5 Eco-Friendly DIY Projects

Cbias Scrappy Geek5 DIY Eco-Friendly Projects

If you’re looking for some easy to do, Eco Friendly DIY Projects, you’ve come to the right place. We’re going to show you some simple ways to save energy and money, by doing a few quick and easy DIY projects around your home. #BringingInnovation #CollectiveBias

5 Eco-Friendly DIY Projects

+ Energizer EcoAdvanced Batteries!

If you’re anything like me, you love to save money and that means reducing energy usage in your home. One of the biggest expenditures of energy are electricity and hot water. I’m going to give you 5 easy to do Green, Eco Friendly DIY Projects that you can complete in a weekend. We’re also showing off the New EcoAdvanced Energizer Batteries, which are ..you guessed it – Eco Friendly!

1. Replace Incandescent Light Bulbs with LEDs

Our first Eco-Friendly DIY project is installing LED light bulbs! This is an easy project tackle. We’ve decided on LEDs rather that CFLs because some CFLs contain mercury. Plus, the jury is still out on the health affects of mercury containing CFLs being used inside your home, considering some CFLs emit ultraviolet radiation. With controversial evidence and a completely safe alternative in LEDs, why take the risk? There’s no need.

Anyhoo, we’re using LED light bulbs. Did you know that LED stands for “Light Emitting Diode”? No? Me neither! But now we do. Switching out your old incandescent light bulbs for LEDs will help reduce energy usage, environmental impact, and impact on your wallet as well. LEDs last longer than conventional light bulbs and the manufacturing process is much more environmentally friendly as well. Aside from saving energy and lasting longer, LEDs are becoming less expensive and more affordable.

DIY Eco-Friendly LED Light Bulbs

If you’re concerned about cost, a good way to switch your bulbs over is slowly, as they burn out – or buying one pack of LED bulbs a week, or month – which ever your budget allows. They also last far longer than incandescent bulbs, so you don’t need to worry about replacing these for a very, very long time. Before deciding on a plan, look into incentive programs, there are often rebates or discounts available to those who switch to LEDs! Also, you may find a rebate on the packaging of the LED bulbs at the store. Keep an eye out, you may be able to get the LED light bulbs for next to nothing!

2. Insulate Heating Pipes

For our second Eco-Friendly project, we’re focusing on heat loss through pipes in our basement. Help reduce heat loss through hot water pipes by wrapping your exposed piping with a simple foam pipe insulation. There are a few different kinds of pipe insulation, some have a self sealing sticky glue with peel strips to expose it (super easy!) and some you need to purchase tape separately. We got the self-sealing pipe insulation which made the process a lot easier and made for less steps in the process too.

Foam Insulation on Heating Pipes

We keep the heat in our basement at 45 degrees. This means we have hot water heat loss from the main floor heating pipes that run throughout the basement and up through the floors to the baseboard heating system —  because they were not insulated. Insulating these pipes will reduce the heat loss, in turn reducing the heat that the gas boiler needs to produce in order to heat the water for the forced hot water heating system. It’s a cheap, simple DIY project that can be done in just a couple hours.

Reducing hot water heat loss when the water runs through your pipes is important and can help reduce home heating costs. Head down to your basement and measure up your exposed pipes. Purchase and wrap foam pipe insulation around those pipes and secure with the proper tape or the self sticking adhesive. You’ll save energy by reducing hot water heat loss as the pipes run through cooler areas of your home – this means your boiler will need to work less to heat your home.

3. Unplug Unused Electronics & Appliances

This is one green DIY project that is so easy, we forget to do it! But, unplugging unused appliances or electronics do save energy, and money! Even though your electronics or appliances are not in use, if they are plugged in, they’re using energy. Unplug your unused electronics and appliances to save energy and cash!

We thought about the unused electronics in our house, or electronics we only use on occasion. We found a lot of things to unplug! You’ll also be surprised at the amount of things that you have plugged in that are just sucking up energy for no good reason.

Unplug Appliances and Electronics to Save Energy

Our UN-Pluggables:

  • Rarely used desktop computer
  • Rarely used printer
  • Lamp in spare bedroom
  • Alarm clock in spare bedroom
  • Stereo system in living room
  • Wii game system
  • DVD players

We even went so far as to unplug our microwave and toaster ovens. We only use them a couple of times each week, and it’s not a bother to plug them in when we decide to use them. Unplugging even things that are only used occasionally, like these appliances, save energy and money.

4. Install a Programmable Thermostat

Busting the myth and saving you energy! Get yourself a programmable thermostat – we picked one up at Walmart, stuck our new Energizer EcoAdvanced Batteries in it, hooked it up and it’s been regulating the temperature in our home perfectly. Up during the evening hours and down 5 degrees while we’re not home or at bedtime. They’re easy to install. Each one is different, so follow the instructions found in your thermostat package.

Install Programmable Thermostat

The myth: Keeping your thermostat at a constant temperature saves more energy than turning it down while you’re away or at night while you’re sleeping. BUSTED! The science is there and proves that this is false. Turning your thermostat down will save you energy and money!

How so? It’s rather simple. Through the principle of heat transfer, it’s a fact that the cooler your home is, the slower it looses heat. The warmer your home is, the faster it loses heat – this is due to the principle of heat transfer. This means that when you allow your home to be cooler during the day, it wont lose as much heat – meaning your furnace or boiler will turn on less often and therefore use less energy.

Yes, you will use a burst of energy to heat your home back up to temperature when you get home from work. However, what some people don’t understand is that your boiler or furnace isn’t actually working harder, it’s working the at the same rate it would have been working all day had you left your heat turned up – but for a shorter period of time to reheat your home.

Installing a programmable thermostat is recommended by the US Department of Energy because studies have found that programmable thermostats can generate savings between 10% and 30%! Now that’s a big savings on both energy and money!

5. New Energizer EcoAdvanced Batteries

When it’s time to replace batteries, or put batteries in your new toys, use the New Energizer EcoAdvanced Batteries! Next time you’re at Walmart, grab a few packs of the recycled Energizer EcoAdvanced AA batteries (also available in AAA) – they’re perfect for new toys as well as those times when your TV remote conks out at 9pm while flipping channels.

Energizer EcoAdvanced Batteries

Just this week my wireless mouse was blinking..and blinking..and blinking. Well, okay, it was blinking for a few weeks – the batteries lasted longer than I thought they would with the warning light blinking. That’s probably because they were Energizer Batteries, that bunny doesn’t like to stop!

New EcoAdvanced Batteries from Energizer

Of course I didn’t have any spare batteries kicking around, so I had to go to Walmart and grab some replacements. Thinking about green DIY tips and ways to save, we picked up the Energizer EcoAdvanced Batteries at Walmart. Which also happen to be the first on the market to use recycled batteries – no joke! These new batteries hold the title as Energizer’s longest lasting alkaline ever, holding up to 12 years in storage. There’s nothing not to like about these batteries, that’s for sure.

Connect with Energizer:

  • Twitter: @Energizer
  • Facebook: @Energizer
  • Instagram: @Energizer
  • BringingInnovation.net

GuiltFreeEnergy Giveaway

* $1,000 in Gift Cards! *

 

GuiltFreeEnergy Giveaway – $1,000 in Gift Cards
Do you have energy saving tips? Leave a comment below!

 

Join the Conversation

  1. Kelly @ Mum-bo says:

    You have some really simple tips that almost every household could start doing to be more eco friendly and to save money. In Australia we have a switch on our power points / power outlets so if you flick off the switch, there is no need to unplug the device. I always switch off the washing machine and the microwave! Am I reading correctly the life of those Energizer batteries is up to 12 years? Really? Wow!!! I remember reading on Pinterest once that if you put batteries that are dead or almost dead into the freezer for awhile you will get some more life from them. But, alas, I have never tested it out. Read it on the internet. Must be true. Thanks for linking up to Mum-bo Monday!

  2. That is really cool that Energizer is making eco batteries. It’s always good to be eco friendly when you can. Thanks to the neat tips.

  3. Great tips! We just installed a programmable thermostat this winter, and I love how it automatically turns the heat down and saves us money.

  4. Unplugging pluggables….man….that’s where I fall down! I am the worst about leaving everything plugged in ALL THE TIME!

    And batteries using recycled batteries? That’s crazy talk. CRAZY talk!

  5. They’re easy to install and are really inexpensive, too. They pay for themselves in no time!

  6. Oh my goodness, I had no idea you could even use foam pipe insulation! What a brilliant idea! We need to look into getting some of those!

  7. It’s amazing how much energy and $$ you can save by unplugging. A dollar here or there – all of a sudden you’re saving $30, $40 or more each year just by unplugging the things that aren’t used! Thanks for stopping by 🙂

  8. Great tips!!! We really need to be better about unplugging our un-pluggables! We have so many things plugged in that don’t get used daily or even weekly! #client

  9. We’ve done most of these already thankfully. It’s super important to me to be as eco-friendly as possible.

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