Christie's Green Auction - Bid to Save the Earth

Sun In

SAVE $90.

If you have ample daylight coming in through the windows, open the drapes, turn off the inside lights, and let the sun illuminate your home. You could save up to $90 or more per year on your energy bill by turning off just five 60-watt bulbs for eight hours each day. Studies have shown that working in natural light improves comfort level and mood, making people more productive. Substantial research has also found a relation between artificial lighting — or lack of natural light — and a range of problems including depression, increased stress, headaches, afternoon tiredness, sleep disturbances, and concentration and learning difficulties.

Go Fluorescent

SAVE $100.

Replacing incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) will save you an average of $100 per year in energy costs for every 10 bulbs you change. Because CFLs last 10 times longer than incandescents, you'll also save about 10 minutes per year of time you would have otherwise spent buying and replacing burned-out bulbs.

If we all made this shift the energy we'd save would reduce global CO2 emissions by 30 million tons per year — equal to taking 5.2 million cars off the road.

Low with the Flow

SAVE $180

Install a low-flow showerhead. Today's models use aeration to increase water pressure so that you have an equally satisfying shower while using less water.

Replacing an old 5 gallon per minute showerhead with an ultra low-flower (which uses only 1.6 gallons per minute) can save the average household of four close to 44,000 gallons of water per year and an estimated $180 per year in water and water-heating costs.

Play Kitchen Chemist

SAVE $200.

Replace your standard household cleaning products with home remedies — just like the ones your grandma used. You could save up to $200 per year on commercial cleaning products and avoid exposing your family — and our groundwater — to tons of toxic substances.

Sheets to the Wind

SAVE $40.

Eliminate the use of conventional store-bought dryer sheets and save up to $40 per year. You'll not only conserve the resources used to make the dryer sheets, but you'll keep yourself and your family from being exposed to the chemicals they contain, some of which are known carcinogens — did you know dryer sheets can be used to repel ants?

Get Tanked

SAVE $35.

If you have an older toilet that uses more than 1.6 gallons per flush, try using this MacGyver method to minimize water use. All of our Shifter Families did it, and they all raved about how easy it was. Buy a tank displacement bag or fill a half-gallon glass or plastic bottle with water (don't use a brick) and then place it in the toilet tank away from the moving parts. The half-gallon of water you displace in the tank will be saved every time you flush, which will save you nearly 8,700 gallons of water and up to $35 on water and sewage costs per year for a family of four — even if no one flushes less than normal.

Here's the Dish

Buy dishwashing liquid with plant-based cleansers instead of standard dish soap made with petroleum-based surfactants. Plant-based solvents break down naturally in the environment and don't harm wildlife or disrupt ecosystems. They're also gentler on your skin. If you switch, you'll also save about 3 cups of petroleum per year — that's how much is in your dish soap!

Throw In the Towel

Buy a reusable cleaning cloth instead of using rolls (and rolls) of paper towels. You could save up to $150 per year for a household that uses two rolls per week, and conserve up to 30 pounds or more of tissue-grade paper, which is made from trees, manufactured using hundreds of gallons of water, and treated with harsh chemicals and bleach. You'll also keep this paper waste from entering the landfill.

Contain Yourself

Never microwave food in plastic containers — even if they claim to be microwave-safe. Instead, use microwave-safe glass or ceramic dishes. You'll not only save up to $15 or more per year on plastic container replacements, but you'll conserve the resources — mainly petroleum — used to make the plastic as well as the waste produced when it's disposed of. Research continues to show that plastics are prone to leaching potentially harmful chemicals into food. The main culprit, BPA, has been found to leach from all types of plastics, and is associated with reproductive and developmental disorders.

Full Load

Run full loads in your dryer. If you have a small washer, dry two loads at once. You'll save up to $20 in energy costs per year by eliminating just one dryer load per week, and conserve about 165 kilowatt-hours of energy per year — enough to cold-water wash and dry about 45 loads of laundry per year.

Three Degrees of Separation

During the winter try lowering your thermostat from 70 degrees to 67. You could save up to $125 or more on home heating costs per year. By reducing your heating energy consumption by up to 5% for every degree you lower your thermostat below 70 degrees.

Take Out the Trash

Assemble your kids' lunches (and your lunch if you pack one) without using any disposable items or individually-packaged foods. You could save up to $250 and reduce waste by up to 45 pounds per person per year. Simply by eliminating individually-packaged foods, you'll also be eliminating tons of preservatives, sugars, and sodium from your lunch, without even realizing it.

Weather or Not

Installing a weather sensor on your sprinkler system means your irrigation timing will be adjusted according to outdoor temperature and cloud cover. You could save up to $20 and 10,000 gallons of water per year depending on your climate and the size of your lawn.

What's On Tap

Instead of paying for high-end bottled still or sparkling water, order tap water with your meal. You could save $100 or more per year compared to a habit of ordering and paying for two bottles of water per month. In addition, you'll conserve the resources used to make bottles as well as the waste produced when they're disposed of. While municipal water is regulated and tested frequently, bottled water is not. A word of caution: This tip applies within US borders only. When visiting other countries, you should drink bottled water unless you can be sure the municipal water supply is safe to drink.

Game Swap

Arrange to have a video game and DVD trading party with your kids' friends (or even your friends). Have them bring video games and DVDs they no longer use and trade them for ones other kids are looking to unload. You could save up to $250 or more per year compared to buying two used DVDs or video games per month. You'll also conserve the manufacturing energy and inputs associated with new games.

Shut It Down

Shut down the computers in your office at the end of each work day, instead of leaving them on throughout the night. You could save up to $55 per computer. An office with 25 computers could conserve 20,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity per year, and reduce CO2 emissions by 12.5 tons annually.

Second Time Around

Buy 100% post-consumer recycled paper for printers and copiers. For an office that uses 2 cases of paper per month, using recycled paper saves a total of 14 trees, 4,200 gallons of water, and 36 pounds of air pollution. It's much easier to make new paper from old paper than it is to make new paper from wood. Furthermore, the weight and brightness of post-consumer recycled paper is equal to that of virgin paper.

Tube Together

Instead of each person in your household watching his or her own television in a separate room, why not watch TV together? You'll save up to $35 per year if watching shows together can eliminate an average of 4 total hours of television time per day. You'll also reduce energy consumption by 350 kilowatt-hours per year and keep 400 pounds of greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere. And while it may not be as effective as eating dinner together or sharing an evening stroll, watching television with your friends or family can be a low-stress way to bond — especially if you're watching a show that you look forward to discussing each week.

Show And Tell

Use an online photo-sharing site to show-off your newest pics to friends and family instead of printing them out. You could save up to $60 per year or more if you take an average of 30 pictures per month. In addition, you'll also save the paper, chemical inks and dyes, and energy required to print digital photos. Keeping your photos in digital form, either on a hard drive or CD, makes their storage and transport much easier and more practical than having shelves full of picture albums. They're also less likely to get lost or destroyed.

Get Together

Join a carpool or start a rideshare with two other coworkers that live near you instead of each of you driving in alone. You alone could save up to $1,000 per year or more on gas. Together, you and your carpool buddies will save 730 gallons of gas and more than 7 tons of CO2. Carpooling also means you get to split the parking fees. If you normally pay $9 per day to park and you share the cost with two other people, you'll save an additional $1,500 per year!

Home Away From Home

When traveling, if you want the comforts of home or have a large family or group you're trying to accommodate, consider renting a vacation home instead of staying in a hotel. You could save up to $3,500 on a 3-bedroom house for two-weeks compared to renting three separate hotel rooms. Staying in a vacation rental is just like living in your own house. Hotels, on the other hand, use excessive energy, water, and other resources to maintain daily housekeeping services, a 24-hour commercial kitchen, hallway lights, lobbies, etc.