Green Living Tips Palm Springs

At Comfort Air, we offer products and services that allow you to live more comfortably and conveniently while consuming less energy.

Still, we believe we have an even greater responsibility and opportunity to promote green living in additional ways.  We hope you find these tips helpful and, if so, that you share them with others.

1. Organic Household Cleaners.  One way to live greener and improve your indoor air quality is by purchasing green cleaning products or concocting your own out of everyday household staples like baking soda and vinegar.  You can make your own window cleaning solution, for example, with 3 Tbsp. vinegar, 1/3 tsp., liquid vegetable soup, and two cups of water.
2. Buy locally grown food products.  Not only will you be helping to stimulate the Palm Springs area economy and supporting local growers, you’ll also be helping to promote cleaner air and reduced fossil fuel consumption.  Foods brought in from outside the area require fuel which in terms contributes to greenhouse gas emissions and our continued reliance on foreign oil.
3. Go organic.  Organic foods are better for you and, once again, better for the environment as, among them a reduction in the widespread use of pesticides and other artificial food growing products.
4. Do some research before you book a vacation.  New green hotels and resorts are cropping up every day, plus many hotel chains are converting even their existing properties into partially or totally green facilities through such means as more efficient heating and cooling systems, towel exchange and washing upon request vs. automatically, Energy Star appliances in all guest rooms and hotel facilities, dual-flush toilets, and more.
5. Teach your kids an appreciation for the outdoors.   Whatever your family fun activities might be, start taking your kids for nature walks, take them to the Palm Springs Botanical Gardens to see nature in its natural splendor, and perhaps even organize a neighborhood recycling project by picking a street, park, or waterway with where together you can pick up the litter and remove a blight from the landscape in the process.
6. Take good care of your heating and cooling equipment.  In addition to having each system tuned up and inspected once a year, clean or replace your filters once a year.  That will reduce the wear and tear on your home comfort systems and allow them to operate with greater energy efficiency.
7. Reduce your dependence on bottled water.  Bottled water consumption represents an ecological nightmare, especially when you consider that nearly 50% or more of it is treated tap water of no better quality than what comes out of your tap.  A much cheaper and totally green alternative is an under-sink water filter with its own separate faucet that will produce one glass of pure, clean water after another.  Then, when it’s time to hit the road, pour some of your own purified water into a portable bottle and help say “no” to the bottled water industry.   And by the way?  Ninety percent of the cost for a bottle of water is for the bottle itself.
8. You can even green your dog or cat.  Fleas are no fun for your pets, even in small numbers.  And yet commercial flea collars and conventional flea shampoos usually contain pyrethrins and organophosphates, which are suspected neurotoxicants and carcinogens.  To help protect your pets and send the fleas packing, use a flea comb weekly and use nontoxic shampoos and repellents.
9. Environmentally friendly children’s clothing.  Choose clothing items made from sustainable fibers such as organic cotton, recycled polyester, and wool.  That’s because, in part, formaldehyde, a known carcinogen, can be found in some permanent-press and fire-retardant clothing including and children’s polyester sleepwear up to size 14.  Also, perfluorocarbons (PFCs), linked in several studies to hormone disruption, can be found in stain-resistant fabrics.
10. Green school supplies.  What better way to get your kids headed in the right direction on the green living path than to outfit them with green school supplies, such as soy crayons, biodegradable pens, and recycled scissors.

Actually, that’s exactly what we’d like to know.  So send us an email and let us know what you’re doing around your home to promote green living and, with your permission, we’ll add it to this page and give you credit for the submission.

760-933-7917