Try to come up with an approximate number of total watts used per day. As light bulbs burn out, replace them with compact fluorescent light bulbs. They use one-fourth the energy of regular bulbs and keep half a ton of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere during their life span which is ten times longer. Recycling one 12 ounce pop can is equivalent to saving 6 ounces of gas or preventing about 8.5 pounds of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere. While recycling is much better for the environment than using new raw materials, even recycling has harmful environmental impacts.
Recycling takes energy, materials, money and time.
It produces some air and water pollution, although not nearly as much as using new raw materials does. Recycling can help reduce resource use significantly but reducing demand and reusing can do even more good. In terms of energy usage, it is heating water that consumes most of the energy used in bathing. A water heater can consume 20 percent of all the energy used in a household. Eating Think about your buying habits.