TELL US: What are your best tips for saving electricity?

Hey neighbors: It's always a good time to save energy. We've got five easy things you can do to conserve and save money on your electric bill, but we need your ideas too. Please share your best tips in the comments.

Allyson Schmutter, spokesperson for the national nonprofit Alliance to Save Energy, offers these five tips for saving energy and money:  1. Unplug All Those Devices: Believe it or not, many devices still consume energy even when turned off. The typical culprits are televisions and cable boxes, or anything that stays lit with an LED or standby light even when turned off. Schmutter says those devices can suck a month’s worth of electricity from your home each year.  2. Change Your Bulbs: If you haven't already switched your incandescent bulbs out for more energy-efficient options, now's the time to do it. You'll save 75 percent by switching to CFL bulbs. Not sold on CFLs? Take a look at this light bulb checklist for more ideas. Ace Hardware …

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10 Ways to Celebrate Earth Day All Year Long

Here are some eco-friendly ways to celebrate Earth Day any day!

Earth Day is on Monday, April 22. Founded in 1970 in the U.S. as a day of education about environmental issues, Earth Day is now a globally celebrated holiday. More than one billion people in 192 countries will observe the 43rd anniversary of Earth Day, according to the Earth Day Network. Although Earth Day is a great reminder to be environmentally conscious, there are plenty of simple ways you can celebrate the earth all year long. Here are just 10 ways you can be eco-friendly long after Earth Day is over: 1. Plant a tree. Planting a tree is perhaps the most common Earth Day activity, but you can plant a tree any day of the year. Trees produce oxygen and help reduce air pollution. A single tree can absorb 10 pounds of air pollutants a …

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Holliston to Recycle Electronics, Paper for Earth Day

The town will provide residents with the opportunity to recycle their old electronics and shred old documents.

Courtesy Ed Daniels  On Sunday, April 22, all are invited to the Holliston Community Shredding Day to celebrate Earth Day and to support local organizations.  A mobile shredding truck will be at the Holliston High School from 9 a.m. to noon, providing a free service to securely shred and recycle confidential documents. Take this opportunity to clean out those old files and have them destroyed in a safe, secure, and environmentally friendly way.  You will witness your documents being securely shred on site.  All paper at the event will be recycled with the help of Universal Shredding. Some ideas for documents for shredding are old tax returns, bank statements, credit reports, receipts, and credit card offers. Spring is often a time for …

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Have a Great Day at Hopkinton's Earth Day

Hopkinton Green Expo, HopSwap and Bottle & Can collection moved to Hopkinton High School this Saturday.

Please join us for a fun Earth Day celebration at  Hopkinton High School, Saturday, April 30, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. It's free! There will be live entertainment, a green exhibit by Acton's Discovery Museums, environmental sculptures, thirty-plus vendors, arts and crafts, music, raffles, yoga and free chair massages all day. Bring your own recyclable bag and water bottle to minimize waste. Drop-off the kids at the Animal Adventures Show at 11 and head to the Green Your Home workshop one aisle over. Free Starbucks, Honest Tea and product samples. Bring a plastic water bottle to add to the Bottle House sculpture and a plastic grocery bag to build a Plastic Earth. These environmental exhibits hope to educate and inspire attendees to say “no” …

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Patch Facts

5 Things You Need to Know Today: April 22

A sure sign of spring in Hopkinton and across the U.S. is that gas prices go ... I don't need to tell you, you're paying them and you're paying a lot more this year than at the same time last year.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Hopkinton gas prices updated at 10:40 a.m., on 4/22/11 according to prices posted on massachusettsgasprices.com. 1. The average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gas in the Boston area and Mssachusetts overall is $3.78 a gallon, according to massachusettsgasprices.com. Hopkinton Gulf at the corner of Cedar and Main is $3.89 a gallon for regular ($3.889). Near Rte. 495, Mobil is $3.89 a gallon ($3.889) and Cumberland Farms is $3.89 ($3.889). Hopkinton Gas, diagonally across the street from Gulf, is the lowest in town at $3.86. According to the American Automobile Club, average prices for a gallon of gas are 3 cents higher than last week and 17 cents lower than the national average. Consumerreports.org says the $3.78-a-…

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Patch Facts

5 Things You Need to Know Today: April 21

Chamber of Commerce offers State of the Town on Tuesday then a busy 'green' weekend coming up!

1. Hopkinton Chamber of Commerce State of the Town address is Tuesday, April 26 at the First Congregational Church, 146 East Main St. Coffee and conversation at 7:30 a.m. will be followed by the program at 8. Hosted by Chamber’s Board of Directors, this program aims to be an informative lead-up to Hopkinton’s Annual Town Meeting set to convene at 7 p.m. May 2. If you are interested in the state of Hopkinton’s fiscal affairs, don't miss this event! Chamber directors will talk about the town’s current fiscal situation; upcoming challenges and opportunities; and how expanding Hopkinton's commercial tax base can help alleviate the cycle of deficit budgeting. 2. Saturday, April 30, Hop Swap 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Center School Cafeteria and …

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PHOTOS: Hopkinton says Goodbye to April

Saturday gives way to clouds, can't bring itself to rain on yard sales, baseball, HopSwap (mostly indoors anyway) or Green Expo (all indoors).

Hopkinton said goodbye to the last day of April 2011 with well-timed yard sales clearing out the clutter, kids playing baseball and an appreciation of the environment with Earth Day events. New York Times had an outdoors writer in the 1940s, 50s and 60s named Hal Borland who wrote, "April is a promise that May is bound to keep."   It was a perfect description of Saturday where, as you'll see in the first photo, people wrapped in scarves and blankets sat next to people in T-shirts and shorts. And they all looked pretty comfortable.

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