D.I.Y Planet Cooling

[Michaelangelica]

Act to slow Climate Change!

1. Adopt a Vegetarian Diet
2. Eat Less Meat
3. Ride a bike
4. Install Solar Hot water
5. Embrace energy efficiency
6. Buy Renewable Electricity
7. Reduce & offset car emissions
8. Invest ethically
9. Promote sustainable living
10. Car pool

from
Sustainable living, your guide to a sustainable life! — Natural Strategies
links and explanations of each change/activity are on the site.
No one seems to mention walking any more.

[Michaelangelica]

Here are some good ones from the ABC, (some we have had before) that don't involve a major change in lifestyle, little simple things that everyone can do.

It also estimates how much GHG you will save with each change.

At the site they also have an "Ask the Guru" section on questions about the benefits, or not, of various changes. Something we could have here?

ABC - Green at Work - Green your Work - QUICK FIXES
[QUOTE]

• Do this for a week and save this much CO2
• Turn off the lights at end of the day 5.4 kg for every fluoro
• Catch public transport, walk or ride to work instead of driving. 50 kg (for 15 km commute)
• Turn off the vending machine overnight 38 kg
• Turn off your computer when you leave work 15 kg
• Turn off the printer at end of the day 6.5 kg
• Take the stairs instead of the lift 3kg (0.1kg per trip)
• Use tap water instead of the water cooler 1.1 kg
• If you make your cuppa in a kettle, only boil as much water as you need to 0.5 kg
  
  Do this from now on and save this much waste
• Take a coffee mug to the café instead of using disposables. You won't save energy but … you'll only produce 1/30 of the volume of waste you would with disposables over the years
• Set your printer default to print double-sided and … cut your office paper consumption by up to 50%

[QUOTE]

[Michaelangelica]

Why Bother?
The Green Issue - Climate Change - Environment - Energy Efficiency - Consumption - New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/ma...r=1&oref=login

[Monomer]

Green Roofs....

Cities worldwide are promoting environmentally “green” roofs to mitigate several urban problems. Ground cover, shrubs and other flora planted across a building’s roof can reduce storm water runoff, easing the burden on local sewers and water treatment systems. And the vegetation can keep the roof cooler in summer, lowering interior air-conditioning costs and therefore peak demand on area power plants.

On a sunny, 80-degree-Fahrenheit day, a tar or black-painted roof can reach 180 degrees F; a white roof 120 degrees; and a plant-covered roof 85 degrees.

[Michaelangelica]

Great should be compulsory for citiy skyscrapers..
My local council wants dark coloured roofs.

I built an earth roof 20 years ago.

Colourbond steel is becoming increasingly popular as is now comes in a great range of hues.

I have a problem
I have been religiously turning off my HP inkjet printer to save the planet but every time I re-start it, it prints an alignment page and rattles on about a 'new printer cartrige.'
Anyone know where I hit it with my Spanish Screwdriver to make it stop?

[UncleAl]

Religion: "WE MUST DO SOMETHING!"
Engineering: "We must do something pertinent."

Fourmilog: None Dare Call It Reason
25 April 2008
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2.../butterfly.jpg

All the social activism in the world plus near-infinite sheaves of parameterized non-linear differential equations cannot overrule the implacable reality of mere arithmetic,

AN ARITHMETIC TRUTH

(0.99)^4 = 96.06%
(1.01)^4 = 104.06%
==================
0.12% imbalance (less the mean).

No sunspots --> Ice Age. That fractional percent is enough to decide between the Garden of Eden and glaciation. The test is in progress. Patience. Little fluctuations along the slide do not matter. BURN COAL. Hell, burn anything! WE'RE GONNA FREEZE!

[Michaelangelica]

Not good at sums

. USE YOUR CRUISE CONTROL
You paid for those extra buttons in your car, so put them to work! When using cruise control your vehicle could get up to 15% better mileage.
36. CHOOSE MATCHES OVER LIGHTERS
Most lighters are made out of plastic and filled with butane fuel, both petroleum products. Since most lighters are considered "disposable," over 1.5 billion end up in landfills each year. When choosing matches, pick cardboard over wood. Wood matches come from trees, whereas most cardboard matches are made from recycled paper.

50 Ways to Help the Planet

[Boerseun]

Because of bad planning and unprecedented growth (a fatal combination under the best of circumstances), South Africa has been clobbered over the head with "Load Shedding", or, quite simply, "controlled" blackouts for the biggest part of 2008 to date.

Because of this, people have come up with clever and innovative ideas to lower the impact this has on everybody.

One that I came up with (I'm sure I'm not the only one doing this), is something that I think should be employed all over, whether you have power issues or not. It is so obvious, that I think it should be standard practice, regardless. And it could save loads of energy, I'm sure.

What you do is the following:

First thing in the morning, boil a full kettle of water. Then, simply fill your coffee mugs, or tea, if you're partial to that particularly pansy British "beverage", and the leftover water you chuck into a thermos.

And then, when you go for your second coffee, get the water from the thermos. Until the thermos is empty. Then you boil your next full kettle.

The common approach is to only boil as much water as you need, i.e. one or two cups. But people following this approach always chuck in more water than required, because they risk fearing dry-boiling the kettle. Also, the water has to be boiled from cold, every time.

I reckon boiling a full kettle every time, and actually using all the water via a thermos, uses waaaaay less energy than boiling a kettle a mug at a time.

There ya go. I just saved the world. (LOUD APPLAUSE, RISING TO A CRESCENDO, NOT SEEMING TO TAPER DOWN)

Gosh, thanks, thank you, thank you, and you, and you, and...

(THE APPLAUSE JUST GETS LOUDER)

No, really, it was nothing - thank you!

(...AND LOUDER...)

Thanks!

(THE CROWD IS GROWING WILD! SHOUTS OF "WHO NEEDS AL GORE WHEN WE HAVE BOERSEUN?" FILLS THE ROOM)

What? Al Gore's a ninny! He's got nuttin' on me!

[freeztar]

Or you could stop drinking hot beverages altogether.

[DougF]

freeztar
Or you could stop drinking hot beverages altogether.

Well if we stop drinking hot beverages who is going to save the world?