Relocate Triangle - An Insider's Guide About Moving To The Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill Area

Green Tip of the Week - 1/23

Turn off your screen saver

Turn off your screen saver. Did you know the EPA has estimated that using a computer's "sleep mode" reduces its energy consumption by 60 to 70 percent and, on a large scale, ultimately could save enough electricity each year to power Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine, cut electric bills by $2 billion, and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by the equivalent of five million cars? A screen saver that displays moving images causes your monitor to consume as much electricity as it does in active use. A blank screen saver is only slightly better but that reduces energy consumption by a small amount.

The best screen saver is also the best energy saver: turn off your monitor when you're not using it. The next best idea is to use your computer's power management feature to automatically shut the monitor down when it is not in use.

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Green Tip of the Week - 1/16

Eat Local

In North America, fruits and vegetables travel an average of 1,500 miles before reaching your dinner table. Buying local not only saves energy used to ship produce, but also preserves flavor and nutrients.

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Green Tip of the Week - 1/9

Take shorter showers. Every two minutes in the shower uses as much water as a person in Africa uses for everything - drinking, bathing, cooking, cleaning for a whole day.

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Green Tip of the Week - 1/2

Do not waste staples. 120 tons of steel would be saved if every US office worker used one less staple a day.

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Green Tip of the Week - 12/26

An automatic coffee maker with digital features drain energy all night waiting for the timer to go off. Flip the switch manually and unplug it, saving 34 pounds of CO2. Miscellaneous appliances can be just as guilty as electronics of pumping out the greenhouse carbon dioxide when not in use.

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Green Tip Of The Week - 12/12

Recycle to boost the economy

Recycling creates a net gain in jobs – 5 to 1 over landfill management. The National Recycling Coalition reports that recycling has created 1.1 million jobs, $236 billion in gross annual sales, and $37 billion in annual payroll.

For more information visit www.epa.gov

Green Tip of the Week - 12/12

Use Recycled Paper Napkins

If every household in the US replaced just one package of virgin fiber napkins with 100% recycled ones, we could save 1 million trees.

For more information visit www.nrdc.org

Green Tip of the Week - 12/5

Turn off the tap while you brush your teeth. You’ll conserve up to five gallons of water per day. Throughout the entire United States, the daily savings could add up to more water than is consumed every day in all of New York City.

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Green Tip of the Week - 11/28

Start a compost in your backyard or on your rooftop. By composting organic materials instead of discarding them you are reducing the formulation of methane and leachate in landfills. By using compost you are reducing the need for fertilizers and pesticides that are not by any means environmentally-friendly. Compost soil retains moisture more than regular soil so less water is needed for plants to flourish.

For more information, visit: http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/non-hw/composting/benefits.htm

Green Tip of the Week - 11/21

At the movies

Share your popcorn when you’re at the movies instead of buying multiple cartons or bags. You’ll save money and packaging. Americans today consume seventeen billion quarts of popcorn each year (54 quarts per person), 30 percent of which are eaten at movie theaters, sporting events, entertainment arenas, amusement parks, and other recreational centers. If half the people shared their popcorn, we could save the paper packaging for more than 2.5 billion quart-size servings.

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