10 Free Ways to Go Green at Home in Phoenix

There are numerous articles, books, and seminars on how you can spend your hard earned money to green your home and live in a more sustainable manner but why does everything you do have to cost money?
The following list are helpful and free ways to save money and go green in Phoenix:

1. Wash clothes in cold water - most of the energy used when washing your closed goes into the heating of the water you use to wash your clothes - almost 90% of the cost.
2. Don't use your clothes dryer - clothes in Phoenix dry in a matter of minutes in the summer heat.  Naturally drying clothes eliminates the need for the heavy perfumes in dryer sheets, give your clothing longer life (isn't dryer lint just the subtial breakdown of clothing?), and eliminates an additional heat source that makes the air conditioner work harder in the summer time.  Can't hang your clothes outside?  Try using an indoor clothes line...the air here is dry enough.
3. Don't hand-wash or pre-wash your dishes.  My wife fights me on this point but you use more water and energy to handwash dishes than to allow your dishwasher to do all of the work for you.  Scrape off the food in the trash and allow the dishwasher to do its job...and you can save up to 20 gallons of heated water a day.
4. Turn your computer off.  If you're not using it, why is it on...yet so many people insist on leaving their computers on so they don't have to "wait" for the computer to turn on.  The fact that leaving your computer and monitor on all day wastes tremendous amounts of electricity, creates an additional heat source that forces your AC to work harder, and can have more wear and tear on the computer than by turning in on and off with each use.
5. Raise the thermostat in the summer and lower the temperature in the winter.  Each degree below 78 degrees in the summer, for example, will increase your energy use by 3-4%
6. Turn on the ceiling fan when you are in the room and turn it off when you leave it.  Ceiling fans can make you feel anywhere from 3 to 8 degrees cooler, thus allowing you to raise the temperature in the house during the summer and save on your cooling costs.  Be sure to turn it off when you leave the room because the fans only have a perceived effect and if you are not in the room, there is no benefit (and the additional cost of using an appliance for no reason).
7. Turn down your water heater.  Set your water heater to 120 degrees instead of the blistering 140-150 degree temperatures and save on the additional heating costs.
8. Use the microwave in the summertime.  Microwaves use 20 percent of the energy as a conventional oven and does not generate the radiant heat that will kick on the AC.
9. Try  crock-potting your food.  Slow cookers use a lot less energy than something cooking on the stove.
10. Clean the coils on your fridge.  The cleaner the coils on the refrigerator will reduce the amount of time that the motor has to run.  Besides saving money, you will prolong the life of the fridge.