Some new technology smart apps like light, heat, and AC control actually save significant energy. We need more of them, not less. Some of the smart apps, like being able to call for help more easily, or turn on lights at night when motion is detected so people, especially seniors, don't fall, can save lives.

By FAR the biggest waste of energy comes from big business, but somehow the little guys, who are mostly trying to trim their energy use already to save on utility bills, are the ones often asked to do without even more.

Why? Because they are accessible, easy targets 'low hanging fruit'. I suggest that those alarmed by global heating go to the politicians and big business owners who are responsible for most of the waste.

When Al Gore cuts down on the size of his house, I will reconsider mine. I have already given up just about everything.

When we stop cutting down old growth forests and not replanting and continue to pour asphalt and parking lots, then I will worry about adjusting my thermostat a few more degrees than we already have done.

I do almost all of these... but didn't know about bamboo tooth brushes. I am in the everything helps category. If you do some of these, it will help, cause less will have to be produced, and trashed.

Elmer I am not talking about individual windmills but the accumulative effect of all energy producing things.. Interesting thing to see when driving through Oklahoma panhandle and southern Kansas is the lack of vegetation under many of the windmill farms. Some conjecture from the locals is that the air movement of the windmills is drying the ground preventing the growth of plants that would normally grow there.

Outside the suggestions for three years from now is for thermostats to be set at 83F. I have problems with out humidity at 76 much less the current 78 recommendations.

Lucille one of the smart apps I passed on was one that would have enabled me to turn the washer and dryer off along with checking the cycles. While turning lights on and off are good we have had motion detectors to do that long before any smart apps. Until it finally gave up the ghost we had one in our outside light when we moved here in 1993.

mai, you have to realize, there was nothing growing where the windmills are now, in Oklahoma. It is dry and dead there most of the year.

I'd like to change our culture regarding air conditioning. I think too many businesses set their temp too low in summer time.

nickel, I haul a warm jacket in my car. I need it in most grocery stores... way to cold there for sure, but also, some people have their homes pretty darn cool, for me anyhow.

I would think the biggest change would be from fossil fuel usage - electric cars, more efficient gas consumption, etc. I would love to see a change in our values about plane travel. Some of my friends who will bike to work as a means to lessen their auto usage, hop on a plane and travel all over the country and world at the drop of a hat.

And, yes, a plane full of people is more energy efficient than the same # of people driving a car, but I'm talking about the lifestyle that we adopt that accepts travel as a necessity.

what we do now:

keep house heat at 65 in winter

use re-usable bags 90% of the time

we have re-usable water bottles. buy very little bottled water

keep shades drawn in summer to block out sun, opposite in winter

cook outside in summer so as to not heat up our house to make AC run more

have AC regulator to shut off our AC when energy consumption is high in our area-so no brown outs. we get $$ off our electric bill from our supplier for doing so.

compost our compostables

have native plants to sustain insects and they are able to survive our weather, so no throw-away plants.

use plant based cleaners, soap products

re-use our plastic freezer & storage bags till they are worn through

i am sure there are more but can't think of any more.

What We Can Do Better:

raise our AC, i like our house cool, hate humidity/hot house

better mileage cars

manage our water useage better

get solar panels or some sort of sustainable/renewable energy source

i am sure they are a ton more we can do.!!

Put a person in the White House, Senators and Reps who really cares about our environment and the future. Not everything has to pay dividends NOW. things take time. what about our great-great grandchildren. what world will they be dealing with??. Coal??? OMG, he's nuts. he just rolled back EPA restrictions on off-shore oil rigs. they now have to police themselves!!?? like that will happen. i could go on and on....

OklaMoni when I was driving through it was late May and early June. The fields were lush.

One of the things that people forget about when they go to places where vegetables are sold that the temperature is kept low so that the rate of spoilage is less. Grocery tried that here and because of the natural humidity the fresh baked things molded quickly and the poor bags of sprouting potatoes were a sight to behold. Most have gone to zone heating and cooling where areas along the sides are kept cooler than in the center. Back in the childhood of some on here they may remember their parents removing the first item or two in a dairy case to reach for a cooler one as the ones in front tended to spoil quicker. Now restaurants that you can see your breath in front of your face is a place that should be changed.

I have always been an environmentalist all my life. We compost recycle, keep the house cool in the winter, have no grass but trees everywhere in our yard, and I could go on. But why? The GOP doesn't recognize climate change and the idiot in the white house has turned back all of Obama's regulations so his big money donors will be making even more money.

But why?

Fortunately, our political climate can change faster that the geographical one.

Well according to the chart Moni posted, I’m doing pretty good. I’ve been using a reusable coffee cup and water bottle for years. Same with cloth towels and reusable grocery bags. I don’t use a straw very often, and sometimes I forget bags or don’t have enough.

I totally agree about businesses that keep offices and such too cold. Why that is so, I don’t know. We had no control over our own thermostats in our new government building where I worked, and while we filed numerous complaints, wore sweaters, etc, nothing was ever done.

That's a good point about grass, having the big mower that takes gas to mow it all two sometimes three times a week. Plus whatever the mower emits. I have lots of trees but I still have grass to mow, but I do have areas I let grow "wild".

I just bought some more reusable grocery bags. Stopped buying water in bottles to take to work, now have 2 aluminum ones. I have my heat pump set on 78 in the summer. I freeze otherwise, was not trying to save energy for that one. Trying to be aware of the foods I buy and what type of packaging they come in. Bought a different brand of milk so I could get it in a paper carton instead of plastic. Bought some reusable wraps, which I haven't used yet because I have two boxes of plastic wrap still in the house.

We built our new home green...using geothermal heating and cooling and have 5 kw solar panels in addition to closed cell insulation, all duct work in conditioned space, passive solar design, and more. We did it mostly to reduce energy costs in our retirement, but minimizing greenhouse gases doesn't hurt.

The question that came to my mind was what things would people be willing to give up now until better technology was developed to reduce the amount of energy needed.

I don't know that my smart apps amount to much, but I do think that re-using items rather than choosing disposable everything is helpful. I do not use plastic bottled water, for instance.

I think the biggest contribution I can make, now that getting around is less easy than it was, is to vote. Big business pollutes and wastes resources, I can help by voting in people who have the courage to take them on.

Good thread, Maifleur.

About no grass around windmills

Do you suppose that the grounds around a windmill installation was sprayed with a growth inhibitor to eliminate the need for a grounds keeper? I do not know. I do know that this technique has been used under telephone and power lines that were not elevated very high.

the area out west in Oklahoma is desert like. All summer, fall, winter and really early spring it looks brown.

I was thinking the other day about the wind turbines. Would there be any chance that in multiples, they could affect the atmosphere i.e. wind currents and the like? I realize the wind hits THEM but would it disturb the natural flow of things?

schoolhouse from my observations with a simple table fan and plants on a table I have always thought that they had to effect the surrounding area. The blades would direct the wind when it hits the blades. Multiple blades multiple wind currents.

In reference to business, not only is A/C excessive in so many, but I have wondered why so many are fully lit up all night (indoors and their signs) when closed. I am particularly thinking of restaurants but I notice it in office buildings also.

What would a lot of women give up to reduce world heating? HOT FLASHES.

Well, the AC broke for the 12th time in three months so I like to say I’m saving energy by it breaking. Thank you for breaking, AC. I’m probably saving 30% of the energy used in this house because it broke. Again.

My AC just went on the fritz, too, and I'm not going to have it repaired until late spring, even though we are experiencing a very warm October. (Case in point.)

We have always recycled, re-used, composted, and tried to reduce our use of disposable items; cloth diapers when my kids were babies, cloth napkins for every day use, real flatware and dishes for large dinners and picnics instead of paper plates and plastic utensils and cups. I have an environmentalist child who has a composting toilet set-up, but I won't go that far myself.

I've always tried to combine trips to the grocery store with shopping for other necessities and other errands, but since my mother passed away I'm trying to run the part of her business we couldn't disburse or liquidate. I am making many more trips and using much more gasoline, so I'll try harder to reduce my carbon footprint in other areas.

Elmer J Fudd, I have no idea if your technical info is correct--my 'like' was for your last paragraph, which had me laughing.

mama goose, that which you call "technical info" isn't too deep into the details. You can take it to the bank.

Sorry, for those having AC problems. If your AC is less than 10 years old, the second time you have a problem in a short period of time, you need to call a different HVAC company. If it's more than 15 years old, your system probably needs to be replaced and the tech jockey who keeps charging you for repair after repair may be taking advantage of you without knowing what the true problem is.

All the complexity of an AC system is handled by the equipment functioning itself. It does take training and then experience to be a competent technician but diagnosis and repair of problems by someone with the right background isn't rocket science. If a repair doesn't fix the problem, the problem is the person doing the repair or that the equipment has a problem not easily repaired. Repeated failures suggests the problem was not properly diagnosed.

It will depend on your system you may want to go ahead and have the a/c repaired. Depending on the problem letting it sit could cause the whole thing to need even more costly repairs next year. This is especially true if it is the compressed air leaking that is inside most.

I have to agree with Elmer about changing the tech or company if they send different techs each time.

For what it is worth this area may have snow this Sunday. The leaves are still on the trees. Last time this happened it was a week before things returned to normal because of the trees falling in the roads and on power lines. That storm was also supposed to be a dusting. Six inches of heavy wet snow is not a dusting.

We have windmills here and there are several on whose land they were built that are taking them to court. In the lease contract, they were supposed to put the land back into the same shape as they found it. This was good fertile tillable farm ground and they left it with huge ruts and rocks. The homeowners say they are so loud, it scares the cattle and the people can not sleep or hear the TV. The windmills are not very welcome here.

I'm willing to give up any degrees over 90 from May - Oct here in AZ. hope that helps.

I'd really like to make that any over 80 degrees.

I don't know that I could do much...IMHO the reason for the heating up of the earth is the cutting down of trees and building and paving over the earth. I will not unnecessarily cut down any healthy living trees and also plant new ones when I can. Makes me so angry to see them plowing down our wooded acreage to build some building for a business when there are all these old dilapidated empty building just sitting there going unused. It should be against the law!

I agree, Arkansas girl! We have miles of abandoned mills and factories (literally, a mill or factory or car plant that is a mile or 3 long) but can we get a new industry coming in to re-use the site? Nope. They sit until they catch fire or collapse from neglect. The companies insist on virgin land, far from the transportation hubs, where water, sewer, roads and power have to be run out to the site (and believe me, the company coming in is not paying for all that -- they are getting tax abatements to entice them to locate here! and my state is not unique in this)

The latest study, however, shows that it also reduces the productivity of surrounding vegetation. The study finds that wind turbines elevated both day and night temperatures, which suppressed soil moisture and enhanced water stress, decreasing local vegetative growth and productivity.

Wind mill farms want larger , much larger wind mills. You can hear them, 24/7, inside your home, 6 miles away.

abandoned mills and factories

Depending on what sort of factory it was, a new business may fear liability for toxic wastes. Some of this liability is so extensive that companies might avoid even the possibility of being trapped into fixing some danger created by a previous owner by starting fresh.

lynn, what you linked to isn't "the latest study". Your link is to an organization long ago discredited as being one that puts out disinformation (false information) about global warming and related topics.

There is no ambiguity among the experts about global warming. The uncertainty is phony, fueled by the new administration's people being more influenced by industry interests than by true scientists. The true scientists, as at the EPA, have been muzzled.

I want to know what china and so many countries are giving up. Electric cars give me a break. What do you charge them with. Coal!

Coal power plants are shutting down every year and will be gone from the US in 10-15 years. Europe has been on that path already for years.

Leadership means setting an example by doing the right things and encouraging others to do the same.

I think trying to throw any of the blame for Global Climate Change on windmills or solar power is completely wrong-headed and unsupported by any scientific basis. The cause is the release of greenhouse gases, notably CO₂ which is released by burning wood, coal, oil, gasoline, diesel fuel, home heating oil, jet fuel, natural gas and propane. Another important greenhouse gas is methane (AKA natural gas) which although it is useful as a fuel in and of itself is often simply spewed forth into the atmosphere at oil wells since capturing it is deemed uneconomical.

These greenhouse gases operate effectively as a blanket, they allow solar radiation (aka sunlight) through but are somewhat more effective at blocking infrared radiation (aka heat) from radiating back into space. Consequently given the same energy input and lower energy output the Earth overall warms up slightly but steadily.

As far as what I'm willing to give up: Coal fired power plants, giant gas guzzling cars, the anti-science Republican party, endless acres of new shopping malls, all energy usage devoted to Bitcoin mining (which currently consumes as much power as all of Ireland)

Tall buildings lit up at night kill a lot of migratory birds.

When I go to a building where the air conditioning is set so low/so efficient that it almost makes my teeth chatter, quite often I ask the attendants whether they rent sweaters.

I'm trying to think of some ways ... but I've been frugal and efficient most of my life - remember some of you getting after me for putting a coat over my knees when I was at my computer, a few years ago? Now, at a more advanced age, I find myself keeping the thermostat set a bit higher, in winter.

ole joyful