You can do a lot to reduce your ‘carbon foot-print’.

1. Become a member of New England Greenstart - you pay an increased rate for your electricity and the added contribution goes toward renewable energy development and is 100% tax deductible.
2. Contact RISE (1-800-422-5365) for a free energy audit of your home or business.  They may be able to provide suggestions on how to make your existing structure    more efficient.
3. Get involved in an area of your interest (see list of environmental organizations on the Apeiron website) or watch this website for suggested volunteering opportunities.
4. Contact your state representatives to push for better incentives for renewables and green jobs promotion. YesWeCan-RI will periodically post pending legislation and ways to influence your representatives.
5. Conserve!  Renewable energy solutions are costly and with limited financial incentives available require many years for recovery of the initial investment.  Also, because renewable energy sources tend not to be as efficient as fossil fuels, any plans to rely heavily on these sources in the future will require a commitment   to a reduction in overall energy consumption. (see “reducing your carbon footprint” below)
6. Recycle! Recycling materials requires less energy than procuring new materials and transforming them into our goods. Make an effort to maximize your recycling   at home and at the office. Remember to recycle electronics and appliances. Visit Rhode Island Resource Recovery at www.rirrc.org for information on how to recycle just about anything. And while you’re at it - don’t forget to think about reducing the amount of packaging, disposable items etc. that you use as well.
7. If you are a business owner or homeowner, you may be in a position to add a source of alternative energy to your existing structure or as part of new construction. Things to consider:
   1. Solar energy: Solar panels for hot water are often affordable and easy to install. Solar panels to provide electricity can be costly and take many years to provide payback on the investment, but are an excellent way to reduce your fossil fuel consumption.
   1. Wind power: Wind turbines come in many different sizes - from a small unit at 30′ that may help to power a home, to a large, over 100′ structure for industrial use. The efficiency of wind is dependent on the zone in which the turbine is placed, and information is available to determine whether a turbine will be effective in a given location.
   2. Geothermal heating and cooling: This is an extremely efficient system which, depending on what you would be using for heating fuel, may pay for itself in less than 10 years. This system uses the consistently midrange temperature of underground water to either extract heat from the water or add heat to the water to alter your circulating air temperature. It is easiest installed during new construction, but can be considered in some existing structures.
8. Visit www.dsireusa.org for a list of tax credits and incentives available for renewable energy projects.
9. For more ideas on conservation visit www.earthshare.org

Reducing your Carbon Footprint:

More practical tips…

1. Turn down the thermostat
2. Lowering the thermostat one degree in every household in America would save    230 million barrels of crude oil (400 oil tankers full!) every year.
3. Replace standard light bulbs with Compact Fluorescent bulbs.
4. 25% of most households’ electric expenditures are due to light bulbs. Using compact fluorescents reduces energy costs associated with lighting by 75%.
5. Replace large appliances with EnergyStar rated appliances.
6. Use weather stripping around doors and windows in the winter.
7. Turn water heater down to 120 degrees, and reduce shower time.
8. Use cooler water for laundry.
9. Using hot water for washing and rinsing uses 3 ½ times more energy than washing in warm water and rinsing in cold.
10. Turn off lights
11. Sleep computer
12. Put away the leaf blower!According to one source, an hour of using a gas-operated leaf blower emits as much greenhouse gases as a car driving 4,400 miles!
13. Decrease commuting miles by combining errands or eliminating unnecessary trips, if every registered vehicle in the US cut out one 20 mile trip per week, 145 million fewer tons of greenhouse gases would be released into the atmosphere annually (the equivalent of the annual CO2 emissions from 36 coal-fired power plants).
14. Consider telecommuting once a week or more.
15. Purchase locally grown produce - it cuts down on the gas expenditure to get food from   the ground to your kitchen.