This Old Hippie.com

Walk instead of drive thru

When you are picking up food, going to the bank or even filling a prescription, park your vehicle and walk inside instead of using the drive through (aka drive thru).

Every time you use a drive through, you burn about 18 cents worth of gas idling your car. According to Quick Service Restaurant Magazine, the average drive through wait time once the order is taken is three minutes.

Parking your car and getting out also allows an opportunity to stretch your legs.

Some people have argued that drive throughs save on energy because they allow establishments to have smaller dining areas (or eliminate them altogether.) But others question such logic. If enough people declined to use drive throughs, new facilities would instead be designed with walk-up (and bike-up) windows.

When you ship something, don’t use petroleum-based bubble wrap or, even worse, foam peanuts. Both materials end up in the landfills after they’re discarded.

Bubble wrap takes hundreds of years to break down, and foam peanuts never completely break down. Fortunately, you have a few earth-freindly options. Instead of throwing away old sheets of paper, shred them and use them as packing material.

Crumple the daily newspaper and give it new life as packing material before it reaches the recycle bin. Some people even use bags of leaves as a cushioning-the leaves can be composted after the package arrives. And don’t overlook biodegradable packing peanuts made of cornstarch, which are available at most office-supply stores.

If you’re moving, don’t waste money on bubble wrap and foam peanuts. Use old newspaper, clothes, towels, and bed sheets to cushion all your belongings.

Installing Window Awnings

Don’t waste energy and money to cool your house when you can keep the heat out with a simple device: such as an awning. Awnings reduce the amount of sunlight that gets through the glass doors and windows. This reduction in solar heat gain keeps your home’s interior much cooler on very hot days-by as much as 8 to 15 degrees-which means your air conditioner doesn’t have to run as long and as hard.

In 2007, a study funded by the Professional Awning Manufacturers Association found that window awnings can reduce home cooling energy by as much as 26 percent in hot climates and 33 percent in cold climates.

Awning prices vary. A stationary window awning may cost a few hundred bucks while an electrically powered, retractable awning with wind and sun sensors can set you back thousands of dollars.

Wrap up: Awnings can increase a home’s value by thousands of dollars. Their performance is affected by the style, the color of the fabric, and the exposure of the windows.

reducing pollution with pavers

If your driveway needs replacing, consider switching to a permeable pavement. Conventional asphalt or concrete surfaces catch and funnel water-along with pesticides,oil, and other contaminants-into already overworked sewers. Continue Reading »

Don't Toss Scrap Metal

From car batteries and clothes hangers to hubcaps and washing machines, many items in the garage and around the house are made of scrap metal. When it’s time to get rid of these items, don’t add them to the nearest landflill.

Remove as much of the nonmetal materials (rubber wheels,wooden handles, and so on) as possible; responsiby dispose of any oil and gasoline; and recycle the scrap at your local recycling center. Recycled steel, for instance, is used in the manufacturing of cars, bikes, and appliances.

Soda cans, gutters, and siding are just a few items made from recycled aluminum. Now, recycling centers may not eccept certain items because they often have hazardous components and require speacial handling.

In that case, consider taking items to a local scrap-metal dealer. Many dealers will pay you for the meatals.

Special Note:

Much less energy is required to make metal from scrap, such as old appliances and cars, than from ore- and at much less cost to the environment.