With only a few people still on tropical or snow sport related vacations we find ourselves back at work, ready to tackle 2008 full of new energy and ambition...Preserve your energy and save some of that hard earned money...here is how to get started:

Illumination

• Replace incandecent lightbulbs with compact fluorescents...they last ten times longer.  You'll recoup their higher cost and save up to $30 annually in electricity cost.

Your Thermostat

• Warm your house to your comfort level when you're in your home and lower it to 13 degrees celsius overnight either manually or install a programmable thermosatat from one of your local home improvement store (Home Depot, Rona, Canadian Tire etc.)...For every degree you lower you can save 3% in energy cost.

In the office...the re-use file

• Get everyone at your workplace involved...Reuse perfectly good office products that are routinely tossed...folders, paper clips, binders.

We hope these tips are helpful and easy to follow...Remember, if we all do a little bit it means a lot. 

We all start the year with off with New Year's resolutions which we intend to keep for the rest of the year and beyond.  Statistically most of us however forget about our commitments by the third week of January.  To prevent this from happening we'll start off with only a few seasonal tips every other week and ease into it...Have a great start of the year.

• Paper or plastic?  Duck the question by simply bringing a plastic bag from your previous grocery shopping trip or invest in a re-usable shopping bag at all major grocery stores...If you grocery shop once a week, in five years you'll have kept up to 1,000 grocery bags out of our landfills.
• Tap those savings! Turn off the water when you shave, brush your teeth or wash your hands and save up to 10 gallons of water daily.
• Modern automobiles require 30 seconds of warm up time before running properly in cold weather.  Although it is tempting to blast the heater prior to getting into the car on a cold morning consider the mileage per gallon of zero.