Archive for the ‘Water use’ Category
March 18th, 2009
Impact Calculator Upgrades - Solar Hot Water and Air-Dry Laundry
Stumble it!
We’re happy to announce that we’ve recently added two new projects to the Low Impact Living Environmental Impact Calculator that show the benefits of air-drying your laundry or installing a solar hot water heater.
First, we’ve added a project that shows how much money, energy and carbon dioxide you can cut by replacing a few dryer loads of laundry a week by air drying. Simply fill in your current number of dryer loads (and your dryer fuel) in the “calculate impacts” section of the calculator, and then go to the “select projects” page. There you’ll find a project titled “Air dry your laundry” (it’s about five or six rows down). Click the “Project Description” link to see all of the details on how much you’ll save. The calculations assume that you air dry 75% of your existing dryer loads. We also show a couple of great drying racks/lines if you’re looking for something a bit better than the standard clothesline.
Second, we’ve added a solar hot water heater option to our list of renewable energy projects. This project takes your estimated hot water use (calculated based on your specific inputs) and the solar resources in your area and estimates how much a solar hot water system would save and cost for your home. Right now it takes into account the recently improved 30% federal tax credit for SHW systems, but not your local or state incentives (we’ll be adding those soon). Our friends at Green Made Simple have an up-to-date listing of renewable energy incentives near you.
This project has also been built so that it is a special “cumulative” project, which means that the project details change as you select other projects on the list. Why is this useful? Because it can help you understand how much LESS you have to spend on a solar hot water system if you make less expensive upgrades such as installing low-flow showerheads or buying an Energy Star clotheswasher first.
As an example, the calculator shows that a solar hot water system would cost about $4,900 (payback period of 16 years) in our home assuming no water fixture improvements - pretty ugly! But if I check off the “low-flow showerheads” and “sink aerators” projects, the cost goes down to $2,500 (payback of 10 years). Our $40 worth of showerheads and $5 worth of sink aerators cut the estimated cost of a system by $2,400 by reducing our system size by one panel and reducing the storage tank size. By the way, the solar PV, graywater and total carbon offset projects work in the same way - they adjust each time you select a project that reduces electricity, wastewater or your carbon footprint respectively.
Last, we’ve made some additional improvements “under the hood.” One that you might notice is that we’ve modified the calculator so that you can’t enter overlapping projects. For example, once you select any one of the water heater insulation, tankless hot water heater, high efficiency hot water heater or solar hot water heater projects, the other three projects will be deactivated. This eliminates the double-counting that was possible by selecting overlapping projects before.
We’ll be making other additions soon (including wind power and using wood as heating fuel), so check back soon!
(Note: Our calculator is meant to be a preliminary planning tool for your green improvements. Before starting any of the more expensive projects, make sure you get a detailed estimate from your local green service providers … which you can easily find using LIL’s green services directory).
Popularity: 6% [?]
March 10th, 2009
Green Home Contest Winners: Serious Low Impact Livers!
As you may recall, we launched a Green Home Contest a while back, which comes with a truly outstanding prize provided by Joie de Vivre Hotels, the leading green hotel chain. Well we have our winners! We are inspired and awed by Erik Knutzen and Kelly Coyne, who truly embrace the Low Impact Living lifestyle in their home. We all have a ton to learn from them. Erik and Kelly win a fabulous 3-night stay at the very environmentally-friendly Hotel Carlton in San Francisco– and boy do they deserve it!
Erik and Kelly own a small bungalow in Los Angeles. Not only do they live in a very sustainable home, the also do their own farming and raise chickens at home! The two of them live in a 1,000 square foot house, which they have outfitted with numerous green features. Here’s their impressive list:
- Low-flow showerheads, toilets and sink aerators
- 95+% CFLs indoors
- Drip irrigation and no grass
- Rain shutoff on irrigation system AND smart irrigation controller
- Shade trees planted
- Compost vegetable wastes at home
- Rain barrels & rain gardens to capture runoff
- Programmable thermostat
- Graywater system(shhh…don’t ask to see the permits)
- Purchase green power from their utility
In addition to these very efficient green-home features, Erik and Kelly also keep their carbon footprint low by driving and flying very little. Erik is a committed biker. He bike commutes and rarely uses a car. His wife, Kelly, owns an older Acura but only drives it 4,000 miles per year (which is much lower than the 10-12K miles/year American average!). They also only make one airplane flight each year– don’t forget that the emissions from air travel are a major contributor to global warming. So Erik and Kelly really have low non-home carbon footprints, which is excellent.
What is even better is that this amazing green duo also publishes an outstanding blog– the cleverly titled Homegrown Evolution. They write about such engaging topics as urban gardening, raising chickens, making beer, and much more. Definitely spend some time on their blog– it’s a great read. And I’m also excited to check out their book– The Urban Homestead, which is “your guide to self-sufficient living in the heart of the city.” They say they are now working on a second book. This is one productive pair!
We respectfully tip our hats to Kelly and Erik, and we hope they have a wonderful time in San Francisco. Thank you to all who entered the contest– we’re very moved by the work you are doing to live more sustainable lives. The planet needs you!
Popularity: 7% [?]
March 6th, 2009
Oregon Home LeapFrogs Competition With 100% Sustainable Wood
The rewards of building green are many, but they often come with some frustrations on the side. One of the greatest challenges can be sourcing building materials - that great green design or green building certification might rely on materials that are very tough to find in your market.
Wood products are a case in point. If you insist on using only the best green wood in your project (wood certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, or FSC), then be prepared to run around a bit. You might be able to find FSC-certified core building materials such as framing lumber, flooring or decking at your local home improvement store, but you’ll likely be more challenged finding local sources of doors, windows, cabinets and finish materials.
With some hard work and a great contractor, though, it’s possible to use nothing but green wood, as shown by the 2008 winner of FSC’s “Designing and Building With FSC” award. Portland, Oregon builder Green Hammer, Inc. won the award after using nearly 100% FSC-certified wood in their LeapFrog project (the only exceptions were some limited materials salvaged from local buildings or milled from on-site trees). Among the wood products used were FSC-certified Douglas fir, hemlock and spruce from local forests for framing lumber, floor, trim and cabinets and FSC formaldehyde-free plywood. Best of all, Stephen Aiguier, president of Green Hammer, estimated that the use of FSC wood only added 1-2% to the cost of the project (via GreenSource Magazine).
The LeapFrog house is notable for many other reasons as well, among them its LEED Platinum rating from the USGBC. Some of the other non-wood highlights include:
- Geothermal heat pump for radiant floors and panels, and domestic hot water;
- Advanced framing techniques (staggered studs) that minimize thermal bridging in the walls and allow for an uninterrupted layer of insulation;
- Rainwater catchment system with purification that provides 100% of the home’s water needs (wow!);
- “Cool” metal roof without any plumbing or ventilation penetrations - energy efficient, offers the possibility of lasting for 100 years, and assists in funneling clean water to the catchment system.
Oh, and if your interest has been piqued AND you happen to live in the Portland area, there’s one for sale! The $690K pricetag is a bit steep, but I’m sure the huge energy and water bill savings with this home will take a big chunk out of that through time.
Visit Low Impact Living’s directory of green builders to find help with a similar project near you. Or, read more about selecting sustainable wood, using geothermal heat pumps, and selecting eco-friendly roofing materials.
Popularity: 8% [?]
February 9th, 2009
Top 10 EcoPrinciples for Communities
Written by Keith Rockmael, courtesy of GreenBuildingElements.com
With the economy in turmoil, a real estate prices dropping, green communities and green building will become more important. It’s easy to see how broken our current community model is in terms of the urban sprawl; the average American commute continues to grow longer. Between 1969 and 2001, the number of vehicle miles traveled for commuting jumped from 4,180 to 5,720.
The Sierra Club notes that today’s average American driver spends what amounts to 55 eight hour workdays behind the wheel every year. Gas won’t stay at the current level so we need to look at developing more sustainable communities.
San Francisco area architect Michelle Kaufmann and Kelly Melia-Teevan came up with a top 10 (sorry Letterman) EcoPrinciples for Communities.
1. Smart Design
Some architects play God; instead of working with nature they go against it. Building orientation remains a big, no cost key, as well as designing to use less, and to collaborate with the landscape.
2. Energy Efficiency
Kind of a no brainer here. Everyone from Obama on down seems to be talking about energy efficiency. While some aspects remain somewhat pricey such as photovoltaic systems, other energy saving methods such as passive solar layouts, sealing building envelopes with super efficient insulation and glass and harnessing alternative energy sources offer not only a decent ROI but save the Earth’s resources as well.
3. Water Conservation
Here in the Bay Area we are headed for a drought. Ideas for water savings include basic ideas such as xeriscaping. Who needs a lawn anyway? Sculpting bioswales into the land, irrigating with rainwater catchment systems and paving with only pervious ground surfaces can conserve gallons without much added cost.
4. Reduce Waste
As one of the Three R’s, Kauffman suggests designing easy to access, easy to use recycling centers. How smart can it be to drive with a plastic bag of aluminum cans to the faraway recycling center? Also, she offers ideas such as integrating on-site composting, and facilitating “living machines” (engineered waste treatment system designed to process a building’s sanitary drainage on-site).
5. Healthy Environment
Everyone seems to forget this area in terms of Green Building. It won’t do much good to maintain a clean environment but have sick people living in unhealthy homes. A sustainable neighborhood will offer easy access to exercise, encourage cooking classes and establishing on-site food production instead of driving to some fast food joint for a completely unsustainable meal.
6. Diversity
Cities such as San Francisco thrive because of the richness of diversity. A sustainable community will create an assortment of residents from different backgrounds, ages and cultures. The housing will offer both market rate and affordable rate housing options.
7. Smart Location
The name says it all. Kauffman suggests building and designing for environmental, social, and economic benefits. Might builders think about building near easy access to mass transit and choosing areas near sources of quality food? Is that too progressive?
8. Respect the Land
Something that seems to have disappeared from the vocabulary – r-e-s-p-e-c-t. That’s right just like Aretha. New green communities would protect the existing landscape and ecology by adopting functional, comfortable density, minimizing site disturbance and protecting biodiversity by maintaining native ecosystem.
9. Smart Auto Strategy
As much as we’d like to rid ourselves of cars completely it just isn’t going to happen. However, we can lessen the intrusion and impact of automobiles in communities by implementing smart parking requirements, and separating parking streets from pedestrian streets and bike lanes. Constructing more narrow streets in an effort to encourage walking and biking rather than driving isn’t rocket science.
10. Shared Resources
Create more community within the community (see how that works) by introducing resource sharing (bikes, cars, tools, garden equipment, child care), establish community victory gardens, and building playgrounds, parks, athletic fields, picnic areas, etc rather than just concrete jungles.
Let the greening begin.
Popularity: 5% [?]
February 3rd, 2009
New Green Products That Save You Money
One of the great things about many green products is that they’ll actually save you money, sometimes over the long term (solar panels), but sometimes almost immediately (CFLs). In this economy, finding green products that are healthy, environmentally friendly AND economical is more important than ever. So, here are some new products we’ve come across over the past few months that offer just that - high green benefits AND more money in your bank account!
Energy Cinch Window Blankets. Windows are often an energy efficiency problem spot. Many homes lack the latest energy efficient windows, leading to energy loss and uncomfortable rooms throughout the year. Because window replacements are so expensive, though, it almost never pays to replace a window just for the energy savings benefits. Payback periods can often be ten years or more. There are other solutions - films and solar screens reflect sunlight during hot weather, and insulating drapes are helpful year-round. But Energy Cinch Window Blankets offer another solution. They combine the high insulating qualities of the thickest drapes with the installation ease of an extendable shower rod. You can easily remove them during times of the year when they’re not needed. An Energy Cinch can cut a problem window’s heat loss by up to 80%.
Enersaver Programmable Thermostat. We’ve praised the virtues of programmable thermostats many times before, but it can be a bit difficult to get them set right. We’ve come across this new thermostat from Globe Electric, called the enersaver Spin-N-Click. It uses a scroll wheel and single button to make programming much easier and more intuitive. And, at $49.95, it’s a relative bargain for a full-featured programmable thermostat. At this price, the thermostat will pay for itself in less than a year’s time in most homes.
Waterpik EcoFlow Showerhead. We’ve always been big fans of the Delta Water Amplifying Showerhead for its combination of water efficiency (1.85 GPM) and comfortable water stream. We were excited when Waterpik also released a low-flow showerhead, but when we tested it we got mixed results. We liked how it felt, but we thought that Waterpik could do better than the 2.0 GPM flow rate. Well, now they have - their latest EcoFlow 1.5 showerhead is even stingier than the Delta at 1.5 GPM and has multiple spray settings depending on your preferences. Because this showerhead saves on water, energy and sewer charges, it will pay for itself in less than six months.
BioBased Soy Seal Spray Foam. Last but not least, what about those pesky leaks around outlets and in other parts of your home’s exterior / attic walls? There are many spray foam insulations available, but most contain strong chemicals made from nonrenewable resources. BioBased Soy Seal gives you the best of both worlds - easy-to-use and high insulating value, and made from renewable soy beans. You can find Soy Seal at Home Depot stores in many states (see list here). This foam expands quite a bit upon application, so make sure you follow the instructions carefully to avoid any damage to your home.
Black and Decker Power Monitor. We mentioned this product in this post back in December, and it’s available online now. This device won’t save any money or energy by itself, but it gives you far more insight into the real devices and behaviors that waste electricity in your own home. Studies have shown that this knowledge alone can lead people to cut energy consumption by as much as 15%. If you are one of those people who has to glance at your home weather station several times a day, then this is a product for you.
That’s all for now - we hope these inexpensive and effective products will help you get through this cold winter AND rough economy with your health and bank account intact!
Popularity: 2% [?]
