greenerMIAMI QuickTips

Quick and easy things that each Miamian can do to help create a Greener Miami.

In Your Home

General

• Clean or change air conditioning filters regularly. Typically every 1-2 months. Improves efficiency by 5% – 10%.
• Get your Air Conditioning unit checked by a professional every 3 years.
• Set A/C thermostat at 78 F, or as warm as you can stand it. Each degree increase saves 5 – 8% off of your bill.
• Stop Junk Mail.
• Turn off the lights when you leave a room.
• Dust your lightbulbs (when cool) for better efficiency.
• Install a timer on your water heater.
• Use rechargable batteries.
• Use compact fluorescent lightbulbs.
• Don’t leave unnecessary things on standby, such as monitors and stereos. Shut them off completely.
• Unplug chargers when not in use.
• Never pour water down the drain when there could be another use for it such as cleaning or watering plants.

Kitchen

• Don’t open the oven door while cooking! Take a peek using the oven light instead.
• Use dishwasher only when full.
• Don’t pre-wash dishes.
• When it comes time for new appliances, choose Energy Star.
• Clean veggies in a pan filled with water rather than running water. Later, reuse the water for cleaning or watering plants.
• Packing a lunch? Forget the Ziplocs, use a reuseable container instead!

Bathroom

• Change your showerhead for a FREE low-flow one.
• Take shorter showers.
• Shut off the water while brushing your teeth.

Home Office

• Opt for e-bills instead of paper bills.
• Enable power management on your computer so that your monitor will "go to sleep" during periods of inactivity.
• Reuse paper that still has white space available. If it wasn’t printed on both sides, use the back side for scrap.

Laundry Room

• Clean your dryer filter before or after each use.
• Wash clothes in cold water. Hot water uses 90% more energy.

Outside Your Home

• Landscape with native plants.
• Plant a tree. Be sure to plant it in the right place.
• Water only when necessary. Do so only before sunrise or after sunset. Don’t water on windy days.
• Water in several short sessions rather than one long one (three 10-minute waterings spaced 30-minutes apart, as opposed to one 30-minute session).
• Keep mower blades sharp and set high.
• Use a mulching mower to incorporate the clippings back into the earth.
• Paint your home with a light color to reflect the sun.
• Re-roofing? Select a white roof and achieve energy savings of up to 40%.
• Go organic in your home garden.

Transportation

• Carpool.
• Bike, blade, or walk whenever possible.
• Use public transportation.
• Keep your car tuned-up. It will run more efficiently, good for you and the environment.
• Check that your tires are inflated to the proper level, you’ll get better mileage.
• Go slower. You get 15% better gas mileage at 55 mph than at 65 mph.
• Don’t idle. Standing still for 30 seconds uses more gas than shutting off your car and turning it back on.
• Keep your trunk as empty as possible. The extra weight kills gas mileage.

Around Town

• Bring Your Own Bag (BYOB) to the grocery and other stores.
• Pick up litter.
• Buy organic.
• Buy local.

At Work

• Be reluctant to use your printer. Maybe you could just take a quick note on the back of a scrap piece of paper, or write it down in your PDA.