Posts by: orrin

Let the sunshine in!

Who knew that the song from Hair is also a great energy tip for the winter months? If you are like much of the country and hunkering down in the midst of a wee nip in the air, then be sure that you are making the most of what little sun there might be to warm your home. Try opening… read more →

Energy Tip #21: veggie for a week

"Eat your veggies." Who knew that mothers everywhere were really advocating a low-carbon lifestyle? Many environmentalists and health conscious citizens have committed themselves to structuring their diet on vegetarian foods. Others, such as myself, have forayed from time to time into the no meat zone without lasting particularly long. Regardless of individuals' reasons for going veggie or how long they… read more →

Energy Tip #20: Lint be gone

Sometimes in life, if you try to dress up something that just isn't "all that," you end up fooling nobody. So this week's tip -- straighten and clean the air ducts on your dryer -- isn't going to get sexified. Maybe straightening and cleaning your air ducts seems like a hassle, but sometimes small, inconvenient steps can have a measurable… read more →

Energy Tip #19: Regulate home temperature

Simple solutions are always attractive. And it doesn't get much simpler than turning down the thermostat to save some money and CO2, right? Well, say hello to the programmable thermostat, which combines the drama of temperature control with the thrill of programming a VCR (if this is even done anymore in an age of TiVos, DVDs, and YouTube). Given the… read more →

Energy Tip #18: Follow the speed limit

From James Dean to The Fast and the Furious to Herbie Goes Bananas, racing has long been an iconic Hollywood staple in which the 'pedal to the metal' mentality is consistently glorified. However, if you like to leave fellow drivers in you wake, you might be interested in knowing that you can save $17-67 (plus a few hundred bucks in… read more →

Energy Tip# 17: wash and rinse in cold water

Congratulations to TerraPass tip readers who earned some coverage this week in Time magazine. How do you easily save 1% on national CO2 emissions as well as over $3 billion in energy costs? According to some studies, this could happen if we all simply wash our clothes in cold water. Most of us are unaware of the full extent of… read more →

Energy tip #16: solar thermal energy for your home

There has been much in the news lately (and on this blog) about the potential of solar power. From Google's solar panels to Gov. Schwarzenegger's speech at the 2006 Solar conference, it seems solar has arrived onto the scene in a big way. While much of the focus has been on the photovoltaic variety, there is a low tech solar… read more →

Energy tip #15: Insulate your home

Wool you or won't you? All puns aside, don't be sheepish about insulation. With fall here and winter quickly approaching, some seasonal preparations could help turn your heat-hemorrhaging home into a model of efficiency and conservation. How? By giving your attic and walls a winter coat of fiberglass, mineral wool, recycled cotton, or even vegetable-based foam. Insulation can come in… read more →
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