Vampire Power Sucks

Electronic devices such as laptops, Ipods, and cell phones are items that college students utilize in their everyday lives.  In order for these devices to function, they must be charged through and electronic outlet.  Once done charging, most people leave them plugged into the wall without realizing they are wasting electricity.  Regardless to the fact the device is not plugged in, the charger is still sucking out the same amount of energy.  As Vampire Power Sucks has pointed out, this waste of energy is called “vampire power” and contributes to approximately 10% of your electric bill.  You can prevent this energy loss by unplugging unused devices and save a lot of money.  Explore this website brought to you by iGo: www.vampirepowersucks.com to learn more about vampire power, calculate how much energy you lose, what you can do to prevent it, and how to encourage others to do the same.  Good luck!

Paper Towels are Money Towels

When you spill water on the counter or when you want to wipe your dishes after washing them, you most likely grab a paper towel to dry it up.  And when you run out, it’s a pain to have to buy more.  Therefore, try replacing paper towel usage with normal hand towels.  When you’re not using the dishwasher, hand wash your dishes and dry them off with a towel.  Or if you wash your hands in the kitchen, dry them off with a towel.  And if you spill water, juice, or milk on the counter, wipe it off with a towel.   Paper towel consumption uses many resources that could be saved and it takes a lot of energy and creates a considerable amount pollution to produce the product.  It also costs money for you to buy paper towels on a frequent basis.  Therefore, try to reuse hand towels.  However, keep in mind that for health and safety precautions, make sure you wash your towels on a frequent basis.  Simply throw them in your laundry load for the week and they will be as good as new!  

Microwave vs Oven

Let’s pretend it’s a Wednesday night.  You come home from school and you decide you want to make a baked potato.  The next thing you do is decide whether or not you should cook it in the oven, or in the microwave.  You know that the skin of the potato is usually cooked to perfection and is the perfect softness when you cut it open when you cook it in the oven compared to having to guess who long to cook in the microwave, so using the oven sounds like the best solution for having a satisfying meal.  However, I am here to tell you that you should avoid using the oven and use the microwave to cook your potato instead.  You will save almost 20 times the amount of energy if you used the oven microwave versus the oven.  This is due to the fact that you have to wait for the oven the heat up, then it takes longer to cook your potato when you can simply pop it in the microwave for a few minutes.  This will reduce your energy bills, and if your oven is gas powered, it will also greatly reduce your gas bill.  This EGOlogical tip can also be used in reference to other foods too such as chicken tenders or tater tots.  

"Tetris" Your Dishwasher

Washing your dishes may seem like a hassle, but what’s an even bigger hassle is trying to get everything to fit.  I know it may seem time consuming, but do your best to “Tetris” your dishes around so more can fit in the dishwasher load.  Also, only run the washer when it is completely full and ready to go.  This way you will have to run the dishwasher fewer times, reducing the amount of energy and water used.  In turn, this will reduce your water and electric bills over time.