Save: The average American dishwasher in use today consumes 8.7 gallons a load (the most current models use 4 to 8 gallons). Washing by hand for 10 minutes with the faucet running can use as much as 20 gallons of water. Filling the sink uses about 5 gallons or less - but that's 5 gallons for washing, five for rinsing.

Get rid of your screen saver. It requires more energy to run those static images of your kids (on a constant basis) than it does to have your computer and monitor go into a low-power mode. Unlike 10 years ago, the screen saver does not extend the life of your monitor. Killing it could save you $50 to $100 on your electric bill over a year, depending on your equipment. And speaking of equipment, an LCD monitor not only saves space, it uses one-third the power of a CRT monitor.

Bigger picture: If every American home did that, U.S. consumers would save as much as $6.5 billion a year in electricity costs and prevent greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to that from more than 8 million cars.

Save: As much as 3,400 gallons of water a year.
Use the "cold" setting (with a cold-water laundry detergent) or "warm"
setting whenever possible. Heating water to "hot" accounts for 90 percent of the machine's washing energy; only 10 percent goes to power the motor.

Save: Switching to "cold" can save the average household more than $400 annually with an electric water heater, $300 annually with a gas heater. If your dryer has a moisture sensor that turns the machine off automatically when clothes are dry, use it.

Do not over-dry laundry.