You’ve probably heard that lowering your carbon footprint is the “green” thing to do but you might not know why or even how to do that. At first glance, it seems like doing so could be really expensive or cause you to make some significant lifestyle changes that you might not be ready for. The truth is, that there are quite a few little things you can do to reduce your carbon footprint that won’t cost a thing or impact your lifestyle.

But first, why even bother? I mean, surely any little thing you can do would be so miniscule that it wouldn’t matter much, right? Wrong! The truth is that even little things can have a big impact over time and if each one of us just makes a few little changes the amount of carbon being released into the atmosphere would be much lower and the planet much “greener”.

Sure, a lot of the things you can do require expensive purchases and a bit of planning, but here are 6 things you can do right now, without having to buy a thing!

6 Things You Can Do Today To Reduce Your Carbon Footprint

1. Adjust Your Heating / Air Conditioner Settings

One thing you can do without causing yourself too much discomfort and which will actually save you money is to keep your house a little cooler in winter and a little warmer in summer. Just a couple of degrees can save almost 2000 pounds of carbon dioxide from going into the air and can also save you around $100 a year in your heating or electric bill. When you think of it, 2 degrees warmer or colder really isn’t that much and will barely impact your comfort level.

2. Don’t Use So Much Hot Water

It takes a lot of energy to heat the hot water you use for showers, laundry and the dishwasher so using less of it will help reduce carbon gasses because it will reduce the amount of energy you use. Instead of using hot water for your laundry, why not switch to cold? Taking shorter showers or installing a low flow shower head will help conserve hot water in the shower. Making sure you don’t run your dishwasher unless it is full will help you conserve even more hot water. And guess what, all of these efforts will also save you a little bit of money each year too!

3. Unplug

If your house is anything like mine, you probably have a ton of electronic devices plugged in that draw just a little bit of energy to keep their led’s lit all day long. Things like chargers, VCR’s, stereos and even your electric toothbrush are using a little energy even when the device itself is not in use, but if you unplug them they won’t be using any. The thing is that even though this may be a small amount, it can add up especially when multiplied by all the households that have these devices – if everyone turned theirs off that would make a big impact.

4. Recycle

These days, recycling is super easy. Just get a few bins that you can sort your glass and plastics into and make it a habit to dispose of them accordingly instead of throwing everything in the trash. I think most towns have a recycling station now a days so it will merely take a weekly trip to the dump to make sure your recyclables get put to proper use.

5. Make Sure Your Tires Are Properly Inflated

Did you know that you will get better gas mileage if your tires are inflated properly? And getting better gas mileage means you will use less gas which will reduce your carbon footprint. Not to mention that it’s safer and better for your car to have proper tire inflation. A quick trip to the gas station periodically will ensure that your tires have just the right amount of air and might even save you a few bucks in gas.

6. Make Your Fridge More Efficient

Everyone knows that an energy star fridge will use less energy but not everyone has the money to go out and buy a new fridge. Luckly, there are a few things you can do with your current fridge that can help it use less electricity. One of these is to vacuum the coils underneath the fridge to keep the condenser working efficiently. This should be done every 3 months. Also, make sure you have the fridge set at 37 degrees Fahrenheit and the freezer set at 5 degrees farenheight as these are the most efficient settings.

These 6 things are easy to do, won’t take but a few minutes and won’t cost you a dime but they can help reduce your carbon footprint and even save you some money over the year to come. While they might not seem like a big deal, if everyone took these little steps we could drastically cut down on greenhouse gasses flowing into our atmosphere. Won’t you do your part today?

There are a lot of little things you can do to lower your carbon footprint and live a greener life. Visit http://greenologyspot.com to find out the easy changes you can make for greener living.

Get more green living tips at http://webmaster215.typepad.com/blog and find out how you can lower your carbon footprint in any room of the house, especially the kitchen at http://greenologyspot.com/eco-friendly-kitchen-ideas

Author Bio: There are a lot of little things you can do to lower your carbon footprint and live a greener life. Visit http://greenologyspot.com to find out the easy changes you can make for greener living.

Category: Society
Keywords: carbon footprint, reduce your carbon footprint, how to reduce your carbon footprint