Recycle Utah

Nonprofit Summit County, Utah Recycling Center

#energy efficiency

Winterizing Your Home the Green Way

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It’s October, which means winter is around the corner! Winterizing your home the green way not only safeguards the environment but also significantly reduces your energy bills. Embrace these tips and make sustainability a cozy affair!

  • Wrap your Pipes: Insulating pipes prevent freezing and energy wastage. Materials like newspaper and rags make for great options. 
  • Inspect the Roof and Gutters: Clean and clear gutters prevent ice dams, reducing energy costs. Checking your roof for damage and repairing them timely ensures better insulation and reduced heating needs.
  • Weatherproof Doors and Windows: Sealing gaps and installing weather stripping around doors and windows prevents cold drafts, making your heating system work more efficiently.
  • Thermostats: Consider installing a programmable thermostat. It helps in maintaining the desired temperature and cuts down on unnecessary heating, saving both energy and money.
  • Water Heaters: Insulate your water heater or opt for energy-efficient models to conserve energy.
  • Switch to LED Lights: Longer nights mean more artificial lighting. LEDs use significantly less energy compared to traditional bulbs. Opt for LED holiday lights too!
  • Natural Heating: Harness the sun’s power! Open curtains on south-facing windows during the day to allow sunlight in, warming up your space naturally.
  • Insulated Curtains: They trap heat and prevent cold drafts, proving to be both an eco-friendly and aesthetic addition to your interiors.

Tori Sowul, The Drawdown Fund

The Carbon Footprint of Streaming

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Many of our everyday activities have environmental consequences: how we dispose of waste, what we eat, how we move around. Most of us are familiar with the impacts that these activities have on our planet. Each one uses energy, produces emissions, and therefore contributes to a carbon footprint. But what about the activities that aren’t so straightforward? Have you ever wondered how streaming—something billions of people do every day—impacts the environment?

Streaming relies on a vast infrastructure of data centers, networks, and devices like computers, phones, and TVs. All these elements contribute to the carbon footprint of streaming, accounting for a significant portion of global carbon emissions. The demand for high-definition streaming continues to rise, leading to the expansion of this infrastructure.

When considering the environmental impact of streaming, it’s essential to consider the production of the devices used for streaming. The manufacturing of these devices is energy-intensive and often reliant on fossil fuels, further contributing to carbon emissions. 

Video streaming has a carbon footprint comparable to activities like boiling a kettle or microwaving popcorn. While individual streaming habits do matter, the continuous operation of data centers and networks independent of the number of users streaming is a significant part of the problem. Switching to renewable energy will significantly decrease the emissions of these data centers, and therefore the emissions of streaming in general. Many of the big players in the streaming industry have committed to sourcing their energy from renewable sources, which will be a major step in making media consumption more sustainable in the future.

Although much of the impact of streaming is out of the consumer’s hands, there are several things we can do to reduce the environmental impact of streaming. When possible, stream from a less energy-intensive device. Watching on your laptop or phone uses a fraction of the energy required to stream on a TV. Download files when you can. And most importantly, use your devices for as long as you can. Dispose of old devices correctly. You can drop off old TVs, computers, and smartphones at Recycle Utah!

Streaming is a popular and convenient way to consume media, but it’s not without environmental consequences. By being mindful of our streaming habits and supporting sustainable initiatives in the industry, we can work towards a more environmentally friendly streaming future. 

By Chelsea Hafer

Laundry Tips

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Unless you have the laundry fairy on speed dial, chances are you or someone in your household does up to 300 loads of laundry each year. Washing laundry requires about 6,000 gallons of water each year, and the dryer is the 2nd biggest user of energy in most houses behind the fridge. The United States’ annual residential laundry carbon emissions is equivalent to powering 21 million homes. So, what can we do to reduce the environmental impact of laundry, and maybe save some money while we are at it?

  1. Reduce the number of loads of laundry that is done by wearing clothes more than once and running full loads.
  2. Wash on cold. Heating the water in a washing machine takes up to 90% of a washing machine cycle’s energy. While washing on hot is still needed for germ filled loads, cold cycles are generally better for making clothes last longer and removing stains.
  3. If a washer or dryer needs to be replaced, be sure to choose an efficient energy star option. It could save you $370 in operating costs over your washer’s lifetime, and only uses 25 gallons per load, compared to 40 gallons for older machines.
  4. When it comes to drying, air dry if possible. Not only will you reap the savings from not using your energy hogging dryer, but you will also extend the life of your clothes.
  5. When using the dryer, make sure to properly clean the lint filter, and consider using dryer balls to reduce laundry drying time and energy use. Dryer balls also have the added benefit of softening laundry, making them an ideal replacement for single use and chemical laden dryer sheets.

By Montana Burack, Park City High School

Functional Turfgrass and Water-wise Landscaping

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Turfgrass is not always the “bad guy”—thirsty, hungry, and costly. It is a favorite place where we play and generally hang out. And functional turfgrass is an important part of a water-wise landscape.

Kelly Kopp, Professor, Extension Water Conservation and Turfgrass Specialist at Utah State University, emphasizes several environmental benefits of functional turfgrass. Its dense root system absorbs water and almost eliminates runoff. Less runoff helps protect water quality. An area of turfgrass moderates wind erosion of soil, traps pollen and dust, and reduces environmental noise. It moderates temperature levels and reduces energy used for home cooling.

How do you make your turfgrass functional?

  • Only use it in areas where it provides clear benefits.
  • Water your turf grass less. USU Extension estimates that the typical homeowner uses twice as much water as their turfgrass requires.
  • Choose a grass mix that is best suited to your area. Professor Kopp notes 3 distinct grass type zones in Utah.
  • For non-functional areas, consider using non-irrigated turfgrass that withstands drought stress—it will go dormant, turn brown and green up again when conditions improve.
  • Don’t plant turf grass in narrow areas where it cannot be efficiently watered.
  • Irrigate turf grass in areas separate from other plants which have different water needs and can be irrigated differently, e.g., by drip line.
  • Support water efficient grass through proper mowing and fertilizing.
  • Contact Elizabeth Cohen at elizabeth.cohen@usu.edu from the Summit County Extension Department for excellent information about all things landscaping.

By Bev Harrison

Energy Upgrades

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Our energy supply gets cleaner every day. In fact, while less than 20% of Utah energy is still delivered to us via renewable sources, this will change drastically within this decade. The 80-megawatt solar farm in Tooele County, one of the largest generators connected to Rocky Mountain Power’s Utah grid to date, is due to deliver green power to our Summit County homes by 2030. This farm is intended to power over a dozen Utah cities, counties, universities, and ski resorts.

Knowing this, it’s wise to start saving up to slowly transition off fossil fuels to a cleaner and healthier home. Think long term: cost savings, health, and environmental impact. The new Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) bill is jam-packed with rebates, but the savings depends on your tax bill (which can lower the amount owed but won’t offer a refund if you don’t owe anything). Consider upgrades to the following home areas:

  1. Get a home energy audit.
  2. Install solar or other renewable sources.
  3. Install a heat pump heating and cooling system.
  4. Switch out your appliances (gas stove to electric, laundry, and more).
  5. Upgrade your thermostat.
  6. Upgrade your insulation, windows, exterior doors, ventilation, air leaks and more.
  7. Purchase an electric vehicle, home charger, or battery pack.

The IRA bill is serious and thorough, including low and middle-income households and offering 50 to 100% upfront rebates. Another action we all can do is to support Green Power on our monthly power bills through ThermWise (natural gas) and Blue Sky (electric). Be proactive and think electric.

By Mary Closser

Efficient Home Heating

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As the cold, snowy Park City winter approaches, there are a few things everyone can do to help improve sustainability. When temperatures start to drop, everyone’s thermostat kicks in, heating the house back up to a normal temperature. However, generating this heat requires the use of fossil fuels, emitting carbon into the atmosphere. By consuming less heat, less carbon is released into the atmosphere. The following are some ways to help minimize the energy spent heating your house.

Let the sun in during the daytime. The sun is a free source of heat, and by keeping your blinds open on a Park City winter day, your house can capture some of this heat by taking advantage of the greenhouse effect. Conversely, close your curtains come nighttime. Windows can be a key source of heat loss because they are not as well insulted as walls. By closing your curtains, you can cut down on heat loss and take strain off your furnace. Additionally, you can purchase insulated curtains that decrease heat loss and maximize your windows’ energy efficiency.  

Sealing air leaks and drafts is also a key way to minimize heat loss. Although commonly unnoticed, air leaks can a large source of heat loss, increasing the need for your furnace. Common locations of air leaks include external doors, windows, attics, and basements. The cost of properly sealing these locations will have minimal expense, but the benefits on both your heating bill and the environment are quite impactful.

By Pearson Ehrich