Green Living

Some handy dandy energy saving, water saving, green tips for your home:

The Two-Minute Test
If you aren’t sure about the flow rate of your showerhead, you can test it using a five-gallon bucket and a stopwatch. Turn the shower on full blast (hot and cold). Place a five-gallon bucket under the shower and capture all of the flow. Fill the bucket for exactly two minutes. If your showerhead uses 2.5 gallons per minute (gpm) or less, the bucket will not overflow during the two-minute test. If the bucket overflows during the test, you do not have a functioning low-flow showerhead.

Shower Power 
To maximize showering efficiency make sure that you have installed a low-flow showerhead in all of your bathrooms. All showerheads manufactured in the U.S. must restrict flow to 2.5 gallons per minute (gpm) or less. Some models are designed to use even less water.

Natural Gas Dryers 
Consider switching to a natural gas clothes dryer, which is typically less expensive to operate than electric dryers, often by as much as 50 percent.

Get a Free Water-Saving Kit
Southern California Gas Company customers can request a free water-saving kit that includes three faucet aerators and a low-flow showerhead:  www.socalgas.com/kit.

What’s Your Water Footprint?
To learn how water-intensive your lifestyle is and how to lessen your “water footprint,” visit Waterfootprint.org.

Recycling No-Nos
Here are five things, according to earth911.org, that will contaminate or thwart paper mills' attempts to recycle paper and cardboard:

• Oil and water don't mix. That large pizza box with the oil imprint will become recycled paper with an oil stain.
• Did your napkin or paper towel blot up a water spill or nail polish remover? It could have been the latter, and, for this reason, napkins and paper towels are not recyclable.
• Plastic linings added to paper products; a perfect example is paper cups.
• Wet newspapers
• Pressure-sensitive adhesives, such as sticky notes, postage stamps, and address labels.

Hang Laundry Out to Dry
Automatic clothes dryers use 6% of total electricity consumed by American homes, according to the federal Energy Information Administration. Save energy, and make your laundry smell extra fresh by putting up a clothesline, just like your grandparents did. Start simple with a few sheets, towels and pillowcases, and if you like the results, gradually do more loads.

Write Stuff
Disposable plastic pens aren’t recyclable or biodegradable. The greener choice is refillable pens, marker, and pencils. When choosing a printer, opt for an inkjet printer, which uses 20 watts of electricity versus 300 watts for a laser printer.

Check for Leaky Faucets
Leaky faucets that drip at the rate of one drip per second can waste more than 3,000 gallons of water each year. Not sure if you have a leak? Read your water meter before and after a two-hour period when no water is being used. If the meter does not read exactly the same, you probably have a leak.

Install Faucet Aerators
Installing faucet aerators and low-flow shower heads will cut water heating costs by 50 percent and save up to $300 per year.

Save Time, Energy in the Dryer
Add tennis balls or dryer balls to your dryer. They will speed up drying time and save you electricity.