Whether you’re traveling, baking fruitcake or throwing a great party, the holidays can be a time when our energy use escalates. Fortunately, there are some pretty easy ways to save energy during the holidays.
1. Use LED lights.
You’ve got a gorgeous tree and you want to make it sparkle. Pick up a strand a strand of LED lights instead of traditional bulbs. They only use about one-tenth the amount of energy as their incandescent counterparts, last a long time and are virtually maintenance free.
2. Now turn them off.
Add a timer to your lights on your tree. You can program them to come on at dusk and twinkle for a few hours. This way, even if you have too much eggnog, you won’t forget to turn them off overnight.
3. Check the thermostat.
If you’re roasting chestnuts on an open fire, then adjust the thermostat accordingly. Even adjusting the heat by a few degrees can make a big difference. And though it might not make sense, opening the nearest window to the fireplace will allow it to draw colder air from the outside rather than drawing in already heated air. Depending on the size of your family gathering or party, you could probably do without any heat at all. All those extra bodies means extra heat.
4. Send ecards.
Many of you will frown at the idea of skipping such a lovely holiday tradition, but skipping sending holiday cards is a great way to reduce energy. Fewer cards means less paper, and there are plenty of free ecards available.
Do you have any energy saving tips of your own? Share them with us!
[Image: lights. Photo credit: jgarber/Flickr via a Creative Commons license]
For my Eco friendly holidays, I am using origami wrapping style so I do not use tape. My gifts (or rather supplies to make it) this year are all bought locally. I am creating sort of a gift basket with dried soup mixture for my recipient’s lazy days, knitted hand towels to urge them to go without paper towels, and knitted shopping bags to rid the use of plastic bags. Also including diabetic friendly cookies, brownies and other snacks.
This year I used thrift store sweaters to make stockings for everyone in my family. ($2 for more than 30 gifts). I’m filling those stocking with homemade gifts such as bath salts and treats. To wrap everything up, I’m putting the gifts in the stockings, then folding the toe of the stocking into the opening and adding a ribbon and bow – voila! Beautifully wrapped present. with zero actual wrapping! I’m so excited for Christmas!
This Thanksgiving, we’re foregoing the usual supermarket butterball turkey in favor of a turkey raised on a nearby farm and sold at our local Amish farmers market. We’re even kicking it up a notch by serving local wines and cheeses as pre-feast nibbles.