Air Date: Week of November 9, 2007

A listener from St. Louis calls in his cool tips for saving energy.

Transcript

[THEME]

GELLERMAN: In the segments we call "Cool Fix for a Hot Planet" we highlight ways you can take action against climate change. Dan Davison of St. Louis, Missouri sent us an email with some ideas. So we gave him a call.

DAVISON: In St. Louis, the maple trees put down seeds in the spring and we usually have to pull up the seedlings. So a few years ago we left a few of the stronger ones and then relocated those to the southern and western exposure of the house. Over the years they’ve grown up and have started to give us some shade. Well, that put our vegetable garden out of business but our idea there was to move the vegetable garden up to the single-story flat roof above our garage. To get even more sun on the plants we painted the flat roof with aluminum-based paint, and we noticed that the garage was staying cooler so we went ahead and painted the three other flat roofs on our home with the same paint. So, now having done this for a few years, between the shade of the trees, the heat-absorbing plants on the roof, and the aluminum paint on all the roofs, we’re saving at least ten percent a year in heating and cooling costs.

GELLERMAN: Well, thanks, Dan. And for your cool fix, we're going to send you a shiny blue Living on Earth tire gauge. And if you use it to keep your tires correctly inflated, it could save you as much as $432 a year. That’s according to a study from Carnegie Mellon University. And if you or someone you know has a Cool Fix for a Hot Planet, let us know. If we use your idea on the air, you too will get an LOE tire gauge. Call our listener line at 800-218-99-88, that's 800-218-9988. Or email coolfix—one word—at loe.org. That's coolfix at loe.org.