Blarney Stone Energy, LLC

Reduce

Conservation is one way of receiving free energy benefits from your actions. Two words come to mind – Energy Audit. If you do not know how to conduct one on your own, contact your local utility and they should be able to do that for you, or refer you to someone who can. By the way, you are probably already paying for this service through some type of energy efficiency fee on your energy bill. I shall list a few items that can provide you with more information regarding this topic.

• Analyze Appliances – Major appliances consume plenty of power, and using Energy Star rated appliances will save energy.
• Check Insulation -  Additional insulation for your house should be looked as an investment, and you may be able to recoup the cost in a few years depending on various factors. Insulating hot water pipes and lowering the temperature on your water heater by ten degrees may save five percent of your energy costs.
• Computers – If you will not be using your computer for a while, please shut it down. It saves energy, as well as prolonging the life of the machine. If it is connected to the Internet 24/7, unplugging can also prevent hackers from discovering your personal info.
• Lighting - Incandescent light bulbs use more energy than compact fluorescents (and they generate heat). CFL's last longer than regular bulbs, and save more than the cost of the bulb over its life (they contain small amounts of mercury, so please dispose of properly).
• Plugging Leaks - You can seal gaps around chimneys, ducts, light fixtures, pipes, windows etc., to eliminate drafts.
• Temperature - Lowering the thermostat a few degrees during the heating season, and raising it during summer when no one is home can save you money. A programmable thermostat can do this automatically for you.
• H2O - Water is one thing that is usually taken for granted, but some areas affected by drought can tell you how precious that resource is. By not using running water while shaving, brushing teeth, or washing hands can save about 10 gallons or more each day. Low flow shower heads and faucet aerators reduce water use as well.
• Vehicles - Starting your automobile in cold weather only needs about 30 seconds to warm up to function properly. At $3-4 or so for a gallon of gasoline, a vehicle idling is getting Zero Miles per Gallon!

Recycle

Recycling is often overlooked as a way of saving energy. Some interesting facts on commonly known recycled items are:

Aluminum – the energy saved and pollution that is reduced is approximately 95% compared to processing virgin aluminum (one recycled aluminum can save enough energy to run a television set for about 3 hours).

Glass – the energy saved and water pollution that is reduced is approximately 50% compared to processing virgin glass, (one recycled container of glass can save enough energy to run a 100 watt bulb for several hours).

Paper – the energy saved is about 60% and air pollution that is reduced by roughly 95% (one ton of recycled paper saves more than a dozen trees that transfer carbon dioxide into oxygen and about 7,000 gallons of water).

Plastic – the energy saved for recycling plastic is somewhere around 12,000 BTU’s.

As you can see, by doing your part, you may reduce global warming and conserve precious energy while lowering the cost for every consumer.

Reuse

Bringing you own cloth sacks to the store with you instead of taking home new paper or plastic bags. You can use these sacks again and again. You'll be saving some air purifying trees in the process!

Cans, boxes, and containers of all kinds that people normally throw away can be used to store things or can become fun arts and crafts projects. 

Donate clothes that don't fit, toys that aren't used, and other things that you don't want anymore. Somebody else can probably use them, and you may get a tax break! 

Use writing paper on both sides, and when not needed, recycle. 

Store food in reusable plastic containers, use silverware and dishes instead of disposable plastic utensils and plates. Containers and reusable lunch bags are great ways to take your lunch to school or work without creating waste.