Green Holiday Gift Ideas

Looking to purchase green gifts for your friends or family this holiday season? For ideas, check out the websites listed in this brief article from Consumer Reports Greener Choices.

Kill A Watt Meters

The Mount Prospect Public Library is now offering Kill A Watt Meters for checkout at the Reference Desk on the second floor. These devices can be used to monitor the electricity consumed by household appliances and electronics on a daily basis. ComEd provided 2 of these meters to the library. Please ask for assistance at the Reference Desk. Loan periods are for one week.

Winterize Your Home

As the seasons begin to change your family migrates indoors for the winter, a lot of energy can be wasted to keep your family and your home comfortable. Between 40 and 70% of all home energy is wasted, but we could save about half of that by buying efficient appliances and taking energy-saving measures.

Cover your air conditioner: If you can’t remove your window unit, consider covering it both inside and out. Besides protecting your air-conditioning unit, these covers also help keep cold air from entering your home through the space around the air-conditioner and can be a great way to lower utility bills.

Caulk it: Small spaces and gaps around windows and pipes and wires entering the home create create energy wasting drafts that can cut the efficiency of your heating system. Most caulking products cost under $10; rope caulk, one of the easiest types to apply, sells for about
$4 for 40 or 50 feet.

Block drafts: Draft blockers are foam plates that fit behind light switches and electrical outlets to reduce drafts that enter through those spaces. You can get a packet of 10 for about $3 and they're easy to install with just a screwdriver.

Upgrade your thermostat: Changing your thermostat to a programmable one allows you to control the temperature in your home at different times of the day without you being home. Keep the heat off when you're out of the house and set it to turn back up before you get home. Some also have a second set of settings for weekends, when people usually spend more time at home. The thermostats range from $90 to $175, but can save 12% or more on your energy bill and pay for itself within three years.

http://www.earthshare.org/2008/09/button-up-your.html

Thermal Detection Devices

The Mount Prospect Library is now offering thermal detection devices for checkout.  These "Minitemp Noncontact Thermometers" are designed for detecting heat leaks around doors and windows. Now that the colder weather has arrived, these devices are useful for determining where to add weather-stripping or if a new window is necessary to conserve heat.

The thermal detection devices are available at the Reference Desk on the second floor. They can be borrowed for one week.

These devices are made possible through the Mount Prospect Sustainability Education Program, presented in partnership with the Village of Mount Prospect and the Mount Prospect Public Library and funded through the U.S Department of Energy’s Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG).