I’ve been using energy-saving bulbs for a while now, and I see no reason why somebody wouldn’t use them at this point.  They come in the same sizes as regular bulbs, and save $ and energy.  So that’s a no brainer.

I purchased a rechargeable battery charger last week, as well as a four-pack of AA and AAA batteries.  So as of now, my wireless mouse and keyboard, my alarm clock, and whatever else around my house uses batteries is going rechargeable.  The whole deal cost me about $40, which seems like a lot, but I can see how over time it ends up paying for itself.   I also never knew that places such as Whole Foods and Radio Shack recycle regular and rechargeable batteries.  Pretty cool.

While taking stock of my life electric, I realized that even though I watch no cable TV, and even if I did, I only have the super-basic service that doesn’t require a cable box, I still have my cable box plugged in, and probably pay Comcast every month for the box rental.   Not to mention that it takes up space on my shelf.  So this afternoon, out came the box, and I’m going to email Comcast about returning it.

The biggest electric challenge for me is the refrigerator.  That thing is a beast, and is probably the heaviest energy user in my apartment.  I read that cleaning the coils can help save energy, but to be honest, I am really not looking forward to finding out what’s behind it.  Maybe next weekend.

My new job has this awesome coffee maker. It brews single servings of coffee (and tea). You stick a little Green Mountain thingy that’s a little bigger than a single serve creamer into the coffee-maker, and it makes you a fresh cup of coffee. Unfortunately I can’t decide whether it’s environmentally friendly or not. On the one hand, it’s less wasteful because you’re brewing exactly as much coffee/tea as you’re going to drink, but on the other hand, you make a little bit of trash every time you brew a cup.

Until I can determine the (im)morality of this particular coffee maker, I brought in a mug from home so at least I am no longer using paper cups.

Plastic bags are bad. But not using them in our day and age is almost impossible. They seem to be everywhere. Yeah, you can ask for paper at the grocery store, but as this Paper vs. Plastic article shows, paper is no panacea, and actually is more environmentally damaging to produce than plastic. The problem with plastic is that once it’s here, it never leaves. And it has a nasty propensity to suffocate marine life. So given no other choice, I guess I’ll choose paper for now.

So what’s the real solution? Bringing our own reusable bags, which, let’s face it, is a major pain in the ass. And when you have a cart full of groceries, you’re not going to have enough reusables to fit all that stuff. Biodegradable plastic bags are one possibility - they are not widely available yet, but they do exist. Of course they have their own set of environmental issues, but that’s a topic for another day.

So, in the spirit of ‘every little bit counts,’ I therefore vow to:

• Use paper at the grocery store whenever possible
  (When I asked for paper the other day, I got a handle-less paper bag inside a plastic bag. So beware the devious checkout clerk.)
• Don’t take a bag when you don’t need one
  (This happens all the time: you buy a small item, and before you know what hit you, the clerk is handing you a plastic bag. So you have to be vigilant, and be prepared to extricate your items and leave the bag behind.)
• Purchase a couple of re-usable bags and begin carrying them around.

One of the tips in the greening book talks about ceiling fans, and how they can be used to save energy in the summer and winter. I happen to have a ceiling fan in my living room. I also happen to love ceiling fans - they make me think of lazy summer days in the South. Not that I’ve ever spent lazy summer days in the South - I guess I’ve just seen them in movies. To make a long story short, if ceiling fans can help save energy, then I’m there. One thing I didn’t understand was that the direction of the fan should be reversed in the winter. I mean, which way is reverse?

Of course google always has the answer. And the answer is that clockwise is reverse for ceiling fans. So in the winter, you’re supposed to flip that little switch on the fan to go in reverse to save 10% on heating costs. My own lessons learned from flipping this switch are as follows:

1. dustbunnies rain upon you when you flip the switch
2. I have been running the ceiling fan in the wrong direction this whole summer.

I decided to make a couple of quick fixes to start off my greening process.

1. I fixed the oil leak in my car. I freely admit that I’ve had this leak for a few months. I was foolish enough to get an oil change from a random gas station, and they ended up stripping the oil valve, causing a leak. I’ve been putting off the fix because I knew that I may have to pay for a whole new oil pan. Now that I have a new job I figured it was time to shell out the cash. The moral of this story: get your oil changes from a reliable place to save the environment and $400+.
2. My bathroom faucet has had an intermittent history of dripping. The leak wasn’t that bad, and if I remembered to tighten it when I turned off the faucet, it was fine. So again, I’ve put it off. At one point I took off the aerator to find it completely broken on the inside. So, today I made a rare visit to the hardware store, and returned with an improved, water-saving aerator for my kitchen sink, as well as a replacement for the bathroom. Unfortunately, the bathroom leak remains persistent and seems to be getting worse. I’m going to call the landlord this week and have him come over and fix it permanently, but for now I’m stuck with having to turn off the hot water under the sink.

Next steps:  get landlord to fix faucet.