Ten Tips to Save Energy This Winter

As the weather cools, the heating bills go up! The Energy Trust of Oregon has published a list of ten tips to help reduce the cost of heating this winter.

1. Turn down the thermostat when leaving the house. Even better, purchase a programmable thermostat, so you won’t have to remember!

2. Seal air leaks on exteriors walls, doors, and windows with caulk or weatherstripping. To check for leaks, hold a lit incense stick next to the opening and watch the smoke, or walk around with a damp hand to feel for air flow.

3. Seal leaking ducts with mastic sealant or metal tape. There are firms that will come out and test your ducts for leaks and fix them for you. Check in the phone book under “duct sealing” or “duct testing.”

4. Add insulation to attic, exterior wall, and crawl spaces.

5. Install plastic film on the inside of windows to improve their efficiency. The film is available at most home improvement stores.

6. Change furnace filters regularly, from every one to three months.

7. Close fireplace and wood stove dampers when not in use, to prevent air leakage or intrusion.

8. Install low-flow showerheads and faucet aerators to reduce the amount of hot water used. Also, limit showers to 5 minutes by using an egg timer.

9. Change incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescents. They are now available in different sizes and styles to match almost any fixture. Also, unplug electronic devices when not in use to avoid “phantom” energy loss. Or, plug a string of such devices into a power strip, and turn it off when the devices aren’t being used.

10. Replace old appliances with new Energy Star rated versions. Rebates may be available, and the fixtures will use considerably less energy (depending on how old the original appliances were).

Energy Trust of Oregon, Inc., is a nonprofit organization dedicated to changing how Oregonians use energy by promoting energy efficiency and clean renewable energy for Oregon customers of Portland General Electric, Pacific Power, NW Natural and Cascade Natural Gas. For more information, visit the Energy Trust Web site, www.energytrust.org, or call 1-866-368-7878.

ISRAELI JOURNALIST TO SPEAK ON ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT, LIVING IN GAZA

US Fed News Service, Including US State News February 7, 2012 GAINESVILLE, Fla., Feb. 6 — The University of Florida issued the following news release: go to website israeli palestinian conflict

Amira Hass, an award-winning Israeli journalist, will speak at 6 p.m. Feb. 13. at the University of Florida’s Pugh Hall, home of the Bob Graham Center for Public Service.

The program is being co-sponsored by the Bob Graham Center, the UF International Center, and The Isser and Rae Price Library of Judaica Endowment Fund, among others. The event is free and open to the public.

The daughter of two Holocaust survivors, Hass has been noted for her unparalleled reporting and courage in covering the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. As a foreign correspondent, she has literally lived “behind enemy lines” in covering the decade-old conflict between Palestinians and Jews. Hass has lived in Gaza and in the West Bank among Palestinians for years – something unheard of and seen by many as dangerous for a Jewish citizen of Israel.

“In doing so, Hass is celebrated by some Israelis as a national conscience and condemned by others as an ideologue or even a traitor,” the Los Angeles Times wrote in a profile of Hass.

Even at the height of the second intifada – the bloody uprising of Palestinians in 2001 – Hass openly worked as a lone Israeli journalist covering the conflict for Ha’aretz, Israel’s oldest and most liberal daily newspaper.

Describing why she does it, Hass has written that “my desire to live in Gaza stemmed neither from adventurism nor from insanity, but from that dread of being a bystander, from my need to understand, down to the last detail, a world that is, to the best of my political and historical comprehension, a profoundly Israeli creation. To me, Gaza embodies the entire saga of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; it represents the central contradiction of the state of Israel – democracy for some, dispossession for others; it is our exposed nerve.” Hass is a recipient of the International Press Institute’s World Press Freedom Hero Prize, the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize, the International Women’s Media Foundation’s Lifetime Achievement Award and numerous other awards. She is the author of “Drinking the Sea at Gaza: Days and Nights in a Land under Siege,” and co-author of “Reporting from Ramallah: An Israeli Journalist in an Occupied Land.” For any query with respect to this article or any other content requirement, please contact Editor at htsyndication@hindustantimes.com Shelby Taylor, 352/273-1086. israelipalestinianconflictnow.com israeli palestinian conflict

Comments

Greg says:

October 27, 2008 at 5:38 pm

With regards to low flow aerators typical low flow is 2.5 gallons per minute but there are actually aerators that restrict water as low as .5 gallons per minute here is a link to examples http://www.faucetaerators.com/faucet-aerators-c-21.html, you can’t buy them here but can get them at the hardware store. I have actually heard a company is coming out with a .33 gallon per minute aerators.

Greg says:

October 27, 2008 at 1:38 pm

With regards to low flow aerators typical low flow is 2.5 gallons per minute but there are actually aerators that restrict water as low as .5 gallons per minute here is a link to examples http://www.faucetaerators.com/faucet-aerators-c-21.html, you can’t buy them here but can get them at the hardware store. I have actually heard a company is coming out with a .33 gallon per minute aerators.

Chavy Goh says:

October 29, 2008 at 6:18 am

Thanks for the tips.
There are many useful tips at http://www.waystosaveenergy.net.
Do drop by and tell me what you think.

Cheers~
Chavy
WaystoSaveEnergy.net

Chavy Goh says:

October 29, 2008 at 2:18 am

Thanks for the tips.
There are many useful tips at http://www.waystosaveenergy.net.
Do drop by and tell me what you think.

Cheers~
Chavy
WaystoSaveEnergy.net

ellen graham says:

November 27, 2008 at 12:51 am

I love tips, but I am always uncomfortable with the “replace your old appliances” tip. The aggregate impact of a populace with more efficient appliances must be significant. If people replace old appliances with new, efficient appliances of comparable size, they will see personal savings, but the impact on the waste stream is also relevant. Oh yeah, and some filters are washable. Sorry, I know, complain complain complain. And then there’s wrapping hot water pipes in unconditioned spaces and draining an electric hot water heater annually to get some gunk out of the tank and extend the life of the lower heating element.

ellen graham says:

November 26, 2008 at 8:51 pm

I love tips, but I am always uncomfortable with the “replace your old appliances” tip. The aggregate impact of a populace with more efficient appliances must be significant. If people replace old appliances with new, efficient appliances of comparable size, they will see personal savings, but the impact on the waste stream is also relevant. Oh yeah, and some filters are washable. Sorry, I know, complain complain complain. And then there’s wrapping hot water pipes in unconditioned spaces and draining an electric hot water heater annually to get some gunk out of the tank and extend the life of the lower heating element.