The first thing necessary is to make people aware that saving energy puts more money in
their pockets. Preaching about saving the earth, saving the air, etc., won't get to a lot of people because they don't believe any of it. But, tell them it'll save them a ton of cash to do so and ears start to perk up.
I mentioned some things in a previous thread. They include:
Not using a clothes dryer to dry clothes completely. Fluff for 10 minutes and hang them to dry. Shut off the hot water feed to your washer. It's unnecessary.
Keep the thermostat no more than 10 degrees below the summer temps and under 70 in the winter.
Run all errands in one drive. Walk when you can and if you have one, use your motorcycle or bike.
BBQ. It will reduce your electric and gas usage and thus, cut your bills. Keep the BBQ clean to reduce fat burning.
If your home is not well insulated, insulate as much as you can and in the winter, seal your windows, specially those facing north and west, with heat shrinking plastic designed for window sealing(it peels right off in the spring).
Buy appliances with low energy usage-read the yellow tags.
Buy cotton clothes and household things like curtains for a myriad of reasons: no drycleaning, no synthetic maufacturing, easy care. There are a few companies that make 'natural' cotton clothes-no bleaching involved. ( and no drycleaning bills!)
Consider having yardsales instead of tossing things in the trash. There's always some geek who will buy that broken stereo for 5 bucks.
Use second hand things. Spouse makes beautiful wood things from found-on-the-curb wood with tools he found and rebuilt and we're picking up used bricks from construction sites for our sidewalks.
Grow your own veggies. Then compost or shred the plants.
All these things are earth-friendly, but the real noticeable effects are seen in your disposable cash-you'll have more of it.
