On a chilly day, set the thermostat at 67°F, down from 71°. You’ll barely notice, and those 4 degrees will make a big impact on your energy bill!
How much will you save? Ask your utility company and check your statement to be absolutely certain, but we’re guessing you might save about 15% over the course of the season. You might even enjoy health benefits…. many of our New England friends swear by sleeping with the window open at night, no matter what.
Lounging around at home? Wrap up in this cashmere yummy, 50" x 65" and on sale now at WilliamsSonoma
Turning down your thermostat is one of the simplest and most effective actions you can take to protect the environment and reduce your energy bills. In general, adjusting the thermostat down by just a single degree in the winter can cut heating-energy use by about 7%.
Lower office temps are a breeze when you wear a Nau vest!
If you choose to turn down your thermostat by four degrees in the winter, you’ll be saving close to 15% in energy costs — and you’ll also be avoiding the release of greenhouse gases into the environment and utilization of non-renewable resources.
In most systems, this should be pretty straightforward. The only hard part is ensuring everyone in the home KEEPS it lower (children, visiting relatives, spouses). You also may want to stock up on sweaters and put blankets on the couches.
If you recently purchased a programmable thermostat you may want to consult the owner’s guide (which should be included with the unit) to manually adjust the programmed setting.
Snuggy slippers help, e.g. these "wicked good" ones from L.L. Bean -- order in dark brown and you can get away with them at the office?
We blogged about the amazing Nest a few months ago…. it’s an innovative game-changer, in our view.
Nest programmable thermostat
Other programmable thermostats work well—and they cost much less:
Hunter Fan Company Programmable Thermostat
Black & Decker Home Power Monitor
Black & Decker's Home Power Monitor keeps track of energy usage in either kilowatt hours or $ amounts to help you save money + prevent waste. This is a great way to monitor your spending on heating & cooling.
Thermostats and Control Systems: Energy Savers
P.S.
If you have insulated window treatments, don’t forget to pull them shut before you leave the house—and on sunny days, leave them UP!
This action goes toward your Frugalista badge!
Next time you’re inside, look around the floor. Near the wall. You might see something like this:
The red light at the top means this strip is ON. Turn it off when you don't need it!
It’s a smart strip, of course! Ever wonder why they’re called SMART? Or why it’s SMART to switch them off when you aren’t using them? Read on.
Did you know that even after you’ve turned off your TV or powered down your computer, they continue to use electricity? This is referred to as vampire or phantom energy use. Pretty much all electronics do this—unless unplugged from a socket—which is why phantom energy accounts for 10 percent or more of your energy bill each month. Unplugging devices is one way to stop wasting energy and cash, but it’s a very tedious process.
Enter the perfect solution: a smart power strip.
Belkin's Conserve Switch Surge Protector comes with a wireless remote, so you can shut off power—including standby power—to all of your electronics with the flick of a switch. It has six switchable & two always-on power outlets, so items you need on will remain on.
Depending on the kind of strip you purchase, it will either power down automatically or you simply press one switch. Either way, you’ve cut power completely to multiple devices at once—reducing the greenhouse gas emissions associated with the production of your electricity and saving money. Win-win.
The colorful Smart Strip in the photo is, well, smart. It stops drawing power when your gadgets are turned off so no more wasting money on vampire energy. It’s got ten outlets: a great choice for home offices or entertainment centers. Plug it in, start curbing your energy costs.
Buy a smart power strip at an electronics store or online (this will cost around $30). Plug in everything from your laptop to your phone charger and you’re on your way to saving energy. For bigger savings, consider investing in multiple power strips for your home office, media room, and kitchen.
Plug items you want to leave on into the wall. Or purchase a smart strip equipped with a mix of outlets that are always on, as well as power saving ones. This configuration allows you to keep some electronics on (like your cable modem or DVR), while shutting others off (like your TV or DVD player).
Cool mirrored Isole' power strip: combination power strip & motion sensor. With six outlets controlled by occupancy and two uncontrolled outlets, this energy saving power strip is ideal for home, school, or office.
If you’d like to add 270 points to your Practically Green score, simply insulate your roof, walls, basement, and pipes.
No, this is not buttercream cake frosting: it's icynene insulation sprayed between the rafters: this keeps conditioned air where you want it!
For another 20 points, insulate your ductwork! “Ductwork!?” I can hear some of you renters screaming: “what’s that?”
To understand the concept of insulation: think of these dogs as your pipes, and their plaid coats as the insulation. (TY Bill Cunningham of the NYTimes Style section)
Okay, we know: if you rent your space, or merely inhabit it as a worker, a guest, a student, or other non-invested person, this set of actions might not be for you. But if you’re a home owner, a real-estate manager, a facilities manager, you know how important it is to insulate. And even if you are a tenant, you might be able to improve upon the stuffing in your walls.
If you're ever in San Francisco, visit the Levis headquarters for a fabulous example of denim insulation. 200,000 pairs of jeans were used in this location, many of them collected from Goodwill
Owens-Corning has a new product called EcoTouch and exacting green building guru Alex Wilson gave it a thumbs up: ”EcoTouch is a large, important step for Owens Corning…. Its introduction last year was the first step of a top-to-bottom transformation of the company’s ubiquitous pink fiberglass insulation, making that a healthier, safer product.” Click here for his February 2011 blog post on it at BuildingGreen.com.
Handy diagram at OwensCorning.com guides insulation choices
Excellent insulation, captured by Bill Cunningham
When properly installed, insulation reduces the energy necessary to heat your home in the winter and cool it in the summer. Reduced energy means lower bills, results in fewer emissions, and consumes fewer natural resources. A perfect trifecta.
Almost any insulation can be considered green because of the energy benefits, but some materials are eco-friendlier than others. Some manufacturers use high percentages of recycled content, or substitute natural castor oil for petroleum-based materials. There are versions created from recycled blue jeans, recycled newspaper newspapers, and wool. Some foams are made from renewable products like soy, and avoid use of ozone-depleting chemicals. Steer clear of dangerous ingredients such as formaldehyde, a “known” carcinogen in Europe and a “suspected” one in the U.S., which has also been linked to allergies and asthma and is routinely used as a binder in insulation.
Have an experienced contractor conduct an analysis of your home’s walls, and then walk you through your options.
Air sealing any leaks before adding new insulation is common practice (and highly recommended!). Wall insulation is often installed in combination with added roof insulation.
Tip: ask your contractor if insulation close to R-40 can be added to your walls (the R factor is the measure of resistance to heat flow). This will assure maximum effectiveness, quicker payback from your investment, and provide extra comfort throughout the home. Bonus!
- Energy Savers: Wall Insulation
- Inhabitat: New Ideas for Green Insulation
- Energy Savers: Adding Insulation to an Existing Home
- This Old House: “Insulation”
- Bookmark This Site: Simply Insulate
Even if you have a no Fur policy for your body, don't skimp on padding your building envelope! (TY Bill Cunningham for another great illustration.)
Dubbed the Magic Wand by many beauties, L'Oreal's Clarisonic is upgrading, which might mean swapping yours out... but what to do with the cast-off?
How exciting! You just received a new hairdryer, telephone handset, camera, electric toothbrush, rotating face exfoliator! (…you know who you are) You’re swapping out your energy-hog toaster oven for a new compact microwave! Good for you! Now what are you going to do with the old ones? Throw them into an opaque Hefty bag for the garbage guy to transport to a crammed landfill? Not so fast.
that is, the electronics besides computers and cellphones, which have their own special set of info (and points!)
Did Santa bring you a new scooter? Fab! What's the plan for the old electric scooter you don't need any more?
E-waste, otherwise known as discarded electronics, is one of the largest—and growing—contributors to solid waste today. This should come as no surprise considering how quickly the latest must-have gadgets become obsolete. And then what? People throw them out. Unfortunately electronics contain metals including lead, nickel, cadmium, and mercury that are extremely harmful if they end up in landfills, where they can leach into the ground and water. Some e-waste gets exported and burned—polluting the air and poisoning the workers charged with this unsafe task.
You're obsessed with the awesome new camera you got for your birthday. We know. But what to do with its predecessor?
While computer and cellphone recycling receive the bulk of e-waste attention, many other electronic items can and should be recycled—including microwaves, home theater items, and all kinds of equipment associated with computers and cameras. Basically it’s good common sense to keep anything with a circuit board out of landfills. Bonus: recycling e-waste also recovers some natural resources like copper, gold, and silicon, which can be reused in manufacturing processes.
Try Gazelle.com to trade in all sorts of stuff. They power e-cycling programs for Costco, Office Depot, Sears, Walmart and other stores.
Try repairing and reusing before recycling. Reuse includes donating items you no longer find useful to an organization or someone who might find it very useful. If you prefer not to donate, you can also resell many electronics.
When the time comes to recycle e-waste, check online for the best options near you. Some towns have e-waste collection centers. Others organize occasional e-waste collection drives, as do environmental organizations as well as schools.
At Earth911, type in your item and your location... and...
... choose the solution that works best for you!
Manufacturers and major retailers like Best Buy also accept most forms of e-waste. Call ahead about specific items before you lug them to a store.
Other helpful resources:
Sometimes it’s handy to buy a bottle of water, especially if you’re traveling, especially if drinking water is sketchy. We know. But for most of the time, it makes sense to establish another routine: Replace bottled water with filtered water. Once you read this explanation, you’ll probably agree.
Water bottle with built-in filter, from Brita
By switching to filtered water or just plain tap water, you can save significant amounts of money, natural resources, and avoid a huge source of waste. Americans drink 21 gallons of bottled water per capita per year and it’s not a cheap habit. Water costs 240 to 10,000 times more than tap water.
In terms of resources, supplying Americans with plastic water bottles for one year consumes more than 47 million gallons of oil. That’s enough to take 100,000 cars off the road and 1 billion pounds of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, according to the Container Recycling Institute. And only ~30% of water bottles are recycled.
Bottled water is not necessarily safer than your tap water. Municipal tap water is tested much more rigorously than bottled water. An investigation of 10 brands by the Environmental Working Group found that several ranked the same as municipal tap water, and several were worse. Unless you have a special health concern, tap water is likely to be just as safe.
Want one in every color! Each pitcher holds 10 8 oz units of filterable H2O. Perfect for home, office, or dorm. Brita Grand
If you like the taste of your town water, then get a few jugs and cool it in the refrigerator.
Posh Chez Panisse restaurant serves filtered tap water & house-aerated sparkling water in lieu of bottled water...You can too! Use repurposed clear wine bottles (soak off label) as water carafes; just fill w/ cold water. (Thank you, Remodelista)
PUR 3-stage faucet mount
If you want to filter it for taste or to get out an impurities, decide whether you want to go with a filtered pitcher or add a filter to the faucet or system.
Multi-Pure Stainless Steel Countertop Water Filter
Multi-Pure: This stainless-steel model sits on counter next to the sink & is connected to your existing faucet. Filter life: 750 gallons.
Susan Mazur-Stommen is a cultural anthropologist focusing on how people adopt sustainable, green behaviors. She conducts her research from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy as the Director of Behavior and Human Dimensions, renowned for their States’ Scorecard for Energy Efficiency (see image ahead).
Susan argues that “in order to achieve true, lasting, behavior change in the area of sustainability, we have to use a multi-layered approach, tackling the problem with various tools and media. It’s important to think about the ‘whole person’ when we discuss behavior change, and that includes things like emotions, physical well-being, and how our environment may be affecting us on any given day.”
“For example,” she told us, “some popular ideas for going ‘green’ aren’t always very practical in terms of people’s real lives. Take line-drying, for example. Proponents fail to figure in the cost of the person who has to stand outside for an hour putting all those clothes on the line and then taking them back inside. When you consider the cost of that person’s labor, standing in the heat or cold, line-drying is not the ‘free’ energy saving solution it is often touted as, at least in terms of the individual and their limited time and physical energy.”
Susan gave us a few further insights from the social and behavioral sciences to share with you.
1) Social norms:
Robert Cialdini tested messages about saving water on the cards you see propped up in the bathroom of a hotel. He found that the most successful was one that read, “Two-thirds of our hotel guests decide not to get fresh towels during their stay in order to save water, won’t you join them?”
Reason: People like to ‘stay in line’ or ‘tribe’ with their peers and neighbors, it is a powerful incentive.
Note: Practically Green’s leaderboards encourage you to choose more green actions!
2) Foot in the Door:
Robert Cialdini also tested the ‘foot in the door’ concept, which says that people are much more likely to agree to make a big change if they are first asked to make a very small change. It works like this: if you ask someone for a nickel, and then later go back and ask for a dollar, the people you asked for a nickel will be much more likely to give later (which of course widens the gap between givers and non-givers even more!)
Note: That’s why PG offers so many ’small’ actions, worth just 5 points but still very important! A handful from the Recycling section:
3) Reciprocity:
Offering someone something begins a relationship of give and take that people find extremely hard to resist. This is one of the reasons charities include those address labels in their appeals: they have already given you something, and now you are enmeshed in an obligation to return their ‘gift’ even if you don’t like it, want it, and did not ask for it!
A utility could utilize a combination of ‘reciprocity’ and ‘foot in the door’ in a message. Say at the beginning of summer you want to get people to raise their thermostats in general to reduce peak load, you would send an insert in the mail, or an email that would read:
“Dear John Q Customer, we here at utility X appreciate how you have worked to save energy in your home these past few years. To honor your commitment to energy savings, we have donated $50,000 to the Boys and Girls Club of America. All we ask in return is that you commit to turning your thermostat setting up by ONE degree this summer.”
Next summer….the follow-up…
“Dear Customer, we really appreciate how much energy you and your neighbors saved last summer, and to recognize that, this year we have DOUBLED our donation to Charity X in your name. All we ask in return is that you consider turning up your thermostat by FOUR degrees this summer. If you decide to take the pledge, please send in the enclosed BRC. Thank you for your support!”
Now, theoretically, the combination of social norming, reciprocity, foot in the door, and a pledge (whereby you can also evaluate level of intent) should result in some serious savings.
And this leads to the final insight,
4) Grant McCracken’s “Diderot Effect”:
Susan told us the story of the French philosopher Diderot’s new bathrobe:
“He received a lovely new bathrobe, cherry red silk, and he was sitting in his study one evening with it on, and feeling terrific but then he began to notice that the fabulous new robe made the rest of his surroundings seem shabby. ‘I need a better chair,’ he thought. ‘A nice desk…. New wallpaper. The bookcases are a mess!’ The idea is to introduce a disconnect between the consumers’ old selves and their new selves which can result in their wanting to bring all of these parts of their identity back into line, or what McCracken calls, ‘unities’. An example of this might be a new mom who carefully purchases Bisphenol-A free baby bottles, but at the same time drives a gas guzzler which pumps pollution into the air her baby breathes. The disconnect between her decisions begins to gnaw at her and pretty soon she considers replacing it. Thus a whole chain of actions goes into effect. Pretty soon this mom is evaluating her food choices, her indoor air quality, her household waste, inefficiencies at her job. The activity of bringing her lifestyle choices into ‘unity’ with one another is an example of the Diderot effect.
At Practically Green we see the Diderot effect every day: once people begin checking off actions on their dashboard, they begin to get addicted to the process, it takes on significance, they continue and eventually share their accomplishments with their friends and colleagues.
One more story from Susan, who says that simple social recognition can be a powerful driver for change:
“I once met an older gentleman named Frank, a retired maintenance worker. He likes to walk around town, and at the end of his block was a little pocket park that would have been a nice place to sit except that people were filling it up with discarded cigarette butts. He started cleaning it up every day. Eventually he won an award from the city council. They put a plaque up and named the park after him. It wasn’t that complicated, but it made Frank feel great so he got even more involved. He started working at the public library, going to city council meetings. So this social recognition was effective. It was very cheap for the city to recognize Frank’s good works, and at the same time, they reaped the reward of his intensified volunteer efforts!”
Bingo: Practically Green gives badges when you complete sets of actions. For example, here’s the new Conscious Consumer badge. How would you like to join the 12% of PG users who have already earned it!!
Click here for the complete playlist of actions: http://practicallygreen.com/badges/conscious-consumer
Check out the ACEEE 2011 State Energy Scorecard… where are you? Follow ACEEE ion Twitter @ACEEEdc and join them on Facebook.
Water: Got too much? Not enough? What are the coolest new products for conserving water? How do the experts view this precious resource?
** Please join our free webinar on November 16, 1-2pm ET to get expert advice and answers. **
Register here: https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/458003078
Practically Green has 51 Water-related actions, from Wash only full loads of laundry (99% of PG users have done this already; 20 points) to Install a shower timer (Only 1% of PG has done this one! Why is it the least favorite Water action?)
What would happen if the entire country decided to Turn off the faucets while brushing teeth? Or if every Fortune 1000 headquarters Installed a rainwater harvesting system? (150 points!)
We’re hosting an online event for a deep dive on the subject.
Panelists:
• Molly Hislop: Program Director, Green Education Foundation
• Michele Hudec: VP of Product and BizDev, American Standard Brands
• Stephanie Thornton: Community Outreach, WaterSense, EPA
• Martin Wolf: Director of Product/Technology at Seventh Generation
• Peter Yost: Director of Residential Services, BuildingGreen
• Alexandra Zissu: Editorial Director, Practically Green; Author, Planet Home and more
Moderated by Practically Green’s Founder & CEO, Susan Hunt Stevens.
Save money being green
In a skittish economy, money trumps all. Everyone wants to boost efficiency, reduce waste, and be healthy not only because it’s the right thing to do but because it’s miserable watching cash float away any more than we must. Practically Green has 70+ actions you can do that are either free or that will yield impressive financial results.
Check the list! You’re probably doing lots of these things already. You’ll see several to do starting, well… Now!
Here’s a sampling. The point value tells you the relative impact of each action:
Turn thermostat down by 4 degrees in the winter (50 Points)
Turn down hot water heater (20 points)
Turn off the heat dry feature on your dishwasher (20 points)
Switch to reusable towels or dish cloths at home (20 points)
Install one low-flow shower head (20 points)
Use reusable shopping bags regularly (10 points)
Unplug (or avoiding buying) your second refrigerator (50 points)
Turn off the lights when you leave a room (10 points)
Unplug chargers and appliances when not in use (20 points)
Buy antique or secondhand furniture and home goods (50 points)
Buy a pre-owned home instead of building new (200 points)
Commit to 25 of these next steps, and you’ve earned the Frugalista badge. Who wouldn’t want this coy pig on their Practically Green dashboard?!
So go ahead, pick your 25 actions and get this savvy oinker on board your green program!
We’ve got a fabulous panel of experts coming to our Water webinar on November 16. Please mark your calendars for 1pm Eastern, full details coming soon!
* * *
Meet Martin Wolf, one of our panelists; he’s the Director of Product & Environmental Technology at Seventh Generation. He also goes by “Scienceman.”
We asked Martin for the two or three most salient points he’d like to address during our Webinar, and here’s one of them:
Our water supply pipes and our drain pipes are connected. What goes out our drain pipes goes into a system, and is brought back into our homes and other buildings through our supply pipes. Knowing this, how should we change our thinking about what we put down our drains?
That got me thinking about my kitchen sink at home, and the drain in the sink that leads to a disposal, which grinds up all our food scraps into… pulp? mush? and then all of that glop goes … where?
To the rescue: Bootstrap Compost, a can-do composting entrepreneur who supplies households and businesses in metro Boston with a cool bin, lined with a biodegradable bag. It has a happy green lid and it looks just fine on the kitchen floor.
Who can resist this message from Bootstrap’s impresario, Andy Brooks?
Bootstrap Compost is Greater Boston’s only year-round kitchen scrap pickup service. We use bikes, trains, hand trucks, and the occasional vehicle to collect and transport compostable material from houses, apartments, dorms, co-ops, and condos. Additionally, we’ll happily collect scraps from farmer’s markets, cafes, restaurants, concerts, festivals, cult gatherings — you name it. And the coolest thing is this: all active Bootstrap customers receive a portion of super rich compost 10-15 weeks after their initial deposit to the Bootstrap Compost bank. The second coolest thing is this: We donate finished compost to urban gardens in Roxbury and Jamaica Plain.
I was amazed at all the scraps we had accumulated after one simple dinner for two and a light breakfast the next morning – and this was before we scooped in our coffee grinds! There’s something a bit intimate, revealing, about showing you our compost, but here you are:
Personal compost, after one dinner, half a breakfast, and before coffee grinds
Turns out Andy is not alone: there are compost services in many other cities (go Philly Compost and New York Compost!), some of which are actually provided by the municipality (go San Francisco and Seattle!). And composting isn’t just for home: we know restaurants, companies, and even a major-league baseball team that composts 85% of its waste (go, Seattle Mariners!).
Find out why Compost kitchen food waste is worth a big fat 100 points!
Have you ever considered composting at your home, office, school? This might just be the way to ease into the practice…. Google “NAME OF YOUR CITY + compost pickup” and see what you get!
In a couple of months, the reward: they’ll deliver a bag of urban black gold – worm-processed soil that’s perfect for houseplants this winter.
Thank you, White Flower Farm
The weekend’s sudden heavy storm in the northeastern U.S. had many of us scurrying to bring patio plants inside and rummaging for snow gear, all the while thinking about how high that energy bill is going to be this winter, and what we can do to manage it.
Ready for Winter? Metro NYC, October 29 (courtesy AccuWeather Facebook fan)
Here are 6 ways to beat the weather this Winter:
1) Check the status of your storm windows. Upgrade if needed.
2) Consider adding insulated window treatments or shutters.
3) Weather strip your windows.
Saturday morning, Danbury CT (photo: Stamford Advocate)
4) Insulate! You wear a coat when it gets cold; insulation is the equivalent for your building. You can insulate portions of your structure — doors, roof, walls, ductwork, pipes, basement. And, cold-weather insultation works beautifully to keep your space comfortable in hot weather. Renting? Ask your landlord about the insulation program for your building. (Show him Practically Green if he’d like to know more!)
5) You can insulate certain items, like the hot-water heater. A good test: touch the water heater. If it’s warm/hot to the touch, like a conventional lightbulb is after being on for a while, it should be insulated.
6) Turn your thermostat down just 4 degrees for an estimated 15% savings in energy costs! Put on a sweater!
With some of the money you’ll save, you might splurge on the amazing new Nest programmable thermostat we blogged about — it makes regulating your environment’s temperature almost as much fun as… having a picnic outside on a warm spring afternoon? Swimming in the Caribbean?
P.S. This post is adapted from a weekly letter that all Practically Green registered users receive as part of our service. You can opt out of getting the letter any time, but we’ve noticed most people don’t… we work hard to be sure it’s relevant good reading. If you haven’t registered at Practically Green yet, it’s easy! Take the quiz and sign up!
Five reasons to love the new Nest thermostat.
Our head of engineering is a smooth unflappable type, not given to gushing.
So when he gets excited, we pay attention:
Rajiv’s on his way to earning 50 points for this action:
And another 50 points each for these two actions on Practically Green:
Nest shows how long it'll take to reach the temp you want; green leaf indicates you're in the smart green zone
Nest: it’s a brainy new thermostat designed by Tony Fadell, the guy who sold Steve Jobs on the iPod. In the past 48 hours, this stylish tool has been a complete thumbs-up for testers ranging from TechCrunch to Grist to Fast Company to Wired to the Wall Street Journal: “like Apple, Nest Labs has taken something you use every day and made it simple and delightful to use.”
Why is it so cool?
Let us count the ways:
1) It’s simple: a wheel. Rajiv says it reminds him of the rotary thermostat of his youth… and it clicks as you turn it, like the first iPods.
2) It’s gorgeous, something you’d love to have on your wall. (We’re thinking it would make a great belt buckle.)
3) It effortlessly matches your décor: the trim is a mirror. Did someone say elegant?
4) It adjusts to your behavior and routines: light and activity sensors learn your habits. You might not remember to adjust your thermostat every single time you need to – e.g., when you get up, when you go away, when you return, when you go to bed. Not to worry: this device does it for you.
5) It’s ubiquitous, i.e., you can access it from anywhere. You can set it up to connect to your Wi-Fi, then change the settings remotely from your smart phone. Say you’re heading home early, and it’s suddenly freezing outside. No problem: in a few clicks your house is getting comfortable for your return.
Watch this demo:
You can order it on Practically Green here, for $249 — scroll to the Recommended Products. We have a feeling it’ll sell out, because Rajiv is usually ahead of the pack.
Rajiv Manglani, Director of Engineering
Here’s a win-win: an easy 10-point action you can do today.
Why is “Replace bottled water with filtered water (tap or jug)” green?
By switching to filtered water or just plain tap water, you can save significant amounts of money, natural resources, and avoid a huge source of waste. Americans drink 21 gallons of bottled water per capita per year and it’s not a cheap habit. Water costs 240 to 10,000 times more than tap water.
In terms of resources, supplying Americans with plastic water bottles for one year consumes more than 47 million gallons of oil. That’s enough to take 100,000 cars off the road and 1 billion pounds of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, according to the Container Recycling Institute. And only ~30% of water bottles are recycled.
Bottled water is not necessarily safer than your tap water. Municipal tap water is tested much more rigorously than bottled water. An investigation of 10 brands by the Environmental Working Group found that several ranked the same as municipal tap water, and several were worse. Unless you have a special health concern, tap water is likely to be just as safe.
How to: Replace bottled water with filtered water (tap or jug)
If you like the taste of your town water, then get a few jugs and cool it in the refrigerator.
If you want to filter it for taste or to get out an impurities, decide whether you want to go with a filtered pitcher or add a filter to the faucet or system.
Pur Stage 3 Faucet Filter
Recommended Products and Services that are already on Practically Green:
Multi-Pure Stainless Steel Countertop Water Filter
Got another product to recommend on this action? Please do!
Replacing a toilet sounds like a supreme hassle, but before you put it at the, um, bottom of your to-do list, consider this:
You will likely flush the toilet nearly 140,000 times over the course of a lifetime. A standard toilet uses 1.6 gallons per flush, while older toilets can use more than 3.5 gallons per flush. If you replace older, existing toilets with WaterSense labeled models, you can save 4,000 gallons per year.
Using less water allows more water to stay in the ground or in a surface reservoir which helps to maintain a natural water balance and saves water for future use. There are many parts of the country that do not have enough water to support the current population and levels of water usage. Over 36 states expect water shortages in the next 5 years.
Besides being green, reducing your water usage can reduce the amount of money you owe on your water bill. A family of four will save and average of $90 a year on their water bill by switching to a high efficiency or dual flush toilet.
That’s from Upgrade toilets that take more than 1.6 gallons per flush to standard toilets, one of 3 actions about toilets on Practically Green:
Upgrade toilets that take more than 1.6 gallons per flush to standard toilets (100 points)
Install a high-efficiency toilet (less than 1.28 gallons per flush) (50 points)
Install or upgrade to a dual-flush toilet (50 points)
Boulevard® dual-flush toilet from American Standard: 1.6 gpf OR 1.1 gpf
According to Michele Hudec, Product Development leader at American Standard, even the 1.6-gallon variety will be vintage in a couple of years, due to state mandates and customer demand:
“We’re focused on getting the industry and plumbers to transition to totally conserving toilets, 1.28-gallon per flush [gpf] maximum. Meanwhile, with record droughts in some areas and wildfires in others, people are becoming aware of water as a precious resource. Hotels, commercial builders, and municipalities such as NYC and Miami are all making huge changes for conservation.”
Save the date: Practically Green is hosting a Water Webinar on November 1st, 1 to 2 pm EST. Hope you’ll join us!
If you’ve been involved in a building project recently, or if you’re concerned about building efficiencies, you’ve heard about the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED program. Practically Green’s founder discovered the LEED system when she renovated her family’s house, and the vision was born: why not have a manageable, clear framework for all of life, and not just for building? Solution: PracticallyGreen.com
The USGBC’s annual GreenBuild conference takes place this week in Toronto and — catching the GreenBuild fever — we’re throwing a Twitter party with Mythic Paint and a host of other eco-friendly building and design professionals. Check out this line-up, and we hope to see you there!
Please join us for a Twitter Party!!
During the @USGBC #GreenBuild Conference:
Wednesday, October 5 at Noon EST
Topic: Green Décor (use Hashtag #GreenDecor)
Q & A, experts, info, giveaways, and fun!
Hosted by @PracticallyGrn & @SafePaint
Special Guests
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Mae Hacking @HereInThisHouse | Spencer Kent @OrganicAuthorit
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Moderator: Elise Jones of Babybites & HereinThisHouse @emjnj
WaterSense is Common Sense, by Veronica Blette
Many people find the sound of running water to be soothing. That may be true if you are in the woods having a picnic beside a babbling brook, but it isn’t when you are entering your house after a day of work. One day last winter I came home and found that the flapper on my toilet had become stuck in the open position, which led to its earnest, yet futile, efforts to fill the bowl all day long. Not soothing at all to realize that while I was at work focusing on advancing a nationwide ethic of water efficiency, water was running down my drain. My water bill saw a big jump and I was shocked when I pulled information from my local water utility and saw how much water had actually been lost during that day of wasted toilet filling.
Veronica's water bill
Turns out, I wasn’t alone – the average American house wastes 10,000 gallons each year through leaks. How many of us have heard the ghost flush that happens in the middle of the night? Well, it turns out that those flushes add up! Across the country, easy-to-fix household leaks add up to more than one trillion gallons of water lost annually, robbing homeowners of 12 percent of their water bill.
Less than one percent of the Earth’s water is available for human use, and managing water is a growing concern in the United States. Using water more efficiently and avoiding waste helps maintain supplies at safe levels now and for future generations.
That’s where WaterSense comes in – we’re trying to make it simple for consumers to save water through water-efficient products, homes, services, and tips for around the house. Over the past five years, WaterSense has helped Americans save 125 billion gallons of water and $2 billion in water and energy bills.
Besides finding and fixing leaks, there are lots of other things you can do around the house to save water. Getting started is as easy as 1-2-3…just check-twist-replace!
1. Check toilets for silent leaks by putting a few drops of food coloring in the tank and seeing if the color appears in the bowl before you flush. Don’t forget to check irrigation systems and spigots, too. (Click here for Practically Green’s efficient-toilet suggestions!)
2. Twist and tighten pipe connections. To save even more water without a noticeable difference in flow, twist in a WaterSense labeled faucet aerator or showerhead. (Fix a leaky faucet; Install low-flow valves in all faucets)
3. Replace the fixture if necessary. It may be as easy as replacing a toilet flapper, but if you need a new fixture, look for the WaterSense label, which signifies the product has been certified to save water and perform well. (Upgrade older faucets & shower heads (older than 1994); Upgrade toilets that take more than 1.6 gallons per flush to standard toilets)
Veronica (at left) and her friends -- on the job!
Want to do more? Join my team and thousands of your neighbors by supporting the We’re for Water campaign. Visit the website to take the I’m for Water pledge, “like” WaterSense on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter.
About the author: Veronica Blette leads EPA’s WaterSense program. Veronica has been with the Agency for more than thirteen years and, going forward, will always make sure the toilet is not running before she goes to work.
Have you ever thought of installing a wind turbine at your house?
Or are you worried that it would be impossible, deafening, or cost-prohibitive? And/or prohibited in your neighborhood or not worth the bother?
All of the above?
Our advisor Jeffrey Hollender went ahead and installed one at his home in Vermont. We like to think he consulted Practically Green to clinch his decision! From the PG action:
Read the complete action here: http://practicallygreen.com/install-wind
Here is Jeffrey’s story:
The Wind Turbine is Up at Last, by Jeffrey Hollender
The Hollenders' back yard, with Wind Turbine
It took longer than expected, but my wind turbine is up and generating more C02 free electricity that we projected. You may remember that back in June I embarked on installing a 10 kw Bergey www.bergey.com/ wind turbine. The Bergey Windpower Co. (BWC) has its origins in research activities at the University of Oklahoma dating back to 1970. My plan was to take advantage of a new law passed this past summer by the Vermont Legislature that guarantees that any electricity generated by a residential turbine must be purchased by the local utility at $.20 a kilowatt hour. Not a bad deal considering that here in Vermont we pay between $.10 and $.13 for the energy we purchase.
Every time I look out my window and watch that turbine turn, I feel proud to be part of the solution to the single greatest challenge facing our planet. I know the investment is unaffordable to many, but just imagine the impact if everyone who could afford it committed to do the same.
The turbine will cost about $50,000 before rebates and tax credits. There is a cash incentive grant worth $12,500 lowering the net cost to $37,500, and then a 30% federal tax credit that will further reduce the cost to about $25,000. I had expected the turbine to generate at least 8,000 kilowatts a year but based on my first month I’m generating over 1,000 kilowatts a month, or 50% better than I’d planned.
Since I will sell all the electricity I generate back to the grid (something called net-metering) I will receive a credit against the electricity I use of about $2,400 a year. That means that it will take about 10 years to break even on my investment – unless the wind blows harder or the tax credits go up!
Note: Jeffrey co-founded Seventh Generation in 1987 and built it into a household word, contributing an integral component of the modern-day green-living movement. A prolific author, speaker, and blogger, he founded the American Sustainable Business Council to change the rules of business. Follow Jeffrey on Twitter @JeffHollender and join him on Facebook.
Learn more about Jeffrey and about Practically Green’s other advisors here.
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Maybe you’re inspired to install a wind turbine at your house – or at your school, your company, your town! Maybe you already have one? Please share your favorite big-ticket energy improvement stories with us.
Eco Build: Greening Up My New Home, by Renee Heath
I was lucky enough to grow up in a house my dad built. And my husband was fortunate as well to have a home constructed by his dad’s two hands. So it only felt right that we carry on the tradition and develop our own property. Little did we know what we were getting into…all the decisions (and money)!
From flooring types to paint selections and beyond, we’re spoiled with choice in this country. What has helped us narrow down the options during our construction process are the following two sentences:
- Will this help our family live healthier and greener?
- Can we afford the selection, and if not, does it make sense to spend extra money now to save cash later?
I thought I would share the questions we are still working through to get your brain ticking over and to hopefully get your input as well as to what we should do before breaking ground!
Recycled Materials
New Jersey gets hot summers, cold winters and everything in between. So we asked ourselves how we can set up for lower energy bills. Insulation was the first thing that came to mind. We found that the cheapest option out there is fiberglass insulation. Economical but scary to think you have to wear gloves and a mask to install it as to not breathe in any glass fibers! We really like recycled blue jeans and newspapers lagging for inside of the walls. I still have to compare what the difference in the “R factor” would be compared to fiberglass.
A different option for the roof, we are looking into blown foam insulation made from a soy renewable product. Then there’s insulating duct work, pipes and water heater, oh my!
Click here for seven ways to insulate your home
Renewable Energy
New Jersey also has the most amount of people per square foot of land than any other state in America! So we want to make sure we consume the least amount of natural resources as possible. We are researching three forms of renewable energy: geo-thermal, solar panels and wind turbine.
Geo thermal is a great option for a natural cooling and heating system. Love using the earth’s consistent underground temperature to virtually heat our home for free! This will lower our green house emissions for sure! We know our winters might get too cold, so we are contemplating a wood pellet stove to top up our heat as it emits less harmful pollutants compared to oil or gas. Programmable thermostat installed is a no brainer but not sure I can convince hubby to go >78 degrees in summer and <68 degrees in winter.
Solar panel water heater is a want at this point and not a must have. I already know we need to keep whatever kind of water heater we go with around 120 degrees to be green. And we want low-flow shower heads too!
Wind turbine for electric is another on tier two/nice-to-have right now. Plus, need to see if my neighbors agree with seeing a large fan spinning around all day and night.
Energy Efficient Products
Heat Map
I love seeing heat maps of houses showing where heat escapes; windows are always a major culprit. We want dual-pane low-e windows (blocks radiant heat and prevents heat from escaping). Expensive but efficient, so think this is our spend-more-money-now to-save-later option. Also there are thermal shades/shutters, weather stripping and window treatments, but to be honest, my eyes went crossed at this point! I am still just getting my head around the NFRC (National Fenestration Research Council) window labeling system!
Any thought on our above options? I know I took an energy slant as we are in pre-construction phase, but beyond formal building, there are options for fixtures, furnishing and finishing. Do you have ideas on all-natural carpet, no-VOC paints and formaldehyde free furniture?
Note: Renee is Applegate’s Digital Social Media Manager, and you can follow her on Twitter @reneerants. Full disclosure: Applegate is one of our favorite sponsors at Practically Green; check out their Healthy Green lunch badge and enter their Sausage Contest!!
Does this Back to School season have you thinking about freshening up your interiors? Today’s guest blogger introduces us to makeover experts in Colorado Springs for solutions on materials & finishes that make any room a great place to learn and create – at home, at school at work.
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When I was asked to write an article about interior makeovers for Practically GreenI immediately knew I wanted to talk to Allyson Buck and Sarah Heinbaugh of Interilife Sustainable Interiors.
Just think about the rooms where kids spend most of their time. Many of the design choices we make can have very serious health implications, so it’s really important to choose nontoxic products. Paint, carpets and flooring can offgas dangerous chemicals that you do not want to breathe. Luckily, there are healthier options, so you can create a great interiorwithout compromising anyone’s health.
Since times are tough economically I asked Allyson which 3 areas would be cheapest, easiest and have the greatest impact. All of her are amazing for both the design and the health of your interior space — and can be completed without hiring expensive professionals!
Paint – Paint is cheap, easy and covers the largest surface area. It is the most impactful change you can make to a room. It’s the first thing people notice when they enter – both the way it looks and the way it smells when it’s new. If you only buy one nontoxic product for your makeover project, this is the one to make.
Allyson recommends using Mythic Paint. Mythic is a No-VOC premium paint with No-VOC pigments. People are often concerned that Mythic costs more than paint from, say, Home Depot. However, Allyson says to make sure you are comparing paints of equal quality. Yes, Home Depot paints are about ½ the price of Mythic. But Home Depot paints aren’t premium paints and they aren’t No-VOC. They aren’t going to last as long as Mythic. They aren’t going to hold up to crayon drawings on the walls, the rocking chair hitting the wall and all the rest of the wear and tear young children put on a wall.
If you compare the price of Mythic to a premium paint such as Benjamin Moore (still not No-VOC) Mythic is actually cheaper. And, you get the added benefit of it not releasing toxic fumes. Who can put a price tag on that!
Mythic paint is so safe you can touch it up while your baby is sleeping in the same room with no fear of toxic fumes. A few years ago you could only get No-VOC paint in a limited pallet of earth tones. Now Mythic comes in a wide selection of colors and it can be color-matched to your favorite color from another brand or your décor.
Flooring – The next easiest thing to change is your flooring. Carpeting holds dust, allergens, heavy metals and anything else you track into your home. Even the best vacuum can’t remove everything from carpet. Babies crawl around, play and lay down right next to the particles in the carpet. They put their hands and all their toys in their mouths exposing them to anything that’s in your carpet. Experts often recommend hard flooring, especially with young children around.
Allyson says if you use floating, snap together Marmoleum tiles you can change the entire look of your floor very easily and with minimal tools. They come in a wide selection of colors giving you many options. And, when your baby grows up and wants something more grown up you can just pull them up and donate them to your local Habitat for Humanity ReStore or sell them on Craigslist so they can be used again on someone else’s project.
Marmoleum is true linoleum, made from linseed oil. It is certified asthma and allergy friendly. The top layer of the tiles is Marmoleum and the bottom is cork. In the middle is MDF which is free of added urea formaldehyde, which is a carcinogen.
Wool area rugs – Allyson says the next easiest & most affordable way to have a big green impact upon your room is by adding 100% wool area rugs. The rugs they carry and recommend are made by INDI B and have a cotton backing and are naturally dyed. Wool rugs are very durable and these come in a wide selection of colors and designs. When you are done with them they are easy to get rid of. You can sell them on Craigslist or donate them to a store like Habitat for Humanity ReStore.
We love this 5 x 7' rug from IndiB!
Going nontoxic in these 3 areas can have a huge impact upon the design of your nursery without negatively harming your baby’s health. Allyson says no matter what green design products you use remember that there are no products that are perfect ecologically or socially. Try not to get caught up in looking for perfection. Find the best product you can that meets your design needs, lifestyle and budget.
If you are in Colorado you can visit Interilife’s store in Colorado Springs for each of these products and more. For other parts of the country go to the individual websites for a list of distributors or to purchase online.
Danika Carter is the beauty editor for Greenwala.
There’s nothing like a serious storm to help you appreciate ho-hum conveniences like electricity, hot showers, flushing toilets, chilled food, drinking water, and windows that don’t leak.
Scene in Huntington, Vermont (from The New York Times via the Burlington Free Press/AP)
Practically Green is full of ideas to make life super-efficient, from dual-flush toilets to dual-pane windows to Energy-Star rated appliances and solar-powered or renewably-energized almost-everything. Click here for a comprehensive set of Home Energy actions to consider — and please let us know of others to include.
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Rebecca Sama is the type of person who always has some cool thing in her hand, around her neck, or on her bod. She’s Practically Green’s product specialist, and she’s got a few après-Irene items to consider. They’re all available on PG; simply click on the related action link to peruse and order!
Rebecca’s Better-Safe-Than-Sorry Necessities
There’s something about a wooden flashlight that makes me smile and always a good to have an LED flashlight on hand should the power happen to go out… no fun to be left in the dark!
Switch to an LED or solar-powered flashlight
Klean Kanteen Reflect Stainless Steel 27 Ounce Water Bottle with Bamboo Cap
And it’s the perfect excuse to add yet another reusable (and irresistable) water bottle to the collection, what with the storm coming and with that shiny finish and cute BPA-free bamboo top…
Switch to a reusable water bottle
Of course we wouldn’t want to miss out on post-storm puddle-jumping, so we’ll need to ‘boot-up’ with these natural rubber, PVC-free classic rain boots. (Available for kids and grown-ups!)
And with nothing but rain and 23-foot waves on the horizon, there’s no better time to hole up with a delicious bottle of organic wine from inspirational and renowned wine connoisseur, Alex Elman. (Goes well with the KK bottle?)
Alex Elman herself!
Rebecca blogs at urbansherp.com, where you can see her complete Irene post. Follow her @UrbanSherp on Twitter.
This is Lawn & Water week, and we begin in the bathroom. According to our action, a U.S. family of four can consumer 400 gallons of water a day, 30 percent of which goes down the toilet.
17% of Practically Green users have already done this action, as you can see here (search keyword: toilet):
One of them is Shelby Hogan, a delightful correspondent from Anaheim, California, who kindly shared her story with us. Please read to the end — trust us on this….
Back in the day, I worked at summer camp in Southern California when water was in high demand and low supply. We had a little song we sang about the bathroom that went: “If it’s yellow, let it mellow, if it’s brown, flush it down.” Also known as Buddy Flushing, the fact is that when you flush the toilet it uses the same amount of water regardless of the, uh, contents, yet you really don’t need the same amount of flushing power for both.
Europeans were very early adopters of the dual-flush toilet. That’s a toilet where there’s a flush level for “yellow” and a different one for “brown” and it adjusts the water level accordingly, saving a tremendous amount of both water and money.
And I always get excited when I can go green AND save money. It’s like the environment giving me a little gold star for my sticker chart.
So after spending some time in Europe, my local handyman, also known as my husband Kevin, announced we were moving to dual-flush toilets. I was a little worried at first, since I assumed it involved buying all new toilets and/or hiring a professional plumber, but Kevin put my mind at ease by showing me the do-it-yourself conversion kits for our existing toilets.
Dimensions: 4”x 5”x13”; costs $24 on Amazon
And I don’t mean do-it-yourself as in “disassemble the entire bathroom, buy seven hundred dollars worth of new and exotic tools, spend several hours swearing over instructions written by blind single-handed monkeys with broken typewriters, and then calling in a professional plumber to replace all of your toilets.” I mean do-it-yourself as in it took him under 15 minutes per toilet and they were immediately functional.
Same-old toilet tank; brand new dual-flush buttons!!
The mechanism is very straightforward—press in the top half of the button for low water flow and the whole button for full flow. I’ve never had a guest awkwardly yell through the closed door “How do you flush this thing?” because if you push the whole button it defaults to maximum water. I even took a peek inside the tank to see how simple it really is. I love our dual-flush toilets! Now if I could only train my 2-year-old to use them…
Inside the toilet tank
Check out Shelby’s Practically Green profile and her other PG actions right here.
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