Thought we’ll start out the year with some tips for better home maintenance from the environmental perspective. Given below are the pointers that we came across in the site climatecrisis.org. Clearly it is prepared with the US homes in mind, but some points are quite on target for other countries as well.

1. Cleaning a dirty air filter on your air conditioner can save 350 pounds of carbon dioxide a year.

2. Programmable thermostats will automatically lower the heat or air conditioning at night and raise them again in the morning. They can save you $100 a year on your energy bill.

3. You can save another 550 pounds per year by setting the thermostat no higher than 120 degrees Fahrenheit.

4. You can save 700 pounds of carbon dioxide when you air dry your clothes instead of using a dryer.

5. Even when turned off, things like hairdryers, cell phone chargers and televisions use energy. In fact, the energy used to keep display clocks lit and memory chips working accounts for 5 percent of total domestic energy consumption and spews 18 million tons of carbon into the atmosphere every year!

6. You can save 3,000 pounds of carbon dioxide every year if your new car gets only 3 miles per gallon more than your current one. You can get up to 60 miles per gallon with a hybrid!

7. You can save 100 pounds of carbon dioxide per year if you use your dishwasher only when the load is full.

8. It takes 70 to 90% less energy to make recycled paper and it prevents the loss of forests worldwide. So use recycled paper more.

9. Frozen food uses 10 times more energy to produce. So it is far better to use fresh food than the frozen ones.

10. If just 1% of car owners properly maintain their cars, nearly a billion pounds of carbon dioxide will be kept out of the atmosphere.
    

Psst.. Have a few more pointers with us. But saving that for another day.