Ways to Beat the Summer Heat and save on energy

The Co-Op of America is a wonderful resource for those of us wanting to help Mother Earth....they have great information! For example, I just received their newsletter, titled, 22 Steps Toward Energy Efficiency! WOW!! 22 STEPS!! This is great if you are not sure where to begin or what helps the most.

According to their site:
Here's how to save energy and money. Go for a big, but doable goal – 10% energy saved per year over the next five years – 50% in five years!

For the average household, 10% per year energy savings is only about 1,000 kilowatt-hours (kwh) of energy/year. Here's how doable that is:

Many families could achieve the first 1,000 kwh/year of savings by washing clothes in cold water (770 kwh/yr); placing several major electronics, such as video and stereo systems, on a surge protector that can be switched off (47kwh/year); and brushing of their refrigerator's condenser coils twice a year (392 kwh/year).

Many families could get another 1,000 kwh/year reduction by replacing half of their incandescent lighting with compact fluorescents (440kwh/year), letting the dishes in the dishwasher air dry (404kwh/year), and enabling the "sleep" function on their computer and printer to go on after five minutes of non-use (259kwh/year).

If you would like to know all 22 steps to make this happen, follow this link!