Sustainability: Tips You Can Use

Energy | Reduce, Reuse, Recycle | Research | Travel | Water

Energy

1. Turn off a light whenever you leave a room. The energy savings from 10 million employees turning off unneeded lights for 30 minutes a day is enough to illuminate 50 million square feet of office space.
2. If possible, turn off lab equipment when not in use.
3. To conserve energy and improve air quality, close fume hood sashes when unattended or not in use.
4. Report perimeter steam radiators that are hot during the cooling season to the building deputy.
5. Turn off your computer monitor when you aren’t at your desk to save 30 percent more energy.
6. Use Compact Fluorescent (CFL) bulbs. They last up to 10 times longer than incandescent and can use 2/3 less energy.
7. Close the blinds during the summer to reduce the heat load from the sun, and open them in the winter to gain natural heating when it’s needed.
8. Encourage the purchase of Energy Star-rated office equipment. Energy Star-rated units consume 10 to 50 percent less energy than standard models.
9. If you see a flickering fluorescent light, report it to your maintenance staff. Flickering fluorescent lights use more energy.
10. Make the most of natural light. Open your blinds and turning off your lights.
11. Tell your maintenance staff if you notice air leaks from windows and doors. Air leaks account for 10 to 50 percent of a building’s heating and air-conditioning costs.
12. Wear appropriate clothing to expand your comfort zone and, at the same time, reduce energy for heating and air conditioning.
13. Set computers to energy-saving settings and make sure to shut them down when you leave for the day (“standby” settings will continue to draw power even when not in use).
14. Plug hardware into a power strip with an on/off switch (or a smart power strip) to turn the whole desktop setup off at once.
15. Give the microwave a rest. Bringing lunch to work in reusable containers is likely the greenest (and healthiest) way to eat at work.
16. Did you know it takes energy to deliver water to your tap? When you save water, you save energy – and that’s a win-win for everyone.
17. Wash your laundry in cold water and save 50 cents per load.
18. Replace your A/C filter monthly for optimum efficiency.
19. If you’re in a dorm, share a refrigerator and greatly reduce your room’s energy use.
20. The typical American home has 20 electrical appliances that continue to suck electricity even when they're off, costing consumers about $200 per household. Satellite receivers for televisions and VCRs, audio systems, garage-door openers, clock radios, phone/answering machines, microwave ovens and even standard ovens, use almost as much electricity when they are switched off as when they are on.

Return to top.

 

Reduce, Reuse and Recycle

1. Bring your own mug to get coffee in the office.
2. The debate of plastic vs. paper is over – reusable bags are now the “it” thing and are available at most grocery stores.
3. Take the tops off your plastic recyclables.
4. Don’t use paper flyers to advertise your event, instead use digital outlets like Purdue e-sidewalk and Facebook.
5. Keep a desk-side recycling box so that you can remember to recycle your paper.
6. Donate used items to charity – remember your trash could be another person’s treasure!
7. When you are out and see a piece of trash on the sidewalk please pick it up.
8. Learn how to be neat, use only one napkin per meal.
9. Use appropriate recycling containers to avoid contamination of stock feeds for easier downstream recycling.
10. Reuse paper whenever possible – draft copies always make excellent scratch pads.
11. Omit cover sheet on faxes; use post-its instead.
12. Buy items in bulk
13. whenever possible to minimize the amount of packaging disposed to landfills.
14. If you do get a plastic disposable water bottle or a Polar pop, make sure you reuse it.
15. Ditch plastic plants for the real thing. A few houseplants, like Ivy and even cacti, will help naturally filter the air in your home by absorbing bad gases and giving back oxygen.
16. Recycling one aluminum can is equivalent the amount of energy used to power a TV for three hours!
17. Print smarter - use duplex printing and make sure to use spell check. The average U.S. office worker goes through 10,000 sheets of copy paper a year.
18. Get off mailing lists. Almost half of all catalogs are never opened, yet nearly 62 million trees are destroyed and 28 billion gallons of water are used to produce them every year. Visit Direct Marketing Association to get off mailing lists.
19. Reduce document margins. If everyone in the U.S. set their default printing to .75 inch, we would save 380,000 tons of office paper and over $400 million each year.
20. Refill ink cartridges and recycle them if you can. Last year, over 15,000 tons of ink cartridges were sent to landfills. Each cartridge holds 100 mL of oil and takes over 1,000 years to decompose.
21. The greenest paper is no paper at all, so keep things digital whenever possible.

Return to top.

 

Research

1. A new website, H2O Conserve, allows you to actually calculate how much water you use so you can begin to assess your "water footprint." Assess your water footprint.
2. Use less hot water. Running a hot water faucet for five minutes is the equivalent of burning a 60-watt light bulb for 14 hours.
3. Use native plant species to landscape around your home or business. The plants will probably grow better in a familiar environment, and the plants may also get shipped a shorter distance to get to your local nursery. Also, use organic soil when planting — it's made using more eco-friendly methods, and uses less resources.
4. Measure your impact on the climate, by using a carbon footprint calculator that estimates how many tons of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases your choices create each year.
5. Drink wine from a box! More than 90 percent of American wine production occurs on the West Coast and is shipped East. Switching to wine in a box for the 97 percent of wines that are made to be consumed within a year would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by about two million tons, or the equivalent of retiring 400,000 cars.
6. Interested in eco-friendly living? Tour the Museum of Science and Industry’s new exhibit, Smart Home: Green + Wired (open May 8 – January 4).
7. Turn your cell phone completely off during class or times when you’d rather not be interrupted. Excessive charging wears down the battery.
8. Switch to compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFL). Here’s the math: Using one CFL bulb for 5 hours each day for a whole year will: Save $12 – 15 annually, reduce the kWh used by ~137 kWh, and reduce CO2 by 183 pounds (1.34 lbs of CO2 is generated for each kWh used).
9. Use the EPA’s tips for making your next conference environmentally friendly.
10. Do you work on a farm? Check out EPA tips on environmentally friendly farm practices.
11. Check out the college and university oriented suggestions at the Campus Environmental Resource Center.
12. Considering a new wing or research building or major renovation? Think green and visit www.usgbc.org.
13. Check out this green lab’s site sponsored by USEPA and US Department of Energy
14. Make environmentally friendly lab purchases.
15. Work to reduce the amount of toxic chemicals in your lab, including mercury. Contact Purdue’s Radiological and Environmental Management for ideas.
16. Ask your supply vendors for alternative product suggestions. For example, Fisher Scientific maintains a website geared toward green labs.
17. Encourage staff and graduate students in your labs to be energy conscious. Saving energy on campus results a direct reduction in emissions from Purdue’s power plant.
18. Think of ways to help “green” Purdue by turning your green research ideas into action. Contact Purdue’s Sustainability Council for more information and opportunities.
19. Tour various parts of campus operations or invite one of Physical Facilities staff members to guest lecture in a class. Visit www.purdue.edu/sustainability
20. Reduce waste from your labs by being conscious of chemical use. Reducing the amount of waste our labs generate means less waste the University has to handle as hazardous waste.

Return to top.

 

Travel

1. Plan enough time so that you can WALK to your campus meetings.
2. Join a ride-share program or carpool to regional visits.
3. Bike to work.
4. Telecommuting or working four ten-hour days saves energy and time.
5. If you need to travel by airplane, try taking a direct flight when at all possible.
6. When stopped in traffic or at a light for more than thirty seconds, turn off your car rather than idling to save fuel and reduce emissions.
7. Avoid "jack rabbit" starts and aggressive driving. Quick starts can reduce mileage up to 12%. Accelerate slowly and save up to 2 mpg.
8. Try to anticipate stops and let your vehicle coast down as much as possible to avoid increased pollution, wasted gas and wear on your breaks.
9. Driving 75 mph instead of 65 mph will lower your fuel economy by about 10 percent, and can dramatically increase tailpipe pollution in many vehicles.
10. When possible, plan your trips to avoid rush hour. Stop-and-go driving burns excess gas and increases emissions of smog forming pollutants.
11. Combine your errands. Warmed-up car engines generate much less air pollution.
12. Unload your cargo area. Carrying around an extra 100 pounds reduces fuel economy by about 1 percent.
13. If your vehicle has it, use overdrive gear at cruising speeds. Running in a higher gear decreases the rpm and will decrease fuel use and engine wear.
14. Use the vents and open the windows during normal city driving to cool off before you turn on the air conditioner. Air conditioners use up to a gallon of gas per tank.
15. Keep windows closed at highway speeds as open windows cause air drag, reducing your mileage by 10%.
16. Keep your tires properly inflated and you'll get better gas mileage. Under inflated tires can increase rolling resistance by 5%.
17. Check and change your oil regularly to make your engine last longer and keep it running efficiently.
18. If you change your car’s oil yourself, be sure to recycle it at your local community oil-recycling center.
19. Tune up your car regularly. A car that is in tune uses 20% less fuel and spews less heat-trapping carbon dioxide into the air.
20. When reserving a car for University business travel from Purdue’s Transportation Services, request one of the hybrid vehicles. There is a spot on the Form 1 to request a hybrid.

Return to top.

Water

1. Use shampoo every other day for fine hair and everyday for thick hair – it’s good for the environment and also better for your hair!
2. Report that leaky faucet in the bathroom or kitchen area to the building deputy!
3. Use a timer to take a 5 minute shower – you will be amazed by how much more efficient you can wash!
4. Use a carwash instead of doing it yourself. Most carwashes recycle their water and collect the effluent so there is minimal impact to the environment.
5. Wash your windows with diluted vinegar and newspaper – you won’t believe the shine!
6. Make sure that there is nothing going down storm drains but rainwater!
7. Purchase clothes made of natural fibers.
8. Buy organic produce from local farms.
9. When buying printer paper, look for recycled paper with a high percentage of post-consumer content and the minimum of chlorine bleaching (look for the Forest Stewardship Council seal).
10. Eat green – have more vegetarian meals that have less impact on the environment (and on your waistline).
11. Seek out your local "green" dry cleaner.
12. Use biodegradable soaps and recycled paper or cloth towels in the bathroom and kitchen. Provide biodegradable cleaners for the custodial staff.
13. Tune up your lawn mower and reduce emissions up to 50 percent! Your local hardware shop can do it for you or visit www.mowertuneup.com for more information.
14. Use low-flow showerheads.
15. Replace high-flush toilets with a high-efficiency toilet (HET), that uses 1.28 gallons per flush to save up to 4,000 gallons of water per year. If you don’t want to make a capital investment, you can put a bag of air in the tank to minimize water volume (can get a sturdier bag at the hardware store for about $5).
16. Try to avoid water use during the peak energy demand hours of 11:00 a.m. through 7:00 p.m.
17. Pick up after your pet. Pet waste has harmful bacteria that can negatively impact the environment and humans.
18. Don’t water on windy days. Sidewalks and driveways don’t need water, but that’s exactly where precious water goes when sprinklers run when it’s windy.
19. Save water by adjusting your lawn mower to a higher setting. Longer grass shades root systems and holds soil moisture better than a closely clipped lawn.
20. Turn your faucet to cold each time you turn it on to reduce the amount of hot water in the plumbing system and energy required to run your hot water heater.

Return to top.