5.10.5.10 Principles into Practice

Reducing your use of water, energy and minerals, and caring for the natural environment.

Click to jump to:

• PC users: forget your screen - save the planet.
  
• Personal Greenhouse Budget
  
• Reducing your daily mains water consumption.
  HOT FLUSH The New Toiletiquette for 21st Century Households
  
• Living Ethically and Sustainably.  If you have ever wondered if your lifestyle choices can make a difference, explore this site   www.leas.green.net.au/index.htm

PC users: forget your screen - save the planet.

Do you know how much it costs to run your PC? Lots! It costs money and has a negative environmental impact because of the generation of the electricity required. Screen savers do not reduce the power consumption of a computer monitor unless they actually turn the monitor off.

If you leave your screen saver running, it takes as much power as running your PC when you are doing work. If you power off the PC but don't turn off at the powerpoint, it is still using 8 watts of power overnight. The 8 watts used overnight is not a lot, but is wasted energy which adds up over time. Switching the machine off at the power point every night would save 54 kW of electricity per year and keep another 52 kg of CO2 from being emitted. These amounts can be multiplied by thousands to account for all the computers in Oz which are powered down but left switched on at the power point overnight.

A computer and monitor left on for a year generate the same amount of CO2 as a car travelling from Sydney to Perth. Monitors account for around 80% of the energy consumption of a typical computer and monitor combination.

In summary, turn off your PC rather than permit an extended period of inactivity.
Other useful info about the environmental effect of office equipment is available at http://www.energystar.gov.au/. Look for the Energy Star rating next time you are looking for office equipment.

Know what else?

• Printers spend approximately 95% of their time sitting idle.
  
• Fax machines are often left on continually, but their actual use
  time is about 1 hour per day.
  
• Many household devices consume energy even when they are
  turned off. Remote controlled appliances and appliances with electronic
  displays all use some power when not in use. Switching off devices at the
  power point when you are going away for a long period of time (eg overnight and/or on holiday) will save some of this "phantom" energy consumption.

Personal Greenhouse Budget

Are you interested in seeing how much greenhouse gases are emitted to support your life? Do you want to compare yourself to the average Australian? Or the average person in India? Do you want to know what is your "fair share" of global greenhouse gas emissions? This site enables you to calculate your personal greenhouse emissions budget.

Reducing your daily mains water consumption.
Mains water consumption can be reduced through the use of readily available devices and systems such as:

• rainwater tanks
  
• “Rainsaver” guttering
  
• moisture-controlled irrigation systems and
  
• water-conserving shower heads, washing machines and dishwashers

The New Toiletiquette for 21st Century Households
(FairShare International Inc takes a poetic stand, 5.10.5.10.)

Mind Your Pees and Poos

How many pees make a poo?
Two, or even three will do.
If it's pee, then let it be.
But if it's poo...
STRAIGHT DOWN THE LOO!

(Don't be a bunny when you use the dunny.
Save WATER. Save the ENVIRONMENT.)

Watermark Australia

Australians use too much water; we need to use it more efficiently.

Watermark Australia has lots of information about water use in Australia, and what we can do, as householders, as farmers, as businesses, and as a country, to reduce our water use.

The Watershed

If you live anywhere near Newtown in Sydney, NSW, the Watershed Sustainability Resource Centre seems like a great place to learn about living sustainably at a very down-to-earth level. In particular, they run 2-hour courses on:

• Worm Farming and Composting
• Rainwater and Greywater
• Natural Cleaning (for you, for your baby, and for your home)
• Ecological Choices for Sustainable Living