Blogs

6 stupidly simple steps to save billions of gallons of gas

Hank Green — Wed, 07 May 2008 00:58:05 PDT

OK, gas prices are getting out of hand, and carbon emissions have been out of hand for a long time. So let's kill two birds with, well, five stones.

We generally focus on high technology here at EcoGeek, and how we can save energy with smart designs. But sometimes, there are simpler ways.

An absolutely tremendous amount of gasoline could be saved in America with some very simple measures. Such as:

1. Lose some weight = 900 million gallons of gas
Americans weigh about 24 more pounds per person than we did in the 1970s. That weight, when we're driving, has to be moved around with our cars. Multiplied over the three trillion miles driven in America each year, suddenly we need a lot of gas to move around our extra chub. If we could (preferably through walking and biking) lose those 24 lbs. and reach 1970s sizes, America would used nearly one billion gallons of gas less than we currently do.

2. Intelligent traffic lights = 1,000 million gallons of gas
Studies have shown that altering traffic lights to ensure maximum flow can reduce gasoline consumption in cities by between 10% and 20%. Already, lots of places have traffic light systems that use sensors to detect when and how often to change lights.

But a great deal of traffic infrastructure is still extremely primitive, and most of it is programmed by hand. Researchers have begun to attempt to create traffic lights that can make decisions for themselves. Stoplights might soon communicate with other nearby lights about when they plan on changing, how much traffic they've seen, and what's working for them recently to keep traffic flowing. They will even be able to remember what worked in the past, and use those same techniques in the future.

3. More expensive gas = 450 million gallons of gas (so far)
OK, this isn't necessarily the best solution to our problems, especially since most people who really need to drive can't afford to pay much more for gas. But 2007 showed the first decrease in the number of miles traveled since the gas crisis of the '70s. As gas prices sored to upward of $3 per gallon, people actually drove less. The amount driven dropped by about 10 billion miles. At an average fleet efficiency of 22 mpg, that's 450 million gallons of gas saved.

4. Drive a little slower = 600 million gallons of gas (just for semi trucks)
Recently, with diesel prices topping $4, Con-Way Freight, owner of one of the largest truck fleets in America, decided that it would decrease the maximum speed its drivers could drive from 65 mph to 62 mph. This will save the company 3.2 million gallons of fuel per year. And that's just ONE trucking company going 3 mph slower! If this were expanded to all 1.5 million semis on American roads, it would save 617 million gallons of fuel!

If it the national speed limit were lowered to 65 mph, the savings would be extreme. Already, the U.S. trucking industry is calling for a decrease in the national speed limit, first because the difference in speed between trucks and cars creates possible safety issues. And because it would ultimately decrease the price of fuel.

5. More people per car = 1,500 million gallons of gas
If every car in America that transported one person instead transported two people, we'd save about 8 billion gallons of gas per year. But we'll aim lower. If just 20% of these solo-driver trips became two-passenger carpools, we'd use 1.5 billion fewer gallons of gas per year.

6. Increase mileage to 35 mpg = 55,000 million gallons of gas by 2015
This needs to be said. The current average fuel economy of an American car is 22 mpg. It would be lower if there were no law in place requiring that efficiency. The auto industry has been fighting any increase for decades. We finally have a law on the books that will increase the average to 35 mpg by 2020.

But if we, in America, had 35-mpg cars today, like they currently do in Europe, we would use 55 BILLION less gallons of gas. Looking back through the rest of the list, this trivializes the rest of the options.

Each of these measures would, without a doubt, help us deal with the supply shortages and environmental implications of our massive oil addiction.

Simple tips to green your kitchen

Virginia Lacy — Fri, 02 May 2008 21:54:48 PDT

We often receive questions about how people can reduce their home energy and water use â and the bills associated with them.

We are strong advocates for saving energy and water by simply using them more efficiently. People shouldn't have to make large sacrifices to conserve, accomplishing less with less. In fact, we often help our clients achieve more with less.

While there's a lot to be said for installing efficient lighting, changing out old appliances for Energy Star models, replacing drafty windows, or re-fitting your sinks with low-flow fixtures (which will pay for themselves over time), what about when you don't have any money to invest?

Fortunately, you can still cut your energy and water consumption by spending nothing at all. That's because a lot of your energy and water use depends on how you use what you already have in your house. Using your current appliances more efficiently, in other words, can lower your consumption and your utility bills.Â

If you're looking to save energy, water, and money this spring, a good place to start is your kitchen. By some estimates, kitchen appliances account for 26 percent of an average household's electricity use. And dishwashing is one of the more water-intensive activities in your home.Â Â

Here's a list of easy habits you can adopt to use your kitchen appliances more efficiently:Â

Oven

Don't open the oven door to check on a dish â use the oven light instead (20 percent of the heat can be lost each time you open the oven door).
Keep preheating to a minimum.
Turn the oven off before cooking is complete (depending on the dish, up to 15 minutes). The heat in the oven will continue to cook the dish until finished.
If you need to self-clean the oven, plan to do it after cooking a meal while the oven is already hot, requiring less energy to raise the temperature to a higher level.

Stovetop

Match the pan size to the element size.
Use the least amount of water and the smallest size pan possible. Otherwise you're wasting energy to heat up excess metal or excess water.

Refrigerator

Let hot foods cool to room temperature before putting them in the fridge. Otherwise the fridge works even harder to bring the temperature down.
Keep the freezer full. The more air you displace with food and beverages, the less cold air you lose when you open the freezer door.

Dishwasher

Run the dishwasher when full; it requires the same amount of energy for a full load as it does for a half load.
Use the "no heat" drying option.
Don't wash dishes twice. Although it depends upon the age of your dishwasher, most dishwashers can get your dishes clean without rinsing them first by hand.

Other appliances

Plug countertop appliances into a power strip that can be turned off after use, saving the energy that would be used by the appliances when in "standby mode." (Depending upon how often you use your microwave, the microwave's digital clock could use more energy than the microwave oven itself.)
You can also simply unplug appliances when you're done using them.

Virginia Lacy is a Consultant with the Energy & Resources Team at Rocky Mountain Institute.

Dishpan hands go green

Trystan L. Bass — Thu, 01 May 2008 14:33:18 PDT

You've cooked up a tasty meal of fresh, local ingredients. Maybe you even relaxed with a glass of organic wine. Now it's time to clean up after dinner.

What if your charmingly retro house or tiny apartment doesn't include an automatic dishwasher? Can hand-washing the dirty pots and pans still be earth-friendly? Sure, but it takes a little elbow grease.

An oft-quoted study from the University of Bonn, Germany, found that people who hand-washed dishes used 27 gallons of water and 2.5 kWh of water-heating energy on average to clean 12 place settings.

This was dramatically less efficient than the dishwashing machines tested -- they used about 4 gallons of water and 1 to 2 kWh of energy.

But if you just can't afford an Energy-Star machine right now (or, like me, your 1940s kitchen is too narrow for one to fit into!), you can still learn to wash dishes better.

First, install an aerator on your faucet. These inexpensive little devices turn a wasteful sink into a low-flow water saver, and you won't really notice any lack of drippage. Put one in the bathroom sink too, while you're at it. It'll cost you maybe $3 per faucet.

Next, scrape your dishes after eating, instead of rinsing. You shouldn't need to soak them unless food has burned on. And try not to let food sit and dry on dishes, if possible.

When it's time to wash a load, do it efficiently by using dishpans or getting a plug for your sink. If you wash dishes with the faucet running, you might as well pour money down the drain. Your water bill goes up, valuable resources are lost, both you and the planet suffer. Who wants that?

Wash the dishes in a pan of hot water and rinse in a pan of cool water. Or if you have a double sink, use plugs and fill up the sinks.

One eco-bonus that hand-washing has over the machine is that many of the detergents for automatic dishwashers still contain phosphates. Dishwasher detergents are one of the last types of cleaning products in the U.S. still allowed to include this harmful agent. Liquid detergents used for hand-washing dishes are usually phosphate-free, so they don't gunk up our waterways.

How low can you go?

Sam Silverstein — Thu, 01 May 2008 10:26:57 PDT

How far will I go to save energy? I recently read the owner's manual for our dishwasher, that's how far.

Locating the manual was easy: Filing our collection gets done regularly. Actually reading one, however, generally means there's a crisis afoot.Â

And there is. An environmental crisis. Were there energy savings to be found in how we wash our dishes? And if so, what are the tradeoffs?Â

I turned to the manual in search of answers. I'll share what I learned by reading it â and by testing the results â so that you don't have to.Â

Our machine, an Asko ASEA 1502, is made in Sweden, and some critical passages in the manual were lost in translation. The manufacturer relies heavily on symbols to tell the story.Â

With some squinting, I eventually figured out there are three dials I can turn â or I should say buttons I can push â to save energy.Â

The first determines the duration of the wash cycle. A second controls water temperature, which can range from 150 to 110 degrees. The third turns a heating coil at the bottom of the machine on or off, for extra oomph steaming away water during the dry cycle.Â

The most energy-efficient scenario is the shortest wash cycle using the coolest temperature without the heated dry. We were doing the opposite. All three settings on our machine were maxed out, and had been for years.Â

A week-long experiment was conducted, with lots of settings tested - by which I mean, I futzed with the buttons and then eyeballed the results. Did the dishes suffer?Â

Yes, a little. They were clean as always. But cooler water evaporates less completely - and with the coil turned off tiny puddles appeared here and there among the otherwise gleaming glasses and plates. Opening the machine and letting the contents air dry helped.Â

So did giving them a quick twist with a towel prior to stowage. I figure, it's the least I can do to help. And there's no going back. The manual was crystal clear in one regard: "For greatest energy savings do not use heat during drying."Â

A couple extra tidbits from the week, in the name of every little bit counts:Â

Dishwashers do themselves need to be cleaned - at least ours does. Scraping clean a series of filters ahead of the drain made a significant difference in how the dishes turned out -more significant than water temperature.

Loading the machine with care also made a difference. Pointing the silverware up in the basket instead of down mattered most. (Sharp knives should point down, for safety.)

Turn off the machine altogether between use instead of leaving in standby mode. Though the energy saved is "negligible" according to the manual, it's a good habit to be in with all appliances, for minimizing the effect of so-called "energy vampires."

We'd been using too much detergent, filling the receptacle each time. The manual recommends this only for "hard" water with high mineral counts. It took two minutes on our local water district web site to learn our water was relatively "soft," requiring just one tablespoon of detergent.

In addition to energy, a fringe benefit was the amount of *time* saved. Running the machine on the most energy-efficient settings took 70 minutes instead of more than two hours â creating plenty of time to read up on my refrigerator.

Sam Silverstein is the editor of Yahoo! Green.

Low-carbon seafood stew

Courtesy of chef Preeti Mistry — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 22:34:57 PDT

This eco-friendly recipe comes to us from Preeti Mistry, Chef at San Francisco's de Young Museum for Bon AppÃ©tit Management Company.

Editor's note: The recipe includes chardonnay wine for flavor. Depending on your location in the U.S., domestic wine isn't always the best choice. Several experts suggest that for people living west of the Mississippi River, wines from California, Oregon, and Washington State are the more eco-friendly choice. For those living in the east, wines from the eastern U.S. and from Italy, Spain, and France are more carbon-conscious.

Ingredients:
Â½ cup extra virgin olive oil
1 lb. local fish bones
2 medium size onions, diced
1 jumbo carrot, diced
2 bulbs fennel, diced
Â¼ cup chopped garlic
1 bunch thyme, picked & chopped
1 bunch oregano, picked & chopped
2 Meyer lemons, thinly sliced
2 cups chardonnay wine
2 fresh bay leaves
2 liters tap water

1 lb. fingerling potatoes, cut into bite-size pieces

Â½ cup extra virgin olive oil
4 medium sized shallots, finely diced
2 tbsp. salt
1 bunch flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped
6 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1 lb. local mussels, cleaned
1 lb. local clams, cleaned

Bring olive oil to a medium heat in a large sauce pan. Add fish bones, onions, carrots, and fennel sautÃ© 10 minutes. Add garlic, thyme, oregano, and lemon slices, and continue cooking until bones and vegetables begin to brown. Turn heat to high and add wine. Scrape pot to release flavor, and let simmer until alcohol has burned off. Add water and bay leaves, bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, bring potatoes to boil and simmer until cooked through.

Let broth cool and then puree in batches in blender. Strain broth and set aside.

Heat second portion of olive oil in large sauce pan. Add shallots and garlic and simmer on medium heat for 2 minutes. Add mussels, clams, cooked potatoes, and fish broth, and bring to a boil, cover, and reduce heat to medium. Simmer 8 minutes or until shells open, then add parsley and garlic.

Yield: 4 entrÃ©e servings

Chef Preeti's Thoughts

I chose the seafood stew because I have always been a fan of using every part of the protein â in this case, flavorful bones from local fish. They are instrumental in creating a savory base for the broth, which is complemented nicely by the more subtle flavors of local herbs and spring vegetables.

Paired with the fragrant and floral tones of a chardonnay and the natural tartness of Meyer lemons, the result is a hearty, aromatic stew with rich and complex layers of flavor that is light enough to enjoy in the spring, when tomatoes â the more typical base for a seafood stew â are out of season.

Cracking the produce codes

Jay Weinstein, Forecast Earth Food Correspondent — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 09:44:51 PDT

Have you ever looked at two bins of apples, one labeled "organic," and the other "conventional," and wondered if the apples might not be the same? I have. And since discovering a little secret of the produce industry, I've found that you really have to be a detective in the aisles these days.

The secret is the price look-up (PLU) codes. They're an international numbering standard that identifies each type of produce, so that computerized cash registers can ring up the cost of fruits and vegetables automatically. They're also a powerhouse of information for savvy shoppers. The code indicates whether the item is a conventional, organic or genetically modified (GM) crop.

The codes are based on four-digit numbers for conventional produce, to which an extra digit is added to indicate organic or GM status. If the number is five digits beginning with a 9, then the item is organic. If the item is five digits beginning in 8, then it is a genetically modified crop.

For example, the PLU code for bananas is 4011. If the PLU sticker on the banana bunch reads 94011, then they are organic bananas. If the PLU sticker reads 84011, then the bananas are a genetically modified variety.

There are PLU code stickers on virtually every piece of fruit, banded around every head of lettuce or bunch of spinach, and stamped onto the bag of every bag of organic salad greens. But that doesn't prevent certain confused grocers from mislabeling them. I've discovered conventional Fuji apples (4129) in the "organic Fuji apples" (94129) bin many times. It's strange that I've never found organic apples in the conventional bin.

In any case, knowing the codes will ensure that you get what you intended to get every time you shop.

Jay Weinstein's blog posts are provided by LifeWire, a part of The New York Times Company.

Eco-mythbusting

Trystan L. Bass — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 15:28:24 PDT

Think CFLs aren't worth it because of all that mercury? What about the idea that recycling costs more than chucking junk in a landfill? Hear the one about wine corks being endangered?

These and other myths keep many folks from going green and helping the environment. But a little bit of fact-checking shows that you can clean up the planet in lots of small, easy ways. And you may save some money too.

Compact fluorescent lightbulbs (CFLs) save energy and money, that's a fact. But the incredibly tiny amount of mercury they contain has scared off some people.

I can't remember the last time I broke an incandescent bulb (maybe when I was a teenager?), and I've never cracked any of the CFLs in my house and garage. If it did happen though, I'd head to the Environmental Protection Agency handy guidelines for cleanup and disposal. No big deal!

Recycling is another no-brainer that occasionally gets harassed. Sure, you might have to sort bottles from cans in the bins, but that's better than creating a mountain of garbage. The benefits of recycling are huge -- less trash in the landfills, energy saved from not using virgin resources, and more jobs are created.

The City of Fort Collins' recycling program notes that recycling aluminum saves 95% of the energy that it would take to mine new aluminum. The Curbside Value Partnership (PDF) estimates that recycling 10,000 tons of waste creates 36 jobs -- but dumping that same waste into a landfill only creates six jobs.

Biodiesel has been the source of many eco-myths lately. I pointed to recent studies that decried biofuels, while also mentioning that different types have different impacts. Clayton B. Cornell goes into more depth on biodiesel and separates it from ethanol. Useful info if you want the real deal, not just the hype.

Have you heard that making little changes won't help the environment? What one person does can't possibly matter? Not so. In a detailed article on Bankrate.com, a spokesperson for the Natural Resources Defense Council reminds us that if everyone in the U.S. bought just one package of 100% recycled paper napkins instead non-recycled ones, we'd save 1 million trees.

And if you do want to go green on a larger scale, it's not that hard either. Building an eco-friendly house doesn't have to be expensive or horribly complicated, according to the home gurus at HGTV.com. Start with a tight building envelope, use low-flow toilets (which are mandatory anyway), and choose from the thousands of mainstream products that will make your new home or remodel sit more lightly on the earth.

For the garden out back, don't fall for those myths about composting either. The process doesn't have to be a lot of smelly work, and you can even compost in an urban setting. You'll keep useful organic matter out of the trash and improve your soil.

The myths just keep piling up! From computer sleep mode (which could waste 20% of your energy bill) to driving with the windows down (same as the AC), we get suckered in. Some folks even question whether local food really is better for the planet.

And what about that cork myth? Yep, there's a rumor that good old-fashioned wine bottles with natural corks are bad because the cork trees are endangered. Not so. Green Living Online says that the trees aren't chopped down to make wine corks -- the bark is merely stripped. The trees aren't damaged at all, and this has been going on since time immemorial.

So drink up -- you can enjoy life while saving the world.

Better gas mileage for all

Jeff Ronning — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 18:34:02 PST

Jeff Ronning is a senior consultant at the Rocky Mountain Institute.Â

With near-historic prices at the pump, a lot of us probably wish our cars could get better gas mileage. What few people realize, however, is that just changing our driving technique can help us squeeze a few extra miles out of every tank.Â

One hurdle to learning how to drive more efficiently has been that our cars don't give us feedback on how our specific driving methods affect fuel economy.Â

But times are changing. Many newer models are equipped with fuel-economy computers that give critical information that can help us do a better job. Chevrolet, Toyota, Nissan, and others are planning to add fuel-economy features to all new models in the next few years. If your car doesn't have one, there's at least one add-on device that offers the same information and more, LinearLogic's ScanGauge II. (Similar devices that cater to drag racers give many other data but leave fuel economy off the list.)Â

Here's the lowdown on what these devices will tell you.Â

Built-in devices
The built-in computers on many new vehicles normally include a button that lets you scroll through trip miles, average speed, average mpg, and instant mpg.Â

Instant mpg
You'll notice the instant mpg is mercurial, zipping up to 99 mpg at some times and down below 10 mpg at others. This figure gives you direct feedback to inform your driving. The value can be quite high when you're coasting and low during both low-speed driving and acceleration.Â

Unfortunately, we can't coast everywhere, and driving uphill is especially troublesome. However, by observing the magnitude of the benefit of coasting, you can begin to appreciate it more and find ways to integrate more coasting into your driving. For instance, you might find more opportunities to coast into traffic signals rather than traveling full speed and slamming on the brake at the last minute.Â

Average mpg
The average mpg is much more stable than the instant number. It tracks the average fuel economy since the last time the device was set.Â

Typically, you can reset these devices as often as you like. You can observe your car's average mpg over a period of time to spot rising or falling trends. Doing so can help you figure out if your most recent driving activity is improving fuel economy.Â

Once you're confident with fuel-saving techniques-like more coasting, not using excessive braking, and avoiding high-revving the engine-you may want to switch from instant to average mpg display. It's easier to read and can feel almost like a video game, where your goal is to keep pushing the number higher.Â

Aftermarket devices
Like other feedback units, the ScanGauge II can also display a lot of other data, including fuel-burn rate in gallons per hour.

This stat can be useful in observing engine efficiency. For example, a cold engine generally idles faster and draws more fuel. Unfortunately, there is not much you can do to combat this condition except to drive your car and let it warm up.

Another nice feature of these devices is that they can scan a car's databank for trouble codes-the numbers mechanics use to diagnose problems with your car. This information can alert you to mechanical issues. It can also potentially save you some money, if you're inclined to do a little home auto repair.

Real-world results
Improving your fuel economy can be as easy as paying attention to how you drive and closing the "feedback loop."

I have been able to get about a 15 percent improvement, averaging 45 mpg in the summertime in a car that normally averages 39 mpg. I also use a driving technique called "Pulse-and-Glide" that works best in combination with feedback.

So check out these devices, or maybe you've got one on your new car. But don't forget to watch the road!

Vegan cupcakes take over the world

Trystan L. Bass — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 16:13:59 PST

Want to try something new with your Valentine? Try baking up some sweet treats that avoid animal products. Raising dairy cattle uses a ton of resources, so when we cut back on consumption, we can reduce our carbon footprint as much as if we drove a hybrid car.

Baking without dairy, eggs, or butter may seem like a contradiction in terms. But you'll find tons of cookbooks and websites to help. The Post-Punk Kitchen has a handy vegan baking 101 tip sheet to start you off.

Eggs can be replaced with silken tofu, soy yogurt, finely ground flax seeds, even a banana. Milk is easily swapped with soy, rice, or almond milk. And of course you can use margarine instead of butter, or use vegetable oil in a reduced amount.

One of the most popular desserts around is probably the cupcake. It's so trendy that specialized cupcake-only bakeries have opened up around the U.S., and brides are ordering cupcakes instead of wedding cakes. The book Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World has taken this fad and made it eco-friendly and so have many green bloggers.

Want some inspiration before you hit the kitchen? Check out the luscious-looking vegan cupcakes photo pool on Flickr or the vegan baking pool. Now that your mouth is watering, let's get cooking.

The Bittersweet Blog has yummy recipes such as classic chocolate cupcakes and root beer float cupcakes. The only unusual ingredient in these is soy milk, which most major grocery stores carry. For people with Celiac disease, there's even a wheat-free version of the root beer float cupcakes.

Chocoholics will be tempted by the name of this recipe: too much chocolate for you, cupcake. These rich treats from the Have Cake, Will Travel blog use Dutch-process cocoa, plus chocolate chips. The same site has a more subtle recipe for low-fat rosewater cupcakes.

The Vegan Feast Kitchen whips up a almost-no-fat chocolate cupcake (earth-friendly and waistline-friendly!). And the Vivacious Vegan combines two great tastes into a banana peanut butter cupcake.

And if you're all cupcaked-out, how about some other Valentine's Day sweets? Start with heart-shaped strawberry muffins for your love.

Then try these surprisingly easy dark chocolate truffles. Even simpler are puff pastry chocolate 'ravioli' -- so elegant and charming, you shouldn't save them for just February.

If you're really ambitious, give authentic (and still vegan) petit fours a shot. Your loved one will be truly impressed.

Picture a greener print

Trystan L. Bass — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 16:11:31 PST

The holidays are over, and the decorations are packed away. All that's left are the memories ... and the photos. In fact, if you're like most of us, you probably have a year's worth of digital photos on your computer with oh-so-helpful names like PICT0027.jpg and IMG_3108.jpg.

The dark days of winter are a good time to stay inside and organize those photos into albums so you can share them with family and friends. And you can do it in fun, creative, earth-friendly fashion too.

Keeping digital pictures digital is green because you use almost no additional resources. Plus, many online photo albums are free of charge, depending on how many files you upload. Most sites have privacy options so you can choose who sees your photos. Some also provide printing for a fee.

Yahoo! offers Flickr, and you can find various other services out there too.

But even though we love the Internet here, at some point, you really want to put a photo in a frame on your desk. Or you want to carry a picture in your wallet, or maybe you're a scrapbooker. Here are some low-impact tips for printing photos.

First, look for recycled-content paper. The Green Guide has an excellent discussion on what to look for in sustainable papers, because the labels can be a little misleading.

One brand to try is GreenPix. This paper claims to be the only 100% post-consumer recycled content photo inkjet paper. It's also process chlorine free (less nasty chemicals in the making), and the paper is archival quality so your photos will last a good, long time.

Now, you may be used to buying packs of photo paper to print photos. In my experience, you don't always need that heavy, glossy stuff for pictures. It depends on what you're using the photo for.

In scrapbooks and other craft projects, glossy photo paper can be difficult to work with, and I prefer a matte, mid-weight paper. If you're putting the photo in a frame, the glossy paper will often look best.

Before you print, make sure to measure your picture frames, craft projects, wallet sleeve, etc., so you're printing the right size and don't have to cut away paper later.

Also, make sure to get the most out of each sheet of paper. In whatever software you're using, try to fit as many photos as possible on each page. All you need is a very slim margin of white space (if any) around each photo's edge. Set the page margins to the smallest possible for your printer too.

If you're not already using recycled cartridges in your ink-jet printer, check out our previous post about the benefits to the planet and your wallet.

Moo has some nifty option for printing photos as well. You can buy mini-cards (like business cards), greeting cards, note cards, postcards, and sticker books, all made from digital photos you upload. If you have pictures on Flickr, you can transfer them easily. While it doesn't give specifics, Moo does say it uses paper from sustainable forests.

Make your PC a TV

Hank Green — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 12:58:11 PST

Three years ago I pawned my last television. But there was no way to cure my addiction to "Battlestar Galactica" and "The Daily Show." So I decided to fuse my computer with my television.

Why not? I have a nice big monitor, it's wide-screen and high-res with a great contrast ratio. And then there's the environmental angle: only one perpetually-on piece of equipment instead of four (computer, television, DVR, DVD player). And you need fewer comfortable chairs.

Three years ago, it was somewhat complicated to turn my PC into a TV, but not anymore. Now, it's actually easier and cheaper to make your PC a TV than to have both in your house.

Here are a few ways, with varying degrees of complexity.

Unsubscribe from all cable services and simply download your favorite shows. That'll save you 15 minutes per show in commercial time, and it requires absolutely no installation of anything. Of course we suggest you do this legally at iTunes. You'll still save money over cable or satellite.
Make your monitor a TV without a computer interface. Monitor manufacturers offer a variety of inputs for nice monitors now. Some have HDMI, RCA and S-Video built in! Just hit a button on the front of the monitor, and you're watching TV.
Keep your services going and get a TV tuner. Hauppage just started selling a cable to USB converter for $99. Just plug it in and install the software and not only is your PC a TV, it's also a digital video recorder and DVD maker.
Keep your services and install a real-live capture card. Depending on whether you want RCA, cable, HDMI, or all of the above, just get yourself a capture card with the appropriate inputs, and with a simple PCI installation, you're up and running. Here's a great service for finding the right capture card for you.

The world doesn't need more equipment. As long as we've all got personal computers sitting around our houses, why should we have a complicated mass of wires and vampire power when our trusty boxes can take care of it all for us?

Image from KevinSteele on Flickr

When to turn off your engine

Mel Peffers — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 07:18:10 PST

This post is by Mel Peffers, Air Quality Project Manager at Environmental Defense.

In the winter, many people idle their car engine after starting it up because they think it needs time to warm up. Not true! Today's fuel-injected engines don't need a warm-up period, and idling for long periods can lead to excessive engine wear.

Worse, cars idling for more than 10 seconds use more gas and create more global warming pollution than simply restarting the engine. Surprised? It's true - the 10-second rule has been proven empirically.

The 10-second rule was originally published on the Canadian Office of Energy Efficiency's Idle-Free Zone webpage. Their results were replicated by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, which found that restarting uses the same amount of fuel as idling with the air conditioner on for 6 seconds.

Diesel engines can use more fuel idling than moving a vehicle - as much as four times more (see this study on school buses in Los Angeles, and also this EPA study with similar findings). Besides contributing to global warming, diesel engine emissions can cause a host of health problems: asthma attacks, impaired lung function, heart problems, and even death.

Idling is a significant problem in large cities like New York and Los Angeles, where people are often stuck in traffic. A car in gridlock emits up to three times the pollution as one in free-flowing driving conditions.

Environmental Defense is working with the City of New York on reducing traffic congestion. We're also working with Mayor Bloomberg on tougher enforcement of the existing idling law, which has been in effect for five years. Plus, we're working on a no-idling policy for school buses in Texas, and on Truck Stop Electrification (TSE) expansion, so truckers won't need to idle overnight while sleeping. And our GreenFleet initiative helps fleet owners reduce emissions.

Avoiding pollution and engine wear aren't the only benefits of not idling. You also can save gas and money. Here are a couple of studies that demonstrate this:

Edmunds.com: "... you can drastically improve your gas mileage."

Homemade Hybrid: "I kicked the idling habit and saved a gallon of gas per tank ..."

With this cost-of-idling worksheet from Argonne National Laboratories, you can calculate the savings for your own vehicle. For more tips on clean driving, visit Car Talk's Driving Tips for Tree-Huggers.

Not idling is good for the environment, good for your wallet, good for engines, and good for health. Everyone wins by simply turning off an idling engine.

Last-minute basket case

Trystan L. Bass — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 18:25:08 PST

With only a week's worth of shopping left until Christmas, you may be hunting for a few more gifts for somebody special. How about avoiding the malls and assembling a personalized gift that's planet-friendly too?

Care2 has an excellent list of 10 gourmet gift baskets you can make yourself. All you need is a basket (look at thrift stores for inexpensive ones; you're keeping stuff out of landfills too). Then go to the grocery store, farmers market, or maybe a specialty food store for the contents.

Add a recipe or two that matches the theme of the basket -- curry for a Taj Mahal basket or pasta sauce for an Under the Tuscan Sun basket. Print it out on pretty recycled paper. Decorate the basket with a raffia bow, and you've got a unique gift that gives the recipient an evening of tasty eats.

Deck the halls greenly

Trystan L. Bass — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 15:31:44 PST

Christmas parties are in full swing and New Year celebrations are soon to follow. You want the house to sparkle for your family and guests.

Can you evoke a Norman Rockwell holiday while also playing nice with Mother Earth? You bet.

The first stop for eco-friendly winter dÃ©cor might be your front yard (or a local garden supply store). As the University of Arkansas, Division of Agriculture notes, evergreens come in a wide variety of colors. Gather up pine, cedar, spruce, fir, holly, boxwood, nandina, aucuba, and magnolia leaves and boughs. These make beautiful wreaths, swags, and centerpieces for use inside the house as well as outside.

Fruits and vegetables are lovely, old-fashioned decorations on tables and trees. Care2 has instructions for easy, inexpensive candleholders made of oranges studded with cloves. These will look pretty and smell very Christmasy.

The same page also has tips for stringing cranberry garlands and making pinecone placecard holders for the holiday table.

The Telegraph UK has more ideas for decorating from the garden. British designers and crafters spray-paint seed pods silver and string them up, plus they use artichokes as candleholders.

Plants have a long and important history as holiday dÃ©cor. From the Christmas tree to mistletoe, many greens have symbolic meaning, even if the exact origins are debated. Still, it's hard to argue that real plants are the most traditional.

Some folks say that artificial plants are more convenient, but for such a short time indoors, we don't have to work that hard to keep the evergreens looking good.

Lime Radio has a handy segment all about prolonging the life of cut evergreens. For your tree, simply put a few drops of bleach in the water to kill bacteria and prevent slime. For garlands and other greenery, you can soak them with anti-desiccant before you hang them or mist them lightly afterwards.

Want some visual inspiration? Read about the revival of Christmas decorations at Colonial Williamsburg. See photos and video of how the holiday might have looked in18th-century America.

Our forefathers and foremothers only had natural decorations -- no plastics imported from China -- and their celebrations looked beautiful!

Breathing life into your old gadgets

Hank Green — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 14:27:59 PST

I love LifeHacker. Today the blog has an excellent guide to breaking the status quo and making Christmas the time of year when, instead of replacing your old toys, you revive them!

Turn your XBox into a media player, beef up the firmware on your router, revive your old PC with Linux, or upgrade your current PC with simple instructions for RAM, hard drives, or even a new motherboard and CPU.

Suddenly what looks like an old Dell, an aged iPod, or a broken-down laptop becomes useful, powerful, and Christmas-worthy!

Homemade for the holidays

Michelle Heimburger — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 14:17:27 PST

Stores overflow with shoppers in a mad rush for holiday bargains. But gift-giving doesn't have to include stressful mall trips and painful pocketbook blows. Gifts don't have to be cheap imported toys, useless knickknacks, or disposable electronics. Some friends and family on your list might want to reduce their clutter. And many gifts are environmentally unfriendly, with big carbon footprints from transportation and packaging (plus a short functional life before lingering in landfills).

But for many of us, the holidays are about giving. Showing up to a family celebration without a gift for Grandma -- even if she insists she doesn't need anything -- is unthinkable. So what's a frugal, green, or simplicity-savvy gift-giver to do? DIY! Homemade gifts are a great way to give something useful and personal.

People who don't need any more stuff might appreciate homemade treats like candy, hand-mixed seasonings, canned preserves, or bread mixes. Crafty folks could knit or sew simple hats, scarves, socks, or pillows, or even create handmade jewelry.

Other gifts -- like soap, candles, and hand-stamped stationary -- don't require as much time or craft expertise. Calendars, magnets, or ornaments with personal photos and drawings are easy enough to make with the kids.

This year, show your loved ones that you didn't just hit the department store looking for the biggest, shiniest, or most expensive thing you could find. With a little effort and love, you can create gifts that are functional, personal, and truly memorable.

Suggested sites:

FamilyFun: A Homemade Christmas - tons of kid-friendly gift projects, including easy, last-minute ideas.
Flickr: Holiday Gift Ideas DIY - homemade gift images and tutorials.
DIY Network: Christmas Crafts - instructions for holiday crafts and lots of homemade gifts.
Make-Stuff - tons of crafts, recipes, and DIY projects that make great gifts.
Craftster - the ultimate place to swap craft ideas.

Directory categories: Crafts, Cooking, How-To Guides, Buy Nothing Day, Black Friday Sales

Originally posted on The Spark, a daily blog where Yahoo! Directory editors highlight new and interesting content on the Web.

Bag your Christmas

Trystan L. Bass — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 14:15:58 PST

You've probably heard by now that plastic grocery bags are evil. They're made of oil, they're almost impossible to recycle, and they're clogging our oceans. A few countries like Ireland and cities like San Francisco are taxing or banning the bags entirely. But many shops still hand these bags out willy-nilly.

So a great way for you to show you care about your family, friends, and the planet this holiday seasons is to make a few reusable grocery bags as gifts. Homemade presents are extra-green because you don't have to purchase a lot of manufactured stuff that was shipped across great distances. Plus, you can put a little extra love in the gift.

Give them these special hand-crafted bags, and they'll be more likely to remember to use them. And if they need more to carry the groceries, plenty of places sell reusable shopping bags these days. Even stores like Whole Foods, Trader Joes, Safeway, and Target have bags for just a buck or two.

I'm making this fabric bag as my crafty Christmas gift this year. The pattern even has the same shape as those plastic grocery bags.

I'm also recycling colorful bed sheets for the fabric -- some old ones I had, plus more from a thrift store. Get the kiddie sheets and make Transformers and Garfield bags for your hipster pals! Materials for a half-dozen bags cost me only $6.

For a big, square-bottomed bag, try this pattern. This two-hour tote is intended to be a beach bag, but made in a plainer fabric, it'll hold groceries too. These instructions include tips on how to size a bag up or down.

Morsbags aims to create a 'sociable bag-making movement.' Even if you don't want to join, the site has a handy bag pattern and features an animated tutorial for making a simple tote.

Got some wacky T-shirts lying around? Recycle them into tote bags! This Instructibles lesson will show you how.

And if you're really clever and you want to literally recycle those plastic garbage bags into something useful, you can knit them into a more fashionable bag.

But I'd recommend the fabric ones. They'll make slightly less weird gifts.

Every little bit counts

Sheryl Canter — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 13:00:07 PST

This post is by Sheryl Canter, an Online Writer and Editorial Manager at Environmental Defense.

Have you ever been on a diet, gone to a function with delicious-looking desserts, and told yourself, "One cookie isn't going to make me fat"?

One cookie may not make you fat, but how many "cookie moments" occur during your day, your week? If your answer is always that this one little cookie can't hurt, you will not lose weight.

Conserving energy is sort of like going on a group diet where every person, dozens of times a day, has a "cookie moment."

Does it really matter if I leave on the lights in my home when I go out? Does it really matter if I don't recycle this container? Does it really matter if I keep my chargers plugged in when not in use?

The short answer is yes, it matters. There are myriad things you can do to conserve energy and fight global warming. Each action by itself is small and painless, but taken together the effect can be huge.

Here's a list of easy things you can do that will make a big difference.

Most of the electricity in this country comes from coal-fired plants that emit huge amounts of carbon, so:

Turn off the light when you leave a room, and turn off all the lights when you leave your home.
Change your bulbs to compact fluorescents (now - don't wait for the old bulbs to burn out).
Don't leave chargers plugged in when not in use. They suck up electricity just sitting there.
Buy energy-efficient appliances.
Turn off your computer at night rather than leaving it in stand-by mode.
Many appliances, such as televisions, can't be completely turned off except by unplugging them. Appliances in stand-by mode account for 5 percent of the electricity used in the U.S. To turn them off completely, use a power strip.

Paper comes from trees, which suck up carbon, so:

Buy recycled paper products. Visit our Paper Calculator to learn more about why this helps.
Use only the paper towels and toilet paper that you need.
Only print out emails and articles when you really need to.
Recycle paper -- newspapers, magazines, scratch paper, junk mail, everything you can.
Cancel unwanted catalogs at Catalog Choice.
Bring a reusable shopping bag with you to the store.

Manufacturing products of any kind uses energy and creates emissions, so:

Don't buy things you don't need and won't use.
Borrow from your local library instead of buying books you'll read only once.
Give away or recycle what you no longer want.
Give old eyeglasses to your local eyeglass store -- they can pass them onto people in need.
Bring your old cell phone back to the cell phone store for recycling.
Give away old appliances, computers, clothes, etc.
Earth 911 can help you find recycling resources.

It takes a significant amount of electricity to supply municipal water, so:

Take showers instead of baths, and don't linger in the shower.
Turn off the water while brushing your teeth.
Don't run dish washers and clothes washers half full.
Don't water your lawn unnecessarily.
Fix leaky faucets, and install low-flow faucets and shower heads.
Check out more water conservation tips from the EPA.

Heating and cooling use a lot of electricity, so:

Make sure your house is adequately insulated. If snow melts quickly off your roof, you need more insulation in the attic.
Wrap your water heater in insulation.
Wash clothes in cold water -- they will still be clean, and they'll last longer, too.
Line-dry clothes if you can, instead of using a clothes dryer.
Keep your thermostat down in winter and up in summer -- don't overheat or overcool your home.

Cars are a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, so:

Group your errands so you only drive into town once for all the things you need to buy and do.
Have your car tuned regularly, and check tire pressure. An
untuned engine burns more gas, as do cars with underpressurized tires.
When buying a new car, buy the vehicle with the best mileage that meets your needs.
Walk, bike, or use public transportation instead of driving whenever possible. If you have to drive, carpool where possible.
See our previous post for more tips for cleaner driving.

If you're willing to go to greater lengths, that's wonderful. Many homeowners are finding that lowered costs and state subsidies are making solar panels much more affordable. See "No Impact Man" for how a New Yorker eliminated his carbon footprint altogether.Â

But you don't have to do the hard stuff to make a difference. Every little bit counts.

You can find more tips and ideas on our Fight Global Warming Web site.

Keep your computer alive

Hank Green — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 22:52:55 PDT

Geeks have a leg up on normal enviros. While many greens are irrationally afraid of the contents of their computer, EcoGeeks can do things to keep their computers alive.

Extending the life of your PC is an important part of being an EcoGeek because, according to life cycle analysis, computers actually consume more energy while they're being created than the do over their lifetimes.

In this article from Pramnos, you can check out a ton of ways to keep your computer chugging along as a functional beast long after Michael Dell would have you believe it's 100% obsolete. The trick, really, is using open source operating systems, generally Linux, that are designed to work on older machines.

Turn it into a thin client, a media storage center, or a basic workstation...all terribly easy with this guide.

Turn your old laptop into money

Hank Green — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 23:54:11 PDT

Hey look, it's me! I figured this might be a useful little guide, and as I was recycling my old laptop anyway, I thought I might show how easy it is to sell the bits and pieces. I have indeed sold everything off, and got about $200 bucks total,Â not bad considering the laptop is six years old and I only paid around $1,000 for it in the first place.

The gist of the video, if you don't want to watch it, is that you can and should recycle your old machines when they've reached the end of their useful life. But you should also scavenge any working parts and sell them (or use them) before giving all those valuables to Dell.

I sold the RAM and the screen and put the hard drive in an external enclosure and I use it to carry media around the house. It doesn't need anything more than the USB cord to power it, so it's far more convenient (though smaller) than most externals...totally sweet. I got the enclosure on eBay for around $10.

Sorry if I'm not overly charismatic...I am, after all, still just a geek in my basement.

FixYa.com: keep your gadgets alive

Hank Green — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 02:28:00 PDT

FixYa.com is an interesting new site with a decidedly EcoGeeky mission: to help people extend the life of their gadgets. FixYa is full of clever gadget hounds and tinkerers who just want to help and show off their smarts. Just post a description of the problem you're having with your digital camera / washing machine / power drill, and FixYa's community goes after it.

Of course, there's no guarantee that you'll get the help you need, nor that the solution will be exactly what you want to hear. However, if you're willing to pay a little extra, you can get at least the first thing guaranteed. FixYa has begun to build a database of experts who actually get paid to provide live support, and guaranteed question answering for users who are particularly stuck.

It's like an open source repair shop, where anyone can walk in with a problem, or certain knowledge, and alternatively be in front of or behind the counter.

In a world where consumer electronics support is notoriously horrible, and it's often far easier to throw away a poorly functioning device than track down someone who knows anything about fixing it, FixYa could become a powerfully useful resource. There's already a good community growing there, I hope to see it flourish.

Fed-Ex laptop bag

Hank Green — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 08:33:00 PDT

Really, why should I spend tons of money on a laptop bag that has likely been shipped from china, when I could create a low-impact, high-strength, waterproof laptop bag out of shipping materials already arriving on my front doorstep?

Instructables has an awesome tutorial on how to turn three laptop bags a little bit of felt into an awesome, camouflaged, protective case for your laptop. You will, however, need a sewing machine...or just lots of time to sew by hand. So the project is a bit out of reach for me. But I'd almost pay for one of these things. It looks surprisingly cool. Just don't get it confused with the rest of your shipping.

via LifeHacker and Instructables

See Also
-Bagel Spindle-