As an inquisitive environmentalist, I’m always trying to learn more about what I can do to help the planet. This column will be an ongoing list of tips and tricks that any college student can employ to lessen their impact on the environment.
With all of these tips the important thing to remember is that though they might seem insignificant, it is about getting into the habit of daily activity that will make the difference. Getting one person to recycle one bottle might not make a big impact, but if we can get a thousand people to recycle every day, then we’d start to see a change.
For the first tip I want to address one of the easiest ways we can reduce our energy consumption at home and at school. I’m talking about combating vampire energy. Vampire Energy, also known as standby energy, is a term that refers to energy that is consumed when appliances and electronics are in idle mode.
Take your cell phone charger for example. When it’s plugged in, even when your phone isn’t charging, it still draws power. Though the amount of energy that is eaten up by unused, plugged in appliances is relatively small, it can quickly add up. Think of all the different appliances you have plugged in at home and times it over the course of a year.
According to one Web site on energy consumption, vampire energy costs America almost $4 billion annually. It accounts for 1 percent of the nation’s carbon emissions. That’s a lot of energy considering it’s from just appliances sitting around not being used.
And cell phones are just the tip of the energy iceberg. TVs, computers and microwaves use up way more energy, just while sitting there. It’s wasted through simple idling.
So what can be done? First and foremost, you can start unplugging your appliances. Just remembering everyday to unplug your cell phone charger, TV or laptop will save a percent of that energy.
The next step would be investing in EnergyStar appliances. These energy efficient machines can help reduce your idling energy up to 70 percent, according to the EnergyStar website.
Another really simple action we all could take right now is to remove the screensaver from our computer. Like many of us I was raised to believe a screensaver was helping the computer save energy. The truth is screensavers prevent the computer from entering its full idle mode.
If you are leaving your computer for an extended period of time, 20 minutes or more, turn off your computer. Following that put the computer into rest mode and shut off your monitor.
You might not notice the drop in your electricity bills, but on the large scale, if groups of people start this action, then we can see a difference. This advice could reduce carbon emissions by half a percent nationally, or the same as removing 18 million cars from the roads.
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