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For the environment. The thing I love about "The Green Year" is that it has so many unusual tips I haven't even thought of to help save energy, which helps the environment.
What's even better is that Author Jodi Helmer gives figures of how much we could save. This week, she advises us to sign up for voice mail through your phone company rather than having an answering machine.
She says answering machines can use up to 100 KWh of energy per year - or the equivalent of doing 30 loads of laundry in hot water.
"If all answering machines in the United States were replaced with voice mail systems, the emissions savings would be the equivalent to taking 250,000 cares off the road."
WOW! a quarter of a million cars!? Who would have thought?
I already use a voice mail system through the phone company at our house and have for years. One thing we are doing new to save electricity is turning the power off to the television, DVD player and other electronics connected through a power strip. Besides saving energy, why pay the electric company to give us power to the television when it's not in use.
We are substantially saving this month as we started using our wood stove for heat when we lost our power during the ice storm and never returned to use the energy-sucking electric heater we were using.
So far, our use this month is down from 810 KWh of use for the last month we used the heater, to a little over 200 KWh. YAY! We're saving money and helping the environment.