“Go Green, Live Rich”

” Go Green, Live Rich”

by David Bach describes his “50 Simple Ways to Save the Earth & Get Rich Trying.” The book provides many ideas that make you say, “hmmm, that makes sense!” But the idea we  have come to a “tipping or turning point”, I believe is “false!” The sky is not falling and we can all, through education, learn how to live smarter and for less money out of pocket. One of my favorite lines in the book is “GOING GREEN IS ABOUT OUR KIDS, OUR FAMILIES, OUR LIVES.” Whether you believe in the “GREEN” movement, or not. How bad could it be if we could all learn use less, like water! Do you know how many gallons per minute your current shower head uses? You can look on the threaded part of faucet for GPM. Federal regulations recently mandated all faucets by 2.5 GPM or less. A 5 minute shower at 2.5 GPM would use approx. 7-8 gallons of water depending on the water pressure. If you use older shower head(say 4 GPM) you could be using between 20-25 gallons of water per 5 minute shower. Imagine filling up 20 one gallon jugs and placing them in our bathroom, thats a lot of water. We waste 2-3 gallons leaving the water running while brushing our teeth. Aerators can also be installed on all faucets to reduce water usage as well. Can you guess how many gallons of water your toilet uses every time you flush? I’m not going to answer that one(for now), and hope to hear your guesstimates. The worst abuse(my own personal opinion) of water usage is all to “Grow a Greener Lawn or Prettier Plant” and Mr. Bach’s book states up to 7 BILLION, yes 7,000,000,000, gallons of water a year is used on landscape irrigation and accounts for a third of all residential water usage.

In conclusion, water is cheap(many times less than a penny a gallon) and Americans take it for granted, and waste a lot of it. Note: 70 percent of the Earth is covered in water and only 1% is available for human use. We all worry about saving gas because we see the direct result every time we fill up. If you pay for city or community water, by the gallon, it could be possible to use up to 35% less water by making some fairly simple changes in your home. If we all are using less water or any resources, it just makes sense because we can see potential savings. Until next time.

What Does GREEN Mean to You?

WHAT DOES GREEN MEAN TO YOU? When I was growing up in the 70’s & 80’s(we will leave the dates in a range to protect my age,LOL), “GREEN” was simply a color and nothing more. We used the term to describe grass, trees or our favorite color. Then we started seeing the ,ever famous, green recycling logo. NOW, everyone has a different thought when they here the word “GREEN”.  Every day Americans are told to live “GREEN” without a clear path or reason to do so. HOW ABOUT TO SAVE $$! Are you aware that simply changing your incandescent light bulbs to “CFL’s” homeowners could save you $297 per year. Incandescent bulbs cost $400 per year to operate compared to $100 per year for “CFL’s” and only $20 per year with LED bulbs. This calculation is based on the cost of replacing bulbs and savings over the life span of the bulb. Ahh! What is the life span of these bulb? I think we all know the incandescents burn out at least once per year, “CFL” bulbs last on average 5 years and it could be possible to never change an “LED” bulb. Unfortunately, the cost of LED bulbs is still a bit high for most to make the transition. Lighting and other appliances consist of approximately 26% of your electric bill. Take the first step to “Going GREEN”, but most importantly, “Save Some $$MONEY$$!” No matter how you feel about the “GREEN” movement, if we can all do little things to help use less energy, less water(water will be discussed in my upcoming blog post) and less garbage in landfills we are helping the Earth and future generations learn to live a different way of life.  Thats what “GREEN” means to me! Please share what “GREEN” means to you.

“Love People & Use Things – Not, Love Things & Use People” Author Unknown