers can use as much electricity as if the computer and monitor were in full use. Letting your monitor sleep does not cause conflicts with software or network operations, and it can save a substantial amount of energy. When you return to your desk and touch a key or move the mouse, the monitor wakes up automatically.

Wash clothes in cold water instead of hot
About 90% of the energy used for washing clothes is for heating the water. There are two ways to reduce the amount of energy used for washing clothes—use less water and use cooler water. Unless you're dealing with oily stains, the warm or cold water setting on your machine will generally do a good job of cleaning your clothes. Switching your temperature setting from hot to warm can cut a load's energy use in half.

Purchase Green Power
Green power is environmentally friendly electricity that is generated from renewable energy sources such as wind and the sun. There are two ways to use green power: you can buy green power or you can modify your house to generate your own green power. Buying green power is easy, it offers a number of environmental and economic benefits over conventional electricity, including lower greenhouse gas emissions, and it helps increase clean energy supply. If you are interested, there are a number of steps you can take to create a greener home, including installing solar panels and researching incentives for renewable energy in your state.

Replace 75-watt incandescent light bulbs with 25-watt ENERGY STAR^® lights Replace the conventional bulbs in your 5 most frequently used light fixtures with bulbs that have the ENERGY STAR^® qualified options and you will help the environment while saving money on energy bills. If every household in the U.S. took this one simple action we would prevent more than 1 trillion pounds of greenhouse gas emissions.

Replace your old refrigerator with an ENERGY STAR^® model
The refrigerator is the single biggest power consumer in most households. A typical refrigerator made around 1990 uses over 900 kilowatt hours per year - that's the same amount of energy you would use by leaving a 1,250 watt hairdryer on for a month! ENERGY STAR^® qualified refrigerator models use at least 15% less energy than required by current federal standards and 40% less energy than the conventional models sold in 2001.

Replace old gas or oil furnace or boiler with an ENERGY STAR^® model
ENERGY STAR^® labeled furnaces and boilers are designed to help save money on your utility bill and reduce energy waste. ENERGY STAR^® labeled furnaces are 25 - 40% more efficient than old furnaces, saving you money on your monthly heating bills. ENERGY STAR^® labeled furnaces squeeze energy savings from furnaces using advanced technologies. ENERGY STAR^® qualified furnaces have an annual fuel utilization efficiency (AFUE) rating of 90% or greater, making them about 15% more efficient than standard models.

Replace single-glazed windows with ENERGY STAR^® windows
ENERGY STAR^® qualified windows, doors, and skylights save you energy and money, increase the comfort of your home, and protect your valuable possessions from sun damage. They are also better for the environment because lowering your energy use means less air pollution from power plants. Go to the Store Locator to find ENERGY STAR^® labeled windows, doors, and skylights. For a typical home, choose ENERGY STAR^® and save: $125-340 a year when replacing single pane windows, $20-70 a year over double-paned, clear-glass replacement windows, $15-65 a year over double-paned, clear-glass windows in new construction.

waste

Reduce, reuse, recycle
If there is a recycling program in your community, recycle your newspapers, beverage containers, paper and other goods. Use products in containers that can be recycled and items that can be repaired or reused. In addition, support recycling markets by buying products made from recycled materials. Reducing, reusing, and recycling in your home helps conserve energy and reduces pollution and greenhouse gases from resource extraction, manufacturing, and disposal.

Be green in your yard
Use a push mower, which, unlike a gas or electric mower, consumes no fossil fuels and emits no greenhouse gases. If you do use a power mower, make sure it is a mulching mower to reduce grass clippings (PDF, 8 pp., 1.59 MB, About PDF). Composting your food and yard waste reduces the amount of garbage that you send to landfills and reduces greenhouse gas emissions. See EPA’s GreenScapes program for tips on how to improve your lawn or garden while also benefiting the environment. Smart Landscaping can save energy, save you money and reduce your household’s greenhouse gas emissions.