TIPS By turning down your water heater 10 degrees, you will save six percent of the energy used. Unplug your appliances even when they are turned off. It saves energy and pollution and can cut your power bill by 6% to 26%. Even small things like leaving your cell phone charger plugged in uses energy. It may not seem like a lot, but in the long run it adds up. Jen - Elk Grove Take advantage of your local library, check out books, CD's and even DVD's saving money and resources on these items that you're likely to only use once. Rebecca - Rocklin Learn to consume less. Less food, less car, less house, less distance to work. Less is MORE GREEN. Scott - Sacramento Throw a dry towel into the dryer with your wet clothes. The dry towel helps absorb the moisture quickly and leads to shorter drying time and reduced use of energy. Full loads also dry faster than loads containing just a few items. Lindsay - Sacramento Switch to concentrated formulas of your favorite cleaners. By doing this you are not only saving money, but unessecary packaging from sitting in our landfills. Andrea - Mather Instead of throwing away scratched or old CD’s you can make them into coasters! Cut a piece of felt the same size or smaller as the CD and use an exacto knife or blade cut a little hole in the middle. Then use glue or double sided tape to attach the felt to the top side (where the picture or title of the movie/band is) and you’ve got a trendy coaster! I’ve also heard that you can cut two circular pieces of felt and stitch around the sides with the CD in the middle. The felt under the mug soaks up moisture and the CD keeps the mug and drink warm. Lisa - Elk Grove Collect your old newspapers and magazines and recycle after reading. Or bring your magazines to the gym, the office, or anywhere others can enjoy them. Own a bicycle. Bill - Carmichael Get back to nature. R.L. - Fair Oaks Substitute a compact fluorescent bulb for an incandescent bulb and save some green. Baffled by the use of incandescent bulbs, go to your local hardware store and get some answers to your questions. Throw a dry towel into the dryer with your wet clothes. The dry towel helps absorb the moisture quickly and leads to shorter drying time and reduced use of energy. Full loads also dry faster than loads containing just a few items. Lindsey - Laguna Learn to consume less. Less food, less car, less house, less distance to work. Less is MORE GREEN. Scott - Davis Donate that vehicle taking up room in your driveway to a non-profit and earn a tax deduction. Sara - Lincoln Save your computers hard drive and some green, shut down your computers when not in use, at home and the office. Substitute Incandescent bulbs for compact fluorescent bulbs and save some green. Baffled by the use of compact fluorescent bulbs, go to your local hardware store and get some answers to your questions. Buy Energy Star labeled appliances, you'll not only save on your monthly bill but on your emissions as well. Lower your thermostat, for every degree you turn down your heat you will save 1 to 3% on your heating bill. For summer, do the opposite turn it up one or two degrees. Install a tank-less water heater and enjoy lower energy bills, reduced emissions and never run out of hot water. Now that sounds nice! Take advantage of your local library, check out books, CD's and even DVD's saving money and resources on these items that you're likely to only use once. Tony - Rancho Cordova Eliminate landfill waste as well as pesky late fees. Enroll to pay your bills on-line or have them deducted from your checking account at the same time each month. Nichole - Sacramento Double up. Most printers these days have the ability to print double sided, utilize this function and save on paper costs and save a couple trees. When shopping, bring your own re-usable bag, plus re-usable bags are now much cuter and trendier than those old paper and plastic bags. Annie - Sloughouse Keep it in the family! Buy local! Buying local means less energy used to bring food to your table. Plus you're supporting your local economy and you will have a fresh and healthier meal. Unplug your appliances when not in use. Even though they are not turned on they still use a "phantom load" increasing your monthly energy bill. Put your electronics on a power strip so that it is easily accessible to turn off and on. Keep those tires inflated and have your car tuned up on a regular basis, you'll notice you have a more efficient car, and less stops at the pump. Brian - Sacramento CFLs us 66% less energy than incandescent bulbs and save up to $30/bulb in lifetime electricity costs. Utah is the second driest state in the nation, but has one of the highest water usage rates. The New Oxford American Dictionary's 2007 word of the year was locavore, meaning someone who eats exclusively local food. An idling car creates twice the emissions of a car in motion. Save your computers hard drive and some green, shut down your computers when not in use, at home and the office. Substitute a compact fluorescent bulb for an incandescent bulb and save some green. Baffled by the use of incandescent bulbs, go to your local hardware store and get some answers to your questions. Buy Energy Star labeled appliances, you'll not only save on your monthly bill but on your emissions as well. Lower your thermostat for every degree you turn down your heat you will save 1 to 3% on your heating bill. For summer, do the opposite, turn it up one or two degrees. Install a tankless water heater and enjoy lower energy bills, reduced emissions and never run out of hot water. Now that sounds nice! Take advantage of your local library, check out books, CD's and even DVD's saving money and resources on these items that you're likely to only use once. Wash your laundry in cold water. 90% of your washer's energy is put into using hot water. Eliminate landfill waste as well as pesky late fees. Enroll to pay your bills on-line or have them deducted from your checking account at the same time each month. Double up. Most printers these days have the ability to print double sided, utilize this function and save on paper costs and save a couple trees. When shopping, bring your own re-usable bag, plus re-usable bags are now much cuter and trendier than those old paper and plastic bags. Keep it in the family! Buy local! Buying local means less energy used to bring food to your table. Plus you're supporting your local economy and you will have a fresh and healthier meal. Unplug your appliances when not in use. Even though they are not turned on they still use a "phantom load" increasing your monthly energy bill. Put your electronics on a power strip so that it is easily accessible to turn off and on. Keep those tires inflated and have your car tuned up on a regular basis, you'll notice you have a more efficient car, and less stops at the pump. With the amount of junk mail that Americans receive in one day we could heat 250,000 homes. Refrigerators with a freezer installed on top save on average 20% more energy than a side-by-side model. Barely 20% of plastic water bottles are recycled. Purchase a water filter and re-usable water bottle instead. 40% of the energy you use in your home is for heat. If everyone that subscribed to the New York Times recycled their daily papers we would save 6,000 tons of pollution out of the air. Our country recycles only 32% of its waste. Compact Fluorescent light bulbs use 75% less energy than incandescent bulbs and last up to 10 times longer. According to The Wall Street Journal, the U.S. goes through 100 billion plastic shopping bags annually. (Estimated cost to retailers is $4 billion) Donate that car taking up space in your drive-way to an organization such as; it's tax-deductible Trees absorb and filter rainwater reducing flooding and prevent pollutants from entering our water systems. 40% of the energy used by home appliances is used when they are turned off.