Set sprinklers to water the lawn or garden only - not the street or sidewalk.
Use the microwave to cook small meals. (It uses less power than an oven.)
Purchase "Green Power" for your home's electricity. (Contact your power supplier to see where and if it is available.)
Scrape, rather than rinse, dishes before loading into the dishwasher; wash only full loads.
Cut back on air conditioning and heating use if you can.
Turn off appliances and lights when you leave the room.
Green standards for housing have been a sore spot between the city of Austin and local realtors. Now, after eight months of deliberations, an agreement has been reached.
Before first time homeowner Laurie Kennedy closed on her home last week, she paid $200 to have an energy efficiency audit performed.
"It's like checking under the hood when you're buying a car. You want to know what's there what may or may not be apparent," said Kennedy.
An inspector told her that her ducts, air conditioner and heater are old but functioning. She plans to take advantage of city rebates which will pay 20-25 percent of the cost of the energy improvements.
Tuesday, during a news conference at Austin City Hall, Mayor Will Wynn announced the final recommendation from the energy efficiency task force.
"This is about consumer impact upfront, and we really think this is a dramatic, positive impact," said Mayor Wynn.
It was the mayor's brain child to make Austin more energy efficient, but immediately he drew criticism from realtors. They were upset over early plans that would have made it mandatory for home owners to make upgrades when a house is sold.
"We're absolutely ecstatic that we are doing voluntary energy audit," said Socar Chatmon-Thomas, Austin Board of Realtors chairman.
Under the unanimous agreement, the program would now require an energy audit and provide incentives to help pay up-front costs for energy improvements.
"When you put this information in the citizen's hands they've already proven to us they will take that information and maximize the benefits for themselves and their families," said Mike Martinez, Austin City Council member.
The program has to be adopted by the city council. Council members were expected to vote on it in November.
