Using energy efficient decives is a great way to save yourself money by consuming less energy. Many appliances throughout the home can cause an excess of energy consmption.

A dishwasher consumes much less water than washing dishes by hand. Although it uses energy to run, this can be off -set by purchasing Energy Star Compliant appliances and by running the dishwasher during periods of low energy demand such as at night before you hop into bed.

We already mention updating your old appliances with energy star compliant devices, and updating your old electronics with more energy efficent ones is good. However one should take care when throwing away old appliances that they are properly recycled. Throwing away electronics is called commonly called "e-waste," and how much "e-waste" is there?

133,000 PC discarded each day in US

300 to 500 million obsolete computers

One hundred thirty million cell phones are retired each year

2.6 million tons of e-waste disposed in 2005 in USA

These electronics end up in land fills where they could leach toxins into ground water causing potentially hazardous health risks.

Large desktop computers use substanitally more energy than laptops do. Consider purchasing a laptop, or if you already own one, use it other than your desktop computer. Here are some ways to reduce the energy consumption of your computer, whether its a desktop or a laptop computer.

Set your monitor to automatically turn off after 30 min to 1 hour

Set your computer to turn off your hard drive(s) after a period of inactivity (2 to 3 hours)

Set your computer to hibernate, which saves everything the computer is doing and powers down.

Set your computer to standby, which shuts down all compents while still keeping the computer running