Just wondered what people on here do to try and reduce environmental impact - I myself try and run my cars on biodiesel or vegetable oil (to reduce CO2 emissions) and recycle/reuse everything. If I lived in a house of my own I'd probably try and do solar panels/energy conservation etc but unfortunately I don't right now. Please note - I don't intend this to be a 'holier than thou' type thing - I am just genuinely interested.
Unfortunately due to where I live its hard to do much. We live in a flat, but only one Recycle box for the whole building. All I do really is use energy saving bulbs.
I do pretty much ****-all. I'm not a believer in CO2 caused global warming, but I still don't like to waste power for no reason, so just turn off the computer at night.
i use energy saving bulbs, i walk everywhere and do not wish to own a car, ill cycle or take public transport if necessary, thats about it really..
Umm...right. CO2 causes global warming. That's not up for debate. How much it causes is debatable, what that might do is debatable, many things are debatable. CO2 causing it is not for discussion though. It is proven and fact. Anyway, my main thing is my support of nuclear power. That'd solve any CO2 issues we've got. I recycle glass and some paper(which is all the local facilities cater for, and I don't go about leaving lights on or overboiling the kettle just because it saves 2 seconds of thought/activity.
I try to recycle when it's convienient and I know where I can do it. At home with my parents that's ok because Cardiff council is very good at it and we recycle 80% of what we throw out. I use energy saving bulbs but my parents dont, although I will try to convert them. Also, I enjoy walking places if I have the time but mostly I take the car. If it's less than 2 miles then I'd definately walk. The most thing that annoys me is people not recycling cans or plastic bags. There's enough places around to do this, it's not that hard.
I use the low power bulbs throughout and have done even when they cost a fiver, seen a difference in my power bills and they last longer too.
Low power bulbs - Ikea do 3 for £3 and powergen often give them away, nothing in my house is left on standby - if it does not have a power button then it goes off at the mains. I use a laptop for downloading for long periods of time and I am going to get new insulation for the attic. Gedling borough council do the recycling for us so that is all good. The energy crisis about to come upon us is all due to the publics un-educated fear of Nuclear power as this is the only viable option for the future - renewable sources simply do not supply enough power for the forseeable future.
I'm also planning on buying some energy saving bulbs, more importantly ones that look like natural sunlight. Anyone know where to buy some cheap ones (preferably online)? @specofdust - Yes, CO2 will cause a greenhouse effect, but I believe that it's not a massive one. @Bindibadgi - I agree that chucking them away is pointless, but recycling is pointless if all cans are shipped to a factory miles away. I'm hopeful about local recycling centres though. I really don't want to turn this into a debate, so I'll stop here EDIT: Also, I use my computer as my heating system in my room, as well as the radiator. Works suprisingly well actually.
house walls & attic are double insulated, looking into geothermal cooling during the summer (expensive as hell though) drive a hybrid to and from work (all 3 miles each way), recycle as much as possible, and don't leave anything on that doesn't have to be
I do stuff to save power / money also happens to help the environment: > Never leave stuff switched on (including PC) > Energy bulbs everywhere in the house (£13 p/month electricity bills rock) > Walk / public transport to town and other places (car only when needed as I do enough miles as it is to work and back). > Recycle lots, as our council only collects rubbish every 2 weeks. surprising how much we wasted until they started this.
I got rid of my car (nope, i didn't sell it. i ended it life in a respectable way ) this have more to do with economy than "green living", though. I also have much LED lighting around the house (because i love blue light), allthough primary lighting is dimmed halogen (nice, warm light). and i live in a new apartment with central heating and well insulated windows and walls. Oh, and i have gotten rid of all my CRT screens. (allthough i have more, and bigger LCDs...) so all in all, not much enegysaving for me...
I reuse the paper my lab reports are written on for scratch work since, during school, I average about 2 lab reports a week with each report being no less than 5 pages single sided. I also make sure to turn off the light whenever there is no purpose for it to be on.
If I'm honest just recycle and turn the PC's off at night. I would use energy savers but the light from them sucks and hurts my eyes quite alot. Plus you have to leave them on for ages for them to warm up (the g/f's parents use them here but all the rooms we live in don't). If only they could actually make Energy savers that weren't total crap.
I kill my own meat thus helping darwin's theory and the planet..I would like to make my own fuel but only to say #### you to the federal government.
I certainly do. I have no need for it to be on anyway, as I have a low-power/noise Windows server that runs 24/7 and downloads things from BitTorrent. Of course I leave lights off around the house when they're not in use, and turn all of my equipment off totally when not in use - the standby lights stop me from getting to sleep anyway.
Recycle everything I can. Don't use carrier bags. I buy organic vegetables in reusable boxes so no wrappers. Turn electronics off at the wall when not in use. try and keep the miles down on the mr2s
What a nice attitude you have to the rest of the world. Unfortunately I'm not a saint in terms of being "green". I do recycle, I use energy-saving bulbs, I wash on 40°C, I travel by bus (but not by choice ).... but that is about it. I do have a nasty habit of having my computer on quite often in the day time, transferring data.