By Mia Sell
By and large, the BIGGEST contributor to climate change is the production of energy. Whether it’s for keeping your dorm’s fairy lights on or producing the gasoline your Uber driver pumps into their car, we as Americans consume a lot of energy. As the challenge of climate change grows greater, here are a few important tips to reduce your consumption of energy.
- Use fewer batteries.
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Everyone knows that turning off lights when you leave the room reduces energy use. It’s also important to turn off devices that use non-rechargeable batteries when they’re not in use. Batteries require immense amounts of energy to produce so using fewer or switching to rechargeable batteries will help reduce production—and it’ll keep toxic batteries out of the landfill.
- Take cooler showers.
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Hot showers are not only bad for your skin, they’re also bad for the environment. Water heaters have to work overtime to keep up with the demand to churn out gallons of hot water every time you shower. Even reducing the temperature a few degrees significantly cuts the energy your water heater has to use.
- Pick up biking.
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Surprisingly, biking is the most energy efficient way of traveling, and there’s no need to pay for an Uber when you need to get to West from CAS. The energy used to produce the bike is negligible when compared with the energy cars have to use. Especially if you’re impatient like me, biking is the fastest way to get around.
- Reduce your screen time.
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Charging all of your devices takes energy too. Especially when you have to charge your phone, computer, tablet, and Fitbit all at once. Using these devices a little less when possible means you’ll save energy on charging, and you’ll be able to reconnect with the real world.
- Do your laundry only when you really need to.
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Washers and driers use a surprising amount of energy, especially older machines. By washing your clothes (on cold of course) only when absolutely necessary, you save energy that the washers would be expending. Finally, a good excuse to procrastinate!
Energy production is the greatest producer of the greenhouse gasses that cause climate change. By reducing your personal use of electricity, power plants have to convert less energy. It’s a win-win.
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