Green Recession Busters

Whether the US economy is in recession is up for debate. However, it's fairly obvious that our economy has declined in the last couple of years and everyone is tightening their belts and trying to save a little money. Here's a few things you can do to put a little more jingle in your pocket and live eco-friendly. These tips our courtesy of our friends at GreenLivingTips.com.

• Turn lights off when not in use.

• Change incandescent lighting to CFL (Compact Fluorescent Lamps) or LED.

• Use MARTA more, car pool, bike it or walk when possible.

• Reduce red meat consumption. Cows and livestock require food and produce methane gas, so maybe just have steak once a week...or even once a month. 

• Recycle whatever you can. 

• Take shorter showers.

• Look for natural alternatives to harsh chemicals. For example, baking soda can replace a stack of chemical cleaning products as can lemon juice and vinegar.

• Don't bin coffee grounds, throw them in the garden - it's great fertilizer.

• Turn off appliances at the wall when not in use. Just about anything with an adaptor or with a stand-by function sucks energy when not in use - this is called "phantom load" or "vampire power". The annual collective standby power draw from households in the USA is around 8 gigawatts - equivalent to the electricity production of eight large power plants.
  

All these things might seem insignificant, but when millions take an action, however small, collectively it can have a appreciable postive impact. Financially speaking, even addressing phantom load can knock up to 10 percent off your electricity bill.