Ways to save with your A/C

Over the weekend, I was working in my garden and appreciating the heat from the sun. I immediately noticed how many A/C units were buzzing around in my neighbourhood. It might have been a little warm, but not hot enough to turn on my A/C. I wonder if people have just become accustomed to A/C and no longer try to tolerate a little heat. Climate change has been an important topic in the media these days, and I wonder if people are thinking they can contribute to mitigating the effects of global warming by keeping their homes cool. Yikes!

This will be my first summer with A/C (EVER!), and I am looking forward to using it... but I am not planning to turn my house into a freezer. And, since I'm paying hydro, I was thinking it might be good to find some tricks on saving energy and keeping a cool home. I found a good article: http://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/cooling.html.

Check it out and let me know what you think. Mr. Electricity clarifies some of the myths we hear on A/C. According this his math, you will save a lot more energy if you turn off your A/C when no one is home. In addition, Central A/C is not a replacement for ceiling fans... they actually go hand in hand. Read the article and let me know if you've increased your thermostat ... even by one degree or if you bought an additional ceiling fan.

In my opinion, if you wear a t-shirt and shorts, leaving your house around 78F or 26C is cold enough. I also believe their should never be more than 20 degrees difference between your house and outside (well, maybe in the winter...).

Skin Care is Skin Deep

I always wondered why there were so many different skin care companies and why “woman” needed so many different products to take care of their skin. I also wondered how many years of sciences were required to come up with all those chemical products and to identify the most beneficial natural extracts that give younger looking skin. As long as the product says it will make your skin look healthier, it must be true, right?

If you’re sceptical like I am, you are probably wondering how to get more information about the products you use to see if they are safe. I found this great website a few years called the Skin Deep Report (http:// http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/). Skin Deep is a safety guide to cosmetics and personal care products brought to you by researchers at the Environmental Working Group. You can browse products by brand name and company name. Unfortunately, not all products are listed on the website (“yet”), but you call always lookup the ingredients that were used to create your cleanser, toner, lipsticks or moisturizer and decide weather the ingredients are safe enough for your skin. The website also identifies which companies test their products on animals, and which companies have signed a pledge to formulate products that do not use ingredients that are known or suspected to cause certain health harms.

If you care about your skin, this website is one you will want to bookmark!