The Efficiency of Individual Green Lifestyle Choices Verses Centralized Services

There is a lot of talk in the new US administration about developing green projects and industries in the years ahead. However, the most efficient way of becoming more environmentally friendly, is at the individual level.  The increasingly varied options available to anyone choosing to adopt a green lifestyle are presenting unlimited opportunities to save money, while reducing any negative impact on the environment.

Any Government controlled project will inevitably waste money and end up poorly managed, while major utility company programs such as wind farms or solar complexes will need extensive grid development to get the power from the generation source to the end user.  On the other hand, solar panels or wind turbines situated at the home, deliver power right where it is needed.  The spread of solar leasing programs will make this option more available to many more homeowners as the need for a large initial cash outlay is removed.  For those with a DIY interest, there are various self-build solar panel and wind turbine manuals available that produce varying levels of cheap and clean domestic power. If these options are then linked up with a more efficient use of the energy generated, the money savings are increased and the environmental impact is further reduced. Adopting some or all of the following small changes will result in meaningful reductions in power use:

• Install programmable thermostats to manage heating and cooling use during the day and night
• Reduce the thermostat settings by 2 degrees in the winter and increase them by 2 degrees in the summer
• Turn the heating or cooling off whenever possible in your climate zone
• Replace old incandescent light bulbs with Compact Fluorescent Lighting or LEDs wherever possible
• Run the dishwasher only when full and then in energy saver mode
• Wash clothes in cold water
• Insulate the water heater
• Turn off electrical equipment when not in use. This can be done manually or with the use of smart power strips that turn of all peripherals once a PC or TV is turned off or goes into power saving mode
• Monitor leaks around doors and windows and seal where necessary
• Check loft insulation and increase to recommended level

Recycling is another area where individual involvement can be so much more efficient than government programs.  Current recycling programs are a crazy patchwork of different rules and procedures for each city, council, town or district.  Even neighboring cities don’t collect the same articles in the same way, and how often do we hear that there is a build up of recycled material because there are no buyers for it, or that the recycled material has gone to the same landfill as the regular waste! Instead of this inefficient result, simple changes to how we approach recycling as individuals can have a significant impact.  By paying a little more attention to the overall purchase and disposal process, the amount of waste going to landfills and the overall cost of recycling will both be reduced.  At the purchase end of the process there is more attention now being paid to packaging and packaging materials. If we, as individual purchasers, become more selective in our choice of product because of better (meaning, less) packaging this trend will continue. At the disposal stage, a small compost pile or more efficient compost bin can remove food remains and garden clippings from the waste stream. It is estimated that food and garden waste make up around 30% of the waste stream in the US, so reducing this amount does have a meaningful impact on landfills.  Once again, this is more efficiently done at the individual level than by collection of this waste by the local council and removal to a central composting site.  Curbside collection requires the use of large trucks to make the collection and deliver the waste to a central composting area and then the use of heavy equipment to turn the piles to maintain the composting process.  Done at home the process requires a simple balance between “green” and “brown” materials and a little manual labor to turn the pile or bin.

On top of the savings in energy and money, there is a great deal of satisfaction to be had in managing your own lifestyle.  It is even more rewarding when you start receiving credits from the utility company for the excess energy generated from domestic solar panels and sold back to them, and each fresh batch of nutrient rich soil from the compost bin.

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