Set sprinklers to water the lawn or garden only - not the street or sidewalk.
Use the microwave to cook small meals. (It uses less power than an oven.)
Purchase "Green Power" for your home's electricity. (Contact your power supplier to see where and if it is available.)
Scrape, rather than rinse, dishes before loading into the dishwasher; wash only full loads.
Cut back on air conditioning and heating use if you can.
Turn off appliances and lights when you leave the room.
RALEIGH, N.C. -- Environmental groups and poverty-prevention advocates are criticizing a $740,000 project to run a two-mile waterline to four homes in western North Carolina.
The project will exhaust a $300,000 state emergency fund set up to identify and fix contaminated water systems statewide. The groups question whether that fund should be used for only 12 people.
The groups agree the Jackson County residents need assistance. Their well is contaminated with a cancer-causing chemical. But at a cost of $185,000 per house, state officials said it's the most expensive project per household to date.
The groups want new guidelines for how the emergency fund is used. They suggest using specific amounts of money to notify residents near contaminated sites, test water wells and provide safe alternative water supplies when needed.
