February 3rd, 2009
New Green Products That Save You Money
Stumble it!
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: 3% [?]
January 20th, 2009
An Illustrated Guide to a Water-wise Home
If you want to see the difference between a conventional home and a water-wise home firsthand, just stop by the Treepeople Center for Community Forestry in Los Angeles. This relatively new educational facility has a hands-on La Kretz Urban Watershed Demonstration Garden– with two small model homes! These exhibits will be very instructive to residents of Los Angeles or another area where water is a rare commodity that we must all learn to treasure and protect.
Each house even has a showerhead above the roof to simulate rain — and to show what happens to that rainwater once it falls on the houses. The interactive exhibit’s especially popular with kids, who ooh and aah as they watch the water’s journey — But for those who can’t make the trip to see the houses themselves, here’s an illustrated guide:
First, let’s look at the “conventional” home. As you can see, almost everything is paved over, which prevents rainwater from naturally soaking into the ground to replenish our groundwater. In fact, even the water that falls on the the roof’s collected to shoot through a downspout — that empties onto the paved driveway.
All the rainwater — plus additional water used to hose down the driveway or wash the car — then flows over the paved surfaces to collect the detritus on the streets — motor oil, rubber tire bits, discarted potato chip wrappers. Next, that dirty water goes down the storm drains to go straight into our oceans and rivers, polluting them. Treepeople’s garden illustrates this by letting the “rain” flow from the roof, down a mock storm drain, and into a mock ocean:
The few areas of the conventional house that aren’t cemented over are planted with water-intensive lawns and plants. So not only does this house fail to make any use of the free rainwater, it ends up buying and using tap water to feed the thirsty grass and garden — wasting our water resources, and the homeowners’ money, while severely disrupting natural water cycles.
The good news is that all of this can be fixed with a few small changes to your home! And the payoff for making these eco-changes benefits not just the environment, but also your wallet. You’ll save money on your water bills year after year! Here’s what a water-wise “home” looks like:
And these are the steps you can take to make your own home water-wise:
1. Opt for permeable pavement. Let rainwater soak into the ground by opting for more porous pavement. You’ll help refill the underground water table and prevent runoff pollution — and you’ll still have a sturdy surface for your car! Find landscape architects and general contractors in your area who can help with runoff-reducing paving projects.
2. Get a rain barrel. One of the easiest ways to capture rainwater is by simply placing a rain barrel below a roof downspout! That collected clean water can then water your trees and plants, cutting down on your water bills. Browse through our selection of rain barrels and other rain storage systems here.
3. Choose water-wise plants and use mulch. Traditional grass lawns are very water intensive, so many environmentalists are planting drought-resistant plants instead. Make the switch, and your water-wise lawn will save you time and money for years to come. Find out more about eco-friendly lawn care here.
4. Create a rain garden or bioswale. Go one step further to make your garden even more water-savvy! A rain garden or bioswale — slightly depressed areas that intercept runoff from your property to fill up with water during a rain storm — will let even more rainwater soak naturally into the ground. Get your hands dirty by following these instructions on how to create a rain garden of your own.
5. Plant a tree. Trees can trap water in its leaves and branches, as well as act as a giant storage tank for rain water, letting more water go through a natural cycle instead of draining into the ocean. Plus, the shade from the tree could save you money on your cooling bills too!
These changes will directly reduce your water bill, but you could see more indirect financial benefits too. Cities and states often spend a lot of money — that would be your tax dollars — on storm drains to alleviate urban flooding, on measures to prevent water shortages, and on cleanup efforts to get the gunk out of our oceans. Do more to prevent small-scale versions of these problems at home, and the less we’ll need to spend solving larger water-related crises.
Photos by Siel
Popularity: 5% [?]
January 15th, 2009
Dear President Obama: Let’s Turn The White House Green
President Obama, we humbly beseech you to make your new home, The White House, a model green home. You have an incredible opportunity to make it a home from which all Americans can learn, and of which we can all be proud. What better way to start our country off on a bright new green path to the future than by making The White House the Great American Green House?
We’ve been encouraged by some of the things you’ve said about your intentions to make your home more eco-friendly, and we’d like to offer some thoughts on how you might flesh-out your green home renovation program.
First, let’s ground ourselves in some numbers. The White House is over 55,000 square feet and has 132 rooms. There are over 35 bathrooms and the building has three kitchens. Using our Household Environmental Impact Calculator, (and a few resources like the CBECS data for commercial buildings as your house doubles as an office building) we estimate that that The White House has a carbon footprint in the range of 1.2-1.5 million pounds of CO2 per year, uses somewhere around one million gallons of water, and generates over 50,000 pounds of trash each year. As a point of reference the average 2000 sq. foot American home has a carbon footprint of 65,000 pounds, uses 90,000 gallons or water and generates 3,800 pounds of trash per year. So The White House is no low-impact house! We have our work cut out for us.
Fortunately your predecessors have already taken some steps in a positive direction. President Carter famously installed a solar water system in 1979, which was then unfortunately taken down by President Reagan. However, in 2002 a new solar system was installed to power lighting for the grounds. Apparently the toilets have been changed to low-flow models and many of the water fixtures have also been upgraded. President Clinton commissioned the Rocky Mountain Institute to do a study on the White House and make recommendations for environmental improvements. We’re not sure how many of those got made– you’ll want to kick the tires on that one. (Perhaps someone from RMI could comment here?)
Here are some ideas we’d like you to explore for turning The White House a nice shade of green:
1) Let’s get the entire building off the grid. You could install more solar panels, and/or augment the system with a wind turbine. You could also look at geothermal energy options. We think it would quite feasible to generate enough power for the building using renewable energy sources. This would serve as a great example of clean-power living, and would actually save the government money in the long run.
2) How is the insulation situation? I’m sure you have attic insulation but let’s have a look inside the walls. I read that there are hundreds of year’s worth of copper wiring in many of the walls– let’s clean them out and blow in some soy foam or denim insulation. Full insulation could reduce heating and cooling costs by 5-10%.
3) Let’s turn part of the lawn into an organic vegetable garden. Encouraging Americans to eat fresh, local, organic produce will cut down on carbon emissions and also help us live healthier lives. That green grass is lovely, yes, but it sure sucks a lot of water for a low return on investment. Eleanor Roosevelt started a Victory Garden at your house long ago…let’s bring back that wonderful tradition! Author Michael Pollan has also advocated this idea. It would be a great treat to serve visiting dignitaries “Roasted White House Garden Vegetables” with their meal, would it not?
4) Speaking of organics, let’s make sure there’s a composting system in place. What happens with all of the food trash from the kitchens today? Well a composter could reduce the building’s trash load by 25-25%. It would be easy to set up, and your gardeners could use the compost mulch on your vegetable garden.
5) We hear Michelle has picked her decorator… and we hope that they’ll choose to use plenty of eco-friendly product in your decoration choices. How about some cork floors? They are sustainable and absorb sound. Or some reclaimed American wood flooring could look very nice. For furnishing we recommend antiques (anything used is more sustainable than newly made) or eco-friendly furniture made of sustainably-harvested woods and other recycled materials. For paints, obviously make sure to use no-VOC varieties, so that you and your family don’t breath toxic fumes. We need you to stay healthy for at least eight years!
6) Let’s review the lighting. Is everything running on LED and/or compact fluorescent lighting? The Pentagon has just announced they’re switching to LEDs– so should The White House. And we’d also want to make sure that we had maximized the use of light sensors– no need to light uninhabited areas. Perhaps there is even an option for increased day-lighting? We could install some new solar tube lighting to save energy and money.
7) How about getting all of your vehicles to run on biodiesel? There are a lot of big SUVs rushing around you and your home… it would be wonderful to have them running on American biodiesel fuels. Energy independence starts at The White House! You could have a biodiesel pumping station right there on the White House lot. Maybe one day even Air Force One will run on biodiesel!
Those are just some initial ideas. We here at Low Impact Living can’t wait to see you inaugurated and we hope you settle into your new home very nicely. We’ll look forward to hearing news of your Green House plans!
Popularity: 10% [?]
