Ways to Go Green: Entertainment

Tip 98:

Drink tap water at restaurants.Tap water is more strictly regulated than bottled water and there's no need to add tons of plastic and glass bottles and jugs -- about 60 million a day -- to landfills. And recycling them takes energy, too.

$ Factor:You could save as much as $7 for a bottle of water and it may be safer to drink. If everyone drank tap water instead of bottled water in the U.S., it would save about $8 billion.

Tip 99:

Download music.Download tunes instead of purchasing them at the store. Each month, more than 45 tons of CDs become obsolete -- outdated or unwanted -- and end up in landfills.

$ Factor:The average price of a CD is about $15, whereas an album download is only about $10.

Tip 100:

Rent, don't buy, movies.One hundred thousand DVDs and CDs are thrown away each month. So you won't be contributing to the trash pile.

$ Factor:You could save more than $12 a pop. The average movie rents for about $4, while the average new DVD sells for more than $16.

Tip 101:

Subscribe to online newspapers.Cancel your paper subscription altogether and get your news -- often from the same newspaper publisher -- online. Each year, 10 million tons of newspapers are tossed into landfills and aren't recycled. If just half of these were recycled, it would save 75 million trees.

$ Factor:Picking up the daily rag at a newsstand or machine will cost you $225 to $300 a year. If you must have the paper in your hands, at least subscribe to it rather than buying single copies -- you'll save about 50 percent off the cover price.

Tip 102:

Turn off your entertainment center.Electronics, including TVs, cable boxes, DVD players, computers, music systems and gaming consoles, consume up to 40 percent of their full operating power when switched "off" or left in standby mode. They also continue to produce heat, which increases home cooling loads. Turn them completely off all at once with a common surge protector. They'll last longer and you'll reduce your electric bill.

$ Factor:You'll likely recoup the investment in a surge protector ($6-$10) on your first two power bills.

Tip 103:

Host a 'green' party.Play cards or board games: They're fun, interactive, mentally stimulating and don't use a single kilowatt. Classic card games include cridge, canasta, cribbage, hearts and rummy. If you're stuck for players, there's always solitaire. Monopoly may be the king of board games, but Risk, Scrabble and Life have their devotees. For a 1980s flashback party, there's always Trivial Pursuit.

$ Factor:A deck of playing cards costs $2; a board game ($25-$35). Recycle your newspaper into party hats.

Tip 104:

Read 'green' books.To expand your green thoughts, check out Rachel Carson's groundbreaking "The Sea Around Us" and "Silent Spring," Peter Matthiessen's lyrical nature studies "The Birds of Heaven" and "Tigers in the Snow," and Michael Pollan's revelatory "The Botany of Desire" and "The Omnivore's Dilemma." For daily "green" tips, check out Danny Seo's eco-blog.

$ Factor:Save a tree -- and some green -- and check these books out of your local library.

Tip 105:

Host a 'green' film fest.You can talk about saving the earth until the icecaps melt, but a more effective way to sound the alarm might be a film festival. These thought-provoking DVDs should incite a lively discourse: "Who Killed the Electric Car," "Syriana," Leonardo DiCaprio's "The 11th Hour" and, of course, Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth." To lighten the mood, finish with "The Day After Tomorrow."

$ Factor:The five DVDs: under $25 each. The lasting wake-up call: priceless.

Tip 106:

Take a guilt-free cruise.Yes, marine diesel still has to turn those enormous propellers, but a few cruise ships are boldly exploring the potential for "greener" seas. Holland America's Alaskan cruise ship Zaandam has added a $1.5 million salt water "scrubber" to detoxify its engine emissions. Taking a different approach, Australia's Clean Cruising company plants sufficient trees per passenger to make your voyage carbon-neutral.

$ Factor:A seven-night Alaskan cruise on the Zaandam will run you $2,340 to $2,710 per person. Clean Cruising's tree planting is free.

Tip 107:

Carry your golf clubs.Forget driving to the greens: These days, carts are definitely déclassé. It's hip to walk the course, carrying or pulling your own clubs. In fact, Tiger Woods felt so strongly about it that The Cliffs at High Carolina, his first American golf course design near Ashville, N.C., will prohibit carts altogether.

$ Factor:Save the $10-$25 cart fee for the 19th hole.

Tip 108:

Choose paddle or sail power.For guilt-free boating, consider a kayak, canoe or inflatable raft for a good cardio workout, or a sailboat or sailboard for a little help from the wind. Added plus: With the exception of some sailboats, you'll save a bundle of green over a motorboat.

$ Factor:At REI.com, kayaks run from $300 to $3,000, canoes from $550 to $1,050 and inflatables from $70 to $110. Sailboards start at around $1,000; sailboats at $2,000.

Tip 109:

Take an eco-tour.For a conscientious vacation, try an eco-tour. These earth-friendly getaways seek to enhance awareness of our natural world, promote conservation, minimize impact and provide a positive experience for guests and hosts. Some even put you to work improving the local ecosystem. The International Ecotourism Society and Australia's Green Globe are good places to get started.

$ Factor:According to the Travel Industry Association of America, North American consumers are willing to pay $1,000 to $1,500 more for an ecologically responsible getaway.

Tip 110:

Seek 'green' lodging.Business travelers and beach-bound hedonists can decamp in "green" comfort, thanks to the growing number of urban hotels, luxury resorts and lodgings that are minding their carbon footprint. For an extensive list of hotels verified by readers, visit EnvironmentallyFriendlyHotels.com. For a shorter but growing list of lodgings that participate in the Audubon Green Leaf Eco-Rating Program, visit Terrachoice.com.

$ Factor:Zero. The hospitality industry actually saves money by adopting "green" practices.

Tip 111:

Use rechargeable batteries.The average person owns about two button batteries and 10 more common (A, AA, AAA, C, D, 9V) batteries. Some 3 billion batteries are sold annually in the U.S., averaging about 32 per family or 10 per person. Americans throw out approximately 179,000 TONS of batteries per year. The problem isn't just the amount of the waste but the mercury, lead and other toxic chemicals that batteries contain.

$ Factor:While it's true that rechargeable batteries cost more to purchase, you'll save money over the long run. A single rechargeable battery can replace up to 1,000 single-use alkaline batteries over its lifetime. Most rechargeable batteries can be recharged up to 1,000 times.

Tip 112:

Buy soft drinks in a cup.Whenever possible, buy soda from a fountain in a paper cup instead of in a can or plastic bottle. You'll reduce the amount of aluminum cans and plastic bottles wasted. More paper (48 percent) is recycled and recovered to make new products than aluminum soda cans (43.9 percent) or plastic soda bottles (25 percent).

$ Factor:Buying drinks from a fountain usually costs a little more than bottled drinks but that difference is more than offset if you get one or more refills which are usually free.

Tip 113:

Use digital cameras.Some 686 million rolls of film are processed each year and the solutions used the make the prints often contain hazardous chemical that require special treatment and disposal.

$ Factor:Digital cameras continue to become more affordable and the savings on film -- depending on how many photos you take -- can be significant.

Tip 114:

Get a truly 'green' lawn.One hour of mowing your lawn with a gas-powered mower produces as much pollution as driving your car for four hours, according to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. For a truly "green" lawn, consider using a push mower or hiring a lawn service that uses solar-rechargeable electric mowers.

$ Factor:A push mower from Gaiam.com will run you $150. Nonpolluting lawn services, where available, typically charge more than their gas-powered competitors.

Tip 115:

Share your swim space.Swim at your community pool or fitness center instead of installing a pool of your own. If you already own a pool, consider a solar heating system (it can heat your home water, too), a solar cover or install a timer and set your water circulation at intervals to cut down the energy consumption.

$ Factor:A pool's circulating pumps cost as much to run as your home air conditioning system. Compare that cost to a $500 annual membership at a fitness center or the use of a community pool that's included in your homeowner's dues and it makes major sense to share the swim.

Tip 116:

Eat 'green.' No, not by grazing at the salad bar, but by patronizing those restaurants, bars and coffee houses that practice energy and water conservation, recycle, serve organic food, and use tree-free, biodegradable products. A growing list of Certified Green Restaurants can be found at the Green Restaurant Association's Web site.

$ Factor:"Green" restaurateurs say earth-friendly practices actually save them money.

Tip 117:

Buy tickets online.Airline, movie and event tickets can be purchased online or by telephone and printed at home and you'll save time and paper waste. Print-at-home tickets use plain copy paper, which is easier to make into recycled paper than the paperboard used for printed tickets -- and the ink and magnetic strips make printed tickets even more difficult to recycle. Some 1.4 billion movie tickets alone are sold in the U.S. annually -- and almost every one of them goes to waste.

$ Factor:You save time in the ticket line and as much as $30 per ticket, and the airline industry could save as much as $3 billion annually by eliminating paper tickets altogether.

Tip 118:

Reuse hotel linens and towels.You probably don't change your sheets and towels every day at home, so why do it while you're away? One towel change per week ought to be plenty.

$ Factor:Trimming the amount of water used by washing sheets and towels can save up to 40 percent of a hotel's water use.

Tip 119:

Pack lightly.Every additional 10 pounds per traveler requires an additional 350 million gallons of jet fuel per year, which is enough to keep a 747 flying continuously for 10 years.

$ Factor:Airlines have always charged for excess luggage, and recently the number of free pounds allowed has been dropping dramatically.

Tip 120:

Research your trip online.Print out only the pages or maps you'll actually need. Close to 1 million guidebooks are printed annually, but just 18 percent get recycled. Map paper is particularly difficult, if not impossible, to recycle because of all the ink used.

$ Factor:You'll save time, money and paper waste. Use old maps as gift wrap and you'll save a bundle.

Tip 121:

Rent hybrid cars.Try a hybrid or more fuel-efficient car. A hybrid rental can go three times as far as a standard sedan on a single tank of gas.

$ Factor:There are 1.7 million rental cars in the U.S. If every one of them were a hybrid, more than 9 million gallons of gasoline -- and about $25 million -- would be saved each time the tanks were filled.

Tip 122:

Refill water bottles.Use a refillable bottle or thermos or canteen when you travel. The average person in the U.S. drinks eight ounces of bottled water per day. Considering that plastic is derived from petroleum, it takes 1.5 million barrels of oil annually to satisfy America's demand for bottled water.

$ Factor:It may not seem like much for each person, but 1.5 million barrels of oil mean more than $100 million a year in oil just to bottle water.

Tip 123:

Give small gifts.Gift cards, concert tickets, restaurant certificates and movie vouchers are great alternatives to holiday presents heavily packaged and wrapped in expensive and hard-to-recycle paper. You'll also reduce the time, stress and energy associated with traffic, crowds and long checkout lines. Other money and energy-saving ideas: Draw names among family and coworkers and limit the number of gifts and paper. Or give the gift of time -- make up gift certificates on your computer for baby-sitting, special favors or a date for a special event.

$ Factor:How many gifts do you give a year? If you average $2 for wrapping paper, ribbon and labels for each, think of how much you can save, not to mention the recycling costs.

Tip 124:

Get the holiday LED out.Next time you replace your holiday lights, save both money and energy by choosing LED types. What's more, with a 100,000-hour life span, your LED lights could last until the next century.

$ Factor:Three 100-light strands of LED bulbs running for five hours every day between Thanksgiving and New Year's will use on average, only 3 kilowatt hours -- an energy cost of about 30 cents. Large incandescent bulbs used the same period of time will spin your meter at a rate of 472 kwh to the tune of nearly $60.

Tip 125:

Go for glass.The energy required to produce a single 12-ounce aluminum can from virgin ore is enough to produce nearly two 12-ounce glass bottles. So the next time you buy a six-pack of beer, opt for glass bottles over aluminum cans.

$ Factor:The manufacturing energy conserved could power your television through two Sunday NFL games.

Tip 126:

Reduce sports gear.Consider renting or leasing sports equipment on a per-use basis as opposed to wasting money and cluttering up your garage with stuff you likely won't use more than once or twice a year. Or purchase used equipment. You'll reduce the energy needed to produce an additional piece of equipment and decrease the amount of waste eventually sent to the landfill.

$ Factor:The market for used equipment is already near $1 billion and represents the resale of hundreds of thousands of skis, golf clubs, treadmills, camping gear and exercise bikes.