Gotta tip you want to share with Sarah and the Go Green Ride at Five? Email her: sarah@921wvtk.com!
Here Sarah's groovy green tips for Mon, January 10th:
• My Daughter, Emily, came up with a water saving plan that she puts to use in the shower. Turning off the water while you wash and condition your hair saves gallons of water! She’s a smart kid!
• Putting a few more raw foods into your diet means less cooking and less energy used! Don’t just save the cut veggies and dip platter for company, make it part of the family meal! Heck, raw is the only way my nephew eats his veggies! There’s usually a bunch of dip involved…
Did you know that winter is the time of year that we use the most air freshener? Think about it, windows are closed, shoes are often sitting, wet, in the mud room, the smell of that alone, could convince the cat to put himself out! Those air fresheners add up in your at- home environment in the form of chemicals. Chemicals that you and your family are breathing in minute by minute. Don’t despair, there are all-natural ways to combat the smell of Junior’s sweaty snowboots and your youngest child’s last diaper change. You can purchase these products online, or at merchants like Vermont Soap in Middlebury. You can also use fresh plants and flowers strategically placed around the house to absorb some of these odors. Amarillis, we found out recently is a very potent flower. They’re seasonal, available around the holidays, so you can probably still find them locally. You buy the bulbs, put them in a dish with rocks or marbles and soak them in water. They bloom pretty quickly—it took ours about a week and a half. Their aroma pretty much overruled any other in our home, including the diapers. What you pay for air freshener can just be applied to plant and flower maintenance…you’ll almost break even and any additional spent is well worth the knowledge that the air in your home is fresh and chemical free. This is the Go Green Ride at Five on 92.1 WVTK!
Monday, January 10, 2011
Friday, January 7, 2011
Go Green Tips for January 7th
Gotta tip you want to share with Sarah and the Go Green Ride at Five? Email her: sarah@921wvtk.com!
Here Sarah's groovy green tips for Fri, January 7th:
• Washing your clothes in cold water, as opposed to warm or hot will save you energy in the long run. Most of today’s detergents are meant for cold water wash, anyway, so I can promise you won’t notice the difference, except in your electric bill!
• Paul in Bristol emailed me with this great tip to save energy: The rule of his house is only one light turned on in a room at a time. He admits, though, that there exceptions to that rule, like when his wife dropped one of her expensive diamond earrings. The search for that required every light in the house!
This week, we’ve been talking about ways to contradict the CVPS rate hike effective this week. Here’s some great stats that I pulled from another informative website: willyoujoinus.com. If you use a CFL in place of one lightbulb this year, you’ll save enough energy to play a video game for two hundred and one hours (not that I’d encourage that, unless it’s a wii, those things are a blast!) or if one hundred people joined you in replacing that one lightbulb, you could power six traffic lights for a year. And all it took was one lightbulb. Here’s another: I gave you the tip about washing your clothes in cold water earlier in the show. If you wash just one load in cold water instead of hot you usually use, you could save enough energy to read 42 emails OR if you found one thousand friends to join us, we could power a fire station for two whole weeks. That’s what I call an impact and all it started with was one load of laundry. Now, perhaps you’re one of the lucky ones, who can afford a higher electric bill. For the rest of us, though, the CVPS rate hike just isn’t in the family budget. My New Year’s Resolution this year? To not only keep my bill status quo, I’m after a bigger prize, it’s going down, baby, lower than it’s ever been. How will I do it? Small steps to add up to a big impact. This is the Go Green Ride at Five on 92.1 WVTK!
Here Sarah's groovy green tips for Fri, January 7th:
• Washing your clothes in cold water, as opposed to warm or hot will save you energy in the long run. Most of today’s detergents are meant for cold water wash, anyway, so I can promise you won’t notice the difference, except in your electric bill!
• Paul in Bristol emailed me with this great tip to save energy: The rule of his house is only one light turned on in a room at a time. He admits, though, that there exceptions to that rule, like when his wife dropped one of her expensive diamond earrings. The search for that required every light in the house!
This week, we’ve been talking about ways to contradict the CVPS rate hike effective this week. Here’s some great stats that I pulled from another informative website: willyoujoinus.com. If you use a CFL in place of one lightbulb this year, you’ll save enough energy to play a video game for two hundred and one hours (not that I’d encourage that, unless it’s a wii, those things are a blast!) or if one hundred people joined you in replacing that one lightbulb, you could power six traffic lights for a year. And all it took was one lightbulb. Here’s another: I gave you the tip about washing your clothes in cold water earlier in the show. If you wash just one load in cold water instead of hot you usually use, you could save enough energy to read 42 emails OR if you found one thousand friends to join us, we could power a fire station for two whole weeks. That’s what I call an impact and all it started with was one load of laundry. Now, perhaps you’re one of the lucky ones, who can afford a higher electric bill. For the rest of us, though, the CVPS rate hike just isn’t in the family budget. My New Year’s Resolution this year? To not only keep my bill status quo, I’m after a bigger prize, it’s going down, baby, lower than it’s ever been. How will I do it? Small steps to add up to a big impact. This is the Go Green Ride at Five on 92.1 WVTK!
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Go Green Tips for January 6th
Gotta tip you want to share with Sarah and the Go Green Ride at Five? Email her: sarah@921wvtk.com!
Here Sarah's groovy green tips for Thursday, January 6th:
• Unplugging your appliances is a great way to save energy, but it can get tedious. In that case, everything plugged into a power strip with an off switch will also save you tons of phantom energy. Inexpensive power strips are available at your local hardware.
This week, we’re talking about ways to contradict the CVPS rate hike effective this week. A great place to visit on the web when you’re looking for ways to save energy is www.energysavers.gov. Super tips and great information about everything you ever needed to know about power usage, but were afraid to ask! It’s bookmarked on my PC!
Revisiting a tip we’ve talked about before, but now that we’re deep into the winter chill, here’s gentle reminder to keep an eye out for leaks. Windows and doors can rob you of your warm air if they’re not sealed properly. A tube of caulk can handle a big job when it comes to sealing areas around outdoor accesses. Buy some plastic wrap sealer from your local hardware. It’s cheap and easy to install over those older windows that you just can’t afford to replace, yet. Not only that, it’s invisible unless you’re standing right next to it. After taking the time to seal those leaks, you’ll be surprised at the difference, not only in the temperature of your home, but also in the cost of heating it. Just one more way to make sure that electric bill stays manageable despite the rate hike. Staying toasty and flush on the Go Green Ride at Five on 92.1 WVTK!
Here Sarah's groovy green tips for Thursday, January 6th:
• Unplugging your appliances is a great way to save energy, but it can get tedious. In that case, everything plugged into a power strip with an off switch will also save you tons of phantom energy. Inexpensive power strips are available at your local hardware.
This week, we’re talking about ways to contradict the CVPS rate hike effective this week. A great place to visit on the web when you’re looking for ways to save energy is www.energysavers.gov. Super tips and great information about everything you ever needed to know about power usage, but were afraid to ask! It’s bookmarked on my PC!
Revisiting a tip we’ve talked about before, but now that we’re deep into the winter chill, here’s gentle reminder to keep an eye out for leaks. Windows and doors can rob you of your warm air if they’re not sealed properly. A tube of caulk can handle a big job when it comes to sealing areas around outdoor accesses. Buy some plastic wrap sealer from your local hardware. It’s cheap and easy to install over those older windows that you just can’t afford to replace, yet. Not only that, it’s invisible unless you’re standing right next to it. After taking the time to seal those leaks, you’ll be surprised at the difference, not only in the temperature of your home, but also in the cost of heating it. Just one more way to make sure that electric bill stays manageable despite the rate hike. Staying toasty and flush on the Go Green Ride at Five on 92.1 WVTK!
Go Green Tips for January 5th
Gotta tip you want to share with Sarah and the Go Green Ride at Five? Email her: sarah@921wvtk.com!
Here Sarah's groovy green tips for Wednesday, January 5th:
• Saving energy can be easy when you’ve changed out all of your lights for CFL’s or LED’s. They run cooler and longer and use a lot less energy!
• Careful when purchasing CFL’s and LED’s, you usually get what you pay for. If it’s cheap, it won’t stand the test of time, unfortunately. But the investment in a quality product is worth it’s weight in gold!
This week, we’re talking about ways to contradict the CVPS rate hike effective this week. Here’s your reality check (cha ching!) If you lower your thermostat on your water heater by one degree this year, you’ll save enough energy to surf the web for thirty three hours. My daughter’s on Facebook for at least that long over a course of just a weekend! AND if one thousand people joined you, we could power a local school for 6 school days. My point? It all adds up, every light switched off, everytime you unplug that appliance before leaving the house for the day; that one small step, when multiplied with others, can make the impact. You can counter the rate hike, if you’re willing to just open your eyes a bit wider to notice the extra lights on in the room that you really don’t need; or that computer that’s sitting there waiting for someone to notice it’s still running, long after your child has switched from Skype chat to cell phone. One more: if you skip using the blow drier one day this month you could save enough energy to run your fish tank for two days, and if one hundred people joined you, we could, for one whole year, power 51 office computers. Yes sir, powering down on the Go Green Ride at Five on 92.1 WVTK!
Here Sarah's groovy green tips for Wednesday, January 5th:
• Saving energy can be easy when you’ve changed out all of your lights for CFL’s or LED’s. They run cooler and longer and use a lot less energy!
• Careful when purchasing CFL’s and LED’s, you usually get what you pay for. If it’s cheap, it won’t stand the test of time, unfortunately. But the investment in a quality product is worth it’s weight in gold!
This week, we’re talking about ways to contradict the CVPS rate hike effective this week. Here’s your reality check (cha ching!) If you lower your thermostat on your water heater by one degree this year, you’ll save enough energy to surf the web for thirty three hours. My daughter’s on Facebook for at least that long over a course of just a weekend! AND if one thousand people joined you, we could power a local school for 6 school days. My point? It all adds up, every light switched off, everytime you unplug that appliance before leaving the house for the day; that one small step, when multiplied with others, can make the impact. You can counter the rate hike, if you’re willing to just open your eyes a bit wider to notice the extra lights on in the room that you really don’t need; or that computer that’s sitting there waiting for someone to notice it’s still running, long after your child has switched from Skype chat to cell phone. One more: if you skip using the blow drier one day this month you could save enough energy to run your fish tank for two days, and if one hundred people joined you, we could, for one whole year, power 51 office computers. Yes sir, powering down on the Go Green Ride at Five on 92.1 WVTK!
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Go Green Tips for January 4th
Gotta tip you want to share with Sarah and the Go Green Ride at Five? Email her: sarah@921wvtk.com!
Here Sarah's groovy green tips for Tuesday, January 4th:
• If you thaw frozen food before cooking, you’ll take about 15 minutes off your cook time and save energy.
• Your drier will be more effective if you make sure to check the lint filter before each use. Clothes will dry quicker and the drier will run less.
Talking this week about ways we can counter the impending rise of our electric bills pending the recent rate hike by CVPS. To be fair, I do have say that according to the Edison Electric Institute, what we pay for electricity is substantially lower than other areas in New England. Here’s an inflation reality check: our power bills have increased by 20.8% since 1999. And we’re not alone. Other Vermont utilities have received rate increases ranging from 3.11 % to as much as 30.76 % in the past eight months. Whatever small comfort you derive from that…more power to you (no pun intended). So, the first step is a family meeting. We did ours yesterday. It’s time to put everyone on the same page. Now, I’m not talking about the “we don’t own the power company” lecture, unless your intent is to put them to sleep. Instead, a straight talk about what the power increase means to everyone whether it’s limiting the amount of time spent on the computer, or perhaps installing a surcharge for lights left on. My Dad’s idea, he put one in place when I was a teenager. I pretty much ended up handing my allowance right back to him the first month! It taught me to be more aware, that’s for sure! Lesson learned on the Go Green Ride at Five on 92.1 WVTK!
Here Sarah's groovy green tips for Tuesday, January 4th:
• If you thaw frozen food before cooking, you’ll take about 15 minutes off your cook time and save energy.
• Your drier will be more effective if you make sure to check the lint filter before each use. Clothes will dry quicker and the drier will run less.
Talking this week about ways we can counter the impending rise of our electric bills pending the recent rate hike by CVPS. To be fair, I do have say that according to the Edison Electric Institute, what we pay for electricity is substantially lower than other areas in New England. Here’s an inflation reality check: our power bills have increased by 20.8% since 1999. And we’re not alone. Other Vermont utilities have received rate increases ranging from 3.11 % to as much as 30.76 % in the past eight months. Whatever small comfort you derive from that…more power to you (no pun intended). So, the first step is a family meeting. We did ours yesterday. It’s time to put everyone on the same page. Now, I’m not talking about the “we don’t own the power company” lecture, unless your intent is to put them to sleep. Instead, a straight talk about what the power increase means to everyone whether it’s limiting the amount of time spent on the computer, or perhaps installing a surcharge for lights left on. My Dad’s idea, he put one in place when I was a teenager. I pretty much ended up handing my allowance right back to him the first month! It taught me to be more aware, that’s for sure! Lesson learned on the Go Green Ride at Five on 92.1 WVTK!
Monday, January 3, 2011
Go Green Tips for January 3, 2011...Happy New Year!!!!
Happy New Year from 92.1 WVTK's Go Green Ride at Five with Sarah Stone!!!
Gotta tip you want to share with Sarah and the Go Green Ride at Five? Email her: sarah@921wvtk.com!
Here Sarah's groovy green tips for Monday, January 3rd:
• Winter means more electricity usage! One way to cut back is to run the drier a bit less. Take advantage of wood stoves and fireplaces by hanging up that laundry by the fire. I love how it makes my clothes smell! Can you do all your laundry this way…no. But a few less articles in the drier, is a few steps in the right direction!
It’s 2011 and I think I’m still in shock. Anyone else feel this way? I don’t know what makes this particular year such a shock to my senses. Perhaps it’s the finish of the first decade of the millennium? That could be it. Coming soon to a 2011 electric bill near you will be the latest CVPS rate hike. I just got the news that it was approved by the Vermont Public Service Board to the tune of seven point four six percent effective as of Tuesday’s bill. Now, under this rate change, a residential customer using 500 kilowatt-hours per month would experience a $5.77 increase on their bill, from $78. 11 to $83.88. For my husband and I who live in a modest home, that increase will be a bit more. Last month our electric bill was $280., and that’s with heating our home. Usually, as a family of four, we use about 800 kilowatt hours. I consider that the norm after speaking with a few friends. Next month, I expect a twenty dollar or so increase. I consider that an “ouch”. So, thanks to the immediate change in my electric bill, my New Year’s resolution? You guessed it! Trying to keep our power usage down even further than what we might have been achieving before. If my daughter once considered me the light-switch-sheriff, she ain’t seen nothin’ yet! We’ll be talking all this week about ways we can keep “paying the electric bill” an obtainable objective. Powering down on the Go Green Ride at Five on 92.1 WVTK!
Gotta tip you want to share with Sarah and the Go Green Ride at Five? Email her: sarah@921wvtk.com!
Here Sarah's groovy green tips for Monday, January 3rd:
• Winter means more electricity usage! One way to cut back is to run the drier a bit less. Take advantage of wood stoves and fireplaces by hanging up that laundry by the fire. I love how it makes my clothes smell! Can you do all your laundry this way…no. But a few less articles in the drier, is a few steps in the right direction!
It’s 2011 and I think I’m still in shock. Anyone else feel this way? I don’t know what makes this particular year such a shock to my senses. Perhaps it’s the finish of the first decade of the millennium? That could be it. Coming soon to a 2011 electric bill near you will be the latest CVPS rate hike. I just got the news that it was approved by the Vermont Public Service Board to the tune of seven point four six percent effective as of Tuesday’s bill. Now, under this rate change, a residential customer using 500 kilowatt-hours per month would experience a $5.77 increase on their bill, from $78. 11 to $83.88. For my husband and I who live in a modest home, that increase will be a bit more. Last month our electric bill was $280., and that’s with heating our home. Usually, as a family of four, we use about 800 kilowatt hours. I consider that the norm after speaking with a few friends. Next month, I expect a twenty dollar or so increase. I consider that an “ouch”. So, thanks to the immediate change in my electric bill, my New Year’s resolution? You guessed it! Trying to keep our power usage down even further than what we might have been achieving before. If my daughter once considered me the light-switch-sheriff, she ain’t seen nothin’ yet! We’ll be talking all this week about ways we can keep “paying the electric bill” an obtainable objective. Powering down on the Go Green Ride at Five on 92.1 WVTK!
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Go Green Tips for December 21st
Gotta tip you want to share with Sarah and the Go Green Ride at Five? Email her: sarah@921wvtk.com!
Here Sarah's groovy green tips for Tuesday, December 21st:
• Want a great last minute gift? How about a membership to the Middlebury Natural Foods Co-op? It enables them to a discount not only at the Co-op, but also at several other venues around town. A membership at the co-op encourages the thought of buying local!
So, with three and a half shopping days left, how are you doing with getting ready for the impending holiday? If it makes you feel better, I’m no where near done. AND I’m not sure when I’m going to make that miracle happen. Too bad I can’t just do a donation to my fourteen year old’s favorite charity. Teenagers don’t appreciate that kind of thing! One thing is for sure, after the big day comes and goes, all that giving will give way to one heck of a lot of waste. Wrapping paper, holiday cards, left overs, packaging, the tree…oh, I think I’ll stop there. What to do with it all? Tempting though it may be to shove it all into a garbage bag to put out to the curb, please, go through it carefully, because so much of it can be recycled. A good source of advice on what to do with all that left over holiday “fru-fru”, check out this website: addisoncountyrecycles.org. It offers an incredibly comprehensive list of everything on your Christmas garbage list. For example, the tree: you can arrange to have your tree picked up curbside, and on this website, they provide the number to call! I’ll post it up on my blog at 921wvtk.com if you’d like to click for the link at addisoncountyrecycles.org. Happy Holiday recycling on the Go Green Ride at Five on 92.1 WVTK!
Here Sarah's groovy green tips for Tuesday, December 21st:
• Want a great last minute gift? How about a membership to the Middlebury Natural Foods Co-op? It enables them to a discount not only at the Co-op, but also at several other venues around town. A membership at the co-op encourages the thought of buying local!
So, with three and a half shopping days left, how are you doing with getting ready for the impending holiday? If it makes you feel better, I’m no where near done. AND I’m not sure when I’m going to make that miracle happen. Too bad I can’t just do a donation to my fourteen year old’s favorite charity. Teenagers don’t appreciate that kind of thing! One thing is for sure, after the big day comes and goes, all that giving will give way to one heck of a lot of waste. Wrapping paper, holiday cards, left overs, packaging, the tree…oh, I think I’ll stop there. What to do with it all? Tempting though it may be to shove it all into a garbage bag to put out to the curb, please, go through it carefully, because so much of it can be recycled. A good source of advice on what to do with all that left over holiday “fru-fru”, check out this website: addisoncountyrecycles.org. It offers an incredibly comprehensive list of everything on your Christmas garbage list. For example, the tree: you can arrange to have your tree picked up curbside, and on this website, they provide the number to call! I’ll post it up on my blog at 921wvtk.com if you’d like to click for the link at addisoncountyrecycles.org. Happy Holiday recycling on the Go Green Ride at Five on 92.1 WVTK!
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