Energy Conservation

Saving Energy as You Shop

What you buy—and don’t buy—makes a difference

When you’re browsing at the grocery store, do you look for foods that were grown locally? If not, you should! Buying locally produced food has numerous energy and environmental benefits—it means less fuel burned in the transport of the foods from production site to store, less packaging and, often, less exposure to pesticides and other chemicals.

• Buy minimally packaged goods. Less energy is used to produce the package and less waste will go to the landfill.
• Choose reusable products over disposable ones, and recycle.
• In many cases, products made from recycled materials require less energy to produce compared with those made from original materials.
• Buy local food to reduce the need for the food to be transported a great distance.
• Buy local fresh fruit and vegetables in season. This will reduce the amount of produce grown in energy-intensive greenhouse conditions that are often necessary for out-of-season production.