Ever since I saw the Green light, thanks to my friend Laurie David, and traded in my gas-guzzling SUV, I've tried my best to up my eco-awareness.
But after reading Green Goes with Everything, Sloan Barnett's book about greening our homes and our lives, I decided to take a closer look at mine.
Yes, I had a pair of Priuses in the driveway (my girls call them "the Prii"), and the recycling bins are filled and dutifully rolled out the curb once a week -- but I wanted a top to bottom assessment of things.
Because, these days, "green" means a lot more than making your house energy efficient. It means making sure your house is a healthy place for you and your family.
So I arranged to have Deep Green Living, a terrific company founded by Susan Short, come to my house and do what is known as an eco-analysis of my home -- including my home office (aka HuffPost West). Sloan Barnett and a crew from NBC came over to record the process (her news reports for the NBC affiliate in San Francisco are embedded below).
The Deep Green Living team went everywhere and looked at everything -- from the light bulbs in my bedroom to the cleaning products in my kitchen to the logs burning in my fireplace.
They gave me positive marks for some of the things I was already doing (using non-toxic cleaning products) and showed me a number of simple steps I could take right away toward creating a greener home and lifestyle.
And, every step of the way, they helped remind me that going green is a process, not something that has to happen overnight. Every little bit helps, so don't think you have to be the second coming of Ed Begley, Jr. to make a difference.
As President Obama said during his prime time presser last week: "I'm a big believer in persistence."
Among the changes we made:
-- Replaced conventional light bulbs with energy efficient compact fluorescent bulbs, which use one-third the electricity and can last 10 times as long. As Matthew Morris from Deep Green pointed out, "If everyone in America replaced just one regular bulb with a CFL, it would be the equivalent of taking 1 million cars off the road." And we replaced the floor lamps next to my desk and on our editors' desks with lamps and CFL bulbs that throw off a cool white light as opposed to yellow, and reduce eye strain caused by prolonged reading and writing. At first, it was really strange, and I was ready to go back to my beloved yellow light. But I persevered -- and now I love them.
-- Installed power strips in the office and kitchen. Many appliances, including TVs, computers, and phone chargers still use electricity even when not turned on. Indeed, 5 percent of the electricity used in America is drawn by appliances that aren't powered up. For instance, the printer in my office uses 55 watts in standby mode, the copy machine uses 46 watts in standby, and the fax machine uses 10 watts in standby. Leaving these machines on overnight and when they are not in regular use can waste over 700 kilowatt hours a year (which is more than the average California household uses in a month). The easiest way to avoid this is to plug these appliances into a power strip that can quickly be turned off at the end of the day and back on in the morning.
-- Installed digital thermostats. Heating and cooling, on average, accounts for half of our homes' energy use. These thermostats allow us to consistently set the temperature at the most efficient levels (According to Deep Green Living: "for every degree you raise or lower the temperature for 8 hours, you'll save one percent on your heating or cooling bill.")
-- Replaced the wood-burning logs in my fireplace with logs made of compressed coffee grounds. You get warmth... and a contact caffeine buzz. (Okay, just kidding about the buzz, but the logs really do work.)
-- Started a composting jar in the kitchen. Making this change brought back many memories of my mother, who never liked to let anything go to waste. The uses she could find for a lemon rind!
-- Made the switch from a conventional dry cleaner using the eco-unfriendly perc process to a green dry cleaning service that uses non-toxic alternatives.
The Deep Green team also reminded me and my family of some of the simple changes we can make in our daily habits that can have a big impact, including:
Being more aware of our water use by not leaving the water running when brushing our teeth or rinsing the dishes, taking shorter showers (that's really a tough one for me), and making sure we only run the dishwasher and washing machines when they have full loads.
Making sure to keep our cars' tires inflated to the right pressure (improves gas mileage by 3 percent) and that the air filters are clean (replacing a clogged air filter can improve mileage by as much as 10 percent).
And something really, really obvious -- turning off the lights when we leave the room -- which I now do much more frequently because I finally understand how significant the cumulative energy savings can be.
Most of these changes were easy to make, and have been easy to maintain (although we still sometimes forget to turn off the power strips!). Positive steps don't have to be painful.
Of course, there is a lot more that can be done to make my house -- and my lifestyle --even greener. But as I said before, going green is a process. And every little bit helps.
Here are Sloan's video reports on Deep Green Living's eco-audit of my house:
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We recommend picking one or two items or habits to change per month, since habits take between 30 to 40 days to become ingrained. It's also good to have a longer-term strategy in terms of your green lifestyle - ie how 'green' would you and your family would like to become in what period of time. This helps to keep you on track and make sure that daily distractions don't take you off course.
Why are energy star rated asphalt shingles 40% MORE expensive than non energy star rated shinges when the only difference is lighter colored gravel. Once again the consumer is being shafted why...because they can. I expect eda bit of an increase, but not 40%. The tax credit barely touches the $4,000 price difference.
It's less expensive and probably more efficient for me to put on a non energy star rated roof and then blow in energy star rated insulation. A savings of about $3,600.
Gouging on "green" materials should be illegal.
Less green talk and more Nafta Gatt and China Imports protests and poison import protests.
NO To The Paulson-Bernanke Derivatives Bailout
By Webster G. Tarpley. 9-23-8 ... These derivatives now amount to a total worldwide notional value that can be ... DERIVATIVES ARE FINANCIAL AIDS ...www.rense.com/general83/deriv.htm
Thirty years ago my mother-in-law also had a compost bucket in her kitchen. She was way ahead of her time. She lived on a farm so I guess that was were she learned about composting. My mother-in-law never threw anything away, she always used it for something.
A timer can be used on your water heater to save electricity. No use heating the water while you sleep.
I also have a clothes line. I basically let my husbands jeans and towels dry by the sun but when I wash/dry our good clothes; I dry the jeans and towels about 10 minutes to make them soft.
The sky is falling, the sky is falling. I bet that compost bucket really smells good after a few days. Just like you when your saving water and gas from not bathing everyday, RIGHT??? Just like a good lib. spout the group mantra but don't follow your own parties words. Why?? Nobody is watching what your doing in the privacy of your own home. OH WAIT, Obama is here to the rescue government is in my life!!!!!!
While I prefer to offer a weekly post in response to one of yours', I simply find the last few days of "media wars" too juicy to pass up. From the right we have the likes of O'Reilly, who simply "doth protest too much", his schtick is journalism along with Rush and his ilk who "hope the President fails", while from the left we have Mr's Olberman who simply won't let go of the past(see Bushed) and Stewart who has made the greatest accomplishment of all...he has gotten under O'Reilly's skin!
Which brings me to today's Second Glance, wouldn't it be a beautiful thing to bring back the "Fairness Doctrine" so all would have to appear on the same show! :) :)
Have a geat weekend,
Vince
Great claims are made for florescent lights. Depending on where you live the benefit could be marginal if not detrimental to the environment for part of the year. The inefficiency of the regular light bulb once installed manifest itself in excess heat which in Portland OR is not a waste for at least nine months of the year because you need to heat your house anyway. Yes there are better ways to heat your house but the energy savings is not nearly as great as claimed and when you factor in the mercury with its disposal issues in might be a negative.
I lived in Texas most of my life, even there it makes sense for only 6-7 months of the year.
I am curious as to what the energy savings are for the manufacturing and transportation cost of using one bulb that has mercury vs. ten that do not.
I was told if you go into a room at night and see a tiny blue, green, red whatever light...that unit is pulling kilowatts. Also counter top appliances use minute amounts of electricity if left plugged in .Plug the offenders into the power strip and shut it off when not in use. or just unpug.Of course you can't do that with major appliances etc. Unplug phone chargers etc when not in use is another tip.
Seven ceiling fans and flourescents (they look just like spots) in all my recessed lighting and all lamps keep the house cool during our hot Texas summers.
My electric bills are 1/3 less in my new 3200 sqf home built in 2007 than they were in my old 1800 sqf home built in 1985 that was upgraded major appliance and AC/Heat wise in 2001.
Amazes me and pleases my wallet greatly!
While the city I previously lived in had recycling pickup I now live in the county and must do that all myself, sorting and taking to the appropriate place. Now that I have a septic tank composting is a natural.
It does take time and energy and hopefully more will become committed in the meantime those of us who do take some type action are still helping.
In California, you can have your home rated for energy efficiency through a nonprofit company called the California Home Energy Efficienty Rating Services (CHEERS): http://www.cheers.org/.
For other states, check out the Residential Home Energy Services Network (RESNET): http://www.natresnet.org/.
Also, your local Edison Company has a Rebates & Savings section.http://www.edison.com/.
Environmental Communication
Great article, Arianna
Great post(s), Everyone
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