Watts Your Waste: A Useful Website for Going Green

Being green is often the goal for many households. However, besides using green detergents, buying energy saving light bulbs, and turning off televisions when not in use, many families don't really know how to best cut down on their carbon footprint. This is where programs such as "Watts Your Waste" come into the picture. Created by Colorado Springs Utilities, Watts Your Waste can help families outside of the Springs area minimize their energy consumption (and thus lead greener lifestyles) as well. Offering practical, easy to implement energy saving tips for the everyday household, this helpful little program provides simple ways to go green.

The "Activity Planner" tab on the website shows users basic tips like turning down the heat several degrees when nobody is home (or during the evenings when families are sleeping), setting water heaters no hotter than 120^oF, and matching up the size of a cooking pan to the size of the burner circumference in order to maintain the highest heat/energy efficiency. Other tips include washing full loads of laundry with cold water and cleaning out the dryer's lint trap in order for all of the dryer's heat to be used effectively. All listed in a convenient, check-boxed list, these tips and more are provided free of charge from Watts Your Waste.

Additionally, Watts Your Waste offers site visitors with a handy "Household Emissions Calculator" which can be filled out relatively quickly in order to help families determine what areas of their current practices can be altered or eliminated in order to best reduce their carbon footprint. While this section should take between 10-15 minutes to fill out completely, the environmental and economical savings resulting from this time investment is well worth it. Factoring in details such as the fuel efficiency of your vehicles, the temperature of your home, and your use of a clothes' line or dryer, this Household Emissions Calculator provides a very accurate picture of the energy consumption of your family. Additionally, Watts Your Waste suggests using approved Energy Star appliances (refrigerators, furnaces, window sill panes, etc) instead of non-green models. Even though Watts Your Waste tailors the "Estimated Savings" calculator part of this section to energy consumers who subscribe to Colorado Springs Utilities as their energy provider, the general principle of the concept is applicable elsewhere.

Overall, Watts Your Waste is a great, green website that makes "going green" a feasible goal for the everyday family. Providing useful tips at no cost, Watts Your Waste makes reducing your carbon footprint simple.