Archive for the ‘Environmental Impact Calculator’ Category
May 21st, 2008
Buying Eco-Friendly Appliances
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Tania Anderson of the Washington Post blog “Shop To It” has written a great piece on Buying Eco-Friendly Appliances. Please give it a read!
Would you buy a house just because it was green? I’m not talking color here but energy efficiency. A Realtor recently told me I should replace all my old appliances for eco-friendly ones, making my home, which I plan to sell in the next few months, more attractive to people interested in a green home. So as I consider this potential investment I talked to Celia Kuperszmid Lehrman, deputy home editor of Consumer Reports. Here are her tips for those of us who may be shelling out money for eco-friendly appliances:
Tip #1: Before replacing old appliances with the latest eco-friendly ones, consider the age of your current machines and when the latest energy efficiency standards were released for certain appliances. “The older it is, the more likely it is a candidate for replacing,” says Lehrman. Energy standards for dishwashers and washing machines were last updated in 2007 and refrigerators were updated more recently. You can also check with Energy Star, a joint program of the Environmental Protection Agency and Energy Department, to find out if your appliances are in line with the most recent energy efficient standards. The site also has a calculator to figure out if it’s time to replace your refrigerator, one of the biggest energy suckers in the house.
** Also see Low Impact Living’s selection of Energy Star and other efficient appliances here.
Tip #2: Another way to figure out if you need to replace appliances is to find out their environmental footprint, which is how much impact they have on the environment based on the amount of energy and water they consume. Consumer Reports’ GreenerChoices.org Web site, as well as Low Impact Living have calculators to figure your home’s environmental footprint.
Tip #3: While you’re chucking old appliances, think about changing old toilets and shower heads. Any toilet made before the early 1990s is using a ton of water to flush. Toilets these days are using a mere 1.6 gallons of water to do the job. (I recently bought a new toilet and had it installed for $200.) Older showerheads can be repleaced with low-flow showerheads, which use 50-70 percent less water.
Tip #4: Replacing old appliances with eco-friendly ones is great, as long as you’re not adding to landfills. Call nonprofit groups like Salvation Army or Habitat for Humanity to find out if they’ll take your old appliances. And some retailers will recycle your old appliances, particularly refrigerators.
Tip #5: You can think of going green as having an impact on your pocketbook and an impact on the environment. So just because the impact on your utility bill is small doesn’t mean the impact on the entire electrical grid isn’t significant. “Even a small change makes a very large change when you’re thinking about millions of units across the country,” Lehrman says.
Tip #6: Find out when stores get new models of appliances and consider buying last year’s model to get a better deal. Just make sure the older model is in line with the latest energy efficiency standards. Remember that Energy Star has a model look-up tool.
Tip #7: Shop around. Lehrman says there’s little variation in prices, so it pays to look for sales. Be willing to haggle, especially if you’re buying more than one appliance, and consider going to independent appliance stores. “Traditionally we found that with the independent stores, the pricing may not be as good, but people are generally more satisfied with the experience,” says Lehrman. Costco has been known to have good prices on appliances, she adds. Just go there knowing what model you want. The selection is limited, making it not a great place to just shop around.
Tip #8: Don’t expect prices on eco-friendly appliances to go down any time soon. The prices of materials used to make appliances, such as stainless steel, have gone up, along with shipping fees. So prices will likely stay put.
Tip #9: If you have to replace one old appliance at a time, consider ditching the refrigerator first. It’s on 24-7 and soaks up the most energy. Then figure out which appliances are the oldest and get rid of the dinosaurs first.
Tip #10: Before plunking down your credit card, check the retailer’s and manufacturer’s Web sites for deals and rebates. Just make sure you don’t mention that you have a coupon or rebate when you’re haggling. The retailer may be less willing to go down in price if they know you already have a discount.
So are you replacing old appliances for ones that are eco-friendly? Where are you finding the best deals? Post a comment below.
Popularity: 3% [?]
April 8th, 2008
Carbon Blob Eats US!
Chances are that when you see a picture related to global warming in the US, you see one of two images: a traffic jam in California or a large coal-fired power plant in the Midwest. These are big sources of carbon dioxide to be sure, but our work in putting our Environmental Impact Calculator together suggested that this wasn’t all fair. On average, Californians drive fewer miles per year than many other parts of the country (but at much slower speeds unfortunately), while there are dirty power plants and industries all over the place, not just in the Midwest. Without resorting to lots of charts and graphs, though, it’s tough to see all of this … until now.
A just-released study produced by the Vulcan Project at Purdue University shows US carbon emissions trends in a truly compelling (and scarily beautiful) way. The team has built some amazing graphical simulations that literally show the US “exhaling” carbon dioxide each hour of each day of the year. Huge clouds of CO2 are emitted each day, and much smaller amounts each night. The carbon cloud hovering over the US looks like a living, breathing organism that covers the map like a huge blob when energy use is the highest (make sure you watch the video beginning at the 2:30 mark to see this effect).
What’s it all say? Well, for one, certain areas stand out. California and the West have a few hotspots, but the map is dominated by the emissions coming from the Southeast, Midwest and Northeast. This makes sense, since the density of development (and thus population) in the eastern US is much higher, the use of dirty fuels such as heating oil and coal is greater, and the number of petrochemical and manufacturing plants is higher.
Two, it really brings home the point that we all have a role to play in cutting carbon emissions - regardless of where you live, we’re all contributing in a pretty significant way. So, have a few minutes of fun (and learning) watching the carbon blob eat the US, and then try our Environmental Impact Calculator to figure out what you can do. It happens to take many of these same factors into account, so you get a truly regional estimate of your carbon footprint.
Popularity: 1% [?]
March 9th, 2008
Try the New LIL Environmental Impact Calculator
We are very excited to announce the launch of the NEW Low Impact Living Environmental Impact Calculator!
This brand-new household environmental calculator is the first of its kind — it shows not only the carbon but also energy, water, wastewater, trash, and stormwater runoff footprints of your home and lifestyle. In addition, it recommends projects based on your specific inputs that can save you money, reduce your environmental impact, or in many cases both at the same time!
The Impact Calculator also calculates a score called the Low Impact Living Index™, or LILI™, that encapsulates in one number your overall environmental footprint. It allows comparisons to other homes near you or across the country. The Impact Calculator and LILI combined provide you with a clear roadmap to a greener home and lifestyle.
** Make sure to register when you use the calculator – that way you can save your customized results and re-visit them in the future to get more low impact living ideas and track your progress. Here are some examples of what you can do with the calculator:
- – Estimate how many offsets you need for your entire carbon footprint, your home only, one or all of your cars, and air travel (all separately);
- – Finally see what how much simple projects such as turning down the temperature of your hot water heater or installing a low-flow showerhead will truly save based on your home;
- – Determine how much a solar PV (electric) system would cost for 100% of your electricity, AND also how much less it would cost after first doing projects like installing CFL or LED lighting or a new refrigerator;
- – Examine how much a graywater system would cost for your existing needs, OR how much less it would cost after first installing low-flow water fixtures and appliances;
- – Figure out what projects give you the most “bang for your green buck”!
We will add new projects to the calculator each month. Very soon we will add a project that shows whether wind power makes sense near you, and also the benefits of using power strips that automatically shut all of the power off when you aren’t using your TV or computer.
Read on to learn more, or click here to get started!
Step 1: Calculate your household’s environmental impacts
By just entering your ZIP code and home size, the LIL Environmental Impact Calculator tells you what your impact is based on regional default values. You can then customize the inputs based on your home, and in no more than a few minutes you can have a customized profile that reflects the specifics of your home. Your LILI tells you how you rank relative to a typical home in your region (LILI = 100). Get a 50 and you’re doing great, but a 200 means you have quite a bit of work to do!
Step 2: Review Green Home and Lifestyle Projects
Based on your inputs, the Environmental Impact Calculator recommends a set of projects that make sense for you. The project savings estimates (both environmental and financial) are customized to your home inputs and regional climate, prices and rebates. You can select projects to see how they would affect your overall environmental impact. Once you’ve decided to do one, each project has a list of products and services, specific to your area, that help you get started. When you finish a project, check it off and watch your LILI go down!
3. Save Your Projects and Your Profile
You can also save your profile and revisit it later. This means that you can use it as your green home checklist, and you can see what improvements you have achieved through time.
And, we plan on adding 2-3 new projects a month, so each month you can come back to see whether new projects make sense for you.
Popularity: 5% [?]
