There comes a time in every home owner’s life, when we must look into the face of change.  Or more specifically, we have to remodel.  Whatever the cause, a need to increase home value, an attempt to improve the functionality of a space, or an excess of money (lucky you!), this is a great opportunity [...]]]>

There comes a time in every home owner’s life, when we must look into the face of change.  Or more specifically, we have to remodel.  Whatever the cause, a need to increase home value, an attempt to improve the functionality of a space, or an excess of money (lucky you!), this is a great opportunity to improve the environmental friendliness of one’s home.

The news often reports on amazing homes that have achieved the pinnacle of green.  Homes that generate more energy than they use or generate zero carbon emissions can be inspiring but also intimidating.  Doesn’t it seem that a lot of work must be involved to accomplish these things?  But the truth is that making your home greener is easier when you know what your options are.  Thanks to the internet, one of the greatest resources available is other home owners who’ve already done this.  Here are some great examples to learn from:

• Bozeman House – this is a beautiful website created by Ron Gompertz and Michelle Gantt who remodeled their 1904 house in Bozeman, Montana.  In addition to “doing the right thing”, they also wanted to support local businesses and have a house that would stand up to potential rising energy costs in the future.  What they created was a home that utilized a variety of alternative energies, recycled materials, and looks pretty darn good to boot.  An entire section of their website is dedicated to the materials that they used for landscaping, insulation, counter tops, etc..  Its a fantastic resource, so please check out their ‘Green Products‘.
• Our Cool House – Phil and Lisa Malone share the details of their earth-sheltered, geo-thermal exchanging, passive solar house.  And don’t worry if you don’t understand what those terms mean, their website is full of explanations and a lot of enthusiasm.
• Build It Solar: I Did It – If none of those links were to your liking, Build It Solar has an entire resource listing of people sharing their experiences in building or remodeling houses to be more energy efficient.

Hopefully you will be able to find inspiration (and some awesome looking recycled kitchen counter tops) in the links provided.  Happy Surfing and good luck on your next green house project!

In the interest of full disclosure, I will tell you now that I love hot weather.  Now that we are finally creeping out of winter into some warmer weather, my spirits are rising accordingly.  Of course for some of us, this is not good news as the approaching summer heat also signals a rise in [...]]]>

In the interest of full disclosure, I will tell you now that I love hot weather.  Now that we are finally creeping out of winter into some warmer weather, my spirits are rising accordingly.  Of course for some of us, this is not good news as the approaching summer heat also signals a rise in our energy bills. Central air conditioning can be one of the highest energy consuming systems in a house, beating out all other appliances.  So here are some ideas to help keep your cool before resorting to cranking up the AC:

1. Close the blinds while you are out: This is a small habit that can really make a difference.  Even if you haven’t invested in solar shades which are supposed to reduce the effect of UV rays, you can still keep your house cooler by closing the window coverings that you own.  Anything that stops the sun’s rays from getting in and heating up your home will help.
2. Plant shade trees: If you have a yard and the space to support them, consider planting some shade trees.  If you aren’t sure how to go about it, visit the Arbor Day Foundation web page.  Not only do they provide information about different types of trees, they will also sell you a tree that is appropriate for your region.  Spring planting time is now, so if this is something you are interested in, go check it out.
3. Change your AC filter:  Dirty AC filters cause the unit to work harder to push air through, so make sure you are changing out your filters.
4. Set your programmable thermostat:  Do not cool your home when you aren’t it in.  A programmable thermostat will help automate this good habit.
5. Take a shower:  Unless you are running a sauna in your bathroom,  a shower can help cool down your body temperature and leave you feeling relaxed.  Its a nice thing to do before bed.
6. Use ceiling fans:  A ceiling fan will keep air circulating around a room which creates a cooling effect on your skin.  Most fans have a separate setting for warm and cold weather, the difference being the direction of rotation, so make sure you are using the correct setting.
7. Get a cooling unit for your room:  Unless you have a need to air condition your entire house, it is probably cheaper to invest in a cooling unit for the individual room you are in.  This can be something as simple as a box fan, a portable air conditioner, or a window-mounted unit.  I even found this bed-mounted unit called The Bedfan which claims to alleviate night sweats and hot sleeping in general!  If you do decide to invest in a room air conditioner, please note that according to the Department of Energy, that using a unit that is too large for your room often results in fast cooling times but ineffective removal of humidity.  The result can be a cold clammy room, so check their recommendations for correctly sizing your room AC here.

So those are my tips for dealing with summer heat without upping your cooling bill.  Feel free to drop a comment if you think I missed one, but don’t you tell me to learn to love the heat, cause I already got that one down!

Occasionally, in our quest to become more environmentally conscious, it seems that we have seen and considered it all.  Recycling in the home, using compact fluorescent light bulbs, Energy Star appliances, checking our window insulation, and perhaps even buying a hybrid vehicle are pretty common options for a person these days.  So here I am [...]]]>

Occasionally, in our quest to become more environmentally conscious, it seems that we have seen and considered it all.  Recycling in the home, using compact fluorescent light bulbs, Energy Star appliances, checking our window insulation, and perhaps even buying a hybrid vehicle are pretty common options for a person these days.  So here I am to present you with another option that you may not have considered: the electric bicycle.

“Aren’t some of us a little old for a scooter?”, you may be thinking.  However, I am not talking about a scooter and I’m definitely not talking about a motorcycle.  I am talking about your old childhood friend, the bicycle, and adding a few accessories: an electric motor, battery pack, and controller.  The controller regulates the battery and motor, and together they provide assistance in pedaling the bicycle.  The end result is an easier bicycling experience.

Now this isn’t for everyone, but it may work for more people than you think.  There are many people who ride bicycles for recreational purposes, and some of whom use a bicycle to commute to work.  I used to be one of those people.  I lived about three miles from work and when the weather was decent, I would pack up my business clothes in a backpack and bike to work.  After awhile, I stopped doing this, even though it was great exercise and definitely environmentally friendly.  My main issue was that I had a hard time gauging my energy levels.  Some days were tougher than others.  I might have to bring a laptop home, and all the accessories with it.  Add all that to the end of a tiring day at work, when all you want is dinner…  well, you can see how a person’s motivation might lag.  Couple that with the consistent need to shower at the work gym (and not all of us have this option) and then change into our business attire, let’s just say it takes real commitment to commute via bicycle.

An electric bicycle can help mitigate some of these issues because the job of the motor is to make your pedaling easier.  Easier pedaling lets you extend the range that you are willing to commute, make it into work with less sweat (possibly eliminating the need for a shower), and assists you with any additional business equipment you might be hauling.  Its still more environmentally friendly than taking your car into work because you can re-charge the battery pack.  An electric bicycle also sidesteps one of the issues that potential scooter owners can face, which is licensing.  In some states, scooters require a special license or even have to be registered as motorcycles.  Generally, electric bicycles still fall into the same legal category as a standard bicycle.

So if you are interested in an electric bicycle, there are several manufacturers available or you can purchase an electric motor kit and convert the bicycle you own.  Here are some links that you may find helpful:

• NYCEWheels: A New York based store that specializes in electric bicycles and scooters, these people have put together a great web page with articles, reviews, and products to browse through.
• Optibike: A Colorado based company that makes some of the sportiest (and pricey!) electric bicycles I’ve seen. (note* All their bicycles go faster than 20 mph which may negate their legal classification as standard bicycles.
• Wikipedia – Electric Bike Laws: Just what it sounds like.

So if this a solution you are considering, don’t forget to check for any possible tax credits or commuter credits you may qualify for through the government or your workplace.

After my previous post on waste-water heat reclamation, I’ve been a little more conscious of all the energy that I’m losing down the drain.  So today, while taking a shower, I put the stopper in the drain.  My reasoning was that I could heat my toes a little before letting the water go.  Much to [...]]]>

After my previous post on waste-water heat reclamation, I’ve been a little more conscious of all the energy that I’m losing down the drain.  So today, while taking a shower, I put the stopper in the drain.  My reasoning was that I could heat my toes a little before letting the water go.  Much to my surprise, the amount of water that I used in the shower was almost the same amount that I might have used while taking a bath.  I could have sworn that taking a shower was more the more eco-friendly option, but it just goes to show that mindfulness is key when you are trying to save.  So now seems like an appropriate time to review some tips and gadgets to help conserve water in the shower:

1.  Install a low-flow shower head. This means the shower head will pass 2.5 gallons per minute (gpm) or less.  Some models will go as low as 1 or 1.5 gpm.

• Companies like Evolve make a line of low-flow shower heads, ranging from handheld to rain to standard styles.  Their ShowerStart heads actually cut off water flow once the water temperature reaches 95 degrees, so that you don’t waste water while waiting outside for the water to heat up.  Once you get in the shower, just flip a valve to restore water flow.

• Install a cut-off valve.  This will allow you to take a “navy shower” by controlling the flow of water without adjusting the temperature.  Once wet, you reduce water and lather up, turning the flow back up to rinse off.

2.  Reduce the amount of time spent showering.  A complete shower can take place in 5 minutes (or less), but any reduction in time will save you water and money:

• At $111, the Shower Manager seems pricey but it does have some features worth noting such as: limited access to timer controls, options for time limit settings, reduction of water flow once time limit expires, 5-minute delay after water shut-off before resuming normal flow.  The goal is to train people to take shorter showers by removing incentives, such as water pressure.

• For those of us with more self-control (or cooperative families), a simple kitchen timer would suffice.  Timers made specifically for the shower range from products like the Niagara Shower Coach, a basic 5-minute sand timer which you can attach with a suction cup, to the Efergy Shower Time, a digital timer that also calculates water usage.

3.  And of course, you can always turn down the temperature of your water heater.

Please note, I don’t work for any of the companies or manufacturers of any of these products.  I have posted the links to give you a better idea of what options are available.  So good luck and happy hunting!

The 2010 Vancouver Olympics will be starting soon on February 12th, and though the Olympic Cauldron hasn’t yet been lit, there are still a lot of interesting things going on!  This year’s Olympic organizers appear to have put a great deal of thought into improving the sustainability of the event.  From partnering with indigenous peoples to attempting [...]]]>

The 2010 Vancouver Olympics will be starting soon on February 12th, and though the Olympic Cauldron hasn’t yet been lit, there are still a lot of interesting things going on!  This year’s Olympic organizers appear to have put a great deal of thought into improving the sustainability of the event.  From partnering with indigenous peoples to attempting to neutralize the Olympic carbon footprint, organizers have made numerous efforts to green up which you can read about on their Sustainability web page.

One aspect of the operations that I find fascinating, has been the work done to reuse otherwise wasted heat energy.  Several of the sporting arenas and the Olympic village are setup with heat reclamation systems.  For example, at Riley-Hillcrest-Nat Bailey Stadium Parks the waste heat generated by the curling rink refrigeration plant will be used to heat pool water and space at the nearby aquatics center.

Now several of you may be wondering what good this information does the average person.  Not many of us have the budget of a Host Olympic City to spend on sustainability projects.   It turns out that it is quite possible to reclaim wasted water heat in the home.  Here are a few facts from the U.S. Department of Energy’s website on Drain Water Heat Recovery:

• Between 80-90% of the energy used to heat water in the home, goes down the drain with the water.
• Drain water heat recovery systems can capture that energy and use it to pre-heat cold water before it goes to your water heater or other appliance.
• Heat recovery systems cost between $300 – $500, not including installation but will pay off between 2.5 – 7 years pending use.

So how do these heat recovery systems work?  The core concept is simple and relies on heat exchange.  Using a shower as an example, a heat recovery system could work as such:

1. Heated water from the hot water tank gets sent up a pipe to the shower.
2. As the person showers, the still hot waste water goes down the drain pipe.
3. Normally cold water would be piped into the water heater to replenish the hot water supply.  However, in a heat recovery system, the inbound cold water is sent through a pipe that makes multiple curls around the drainage pipe along the way.
4. The heat of the outbound shower water is transferred to the incoming cold water.  Usually these sections of the system are made with copper pipe to assist in the heat transfer.
5. After going through the heat transfer, the inbound water has been pre-warmed before entering the water heater.  This action reduces the amount of energy it will take the water heater to perform its job.

The system I’ve just described is basic and is only useful when doing something that uses hot and cold water at the same time. However, more advanced systems allow the capability to store the recovered heat for later use.  It is an exciting idea for improving energy efficiency that has yet to become popular in the United States, though it appears to be doing quite well in Canada.  So if you are considering some home renovations to improve efficiency or making changes to your plumbing, ask your contractor if they can perform this kind of work.

And next month, as you are happily watching the Olympics, just keep in mind that there’s a lot of green going on behind the scenes.

Compact Flourescent Light (CFL) bulbs are one of the more ubiquitous signs of the green movement. They save energy, money, and Home Depot gave them away for free on the most recent Earth Day. What’s not to love about CFLs? Well, for some people, its the mercury in them. You may [...]]]>

Compact Flourescent Light (CFL) bulbs are one of the more ubiquitous signs of the green movement. They save energy, money, and Home Depot gave them away for free on the most recent Earth Day. What’s not to love about CFLs? Well, for some people, its the mercury in them. You may or may not recall a  news article in 2007 about a homeowner who was told it would take $2,000 to hire an environmental cleanup firm to remove a broken CFL bulb from a bedroom.  This incident, while being alarmist, highlighted the fact that, like batteries, CFLs require a little additional handling when being disposed of.

According to snopes.com, a CFL contains about 4 to 5 milligrams of mercury (which is about 125 times less than an old style thermometer). Human exposure to mercury has resulted in negative consequences such as tremors, reduced cognitive ability, and insomnia. Even though there is a relatively small amount of mercury in a CFL, they should not be thrown in the regular trash. Most states have a CFL collection program, about which can you read more at the EPA site.

In the event that you have a broken CFL in your home, the EPA recommends a series of actions which appear to be designed to minimize the spread of mercury powder and vapor. What follows next is an abbreviated listing; you can read the full recommendation here:

1. Clear the area of traffic (people, pets, etc…)
2. Turn off any central air
3. Open a window to vent the room for 15 minutes.
4. Scoop up as much of the breakage as possible, using sticky tape if necessary.  Do not use your hands.
5. If you must vacuum, clean out the canister afterwards.
6. Place all breakage and cleaning materials in a sealed plastic bag.
7. Dispose of the trash as recommended for hazardous waste in your area. This may mean taking it to a recycling center.
8. When vacuuming in the future, turn off the central air and air out the room afterwards.

Of course, if you are of the mind that any amount of mercury is too much, then you may be interested in the following. A company named ClearLite is planning on releasing a product called the ArmorLite. It is a CFL that has a safety coating around the bulb. In the event that the bulb breaks, ClearLite claims that the safety coating helps capture broken class and mercury, “providing an extra level of safety between you and the toxins”. ClearLite projects availability of the ArmorLite in December 2010.

Most of us have seen the Energy Star symbol before. Whether hopefully gazing at big screen monitors at the store or replacing a recently departed water heater, that little blue icon can be found on plenty of home electronics and appliances. When I see it, I assume that whatever I’m buying uses energy [...]]]>

Most of us have seen the Energy Star symbol before. Whether hopefully gazing at big screen monitors at the store or replacing a recently departed water heater, that little blue icon can be found on plenty of home electronics and appliances. When I see it, I assume that whatever I’m buying uses energy in some way that is good for the planet. However, until today, it was hard for me to actually explain what the Energy Star label meant. Which brings us to today’s posting, a little introduction to Energy Star.

Founded jointly in 1992 by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Department of Energy (DOE), Energy Star is a voluntary labeling program that attempts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by identifying energy efficient products. Energy Star certifications are available for an increasing amount of products that fall in the following categories:

• Appliances :Refrigerators, Freezers, Washing machines
• Heating & Cooling: Air Conditioners, Dehumidifiers, Boilers
• Water Heaters: Heat Pump, Solar, etc..
• Home Envelope: Home sealing, Roof Products, Sky Lights
• Home Electronics: Cordless Phones, DVD Products, TVs
• Office Equipment: Computers, Servers, Printers
• Lighting: CFLs, Decorative Light Strings
• Commercial Food Service: Commercial Fryers, etc..

In order to use the Energy Star icon, a company must pass the specifications set for their particular product. Energy Star specifications differ based on the product category, but they have the same basic outline: definition of terms, test procedure and requirements, energy-efficiency specifications for qualifying products, and the effective date for these specifications.

For example, if you look at the specification for monitors, you would find that a monitor is defined as “A commercially-available product with a display screen and associated electronics, often encased in a single housing…” as opposed to a television which is defined as “A commercially available electronic product designed primarily for the reception and display of audiovisual signals received from terrestrial, cable, satellite, Internet Protocol TV (IPTV), or other digital or analog sources…”. They sound very similar but actually have different energy efficiency requirements. To qualify for a Tier 1 Energy Star rating, a monitor has to consume four watts or less in sleep mode. For a television to qualify for an energy star, it must consume only one watt or less while sleeping.

This is also where the largest criticism of the Energy Star program comes in. While Energy Star specifications define the test plans and qualifying results, neither the DOE nor the EPA perform the actual tests. Instead, they rely on testing done by the companies themselves. Additionally, the Energy Star tests have been accused of having loopholes, which allow companies to report better energy use than would realistically occur. The most popular example of unrealistic testing is that refrigerators be tested with the ice maker off, a situation that critics say happens rarely during consumer use.

Criticisms aside, the Energy Star program can be credited for increasing consumer awareness of energy efficiency. You can find an entire listing of Energy Star specifications on their website.

While taking a moment to remember those Americans who have died in service to their country, I hope we are also enjoying food, friends, and family this weekend.  For those of use fortunate enough to have a day of sunshine, it is also a good time to start taking a look at photovoltaic [...]]]> Happy Memorial Day!

While taking a moment to remember those Americans who have died in service to their country, I hope we are also enjoying food, friends, and family this weekend.  For those of use fortunate enough to have a day of sunshine, it is also a good time to start taking a look at photovoltaic cells!

Photovoltaic (PV) cells , which you may also know as solar powered cells, convert light into electricity.  A basic explanation of the cells functioning lies in the semiconductor material used in the construction.  As photons from the sunlight hit the semiconductor material, electrons are knocked loose.  These electrons are forced to flow in a single direction by the material, which generates the electrical current.  And there you have it, power!

Actually, it isn’t quite that easy or simple and there are still some challenges to be overcome by PV cells, namely low conversion efficiencies and the rising cost of silicon (which is the primary semiconductor component used for PV cells).  So while it is still cost prohibitive for many of us to install solar panels in our homes, there are other ways that we can take advantage of PV cells that are more exciting than the old solar powered calculator, especially in this age of cell phones.

A major challenge for mobile electronics users is power.  Its amazing how one can browse through the web, check and send e-mail, listen to music, update our status, or write a blog entry from a phone.. amazing until the battery drops dead.  Which for some of us, has lead to the stashing of chargers in our cars, offices, and around our homes.  If you are one of these people, you may be interested in a portable solar charger.

Portable solar chargers generate power from sunlight and then store it in a battery so that you can charge something later, when you need it.  Due to the low efficiencies of PV cells, its not possible to rely on most of these chargers as a primary power source.  However, the mobility of a solar charger can not be beaten as they provide power when you are nowhere near an outlet.  The Green Tech Shop sells several different types, such as Solio hybrid chargers or Voltaics’ line of solar bags.  I hope to cover more of these in the upcoming weeks so please check back for more details.