7 Ways to Put Sustainable Living on Autopilot
If you’re asking us, working toward a more sustainable lifestyle is time well spent.
But it can feel daunting to overhaul your habits and monitor every little choice.
Like remembering to bring reusable bags when you go shopping...or a refillable mug when you pick up coffee.
What if you could spend a little effort up front to set in motion a few changes that could help you live more in line with your values, every day...effortlessly?
While you work on transforming those small choices into daily habits, it’s also helpful to put a strong foundation in place that will help you practice sustainable living — without lifting a finger.
The following seven ideas will take various amounts of time or energy to get established, but after they’re up and running they’ll consistently work in the background to make your home and lifestyle more eco-friendly without any additional work on your end.
Let’s make things easier on ourselves, shall we?
1 - Set up automatic bill pay
Switching to automatic bill pay has two major benefits. It’ll cut down on the amount of mail you receive, which is better for the environment—and it’ll also save you time! You’ll save trees and water by eliminating the paper, envelopes, checks, and stamps that come and go from your mailbox. Plus you’ll reduce the use of fossil fuels used for shipping and transporting all those bills.
You can take this concept one step further by dedicating one afternoon to calling all the companies who send you catalogs, brochures, and junk mail, and asking them to kindly take you off their mailing lists. If you want to stay in touch with the company, then sign up for their paperless, online newsletters instead!
2 - Install a smart thermostat
Climate control is a major factor in home energy use. With a smart thermostat, you can adjust your home’s temperature to make the most of your personal schedule and your home’s layout. For example, during winter, you could preset your thermostat to chillier temperatures overnight when you’re bundled up in bed anyway. You can also adjust the temperature in certain rooms so you’re not heating or cooling spaces that your family doesn’t use. With time, a smart thermostat will help you identify your energy habits, save money, and lower your carbon footprint with very little effort on your end.
(See our energy saving cheat sheet here for more easy tips)
3 - Swap out your incandescent lightbulbs for LEDs
According to Energy.gov, light-emitting diode (LED) bulbs use 75% less energy than traditional incandescent bulbs and they last 25 times longer! Since you won’t need to purchase as many new bulbs over the years, you’ll keep hundreds of lightbulbs (and their packages!) out of landfills while simultaneously lowering your home’s carbon footprint.
Switching your home to LED bulbs will require a small investment upfront, or you can simply decide to purchase LED bulbs on an as-needed basis moving forward. Either way, scan the label well when buying LED bulbs to make sure you have the right brightness for your intended location. If you decorate for the holidays, then keep your eyes open for long-lasting LED string lights, as well!
4 - Create a flexitarian meal plan to eat less meat
Worldwide, livestock accounted for between 14.5 and 18 percent of human-induced greenhouse gas emissions in 2018. Cows in particular release huge amounts of methane as they digest their food. To feed America’s burger addiction, we’ve plowed under millions of acres of fertile, midwest prairies and tropical rainforests to grow pesticide-riddled monocrops used as livestock feed.
According to a 2019 study in Scientific Reports, if everyone in the U.S. cut meat (beef, pork, and chicken) consumption by a quarter, then we’d save 82 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions per year and reclaim 23 million acres of high-quality land (the size of Indiana!) to grow protein-rich food crops or carbon-absorbing forests and prairies.
You can take a huge step toward sustainable living by dedicating one afternoon to learning about flexitarian diets, identifying a few meatless recipes, and researching where you can buy locally raised, organic meat in your community. With that foundation in place, you’ll be ready to adopt a more environmentally friendly diet for years to come.
5 - Install a greywater system
In the United States, the average person uses between 80-100 gallons of water a day to eat, drink, bathe, wash dishes and clothes, flush the toilet, etc. Most of this water (with the exception of toilet flushes) could still be used to water your garden or landscape if you could only capture it. With a greywater system, you can do just that!
A greywater system automatically reroutes slightly used water to irrigation channels placed throughout your landscape or garden. This system allows you to get a second use from the water you’ve already paid for, plus it means you probably won’t need to use additional water to maintain your home’s landscape.
There are some lifestyle shifts that stem from installing a greywater system, primarily the fact that you’ll need to switch to environmentally friendly soaps that won’t harm your landscape. Learn more in From Laundry to Landscape: Tap into Greywater.
(If local ordinances allow it, another option is to install rain barrels for an eco-friendly, gravity-fed irrigation system with a smaller start-up cost.)
6 - Switch to solar.
We need power to charge everything from refrigerators to laptops. However, nothing says you have to rely on dirty fossil fuels. Solar energy is a great example of a one-time commitment that immediately starts working in the background to reduce your carbon footprint, your electric bills, and your exposure to volatile foreign markets all while preserving Earth’s precious resources for future generations. Learn more about the benefits of solar, including increased home value, here.
7 - Drive an electric or hybrid vehicle.
Much like switching to solar for your home’s energy use, driving an electric or hybrid vehicle is a one-time decision that immediately results in a lower carbon footprint for years to come. The efficiency and designs for these vehicles are improving with each passing year, and there are now great options in a variety of price points. Don’t forget, there are also federal and state tax credits that help incentivize buyers to make the switch.
As an added bonus, an electric vehicle will save you an estimated $632 per year in fuel or energy costs compared to its gas-guzzling counterpart! If you’re interested in driving an electric car, then learn more about our electric vehicle (EV) chargers and installation services, here.
When we think about the future we want for children, we imagine a world where modern technology and human ingenuity harness Earth’s abundant gifts, like solar, water, and wind, with respect and sustainability.
If each of us start making the changes above, paired with small daily decisions that eventually morph into habits, we can be proud of our collective steps toward brighter, greener days ahead.