Climate Change:
What You Can Do
There are many practical things consumers can do to use energy more efficiently and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Step 1: measure your own emissions
Step 2: take action to reduce your carbon footprint
Practical measures can reduce emissions and help save money.
Here are some actions you can take:
- Engage your whole family in using less energy.
- Check out these Department of Energy resources with fun activities for kids on using less energy.
Kids Saving Energy (energy.gov)
Lose Your Excuse (loseyourexcuse.gov)
- Use energy-efficient appliances
- Remember to look for the ENERGY STAR® label when purchasing new appliances.
ENERGY STAR® products and information (energystar.gov)
- Upgrade to high-efficiency air conditioning.
- New, high-efficiency 13 SEER air conditioners will use only half the energy of a 15-year-old air conditioner.
- Replace old refrigerators.
- An old refrigerator may use twice as much energy as a new energy-efficient refrigerator.
- Refrain from putting the old one in the hot garage where it is only partially filled and only seldom used.
- PNM will pick up your old refrigerator, recycle it and pay you $30 to do so.
PNM refrigerator recycling rebates
- Use tax incentives.
- Use compact fluorescent light bulbs.
- Cut your lighting costs by 75 percent compared to a standard incandescent bulb.
- CFL bulbs also help lower your air conditioning costs since they do not generate as much heat as an incandescent bulb.
PNM CFL rebate program
- Business owners: consider PNM's commercial energy efficiency programs.
- You can receive rebates for:
- recycling old refrigerators.
- retrofitting an existing building.
- upgrading lighting.
- building a more energy efficient building.
PNM commercial energy efficiency programs
- Install a programmable thermostat.
- Raise or lower temperature settings such that the heating and cooling equipment are not running needlessly at different times during the day and night.
- This will save you energy and money.
- Purchase green energy.
- PNM Sky Blue provides the opportunity for customers to purchase renewable energy and demonstrate their commitment to our state and its environment.
- Travel wisely.
- Vehicles are a major source of greenhouse gas emissions.
- Carefully plan your trips.
- When buying a new vehicle, consider a car that gets more miles to the gallon than your current one.
- Ride the bus or carpool.
- Care for your car.
- Keep tires properly inflated and wheels aligned to improve your gas mileage.
- Get regular tune-ups to maximize fuel economy.
- Buy "carbon offsets."
- A carbon offset is a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions from a third party, aimed at canceling out or offsetting the emissions from a particular activity.
- The Environmental Defense Fund, a member with PNM of the U.S. Climate Action Partnership, has reviewed offset programs and developed a list of programs it recommends.
Carbon Offset List (edf.org)
- Practice the 3 R's: reduce, re-use, recycle.
- Conserve energy and natural resources.
- Reduce emissions.
- Help save valuable landfill space.
- Landfills produce methane gas, which is a greenhouse gas.
- Recycle paper, cardboard, newsprint and magazines.
- Recycle aluminum cans.
- Recycle all batteries.
- Reduce printing and photocopying by saving documents on your hard drive or creating personal file folders.
- At work, set printer default to print double-sided (duplex).
- Purchase the highest post-consumer content paper that will work with your printing equipment.
- Use a plastic or glass cup mug instead of paper cups.
- Switch from a full-page fax cover sheet to a half-page cover sheet.
Thanks to our friends at Duke Energy for many of the carbon-reduction tips on this page.
