Easy Greensy » Reduce

Save Water With Greenflush

Mike — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 03:04:03 +0000

This has to be one the easiest tips I’ve seen in a long time! Common sense say it should work. By adding a little weight to your flapper not only will it close faster, but I’d assume you’ll have a tighter fit on the valve which should also prevent leaks.

It may not be sexy, but this simple little toilet accessory may save a lot of water. The standard toilet tank flapper can form a leaky seal, or simply lower too slowly to stop water flowing into your toilet bowl. One estimate has leaky flappers wasting an estimated 11 million gallons of water a minute in the USA.

The weighted Greenflush valve closes much faster than the traditional flapper. The Greenflush, which is said to install in 30 seconds, is estimated to reduce a typical 2 or 3 gallon flush to 1 gallon. It also works with newer low-flow toilets.

It sells for $19.95 – but hey if it works it will pay for itself very quickly.

The Alternative Consumer – save water with greenflush

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Plastic Bag… Bag

Mike — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 00:44:38 +0000

If you haven’t picked up one, or a few reusable shopping bags yet, that probably means you’ve got a large collection of plastic bags piling up waiting to be reused to pick up pet waste, or for some other task. Well, I found this great way to reuse your plastic bags over at Go Green.

If you know how to crochet, or would be interested in learning, plasticbagbag.com has instructions and patterns for making unique reusable items out of plastic grocery bags.

I don’t know if I’d personably be skilled enough to even try a project like this, but if I ever stumbled across a large collection of plastic bags that needed saving from a landfill, it may be worth the time to try and learn. In the meantime I strongly encourage everyone to pick a few reusable bags from the EasyGreensy Store, and start cutting down on all those wasted bags.

If you do decide to try making one of these bags please share your results with us below. If you’d like to share photos of your finished project with other readers, please feel free to contact me via the contact page.

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Win a Free Ceiling Fan – Ends 10/31/08

Mike — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 15:15:52 +0000

Even though winter is just getting start here in the Northern Hemisphere, it’s never too early to start planning for next summer.

One Project Closer in conjunction with The Home Depot is currently holding a contest to win a ceiling fan (or two) in the form of a $175 gift card. Now that’s a great deal! If you’d like to enter, just head on over to the contest page. Hurry though, there are only a few days left to get in!

Ceiling Fans are great way to get the air in your home moving, and they help reduce your air conditioning costs.

So what are you waiting for? Did you enter yet?

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Break the Bottled Water Habit, Win a Prize and Cut Your Carbon

Mike — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 20:38:10 +0000

Pledge and win prizes!

I’ve made my pledge, have you? You can save money, and protect the environment today by learning why bottled water is bad for the environment, and joining thousands of others who have pledged to stop buying tap water and wasting oil by switching to a reusable bottle. Did I also mention that by taking the pledge and getting others involved, you can potentially win one of several great prizes?

Check it out below:

Break the Bottled Water Habit, Win a Prize and Cut Your Carbon

When you want pure, healthy drinking water, you should reach for bottled water, right? Surprisingly, on neither a personal nor a global level are you making a healthy choice.

For each gallon of water bottled, two gallons are wasted; producing the plastic wastes the energy equivalent of a quarter-bottle’s worth of oil. And what’s in the bottle could just be tap water.

New American Dream and Corporate Accountability International is asking you to think about where the water in that bottle came from, where the plastic is going, and take the Break the Bottled Water Habit pledge(water.newdream.org) and drink to a healthy ecosystem.

During October, make a conscious choice to slake your thirst without drying up our planet’s resources. In addition to benefiting the environment, participants will have a chance to win a free condo for a week at a ski resort in Idaho. Visit the website (water.newdream.org) now to get started.

Please share this article via your favorite social network to support EasyGreensy and the cause!

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Cook With the Smallest Tool for the Job

Mike — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 00:25:55 +0000

Are you getting ready to cook a meal? Do you really need to fire up that large oven to prepare a small meal for one or two?

Consider using a toaster oven, or microwave for smaller tasks. By using a smaller device you’ll save yourself loads of time by not have to wait to preheat a large space. You’ll also save loads of energy and money too.

If you don’t have a toaster oven (like myself) consider one of these great affordable options.

Toaster ovens are not yet tested for Energy Star approval, so be sure when shopping to consider the size and energy consumption when you buy one. More power isn’t always the most import thing when buying something new.

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Share Spare Water with Pets and Plants – thedailygreen.com

Mike — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 13:35:51 +0000

This is an amazingly simple tip that will help in water conservation:

Share Spare Water with Pets and Plants – Water Conservation Tips – thedailygreen.com
When I run the kitchen faucet waiting for hot water to reach the tap, I stick an empty milk bottle under it rather than letting the water run down the drain. I use the water I’ve collected to fill the cat bowl and water my plants.

On the same note, I recently had a discussion with a neighbor about water conservation. His side was that in our rural environment we don’t need to save water because our homes are supplied by wells and water is discharged through septic systems. It took some convincing to make him realize that more and more wells are running dry, and new wells are being drilled much deeper than in the past.

Water conservation is not just for municipal systems. Everyone should try to conserve. This is a case where you are directly affecting your future in addition to others who may get water from the same watershed.

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Say Goodbye to Paper Towels

Mike — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 17:31:52 +0000

How many paper towels do you use? Have you ever thought about how many trees are being cut down to make those towels? What happens when you are done with them? Paper towels with food or cleaning products on them aren’t recycled.

Try picking up a few sets of dishtowels to replace your addiction to the paper variety. For a very small investment you can supply your home with enough wiping power to last several years. Make sure you have enough so that when your towel gets dirty you can dump it in the wash and start fresh with another.

You can use a dishtowel to clean up just about any mess in your home. Forget about which paper product picks up quicker, or absorbs more. A cloth towel will always do a better job.

Tips

Consider darker or patterned towels to hide stains.
Dishtowels are great for cleaning stubborn surfaces. They won’t tear and shred.
Use a clean towel on stainless steel and windows. Any grease will leave streaks.
You’ll be amazed at how much one dishtowel can wipe and clean.

I will admit there’s one reason to keep paper towels in your home. If you have pets you my want to consider a roll, but make sure you and your family know that cleaning up “accidents” is the only time they are acceptable. And please make sure the paper towels you keep around the house are made from recycled materials.

By switching to cloth towels you’ll save yourself money, wasted trees, additional landfill usage, and all the energy needed to produce paper.

I’ve even added some affordable, and decorative dishtowels and recycled paper towels to the EasyGreensy Store.Similar Posts:

Shut it Off!

Mike — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 22:19:53 +0000

Want to save money and cut down on air pollution? Shut off your car when you are not going anywhere? Even if it’s just for a few minutes. I’ll never understand this, but almost every time I visit the local gas station/market there’s at least one vehicle parked outside with the engine idling.

If you ever find yourself getting out of your car with it running or are waiting for somebody, please turn the engine off. You may not think it happens often but you do it all the time. Someone runs into the bank or a store or maybe you arrived early to pick someone up. These are great moments to turn off your engine.

The usual excuses just don’t cut it. You can still listen to the radio while the engine is off. If it’s hot out you can open the windows. Maybe in the wintertime it can get pretty cold, but even then if your windows are closed your car should maintain a comfortable temperature for several minutes.

With the current gas rates everyone should be thinking about simple ways to conserve gas. At the same time you can be taking one simple green step.

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Cool Off

Mike — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 22:59:58 +0000

Here’s a simple tip that will save you money and energy, and you probably won’t even notice the change.

Turn down your water heater to 120° fahrenheit. Just today I finally went to check the temperature on our huge 80 gallon electric water heater. It’s way too big for the demand that’s put on it, but for the time being there is no budget to decrease its size. The unit is only a few years old so it is pretty efficient for its size.

This is a very simple task that anyone can do with a screw driver. One important tip is that you need to check if your heater has two thermostats. I’m fairly certain only larger electric heaters would have this, but it should be fairly obvious because there will be two access panels.

In my case the lower element was set to 120° by my homes previous owner —yes! Then I checked the upper control I was shocked to see it somewhere in the range of 175°.

What temperature is your water heater set at? Go adjust it right now and tell us how big a difference you just made. It’ll take you less than five minutes.

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Move Some Air

Mike — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 13:34:59 +0000

Summer is approaching and it’s time to start thinking about cooling our homes. If you have air conditioning be sure to have it serviced to ensure it is running efficiently. Make sure the compressor is not blocked by anything. The unit must be able to blow hot air away and bring in fresh air.

Also consider using fans as much as possible instead of or in addition to your AC. Moving air feels cooler than still air. Fans also consume less energy and will help to cool your home more evenly.

Tell us what kind of air conditioning you have. How do you efficiently cool your home?

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