Here are the twelve finalists in Slate's energy saving contest: Vote for your favorite!
- Whole house fan for cooling
- Waster-water heat exchanger
- Additional insulation
- Energy audits
- White paint
- Water heater timer
- Less frequent clothes washing
- Replace lawns with native plants
- Live in cities
- Low cost solar shingle
- Air dry
- Maintain…
Many thanks to Daniel Gross of Slate online magazine for launching a call for suggestions on how to save energy in the home.
He'll showcase the best ideas at the end of March, and promises to LIVE BY THEM.
Categories include :
•Personal behavior. What can I do—in a non-obsessive way—that will best reduce my energy use without ruining my life? (You could, for example, suggest that I turn the heat off entirely, but that’s not realistic.) How much can be gained just by making marginal—not radical—changes?
•Software. I’d like to outsource as much energy saving as possible to smarter technology. For example, you could tell me the absolute best, easiest way to program a thermostat.
•Hardware. What capital investments should I make that will save me the most energy and money? (A particularly interesting related question: What is the best way to take advantage of tax credits to defray that spending?)
• Information. What information should my utility company (or others) be sharing with me that will spur me to use less energy?
But you can also add your own.
Here are some of the ideas submitted so far:
1. lose the lawn, use plants that don't need watering
2. wash and dry clothes less
3. Create a low cost solar shingle
4.Air dry
5. Close the blinds (works against heat or cold)
6. Live in cities, apartments
7. Sleep more!
8. Heat your room, not the whole house
9. Replace electric water heaters with propane heaters
10. What is your idea?
