Save Money and Save the World With Home Based Green Technologies
Once you start working from home, you will have an incredible opportunity to improve every single area of your life, as well as change your impact on the environment. Even though you no longer need a car, there are at least five other areas where you can reduce your environmental footprint, improve your operational efficiency, and save money at the same time. While you may not want to tackle all of these areas at once, you can still make it your business to work on them a little bit at a time. No matter where you choose to start, it is important to break each task down into manageable steps, and have fun with each level of effort.
Make Your Own Energy at Home
Basically, there are three methods that you can use to generate your own energy at home. You’ve probably already heard of solar power and windmills. On the other hand, you may not have heard of something called Magnetic Power Generation. Contrary to popular belief, you can use all three systems without having to climb on your roof or own several acres of property. If you can manage to produce just 12 volts of steady power on a daily basis, you can take care of most of your home office energy needs. I’ll tell you more about that in a few minutes.
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End Reliance on Commercial Food and Processed Foods
If you’ve seen the PETA videos, there is no question that you will be nauseated by the sight of meat. At the same time, if you start reading about all the pesticides use to grow fruits and vegetables, you may feel helpless when it comes to finding nutritious and healthy foods. While I do not necessarily recommend a vegetarian diet, I do most certainly think that growing fruits, vegetables, and chickens at home is an ideal answer to your food problems.
No matter whether you live in an apartment or own a home, hydroponic gardening can be used to raise plants. Chickens can easily become household pets that provide eggs upon maturity. To get started, all you need is a little bit of information and a the will to be successful at growing your own foods. Needless to say, you should also begin the process of weaning yourself from processed foods and TV dinners. Aside from saving money, you will never need to worry about hundreds of additives that cause cancer, digestive disorders, psychological problems, and heart disease.
Reduce Power Consumption in Your Home Office
When you own a laptop computer, you can do much more than enjoy working while you sit in front of the TV. In fact these computers can easily be run on solar panels. If you purchase a solar power battery pack, you will be able to power up your laptop for free. Better yet, rather than spend all that money, you can make a small solar panel that will do the exact same job.
If you look around your home office, you will probably see lots of blinking lights. When was the last time you had your printer or fax machine actively working around the clock? Cutting back on energy usage during idle time is as simple as buying a power strip. All you need to do is shut one little switch, and all those power monsters will be unable to go on sucking money out of your wallet.
If you absolutely feel that you need a fax machine, you can let your computer do the job for you. No matter whether you have dial up internet service or high speed internet, your computer can easily receive and send faxes. In fact, Windows and Linux both have free utilities that will make it easy to create a faxing center. As an added bonus, if you have a dedicated line for you fax machine, you can get rid of that and look forward to a reduction on your phone bill.
Choose Webhost Providers With Care
Even though you may not be polluting the air with an automobile, webhost server mainframes use an enormous amount of electricity. That said, there are some webhost providers that make an effort to reduce their carbon footprint. For example, you can find hosts that plant trees, as well as make use of hardware that uses as little energy as possible. When you sign on with these webhosts, you will usually get a very good deal on your hosting package. You will also have peace of mind knowing that your work at home activities are far more energy efficient than they would be if you signed on with another host.
Cut Cell Phone Usage and Transfer to Email
If you currently have a cell phone, you should be aware that it causes all kinds of environmental damage. To begin, dead batteries make their way into oceans and landfills. From there, heavy metals and other toxins leach into the water table and soil. In some cases, electronic trash is also shipped overseas, where people try to recapture certain parts. As they work with these objects, they are often exposed to chemicals that burn their skin and cause respiratory problems.
No matter how you look at it, cell phones are downright deadly when used on the highway, and yapping on your cellphone in public is one of the rudest things you can do. Unfortunately, if you spend your days and nights talking on your cell phone, you won’t be getting any work done. When you work at home, there will be enough distractions without adding one more from this particular device.
The best thing you can do for yourself, and the world around you is to get rid of your cell phone subscription. If people want to be in touch with you, they can, and should make use of email. After all, when you work at home, “flexible” hours can easily translate to working around the clock if you don’t have some discipline. Aside from this, you can always ask your friends and family members to join social networking group such as Myspace, Facebook, or Ning. This makes it easy for everyone to keep up with each other, even though thousands of miles may separate you. Trust me, these methods are better and faster than a cell phone could ever be.
As a successful freelancer, you will have one of the best chances possible of doing something to stop global warming, and a whole host of other environmental issues. While it will always take some adjustment to living this lifestyle, you will enjoy the rewards that come with it, as well as all the wonderful opportunities to save money. Perhaps even better, as our society shifts to a more environmentally aware focus, you can also enjoy knowing that you are a leader instead of lagging behind everyone else.