Green Living Tips

It’s All about Saving Money
and Conserving Natural Resources…
for Ourselves and Our Heirs.

There’s nothing new about green living. But it’s amazing how many new ideas and products come along every day.

We’ve compiled several green living and energy tips that are easy to implement and, more importantly, really work. We encourage you to make these and others are part of your daily routines.

Plumbing

Take care of leaky faucets and pipes as soon as you notice them. A leaky faucet alone can waste up to 100 gallons of water every week.
Older shower heads and faucets also consume more water than newer models.
By giving your lawn a good soaking with each watering, you won’t need to water it as often.
High water pressure can force water where it is not intended to be. If your water pressure is above 80 psi, we recommend installing a pressure regulating valve. This will also help to reduce wear and tear on your entire plumbing system, including fixtures.

Heating & Cooling

Make sure all ductwork,vents and registers are not blocked by furniture.
Leave all interior doors open at least 2 inches if the room does not have its own return air intake vent.
Insulate your attic and have your ductwork checked for proper sealing and cracks.
Install solar screens, awnings, or plants to shade windows and walls during the summer months.
Keep filters clean and inspect them monthly.
Insulate your doors and windows…it’s estimated that unsealed windows and doors adds up to a hole about the size of 12 to 20 bricks…can you imagine the loss of warm or cool air in a hole that size?

Electricity

Be sure to turn off lights when you leave a room.
Turn off machines when you leave a room (examples include TV’s, computers, radios, stereos, video games, VCR’s, and DVD players).
When you go away on a trip, be sure to unplug these same machines because they have stand-by functions that consume electricity even when they are turned off.
Fill your dishwasher efficiently and limit the number of times you run it.
Put in a programmable thermostat which will keep your house at the right temperature day and night.
Programmable thermostats can reduce cooling and heating bills up to 10% because they lower the heat or raise the air conditioning when you are not at home.
Avoid using appliances in the heat of the day.
Replace your incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescents.

Recycling

We know recycling is beneficial, but here are some facts (some may be startling) that serve to emphasize the point.

About 40% of the waste in the U.S. is paper, but nationwide we only recycle about 25-30% of our paper waste.
Americans throw away close to the equivalent of 30 million trees a year, just from newsprint alone.
In America we discard enough motor oil per year to fill 120 supertankers.
Landfills are filling up and closing at the rate of approximately 2 a day.
A glass bottle thrown away today will still be there in the year 3000.
In the United States, one in every six trucks is a garbage truck.
You would be able to circle the earth 436 times per year with the Styrofoam cups that are used in the United States.

These statistics are accurate and valid; they help to illustrate the importance of recycling in the United States. So please start taking an active role in helping your community recycle and better your environment and prevent global warming.

This information is brought to you as a public and community service by your friends at SolvIt.

800-886-2473 | Request a Call Back | Schedule Service Online