greenHo.ws

When people think of building green they tend to associate it with extra cost, that doesn’t have to be the case. There are a number of green building techniques that can actually save money.

#1 – Build Small

One of the easiest and most cost effective approaches is to just build a smaller house. Smaller houses require fewer resources to construct and less energy to heat and cool. Often buyers build smaller but use higher quality finish materials.

#2 – The Sun

Orient the building to get the most natural daylight which will reduce the use of electric lights. It also tends to make the house feel more pleasant. You can also take advantage of solar energy to help heat the house. With careful placement and design of the house on the site you can reduce both the heating and cooling bills.

#3 – Roof Color

Depending on your climate zone using either a light colored roof to reflect heat or a dark colored one to absorb heat can help with the predominate temperature extremes.

#4 - Whole-House Fans

The fan will improve indoor comfort by drawing in cooler outside air in the evening and helping to exhaust the hot indoor air. The fans on average uses one-tenth the electricity of an air conditioner.

#5 - Water-Efficient Toilets And Fixtures

Using low flow toilets, faucet flow reducing aerators and low flow showerheads can reduce your annual water usage by over 40% compared to the old style fixtures.

The U.S. Green Building Council and the American Society of Interior Designers Foundation have partnered to create the nation’s first green residential remodeling guidelines. The guidelines cover the 10 areas most often updated in a remodel. They are: Kitchen, Bathroom, Bedroom, Living & Working, Finished Basement, Home Performance, Major Addition, Gut Rehab, Deep Energy Retrofit, and Outdoor Living.

The Guidelines are designed to provide people with the information and tools to green their home remodeling projects. With the continued increases in the cost of energy more and more people will be looking for information on how to save energy.

For more information please check out the REGREEN site.

It appears that the worlds leading retailer, that is viewed as part of the evil empire by many, is getting greener. One of Wal-Mart’s newest stores, the Las Vegas Supercenter, will open this week using a new cooling technology to cut overall energy use by up to 45 percent compared to stores build in 2005. The areas where they are reducing their impact on the environment are in areas of lighting, refrigeration, water flow and now a new cooling system based on water evaporation for total energy savings of between 35 percent and 45 percent.

The design is tuned for use in the dry western states where evaporation works better than in the humid southern states. The system consists of water evaporation chillers installed on the store roof that chills fluid that is then circulated under the floor of the store. Basically the same design as a radiant heating system just used for cooling instead.

Since Wal-Mart is stated to be the largest private user of electricity in the world any savings they can implement in their stores can have a major impact. In addition Wal-Mart shares their environmental best practices with other retailers to help them improve their energy efficiency.

It’s certainly a step in the right direction.

If you compared auto insurance rates, you might think green drivers are safer drivers! The reality is, all* insurance companies offer some form of discount to green drivers, although the discounts are not always labeled as green. It takes just a little research and preparation to ask the right questions when talking to your insurance provider.

I found three green chances to drive my auto insurance costs down.

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If you have ever been in a grocery store, I’m sure you have heard the question, “Paper or plastic?” Which one is the right choice? Well the short answer is neither! A better choice is a reusable bag. But that is not always possible or practical so if you have to choose, it appears that most evaluations prefer plastic over paper. To that end, there was a very good overview of the “bag war” on the MSNBC website today.  There covered, pretty fairly, both sides of the issue - paper or plastic. 

It’s worth a look, but remember – a reusable bag is the best choice!

Wow, eco-tourism looks fun, interesting, and educational.  You get to travel a long way, get a great view of minimally touched nature.  If you do it right, you get to feel good about not leaving any trash behind.  But all that travel generates a lot of pollution getting there.

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There is a new website set to launch on March 17, PlanetReuse.com. Planet Reuse is a website that connects buyers and seller of reused and reclaimed construction materials and equipment. Kind of a eBay for recycling and reuse.
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Last week six homes were set on fire with three of them being destroyed in a new neighborhood in Woodinville Washington by what appears to be the Earth Liberation Front group. A sign with their initials was found at the scene, an official said. The 5-foot by 5-foot sign found at the scene read “Built Green? Nope BLACK! McMansions + RCD’s r not green. ELF” RCD means rural cluster development. The homes that were burned used “Built Green” standards such as water-pervious sidewalks, super-insulated walls and windows and products made with recycled materials, such as carpet pads.

The Earth Liberation Front (ELF) group, is a loosely organized collection of radical environmentalists that authorities say is responsible for other arsons in the Northwest.

ELF has been implicated in a string of arsons that investigators say were perpetrated from the mid-1990s to 2001. This included the Center for Urban Horticulture that was destroyed because the ELF activists mistakenly believed researchers there were genetically engineering trees.

To me, this is a gigantic perversion of environmentalism and the green movement. There were explosive devices found inside the four homes that were burned, presumably put there to injure any firefighters trying to battle the blazes. Kind of strange given that part of The ELF’s guidelines require that individuals or groups acting on its behalf “take all necessary precautions against harming any animal — human and nonhuman”^, it sure doesn’t sound like that to me.

Basically, their approach appears to be, destroy items that have already consumed resources and then release large amounts of pollutants into the environment all while endangering lives. Not really my idea of a green organization or even one I want associated with the word green.

Let us know what you think!

Properly maintaining your car can make a big difference, not just to your pocketbook but also to the air we breathe.  And I now have the experience to prove it.

First, some stats.  According to the UK National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory, a car throws out 2.84 ounces of pollutants per mile.  Call it 3 ounces per mile, then drive 20 miles, and you’ve thrown 3 3/4 pounds of pollutants in the air.  If you live in a good size city, estimate that there are at least 100,000 cars doing that every day.  Pretty soon, it looks like we are grinding up a stadium and dispersing it every day.

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This past week was probably the most diverse we’ve had yet in terms of topics covered. 

Since the summer concert season is coming up, music was on my mind.  I found three bands I like who actively minimize or offset the impact of their concerts.  It didn’t take much time to find out about their efforts, so check out your favorite act before logging on to buy some tickets.

With spring and summer comes a long list of projects to complete around the house.  Greenman wrote an entry with tips on a project to save energy and money while staying cooler with ceiling fans.  We have them in most rooms in our house, and they do make a noticeable in both warm and cold weather.

In addition to upgrading with ceiling fans, it’s also becoming the season to paint, inside and out.  With a little planning and follow through, all paints can be greener if you follow through on tips from greenman.

I’m a big fan of online / web2.0 applications.  I believe they save energy, through reduced transportation, packaging, and energy consumption.  See my update on our efforts to reduce wasted catalogs through the mail using one of these new online applications.

Sue Al Gore?!?!?  Greenman stirs us up with a shocker of an entry!

To offset the crazy talk, check out our call to action: save energy and turn off the lights for just one hour!  On March 29, from 8 to 9PM, join with your neighbors, local government, and people around the world making a statement about saving energy by cutting back on power consumption for just one hour on one night.

Concerned about plastics?  So are we.  We found 8 names to look at for PVC free products (5 stores and 3 brands).

Finally, we got things a little mixed up at GreenProductsNews.com this week, but everything should be back to normal some time this week.  Word to the wise:  website upgrades do NOT always go as expected!

Lately, I have been reading about plastics.  More specifically, I have been reading about BPA, PVC, phthalates, and the effects they may or may not have on us.  I have not seen any definitive research that settles the question of how poisonous they are, although some countries have labelled them as carcinogens.  So, there is a strong argument that continued exposure to plastics and associated chemicals has an effect on human health.

Regardless of the argument, here’s how I feel about these:  I do not like the idea of plastic in the food I eat, the drinks I drink, or in the air I breathe.  We did not evolve eating plastic.  Regardless of how little we ingest from one little plastic item, we handle a hundred every day.  Surely the constant exposure accumulates.

So, what to do?

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It’s a brilliant idea, go dark to save the earth. Earth Hour was conceived as a simple but effective way to help with global warming. Earth Hour uses the simple act of turning off your lights for one hour to make a impact and show the need for action on global warming.

Earth Hour has gotten the attention of people all across the globe. The message is that individuals can make a difference with global warming. Earth Hour and the World Wildlife Fund want to raise awareness about the connection between power usage and climate change.

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Global warming is “the greatest scam in history”! You may remember when John Coleman, the founder of The Weather Channel, made that comment a few months ago. Well, this week he was speaking at the 2008 International Conference on Climate Change.

Coleman’s strategy for exposing what he calls “the fraud of global warming” is to sue those who sell carbon credits. This includes the firm, Generation Investment Management, that Al Gore helped found.  Coleman points out that this would make them prove in court the impacts and effects of carbon on global warming

Coleman said. “as the experts went to the witness stand and testified, I feel like that could become the vehicle to finally put some light on the fraud of global warming.”

Coleman also claims that the Weather Channel is now a proponent of the global warming alarmism. In late 2006, The Weather Channel’s Heidi Cullen wrote in her blog that weathercasters that believe global warming can be explained by cyclical weather patterns and not human activity should be de-certification by the American Meteorological Society.

Let us hear what you think about this one!

In January, I wrote about online tools you can use to calculate and even reduce your impact on the environment. Since then, we’ve been using two of the tools and it’s been interesting to see the results.

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I would bet a fair amount of money that most houses more than a few years old have a number of partially used cans of paint stored somewhere in the house. Some of that paint will get used but the majority probably just sits around waiting to be thrown away at some future date. What are the choices available to a environmentally conscious painter? (more…)

What uses a little energy to save a lot of energy? Well, experts say a ceiling fan can save up to 40 percent on your summer cooling costs, and up to 10 percent during the winter heating season, all while costing less than a $1 per month to operate. Those are some pretty impressive numbers which translate into energy and dollars saved. (more…)

The summer concert season is almost upon us. If you live near an outdoor arena, you know how fun it is to be outside listening to a little music with a few (thousand) friends. A big problem with concerts, indoors or out, is the amount of waste they generate and the impact of all the traffic to and from.

There are a number of musicians trying to do something about it.  Here’s a few examples:

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This week we talked about several project ideas, from world wide to right at home.  On Green Products News we talked about what to use and on greenHo.ws we gave suggestions on how. 

Here are some projects we said talked about last week:

• there is a new and environmentally friendly idea in housing - low cost, pre-built, and simple to assemble Abod homes; intended for overseas markets, they are a good option for church or relief organizations to be good stewards of the environment;
• installing a water heater is a big project and not inexpensive; be educated before deciding how to go green with a solar water heaters;
• if you spend time working in your yard, you understand the importance of fertilizing; try composting with the Tumbleweed compost maker and reuse your yard waste; it takes a while, but the results are worth it;
• ceiling fans are a good investment and help to reduce home heating and cooling costs; take a look at greenman says about the benefits of installing energystar fans from Hunter;
• finally, everyone has a few home electronics; what you may not realize is that many constantly suck power; it’s a quick and easy project to reduce their impact with a few switches.

We covered more than just projects with a few posts with tips, a little education, and more:

• try these quick and easy energy saving tips;
• impress your friends with knowledge of these green terms;
• I was surprised at an un-green action by a “green” website;
• Ecomom is interested in the environment and her family and joined us this week to write about it;
• the demand for green is definitely up!

 Based on a recent survey released by the American Institute of Architects “green” cost effective homes and upgrades are getting more popular and high end items are less popular.

They surveyed over 500 architectural firms about consumer demand for kitchen and bath features. The results showed that there was less interest in luxury items (like upper-end kitchen appliances). Demand for high-end appliances fell over 25% from 2006 to 2007, according to the survey.

As high end features demand drops, the interest in green features is on the way up. Consumers are looking for eco-friendly and energy-efficient products. Key among these are products like low-VOC paints and flooring materials, floors and countertops made out of recycled and/or natural products (stone and concrete), and renewable flooring materials like cork and bamboo. The demand for renewable kitchen flooring materials increased by over 15% from 2006 to 2007 along with an increase in the interest in water-saving fixtures.

It looks like one of the unintended benefits of the slowing of the economy may be a focus on more energy-efficient and cost effective products which will benefit everyone.

To see info on a number of these type products check out GreenProductsNews.