Although Earth Day has come and gone, it's still a good idea to practice living green through your use of energy. I can't help but notice that while prices to provide energy to our homes are going up, we aren't making any more money.
That's not fair.
While we can't call our electric companies and beg for cheaper rates, there is something we can do. Conserving energy use may be one of the easiest things students can do to help the planet. Saving energy isn't too hard, and it's good for our pockets and our planet.
One of the easiest ways to combat wasted electricity is our use of lightbulbs. Be sure to turn off any lights as soon as you leave the room. It's an easy habit to leave them on, but it can also be just as easy to turn them off.
However, while they're on, consider using compact fluorescent lightbulbs. These bulbs might cost a bit more up front, but they consume a lot less energy.
According to the Alliance to Save Energy, if every United States household changed their five highest-use light fixtures to Energy Star certified lighting we would collectively save more than $6 billion every year in energy costs.
Gretchen Pentzer, a senior at Ball State, admits that while the switch to compact fluorescent lightbulbs was a little expensive, her monthly payments have dropped an average of $20 per month the last two billing cycles.
"I decided to use these energy saver lightbulbs on the advice from my parents, and they're already saving me and my roommates money," she said. "I've also become a lightbulb Nazi, so we're probably saving money because we don't have extra lights on, and when they're on they're energy-efficient."
If you can't afford the lightbulb switch, then inspect your battery chargers. If you have cell-phone, battery or laptop chargers, don't leave them plugged in. They're still sucking up energy.
This also includes your computer. Desktop computers suck up a lot of energy compared to laptops. Be sure to enable power saving features, such as "sleep mode," so that your computer will consume less energy when it's not being used.
According to David Hua, assistant professor of technology, you should consider plugging most of the appliances you use daily into a power strip. By doing so, it's easier to shut the power to all of those unused appliances off at one time.
"If I'm leaving my apartment for the day and I won't be back from work or school until 7, I'm not missing anything by turning off the switch on the power strip that houses my computer and my printer, for example."
He also noted that always leaving your laptop plugged in while it's in use, and fully charged, is a waste of energy. In addition, it shortens the lifetime of the battery.
While students can't live without their computers, cooling during the summer months is also a necessity. If you live in a house or apartment, use fans to keep cool in the summer. It's much easier to turn on a ceiling or box fan than to lower your thermostat on your air conditioner.
Reducing energy use in our everyday life doesn't have to be life-changing. Log on to www.ase.org to take the Home Energy Checkup to see how your house or apartment ranks and get feedback on how to lower your bills. These little steps will help us to save big with our environment and our bank accounts.
Alexis Crouch is a senior journalism magazine major and writes 'Fun Sized' for the Daily News. Her views do not necessarily agree with those of the newspaper.
Write to Alexis at akcrouch@bsu.edu
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