Reduce your carbon footprint by examining your household water and power usage.

Let’s take stock of what you have already achieved in the last two months!

Introduction

You have counted the cost of your lifestyle to the environment.
You have started recycling,
Set up or at least planned your veggie garden,
You have started using green cleaners and
Set up a compost heap or bought a wormery to deal with your organic waste.

Well done!

This month is an easier month compared to last month. These things that you are going to implement are one of the easiest ways to reduce your carbon footprint.

And the great thing is while you are doing your bit for the environment you will begin to feel it in your wallet…yes these ideas will save you money too!

I once read about a country in Africa where the only water the villagers had was a water seepage point. Young women would sit all day at this point and wait for the water level to rise so that they could take home 1 bucket for their whole family’s use. This is for cooking, cleaning and drinking -1 bucket!

The first thing I want you to do this month is fetch your water account and have a good look at it. How much water do you use to run your household? Perhaps like us, you also use water for:

~Cook
~Clean
~Drink
~Water flower beds
~Water vegetables
~Water lawn areas
~Fill up the swimming pool
~Wash cars
~Cleaning paving

That amounts to a whole lot more water than 1 bucket a day doesn’t it! Now I am not for a moment suggesting that we live on a bucket a day, but perhaps we who live in the Western World should begin to treasure our water the way those villagers do!

Another way to reduce your carbon footprint is to save water in your home and garden. Install a flow meter to know how much water is currently being used in your household so you can make a difference.

Now let’s talk electricity…

First fetch your electricity account and have a good look at it. Mid income homes use about 774 kWh/month. Almost 60% of this is used for heating water in your hot water cylinder or geyser. Next is lighting in consumption amount.

The first major impression you can get is that to install a solar power geyser is a logical step. However this is not feasible for everyone, although it is desirable. Therefore…

Tips to reduce your water consumption

Try to implement at least a few of these water saving tips this month which helps reduce your carbon footprint.

Tips to reduce your energy consumption

Even if you cannot install solar power there are a number of things that you can do to save electricity and reduce your carbon footprint in this arena.

Don’t forget to down load your 3rd month’s checklist here!

Articles to read

Living Green – Guilt Free!
30 Ways to Save the Planet
How to be green

Next month we are going to look at food in the simple green lifestyle. See you then!