What are ways you can reduce your energy consumption?

Don't leave lights on when no one is in the room. If you are going to be out of the room for more than five minutes, turn off the light.

If you know of a light that everyone forgets to turn off, make a sticker or a sign to hang next to the switch that says "Lights Out!" or "Don't Forget!"

Where possible, use compact fluorescent light bulbs. Those funny-looking bulbs produce the same amount of light by using 1/4 of the electricity. Plus, they last for years and years without burning out.Turn off the TV when no one is watching it. The same goes for computers, radios and stereos - if no one using it, turn it off. Turn off all the appliances at the surge protector/control strip - that four- or six-plug extension chord that you plug all your computer things into. Some devices, like modems or other networking boxes are drawing small amounts of power all the time. Check with your folks first, but the best thing to do is turn them ALL off at the surge protector.In warm weather, the thermostat at home should be set at 78 degrees. (Don't do this, of course, if it will cause health problems for anyone in your family.) When no one is home, set the thermostat at 85 degrees. That way, you'll reduce the need for air conditioning and you will save energy. If you have ceiling fans or other fans, turn them on. The blowing air can make you feel 5 degrees cooler, without running the family's air conditioner. Fans use a lot less electricity than air conditioners!

In cold weather, wear warm clothing and have your thermostat set to 68 degrees or lower during the day and evening, health permitting. When you go to sleep at night, set the thermostat back to either 55 degrees, or turn it off. When you leave home for an extended time, set the thermostat at 55 degrees or turn it off, too. That way, your family can save from 5 percent to 20 percent on your heating costs. (Don't do this, of course, if it will cause health problems for anyone in your family.) Americans use twice as much energy as necessary to heat their homes. That accounts for a lot of wasted energy!

If you have a fireplace, close the damper when you don't have a fire burning. An open fireplace damper can let 8 percent of heat from your furnace escape through the chimney! In the summer, an open fireplace damper can let cool air escape. It's like having a window open!

Make a map of your home, and mark all the windows, heating vents, and outside doors. Take a ribbon and hold it up to the edges of the doors and windows. If the ribbon blows, you've found a leak! Ask Mom or Dad to seal the leak with caulk or weatherstripping.

Think about your curtains. Keeping the curtains closed on cold, cloudy days helps block the cold outside air from getting inside. Also, keeping the curtains closed on very hot days keeps the hot air out![1]


[1] http://www.energyquest.ca.gov/saving_energy/index.html

How do you consume energy at home and around your neighborhood?

There's no shortage of advice for how to use less energy at home, thus saving both money and the planet. For decades, energy-efficiency advocates have tried to convince Americans to replace incandescent light bulbs with compact-fluorescent ones, use hot water sparingly, wait as long as possible before turning on the A/C, and so on. But not all of these tips are created equal: Some appliances and behaviors use more energy than others. How good a grasp do we have on this crucial information?
Recently, a team of researchers led by Columbia University's Shahzeen Attari surveyed 505 people, recruited via Craigslist in seven U.S. metropolitan areas, to find out. Cursed with poor instincts for energy use, what's an eco-conscious citizen to do? Unfortunately, we're fettered by a dearth of reliable, up-to-date information on appliances' energy use. It's a service that you'd think the Department of Energy, so determined to promote energy efficiency, would provide, but they don't. Neither do big-box retailers with the resources and incentive — energy-efficient appliances typically cost more up-front, but then pay for themselves over time.Our continued national dependence on fossil fuels is creating a dangerous vulnerability to both long-term fuel scarcity and catastrophic climate change.
The current economic crisis requires substantial national policy shifts and enormous new government injections of capital into the economy. This provides an opportunity for a project whose scope would otherwise be inconceivable: a large-scale, fast-track transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy.The share of homes being built in the U.S. with environmentally friendly features jumped to 16% of single-family starts last year from 2% in 2006, says McGraw-Hill Construction, a market-research firm in New York. Fueling the trend, industry officials say, is a desire to save energy at a time of high fuel costs. Indeed, in a recent survey, 93% of builders named increased energy efficiency as an important green practice—far more than cited any other benefit.
"People understand energy efficiency because it's easy to measure," says Michele Russo, director of green content at McGraw-Hill, a unit of McGraw-Hill Cos. "They get that bill all the time."
Green homes generally cost anywhere from 2% to 10% more than a typical home, depending on the features included, though the difference is shrinking. About 4%, or $14,000, of the cost of a $398,000 home purchased last year by Keith and Rebecca Sorensen was for green features, including a solar water heater and added insulation, says Michael Chandler, who built the three-bedroom residence in Chapel Hill, N.C. But the couple says their energy bill has been cut by two-thirds from their previous home. The roughly $200 a month in savings means the Sorensens' green premium will be paid off in about six years.
"We're kind of tree-huggers, if you want to call us that, but I hate spending a lot of money hurting the environment, so sometimes I just go without what i need for a while." says Mr. Sorensen, 38, an accountant.
Many of the latest practices in green building revolve around ways to make homes use less energy. Here's a look at some recent innovations.[1]

[1] http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903461304576524391474712716.html

Reflection

Doing this project has helped me reflect on a lot of things. To how we, the people are damaging the earth and if we don’t start acting now, we may cause damage that is irreversible. If we don’t act now our grandchildren may not be able to see certain animals or maybe even certain plants. Our children’s, children have a greater percent of being born with birth defects and health issues. All the chemicals we inhale and put in our body make our body change and work in different ways. Climate change is not only in America, it’s all over the world. Sadly to say but the countries that contribute less are the ones that are impacted more. Big companies over the world dump their trash in other countries, but it’s not only them who are affected, the winds carry chemicals and it’s traveling all over the world.

We have to act now. We have become a society where our material things mean everything to us. They make us who we are and who were not. We have lost the value of family time. To sit at the dinner table and ask how each other’s day was. New technology comes out every day that helps us do things easier, we have become a lazy society where everything is handed to us and many of us, not all, and we take things for granted. Certain people don’t understand that other countries around the world don’t have free education, and we are fortunate to have it for free (If you want to put it that way. Because the money comes from the taxes we pay)

At first change may not be easy, but In the long run it’s going to benefit everyone. From the simple’s thing to turning off the light when you walk out the room to not having the heater all night or the AC all day, it reduces your bills. You don’t always have to do that, there’s always other solutions. You can move closer to work that way you could take public transportation or maybe even walk, which can help you get in shape.

I’ve come to realize that you don’t always have to buy that new phone or those new shoes, its bout appreciating what you have and take care of it. That includes our water, electricity, our animals, plants, etc. This project has made m want to change myself, for the better. I would not like to be one of the many responsible for our Earths damages. I’m going to change my ways starting from recycling and not throwing everything into one big black bag. In the morning I won’t leave the water running when I’m brushing my teeth and I will take more showers than bath. I will also try to convince my parents and everyone I know to change to light savers bulbs. Changes like these may be little but if everyone does at least two solutions it can help reduce it. It may take time but were doing it for our children and their children. We face a climate catastrophe that will define our generation and the future of our country, and the solutions to this crisis will create jobs and improve public health. So why aren't we acting?

Step 8, Questions !

 What did you learn? 
I learn that we can save energy in many different ways. To conclude, the simplest things can use so much energy such as tv stayingg on , lights being on, things plugged into  the
What were the challenges. Ive also learn that theres a lot of natural resources being used as well and our earth is suffering from all of these changes. pollution is one of the biggest causes of global warming which is something i learn as well. 

I learn about an event called Buy Nothing Day, Which is basically a day consumers evented on black friday to not buy anything. Well try to save money and buy things you NEED not WANT. For examples, instead of buying unneccesary clothing and shoes, buy things that you need such as undergarments, deodrants, etc. I agree with this event because it helps consumers save money and make them realize how much money they are spending.


Sucess? Trying to accomplish some of these things in my own house hold was complicated due to the fact that i was so accostume to leaving things on and using so much power. leaving my charger plugged inside the wall was one of the hardest courses to maintain because im so use to leaving it there and just plugging my phone out of the socket.Turning the television off before i go to sleep was also very hard to maintain because its such a habiet that i have thats so hard to overcome, i will leave the tv on while im sleep in the middle of the night. as well as leaving it on while im in school.
What about the project could be improved? well writing 500 words could have been different maybe 200 words would of been a little easier. =)

Sustainability in school

Everyday we are being introduced to new ways we can save energy and reduce global warming. Schools take up an immense amount energy. We do not only use electrical energy but we consume lots of paper, water, and heating. Schools have lots of computer rooms and most of those computer are always . That right there makes up allot of energy. All the lights that are on in the class room that stay on even if no one is in the room. We can all help reduce energy at our school, like turning off the computers when you leave school. A school computer left on 24 hours a day wastes $224 a year in electricity. We can also recycle the paper. Use the back of papers and not throw them out cause a simple mistake was made.

If you really want to get creative you can ask your teacher if you can start a website engaging climate change and how to help. You can make it count as grade that way you can help and also earn from it. It would be a great learning opportunity and it will show lots of ways you can help in school and in your neighborhood or home.

http://usgovinfo.about.com/library/weekly/blearthday2002.htm

Sustainability at home

Have you ever taken a moment to yourself and thought how much energy you consume at home? Just think how much things you use during the day. Now multiply that by 365 and all the people in the world. That's allot of energy. The activities we do at home can impact our climate change in many ways. To promote sustainability, we must use less energy. Some things we can to consume less energy is turning off the things when we don't need them, turning our thermostats down. Something that n also save you money and help the environment using ceiling fans instead of having the air conditioner a day . Another way is recycling. Lessening the amount of what goes into our landfills can help improve a community's sustainabslity. We need to learn to stop being selfish, we can a live well and but not consume as much. The way things are running we’ll need four the in the next 100 years, but only have one. People need a reality call, but perhaps when they realize it might just be too late and the damages will be irreversible.

Resources:http://www.preservationnation.org/issues/sustainability/?gclid=CNCQ2tbo_awCFWcRNAodZX_FSA

Proposing how to better manage the resources of Sustainability.

 School- When the end of the day come all students should shut down their computers as well as plug the wires out of the socket.
If weren’t using the computers we should leave them off and plugged out.
If you’re not using the classroom you should turn the lights off.

Neighborhood- Everyone on the block should recycle and help the environment. To conclude, be able to clean the environment if you see something outside of the home as in paper, plastic, garbage, etc you should be able to pick these things up and throw it in the trash.

Home- Everyone in your household should turn off the television when it’s not in use, as well as the Radio and Computer, don’t leave your charger on with your phone not plugged in that’s just wasting electricty.

All of these resources of stablilty can effect us in many ways and its our place to help fixs of all these needs because this can cause global warming, and effect us in a very harmful way. To conclude

some natural resources cause pollution which affect the physical environment. by enhancing the pollution because of toxins released when moving the chemicals, it can also cause oil and chemical spills to occur.

Be able to help the environment so we all could live longer and be able to have children. =)