There's no better place to start saving energy than in the kitchen. Even if you're not ready to replace your major appliances, there's plenty you can do to make your kitchen more energy efficient.
Start with the refrigerator; it's the most power hungry appliance in many homes, accounting for 10-15 percent of the average home energy bill each month. Replacing your older refrigerator with a more efficient model is a smart investment. New refrigerators consume 75 percent less energy than those produced in the late 1970s. And today's Energy Star-qualified models use 40% less energy than the conventional models sold in 2001.
Even if you're not ready to replace your fridge, you can save energy (and money) with these simple steps to make your fridge more efficient.
Time to pack the lunch box again: sandwich, apple, cookies, carrots...but hold the lead.
If your child's lunch box is soft vinyl, it's wise to check for lead before school starts. Lead is a dangerous neurotoxin that is particularly harmful to young children's developing brain and nervous systems. Even at extremely low levels, lead can impair cognitive and physical development. So what's it doing in your child's lunch box?
Lead is often added to vinyl as a stabilizer. It's cheap, it bends, and it helps vinyl bounce back to its original shape.
Bad news for allergy and asthma sufferers: global warming could make your symptoms worse. Both ragweed and ozone pollution could intensify as temperatures rise. Researchers found that ragweed, that nasty weed with loads of hay fever-causing pollen, produced about 130 percent more pollen today and will produce about 300 percent more pollen in the future. People who live in areas that have both ragweed and high ozone pollution levels have it even worse. NRDC mapped the areas in the United States where ragweed and unhealthy ozone pollution overlap and found that more than 110 million Americans live in places with this double whammy of ragweed and high ozone levels.
I couldn't believe it, a recall letter from the Land of Nod. That antique white dresser that I bought from their cute catalogue for my baby daughter's room had to go. The paint was found to contain high levels of lead. What's this? I thought the US banned lead paint back in the seventies? Even low levels led to reduced IQ, learning disabilities and attention deficit disorders in young kids. Naturally, I freaked out. I called the company to ask for an explanation. The furniture had been manufactured in Mexico, assembled and, yes, painted. Overseas oversight, or lack of, has been in the news a lot lately. Toys, bibs, furniture...and I was lucky I was sent a recall notice.
Yikes... Where else in my home lurks this wretched lead?
Toss the bottled water and filter your own. Tap water is more carefully regulated than bottled water but isn't free of contaminants. So what does that plastic water pitcher filter out?
Most countertop and faucet water filters are activated carbon filters, which will get rid of bad tastes and odors as well as many impurities, including chlorine.
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