greenHo.ws

The National Association of Home Builders has a great publication available to the public for free. It is the Model Green Home Building Guidelines. While the primary audience is home builders it is also a valuable read for the average consumer. There is also a checklist available that is kind of the “Cliff Notes” version of the guidelines.

The Guidelines are a good way to get a quick overview of the key areas involved in green building practices. There are 6 main areas that the guidelines cover; Lot Preparation and Design, Resource Efficiency, Energy Efficiency, Water Efficiency / Conservation, Occupancy Comfort and Indoor Environmental Quality, Operation, Maintenance and Education.

In summary, the Guidelines can give you a jump start on understanding the key parts of green design and the associated construction processes. Best of all – it’s free.

NAHB Model Green Home Building Guidelines

The EPA’s recently issued their Lead: Renovation, Repair and Painting rule which will take effect in April 2010. The main impact of the rule is that remodeling activities that occur in houses built before 1978 that have pregnant women or children less than 6 years old will have to follow a strict set of requirements. They mainly include keeping dust to a minimum and cleaning up thoroughly after the work. Contractors will also need to take a training course to obtain the required certification. For details you can check the EPA site. You can also get educational pamphlets by calling the EPA’s National Lead Information Center at 800-424-LEAD (5323).

After the item yesterday about the rising price of food and the potential for shortages this site popped to mind.  This isn’t really a “green” related site but the principle and result is great.  FreeRice.com was created in late 2007 by John Breen, a computer programmer from Bloomington Indiana to help his son study for the SAT.  The site is a online word game where the player is presented with a word and four possible definitions, if they pick the correct definition FreeRice.com donates 20 grains of rice the United Nations World Food Program.  The rice (actually, the money for it) is provided by sponsors who advertise on the site.  The site generates enough traffic that enough rice is donated each day to feed over 7,000 people.  As of early April over 25 billion grains of rice had been donated!

It’s fun, a great way for kids (and adults) to improve their vocabulary and help a very worthwhile cause - reducing world hunger.  Go give it a shot.

It has been offered up that biofuels like ethanol will help create jobs and reduce the overall problem of global warming. While this may be true it could come at a cost greater then the help it offers.

A number of countries have jumped on the biofuels bandwagon in the past few years. The US Congress is developing a proposal that would grow biofuel production to 36 billion gallons by 2022 from the current 2012 mandate of 7.5 billion gallons. The European leaders are requiring that a minimum of 10% of fuels will have to come from biofuels by the year 2020. The trend is obvious.

This past Tuesday the United Nations released a major report on bioenergy. Among the positive statements about the benefits of biofuels there were also alarms raised about the negative impacts of biofuels. The report said “Unless new policies are enacted to protect threatened lands, secure socially acceptable land use, and steer bioenergy development in a sustainable direction overall, the environmental and social damage could in some cases outweigh the benefits,”

It also says that bioenergy represents an “extraordinary opportunity” to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, it warned that “rapid growth in liquid biofuel production will make substantial demands on the world’s land and water resources at a time when demand for both food and forest products is also rising rapidly.”

Josette Sheeran, executive director of the United Nations’ World Food Program, said on the agency’s Web site Tuesday that the rising prices are “threatening to plunge more than 100 million people on every continent into hunger,”

In addition to the UN report there was also an excellent paper written by the National Center for Public Policy Research titled “Thanks to Congress, Ethanol and Biofuel Mandates Cause Food Prices to Soar”. In the paper the author, Dana Joel Gattuso, writes that the redirection of food crops to biofuels is causing food prices to soar. It also stated that this is “drawing us into an ugly “food-versus-fuel” battle: “Any diversion of land from food or feed production to production of energy biomass will influence food prices from the start, as both compete for the same inputs.”

Does it come down to a fight between clean “renewable” fuel versus food? Do we lose either way? Let us know what you think.

The full UN report is available at esa.un.org/un-energy/pdf/susdev.Biofuels.FAO.pdf

The National Center for Public Policy Research paper is available at http://www.nationalcenter.org/NPA564.html

I found a very interesting blog by Fiji.  If you have not heard of Fiji bottled water, it actually does come from Fiji.  It is a favorite of my mother in law (in spite of filtered tap water at home), and does taste pretty good as water goes.

The blog is Fiji Green Blog and highly recommended.  The back and forth between commenters and Fiji Green Gal are entertaining and surprisingly informative. 

Personally, I am not a fan of bottled water and agree with many of the posters that tap water in a mug or thermos is just fine and a good glass of iced tea or mug of hot coffee is even better.  But, if you are going to drink bottled water, Fiji Green Gal makes a strong case why Fiji water should be your choice.

I have not yet found a comparison of other bottled waters, but will keep looking.  Please share any stats, links, or other information in the comments about beverage choices and their greenness!

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.

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!

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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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…)

What if I told you that you could have one of the best fertilizers available for free!

Compost is an excellent replacement for commercial fertilizers. Compost is also a universally recommended soil amendment. It is usually blended with soil to improve sandy soil’s water holding capability and to loosen clay soils. (more…)

Solar hot water refers to water heated by the sun. The principle is simple, it has been around for many years and can work in virtually any location. Solar hot water doesn’t involve a major investment, around $3000 to $6000 is typical. Solar hot water can cut the average family’s water heating energy costs 20 to 40 percent in general and as much as 90 percent in some Southwestern regions.

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A new green super paint?

There is a new type of paint that was developed by BM, it is their super premium paint - Aura™. There are a couple of key items that differentiate Aura from other paints, it’s color technology and the method of mixing the colors. (more…)

You already own your house and it was built back before people were really aware of “green” building practices (you and about 110 million close friends). With American’s spending over $200 billion dollars on home remodeling there are a lot of people out there making changes to their homes. If you are going to update your home, why not go green. Well, you ask, what are some of the best changes you can make to improve your home’s energy efficiency?

Here is my top 10 list: (from little/easy to big/tougher)

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What’s the largest single opening in most houses – the garage door. Usually the garage is attached to the house and often has living space above it. This is a very large, mostly unconditioned, space that can directly affect the heating / cooling costs for your home.

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Almost everyone loves a party. Parties mean music, food, friends, and sometimes lots of friends. And with all of that comes consumption: food, drinks, electricity(!), and even some basic household supplies. The good news is that it is possible to have a lot of fun and be green at the same time.

I spent a few minutes talking to my wife about some ideas for minimizing the impact of a party. She’s planning one now, and did a little digging into options. Together we found some good news and bad news.

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Not all “going green” efforts have to be giant projects to help the environment. Small changes can add up to a big impact. I’ve pulled together a list of small, simple and quick changes that you can implement.

· Change your HVAC equipment filters on a regular basis – this allows your furnace / air conditioner to work more efficiently and helps keep the air in your house clean.

· Swap out your incandescent lights for Compact Fluorescent Lights (CFL) or LED lights.

· When boiling water or cooking “liquid” meals, cover the pot. This will allow the item to heat quicker and use less energy.

· Vacuum your refrigerator / freezer coils – this will help keep your refrigerator / freezer operating at it’s peak efficiency.

· Install low-flow showerheads and faucet aerators.

· Only run your dishwasher or cloths washer when you have a full load.

· If you have a reasonable amount of dishes (more than just a few) using a dishwasher uses only half the energy, one-sixth of the water and less soap than washing by hand.

· Close your window coverings in the winter at night and during the day in the hot part of summer. Install a dimmer switch on frequently used lights. Dim your lights by a quarter, you increase your energy savings by 20 percent; dim them by half, increase your savings 40 percent. You also extend bulb life up to 20 times when you dim a bulb halfway.

· Lower the temperature on your water-heater, it’s safer and saves energy.

· Bring tote bags to the grocery store rather than using their bags.

Remember, little things can add up!

Don’t just toss your old computer into the garbage . Modern technology (cell phones, computers, TVs), which we all know and love, are a main contributor to electronic waste (e-waste), which pose a major disposal issue because they are made up of various components that are toxic to the environment.

How big is the problem? In the next three years, individuals and organizations worldwide will replace more than 400 million computers. The average cell phone in the U.S. is replaced after just 18 months. Each year over 130 million cell phones are retired; stashed away in a drawer or closet only to collect dust. As of this writing less than 5% of these phones are collected for reuse and recycling. That approach is one that a lot of people are taking - just putting it in a closet. The Institute for Local Self-Reliance estimates that 75 percent of obsolete electronics are currently being stored. This means that one day there will be a massive disposal issue for the country. (more…)

Everyone loves windows since they let in light, provide the views and let in fresh air - more is better. The problem is windows can account for anywhere from 10% to 25% of your heating and cooling bills. Since almost half of U.S. homes have single-pane windows there is a lot of room for improvement. There are a few quick “fixes” that you can make to improve their efficiencies plus a few more extensive changes that you can make for long-term gains.

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