A few years ago I jotted down a goal to reduce our environmental impact. I knew it wouldn’t be any small feat since we, like so many Americans, are accustomed to living a wasteful and lavish lifestyle as compared to the rest of the world. Facing the challenge head-on, I set out to look for areas that could be implemented without dramatically altering our routines but still make a positive environmental impact over the long-run. The tips below are the changes we have implemented in the Onkels household and I’m betting you can do the same.

1. SUPPORT REINCARNATION

At the top of the list was my desire to curb some of the waste that goes directly from our home to the landfill. Although the best approach is to reduce your consumption, recycling is the next best thing. I live in an area of Keller, Texas that is serviced by the city of Fort Worth which means we are able to participate in one of the easiest recycling programs on the planet. There is no sorting whatsoever, a free 30-gallon trash cart is provided, and they have some of the most liberal plastic acceptance requirements I’ve ever seen. But even if your city doesn’t offer such a painless recycling program you can still catch a good amount of your waste. Start with just paper, glass, and aluminum and use a few of those 5 gallon orange Home Depot pails you’ve got laying around your garage. If you don’t frequent Home Depot, try a plastic storage tote or even cardboard boxes with a trash can liner. Set these bins up in or near the kitchen area – this is critical as you and your family are not likely to walk into your garage or outside every time something needs to be recycled. When trash day arrives, you’ll have the bare essentials sorted and ready for pickup.

2. FIRE THE MAILMAN

For the record, I’m not anti-postal service, but the process of sending physical paper around the globe these days is absurd to me. Don’t get me wrong, I recognize that not everyone fully embraces digital communications and many people actually enjoy getting mail. What I am suggesting, however, is that you at least make a concerted effort to reduce, or eliminate junk mail. In our household, we’ve shaved off at least 75% of unwanted mail and continue to take steps to increase this figure. Because of the many businesses I run, I still opt for physical bills to be mailed as I rely on a printed copy for taxes but virtually everything else is considered unwanted and I operate like a mail mercenary to get off these lists. The process starts with the major marketing and advertising lists which you can unsubscribe for free using several web-based services (I’ve compiled a list for you below). Beyond that, you’ll need to call your credit card companies and specifically opt out of marketing mailings which include those annoying pre-approved checks. We also called the three phone book suppliers in our area and asked to be removed from their distribution lists. It’s still not perfect and every time I start a new business or make a major purchase, we invariably end up getting postal-spammed but there is noticeable difference from taking no action whatsoever.

3. CRANK UP THE A/C

You heard me right, crank up the A/C. We live in a 3,400 sf house (before you rush to judgment, real estate is ridiculously cheap in Texas). Our two story house uses two relatively efficient air conditioning units that operate on separate circuits. Even with this configuration, portions of our house always end up being too cold or too hot depending on the season. More specifically, my home office which is where I spend 90% of my time is always upside down. I had to crank the upstairs A/C unit much higher than appropriate to achieve the right temperature in my office. After visits from several service companies and an additional ventilation duct, I still couldn’t get the temperature below 80 degrees in the middle of summer. I finally ended up buying a portable air conditioner from Costco and operate it solely in my home office to achieve a comfortable 76 degree environment while the rest of the house (which remains empty during the day) remains at 82 degrees. My energy utilization (and consequently my electric bill) dropped by more than $70 per month during peak periods even though my portable air conditioner ran nearly 8 hours per day. The point of this tip is to think beyond the norm. Each situation is different but don’t think that your only option is to turn down the A/C or heat.

4. PUT ON YOUR APRON

My family is incredibly guilty of eating out too often and only recently begun to consciously embrace home cooking. Beyond the obvious health reasons, home cooking has some added benefits to the environment especially if you make meals that will end up producing leftovers. With two kids, and two working parents, time is never on our side so we have opted to use the crock pot more often than not. With just a bit of pre-planning and prepping of the ingredients, cooking with the crock pot is painless and near foolproof (important for culinary-ignorant guys like me). As an added benefit, the energy usage on a crock pot is similar to running a standard incandescent light bulb so even after 8 hours of cooking, it’s generally more efficient than making the same items in your oven (although how much depends on a variety of factors). Best of all, the ingredients you use to cook often are purchased in bulk form and utilize far less waste than buying individual pre-packaged meals, or eating out at fast food restaurants.

5. RETIRE THOMAS EDISON

As an inventor and entrepreneur myself, I admire Thomas Edison’s ingenuity and tenacity. His invention of the lightbulb revolutionized the industrial world as we know it but even Edison would be stunned to see his work remain virtually unchanged and still in use over a hundred years later. Not long ago CFL (compact fluorescent lightbulbs) were prohibitively expensive but with bulk pricing at stores like Costco, Sams, Home Depot, and Walmart falling below $1.00 a bulb, now is the time to officially retire the incandescent lightbulb in your house. Many people will tell you to focus on your high-wattage, heavily-used locations first but I’m here to tell you right now…just do it all. Bite the bullet, it will probably cost you less than $100 all said and done and but for a very small percentage of your lights, you won’t have to touch them for years – literally. You’ll save money immediately from the reduction in energy usage and lowered heat emission plus feel good about making a visible difference. Gripes like color temperature are no longer issues as warm-colored CFL’s are readily available even at the low prices mentioned above. My biggest energy savings came from our outdoor patio / driveway lights, our kitchen / family room can ceiling lights, and our stairwell bulbs. With just these areas alone, I cut our bulb-to-bulb ratings from 1,890 down to 270 watts.

6. INFLATE YOUR WALLET

My final tip is something we all hear about often but so many people just don’t take it seriously. Inflating your tires is the easiest way you can improve your car’s gas mileage. While other options such as improving your driving technique will yield more impressive results, I don’t classify changing driving habits as “easy”. Powering up a $25 air compressor and filling your tires to their maximum recommended air pressure takes no more than 10 minutes of your time (and I’m being conservative). If you add this to your weekly routine, especially when the weather in your area is fluctuating, you will undoubtedly see tangible results at the pump.

If you’re interested in learning more, I’ve compiled a list of helpful resources below.

Recycling:

• Earth911 – Find recycling centers and tips for your area
• Planet Green – How to Go Green with Recycling
• Ohdeedoh – Interesting canvas recycling bags

Junk Mail Reduction:

• Mailstopper – Service to stop junk mail
• ProQuo – Another service to stop junk mail
• YellowPages Goes Green – Opt out of receiving printed phone books

Portable Air Conditioners:

• Costco – Great prices on portable A/C units

Crock Pot Recipes:

• Crock Cook – Huge repository of recipes
• Recipezaar – Another huge repository of recipes

CFL Bulbs:

• Home Depot – CFL Bulbs
• Lowes – CFL Bulbs

Auto Tire Pressure Tips:

• eHow – Video on the basics of checking tire pressure
• PepBoys – Recommendations on tire air pressure