You can celebrate Earth Day, every day with these easy tips:
1. Conserve water by taking showers instead of baths.
2. Take a shorter shower and use a water-saving shower head.
3. Turn off all lights when you leave a room.
4. Turn off and unplug electronics you’re not using, including the computer at night.
5. Run your dishwasher only when it’s full to save water and energy.
6. Bring your reusable bags to the market and other stores when shopping.
7. Go paperless. Pay as many bills as possible online.
8. Ditch the car and walk when possible.
9. Lower the temperature on your water heater to 120 degrees.
10. Grow your own garden or join a farm-share group.
Energy efficiency adds up
Iowa’s electric cooperatives practice environmental stewardship in a variety of ways, including making investments in energy efficiency. In the most recent five-year period, Iowa’s electric cooperatives invested more than $76 million toward energy efficiency, including education, energy audits, incentives and rebates.
Incremental annual savings amount to more than 300 million kilowatt-hours per year! Lifetime savings for the energy efficiency measures that were adopted by co-op members during this same period amount to a savings of more than 3.7 billion kilowatt-hours. Considering that the average household in Iowa uses roughly 11,000 kilowatt-hours per year, that adds up to a lot of savings!
