Water Conservation
- Wash clothes in cold water, saving 50% of the energy consumed by a washing machine
- Replace thirsty lawns with drought-tolerant plants
- Fix leaking pipes 1
- As much as 60 percent of water is lost through leaky pipes.
- Boston, Massachusetts avoided having to divert two large rivers to increase its water supply by repairing leaky pipes and installing water-saving fixtures in public buildings.
- A leaky toilet wastes more than 50 gallons of water per day. 4
- Protecting watersheds is less costly than trying to make polluted water safe for drinking
- Don't over-water your lawn or plants. Water before 9 a.m. or after 7 p.m. 2
- More plants die from over-watering than from under-watering
- Limit your lawn. Maintaining grass takes a lot of water, so consider planting shrubs, ground covers or vegetables. 3
- One tree can provide one day's oxygen for as many as four people. 4
- Run the dishwasher and washing machine only when there is a full load and use low water level features. 5
- Saves 300 to 800 gallons per month. 6
- Turn off water while brushing your teeth
- Turning the water off while brushing your teeth, shaving, or washing your face could save between 10 and 20 gallons of water per person per week. 7
- Shorten your showers.
- Hand-water with a hose where possible. Homeowners who water with a handheld hose can use one-third less water outdoors than those who use automatic sprinklers.
- Cook food in as little water as possible. This will also retain more of the nutrients.
- Start a compost pile or scrape food into the trash instead of running your garbage disposal, which requires a lot of water to work properly.
- Install water-saving shower heads or flow restrictors. Saves 500 to 800 gallons per month. 8
- Keep a cover on your pool while not in use. 9
- Saves 1,000 gallons a month.
- Set lawn mower blades one notch higher. Longer grass means less evaporation.
- Saves 500 to 1,500 gallons each month. 10
Energy Conservation
- Clean your refrigerator coils. Dust on the coils located in the back of a refrigerator makes it less efficient. 11
- Your refrigerator uses more energy than any other household appliance.
- Change or clean the filters in your air conditioners and heaters.
- Green roofs reduce roof-top temperatures, create habitat for wildlife and reduce stormwater runoff.
- Reduce air conditioning costs by using fans
- Enable "power management" on all computers
- Make sure to turn them off at night. A laptop computer uses up to 90% less energy than bigger desktop models.
- Avoid using large appliances from 4:00pm to 7:00pm
- Keep your furnace clean, lubricated and properly adjusted. And remember to clean or replace the filter regularly.
- Close your fireplace flue. The hot air emitted from your heating system escapes out of your chimney almost as effectively as heat and smoke from your fireplace do. When you're not using the fireplace, close the damper tightly.
- Close your fireplace flue. The hot air emitted from your heating system escapes out of your chimney almost as effectively as heat and smoke from your fireplace do. When you're not using the fireplace, close the damper tightly.
- Unplug electronics, such as appliances, and televisions when not in use.
- Replace incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent lamps and save $30 to $40 over the life of the bulb. 12
- Set your water heater between 110 and 120 degrees Fahrenheit.
CO2 Emmisions
- Keep vehicles tuned up and tires properly inflated, increasing fuel economy up to 7%
- Personal mobility vehicles – Segways™ - are in use for jobs like water meter reading. Segways™ have zero emissions, cost $3/year to recharge and, in some cases, replace the use of a car.
- Use an electric or push lawn mower.
- Because of its simple engine, operating a gas mower for one hour will produce the same pollution as driving a car 350 miles, i.e. from Chicago to Cleveland.
- Plant trees to shade your house and car in the summer.
- Trees properly placed around buildings reduce air pollution. This, in turn, reduces air conditioning needs by about 30 percent and can save 20-50 percent in energy used for heating.
Don’t Waste (Paper and other)
- Compost
- Have a do-not-mail list so that you can stop junk mail and save paper (www.dmaconsumer.org/cgi/offmailinglist)
- When it rains, let nature work for you and limit irrigation.
Food Related
- Grow your own food
Pollution
- Use less fertilizer to not pollute water
- Pesticide free parks
Earth Month
- Earth Month
Statistics
- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates in 1990 alone the Clean Air Act saved an estimated 79,000 lives and resulted in an estimated 15 million fewer respiratory illnesses, such as asthma.
- Each glass of restaurant water requires two glasses of water for washing and rinsing.
Hazardous Waste
- Drop offs every third Saturday between 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Sunnyvale at 163 Carl Road
- No charge
- Alternate drop-off times are available (appointment only) by calling the Santa Clara County Household Hazardous Waste Program at (408) 299-7300.
- Light bulbs, electronic waste, and some automotive material (batteries, antifreeze, mercury containing thermometers, motor oil, and oil filters)
- Can be dropped off at the SMaRT Station from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., seven days a week free of charge. For more information, call (408) 730-7262.
- 301 Carl Road
- Improvements
- For batteries and light bulb there could be bins at local grocery stores where citizens could easily drop off their materials and it could be picked up by the SMaRT people once a week or once every two weeks
- Combine hazardous waste pick up with the recycling pick up at residential housing
- Educate residents of what constitutes hazardous material so that they will be informed and know to recycle them
- Provide more information to the community on how and where to recycle their hazardous waste
- Provide transportation of hazard waste for residents that cannot recycle the waste for themselves (senior citizens or those with sickness)
Construction
- Green Roofs
- Trees
- Trees properly placed around buildings reduce air pollution. This, in turn, reduces air conditioning needs by about 30 percent and can save 20-50 percent in energy used for heating.