CURBING WASTE: Simple actions like cutting back on food waste or
properly inflating tires on your car could collectively cut
greenhouse gas emissions by as much as one billion metric tons.
Image: © iStockphoto.com Energy efficiency seems to make
rational economic sense—the less energy used, the more money
saved. Yet, in the real world it's actually competition with
neighbors rather than cost savings that can drive people to turn
down their thermostats, install insulation or simply switch off
the lights when they leave a room. Such is the lesson of a host
of efforts, ranging from a group called OPOWER's comparative use
utility billing to switching from miles per gallon to rate
vehicle efficiency to gallons per mile. Now a new collaborative
study from the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and the
Garrison Institute's Climate, Mind and Behavior Project reveals
that such simple actions—from taking one fewer flight per year
to wasting less food—can add up. The environmental group
estimates that if all Ameri