Can “going green” give you more greenbacks? Here are some earth-saving, and wallet-saving tips courtesy financial planner David Bach (the guy who made “latte factor” a phrase).
• $50 per year on your energy bill by buying an EPA “Energy Starâ€-rated washing machine—and cutting your water use by 7,000 gallons a year at the same time
• $72 a year on your water bill by turning off the faucet while brushing your teeth, installing low-flow showerheads, and buying a dual-flush toilet (conserving 9,200 gallons of water)
• 30% on energy bills by getting an energy audit (reducing CO2 emissions by 9,545 pounds a year)
• $798 a year in gas by keeping your car well maintained (while keeping 5,800 pounds of CO2 out of the air each year)
• up to a third on many groceries by buying in bulk (helping reduce the 80 million tons of packaging that ends up in landfills each year)
• $40 annually by switching to recycled toilet paper (if we all did this, we would save 19 million trees a year) and $45 over the lifetime of a light bulb by switching to Compact Fluorescent Bulbs (CFLs)
• $94 a year on electric bills by buying a $35 power strip and eliminating the energy drain known as “phantom load†that accounts for 5 to 15 percent of your monthly electricity bill
• $8,580 a year by ditching one car completely
• $215 a year by using public transportation instead of a car for just one errand a week (if we all did this, we would collectively reduce carbon emissions by 149 million tons)
Just think what would happen if you invested the difference… for more similarly-themed ideas, check out Bach’s book: Go Green Live Rich.
Happy Earth Day! Discuss your earth-friendly, wallet-friendly tips at the Geezeo group Greentrees.
photograph: Lisa Solonynko
