Blogs

A truly underground movement

Suzi Blakley — Wed, 14 May 2008 14:40:27 PDT

Today, we salute a little-known holiday celebrating an unusual underground cause.

While you may have heard of underground music and the Underground Railroad, this is something altogether different: May 14 is Underground America Day, a day to recognize the subset of North Americans who make their homes in the Earth, not just on it.

Even if you are not a Hobbit, there are huge benefits to dwelling beneath the Earth's surface. Since there's little or no need for insulation, underground houses are naturally energy-efficient, with heating and cooling systems utilizing the Earth's geothermal energy.

Subsurface homes also provide shelter from the elements and forces of nature -- an abode and a storm shelter all in one.

As more people strive to live in tune with their environment, this movement encourages sustainable architecture and green building practices, and the aesthetics of nature are of the utmost importance.

What can you do to celebrate this occasion?

It may not be practical to bury your home, but why not start with small steps? Take an underground tour, or use public transportation -- specifically a subway.

Or begin a green roof project. It technically counts as living beneath ground (or at least beneath soil and plants), while at the same time cleaning the air. And the types of rooftops that can go green are limitless.

Suggested sites:

About Malcolm Wells - biography of the creator of Underground America Day.

Unusual Hotels of the World - a listing of worldwide underground hotels.

Sustainable Architecture - Wikipedia - describes environmentally conscious design techniques in architecture.

Greenroofs.com - the green roof industry resource portal.

Directory categories: Geothermal Energy, Energy-Efficient Construction, Sustainable Architecture, Geodesic Domes, Green Roofs

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

Grow your own

Jay Weinstein, Forecast Earth Food Correspondent — Tue, 13 May 2008 11:27:55 PDT

While your neighbors might prefer to look out on a fertilized, dandelion-free lawn, there's no doubt that growing vegetables in your yard makes good eco-sense. The debate about whether economies of scale beat local food distribution methods becomes moot when the produce at your table used absolutely zero fuel to get from your garden to your kitchen.

Front-yard farmers are taking a bite out of global warming by planting oxygen-generating, vegetable-producing green plants on their property in both cities and suburban areas. While planting melons, tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant and peppers in front of your house might not yield the 6000-pound harvests that the Dervaes family produces on their 1/10-acre urban lot in Pasadena, CA, it can go a long way toward cutting your own carbon footprint, and slash your grocery bill at the same time.

For those who wonder if it really matters if they grow their own, when the scope of the global warming problem is so huge and developing countries are starting to emit faster than we are cutting down, sustainable food author Michael Pollan has an answer: It does matter. In addition to policy changes in government and industry, it will take changes in personal behavior to turn things around. He points out that consumer spending represents 70 percent of our economy, and so in the end, it really is all about us.

However long the growing season is where you live, you can supplement your food supply with healthy foods that are usually much more delicious than store-bought by growing them at home. Even apartment dwellers can grow lettuces and herbs in window boxes. By updating the World War II-era concept of victory gardens, urban and suburban residents can make a big difference, and enjoy the fruits of their labor in ways they may never have imagined.

LifeWire provides original and syndicated content to web publishers. Jay Weinstein, a chef trained at the Culinary Institute of America, is a New York based food writer, editor, and cookbook author. His food articles and recipes have been featured in The New York Times, Travel & Leisure, Newsday, Time Out New York, National Geographic Traveler, and numerous other publications. His latest book, The Ethical Gourmet, focuses on ecologically sustainable fine foods. He's currently working on a book about sustainable use of water.

It's time to stop sending letters

Hank Green — Mon, 12 May 2008 03:01:47 PDT

Stamps just got more expensive again! I've decided that 42 cents is too much. It's time to stop sending letters.

In lieu of going out and buying a sheet of 100 one-cent stamps, I say we figure out how to not need them. Here's a helpful little guide to make those "forever" stamps you bought six months ago last as long as possible.

Discover the joys of scanning
I used to think that every time I had to send someone an official document, it required a stamp. The truth is, that's just not so.

Now I invariably ask, "Is it OK for me to scan and email this?" Ninety percent of the time, the answer is yes. I actually have a signed and scanned W-9 that I've sent to dozens of clients. All I need to change is the date.

Scanners are cheap and easy to come by. I actually recently gave one away of Freecycle because I couldn't find a buyer for it on craigslist. It might take an hour or so to figure out how to use it, but once you've got the procedure, you'll save yourself time, money, and paper.

Online bill pay
These days, this probably seems like a no-brainer. But, chances are, you haven't fully switched over yet. You've got most of your bills on auto-pay, but a couple still get paid with a check in the mail. Take an hour out of your day and go completely treeless. Either sign up at the company's site, or schedule monthly transfers with your bank.

And for those bills that you might pay to companies or individuals that don't have billing systems, like my landlord, discuss the possibilities of PayPal. When I showed him how easy it was and told him that it would significantly reduce the number of times per year my payment was late, he was totally into it!

Say 'I love you' in binary
I know that the greeting card industry wants you to believe that caring can only be expressed through dead trees... but it's just not true. While email is certainly too impersonal for a Mother's Day card, and most online-greeting cards are seriously lame, it can be done.

Spend some time in your favorite graphics program doctoring a photograph or visually executing an inside joke. Make it personal and digital. In the end, the thought will be more appreciated, and the delivery will be 100% free.

When all else fails: Post a card
Postcards take far less energy to create and send through the mail. Because they are a single sheet, they can be more easily sorted and sent and are light enough to be mostly trivial in terms of shipping emissions. This is, in the end, why they're so much cheaper to send than letters.

Avoid airmail at all costs
I know this story was supposed to be about $0.42 stamps. But if you ever find yourself thinking you want to send a letter that needs to get on an airplane, think again. While most post is sent over ground -- a relatively efficient way to travel -- air mail is far more carbon intensive.

Anything you can do to minimize airmail will have a bigger environmental impact than what you do to minimize ground mail.Â

These simple steps, if fully executed, should get you down to less than one stamp per month. And while saving forty-two cents a few times per month might not seem like that big of a deal, it's just one more step on the path to ridding ourselves our reliance on physical objects and transportation.

When all we need to send are electrons, the Earth, and especially its forests, will thank us.

Prince Charles gets greener and greener

Don Willmott , Forecast Earth Correspondent — Wed, 07 May 2008 17:10:26 PDT

The last time Britain's Prince Charles showed up in this blog it was to receive a virtual spanking from me for cruising the Caribbean in a wasteful megayacht. It must be said however that Bonnie Prince Charlie is a huge enviro-hero whose ideas have always been way ahead of their time, especially when it comes to sustainable urban planning.

According to Green Daily, Charles' latest plan is to build a brand new town from the ground up, to make it super duper green, and to populate it with 12,000 people who love to recycle and garden.

The Prince's own Web site has some of the details about the town, to be called Sherford, and the real estate developer working with the Prince has some schematics that make the place look positively delightful, in a Disney-ish sort of way.

As Green Daily describes it, "Cars will be banned in some areas, a huge 390ft wind turbine will tower over a park and a full half of energy needs will be met by renewable sources like wind and solar energy... Construction materials will be mostly found within a 50 mile radius, green roofs will be the norm, and you'll be able to walk between your home, work, and shopping. Or you could ride the bicycle that comes with every home."

That wind turbine sounds like it's going to cause trouble with the neighbors, but let's see how quickly Charles can get this built.

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

Plywood prefab could green your life

Jozef Winter — Mon, 05 May 2008 00:01:40 PDT

If youâve ever dreamed of living inside an old Zeppelin, then this pre-fab modular home, the CanÃ¼home, designed by George Brown Collegeâs Institute Without Boundaries, is for you.

Well actually, the designers thought it looked more like a canoe, hence the name. They also wanted the name to provoke a question: âCan Ã¼ make a difference?â Of course the appropriate answer is yes, and certainly so with this unique design.

In their own words,

The design is intended for use by young couples, seniors, singles/small families, as a starter or finisher home. It has been designed to fit in rear gardens in the city, the suburbs, or rooftops of buildings or in the countryside.

At 850 square feet, it fits the bill, being the same size as a typical condo or apartment. It's a fully comprehensive unit including a kitchen, living room, dining room, bedroom, and bathroom (with a shower that will hold 4 people for efficient water use!).

Made largely of FSC-certified plywood and other wood materials, the modular home is assembled with the aid of steel brackets. Being modular, it allows you can hook up as many or as few units as you like should your need for space grow or diminish.

The engineering behind the design is quite ingenious. Its shape allows for convective and radiant heating, and the designers proudly announce that âair is a building materialâ!

The curvature of the structure also channels rain water for capture and use in various applications, and there are plans to incorporate solar collectors to help meet some of the energy needs of the home.

The project has 5 major goals: to engage the public, to raise public awareness of the impact of housing on the environment, to showcase sustainability, to aid in growing the market for sustainable homes and related products, and finally, to enable the housing industry to more easily move towards sustainable practices.

It remains unclear what the future will hold for the faculty-, student-, and expert-designed home after it returns from its show tour, but if properly marketed, it has some real possibilities.

For those of you with spare plywood lying around, the technical drawings (PDF) are available for you online.

via Ecolectic.org

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.

The green way to clean

Don Willmott , Forecast Earth Correspondent — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 17:33:42 PDT

Ever see that guy Graham Haley on public TV? He's the clean freak who knows a million clever ways to clean everything in your home without investing in expensive cleaning products. He relies heavily on baking soda, vinegar, and ammonia to do just about every cleaning job.

I enjoy watching him almost as much as I enjoy Britain's Queens of Clean, Kim and Aggie, who appear on the BBC's "How Clean Is Your House?" They use similarly simple products and techniques to rescue England's biggest slobs from their squalor. The bottom-line message from all these hints: It's far cheaper to concoct your own cleaning supplies than to buy all that multi-colored stuff on the supermarket shelf.

Which brings me to an excellent article at Grist, in which Sarah Van Schagen tests a variety of non-toxic and green cleaning products to see how well they work. Running her experiments in a bathroom shared by six people, she found that baking soda or borax will do just as well as any other type of scrub, be it "eco-friendly" or not. Scroll through her experiences to see what she found.

Van Schagen also points to a Consumer Reports page that has dozens of easy and non-toxic ways to clean every surface in your home. As for me, I'm heading out to buy a box of borax.

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

New lightbulb outshines all others

Hank Green — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 12:31:47 PDT

Let's face it -- to a real EcoGeek, CFLs are old news. My entire house was converted more than three years ago. I don't even think about them anymore. Frankly, I can't believe incandescents are still on sale!

There just hasn't been very much excitement in the consumer space in lighting. Some fantastic research, sure, but nothing I can buy.

Well, one of the few companies that makes LED lightbulbs has changed that. It may be silly of me to get excited about a lightbulb, but I can't help it.

EarthLED already has a few amazing products. The CL line is my personal favorite -- I have two of them in my house already. But while they work for my house, with its low ceilings and cave-dwelling inhabitants, folks were previously disappointed by the lack of any 100-watt equivalents at EarthLED.

Well, that's changed. The new Evolux line at EarthLED puts off just as much light as a 100-watt incandescent but consumes only 13 watts. A 13-watt CFL, on the other hand, puts out about as much light as an 80-watt incandescent would.

And yet, that's not its sole claim to superiority. The new line also promises to be cheaper than CFLs over the life of the bulb, not so much because of energy savings (though that helps) but because of the bulb's lifetime. CREE's LEDs are rated at over 50,000 hours, which is more than a decade of use ... and five times longer than CFLs.

Of course, no one's actually tested these bulbs for all 50,000 of those hours. And as the bulb actually has a moving part (a small, silent fan to keep the circuit board cool), the life of the fan might be more important than the life of the LEDs.

Besides being more efficient and longer-lasting than CFLs, the bulbs also contain no mercury, are significantly more durable so they won't shatter if dropped, and never get too hot to touch.

The company is about to release another version of the bulb that will turn any lamp into a dimmable lamp. Simply by turning the lamp on and off quickly, you can select 150-lumen, 750-lumen, or 950-lumen settings.

Of course, there has to be bad news, right? Though the total cost of ownership will be lower -- because you'll only have to buy one every 15 years or so -- the initial investment of $80 might come as a shock. But, really, is it that much of a price to pay to be the only person on your block with "the world's most advanced lightbulb"?

From my perspective, I see it as both a cool thing to have in the house and a way to encourage companies like EarthLED and CREE to continue working their fingers to the bone creating these amazing new products.

EarthLED's Evolux Bulbs

Solar lawnmowers... at least they're quiet

Don Willmott , Forecast Earth Correspondent — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 08:16:10 PDT

As a teenager, I spent several hot and sweaty summers mowing lawns, and it was no picnic. Back and forth, back and forth, up hills and down, and you can be sure I never thought about the sickening emissions I was breathing in the whole time.

I've never really believed that little robotic lawnmowers have the oomph to get the job done. As for solar-powered electric lawnmowers, well, consider me a skeptic.

Still, it's fun to have a look at the Husqvarna Automower Solar Hybrid as described by SmartPlanet.com. Husqvarna is a well-known European manufacturer of all sorts of outdoor equipment, and it already has experience with automatic mowers.

The claim is that the solar panel on top of the mower will deliver an hour's worth of mowing before a recharge is needed. When it's winding down, it returns to its little charging dock. Husqvarna claims the mower can cover up to 18,000 square feet as defined by a wire perimeter that you have to set up around the area to be cut. At about $4,000, the Automower Solar Hybrid may be more of an expensive conversation piece than a rough-and-tough lawnmower, but at least it doesn't belch the acrid exhaust that I spent my teen years breathing.

Don Willmott'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.

"Smart" appliances for an energy-efficient future

Sam Newman — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 14:21:26 PDT

Sam Newman is an analyst with the Energy and Resources Team at Rocky Mountain Institute.

For years, Hollywood has sold us images of futuristic houses filled with "smart" appliances. Think of the coffee machine that can make as many drinks as a Starbucks barista, the refrigerator that tells you when you're out of milk, or the clothes drier that can talk.

Real attempts at such devices have long been constrained to trade shows and demonstration homes. These devices have been portrayed as artificially intelligent, user-friendly, and capable of two-way communication with us and other appliances.

Today's smart appliances have a new benefit that goes far beyond novelty and will finally bring them to the shelves of Home Depot: energy efficiency. Their adoption will be part of a response to the urgent need to modernize the ways that we buy and consume electricity.

Appliances and electricity use

More than a third of electricity generated in the United States is used in households. Air conditioners use 16% of that electricity; refrigerators use another 14%. Hot water heaters and other home appliances -- including clothes dryers and dish washers -- consume an even more: 29%. Using existing technology, each of these machines can be made "smarter," lessening our environmental impact.

Every time your air conditioner kicks on during a hot summer afternoon, it contributes to a larger problem. When many air conditioners turn on at the same time, they force up the demand for power from the local utility, putting stress on the system.

To meet this demand, utilities rely on peak generating plants, which might only be used on the hottest days of the year. Power from these plants is carbon-intensive and expensive to generate.

The benefit of smart appliances

Smart appliances will respond to price signals from the grid to lessen these peak loads. Under a "real-time pricing" system, energy used during peak hours will cost more than energy used at night, when demand is low. This price structure allows residential energy users to optimize their energy usage habits to save energy and reduce emissions.

Imagine setting your air conditioner to save money by remaining off during weekday afternoon hours when power is expensive. It would turn on in the late afternoon, so the house would still be cool when you returned from work.

Similarly, a clothes dryer could be programmed to an "economy" setting which would turn its heating element on and off to take advantage of the cheapest power rates. The dry cycle would take a bit more time, but it would allow the household to respond to variations in electricity supply.

For instance, if a cloud passed in front of the sun, reducing the output of a solar power array, the price of power would increase, signaling the dryer to turn off until the cloud moved away.

Studies have shown that consumers conserve energy when provided with real-time feedback and improved control systems via a computer or appliance smart meters. Just as car owners drive more efficiently when provided with real-time fuel economy data, residences with smart meters use less electricity.

In a recent study in Washington state, overall energy usage fell 10% following the implementation of smart water heaters and dryers. If used nationwide, these technologies could save $70 billion and eliminate the construction of 30 new coal-fired power plants over 20 years.

Smart appliances in the real world

The next step toward getting smart appliances in each of our homes is taking these pilot programs to scale.

In March, Xcel energy, one of the United States' largest utilities, chose Boulder, Colorado, for an innovative smart city project.

Residences will be fitted with smart appliances, and the utility infrastructure will be upgraded to enable real-time demand response and power pricing. Predicted benefits include lower peak demand on summer afternoons, reduced overall carbon emissions, and improved system reliability.

Appliances that can talk back to you are unlikely outside of Hollywood fantasies any time soon. But smart appliances that save money and reduce carbon emissions are not science fiction. These technologies offer a market-based approach to energy efficiency that will help reduce your environmental impact.

For more information see:

Gridwise Program at Pacific Northwest National Lab
Xcel Energy's Smart Grid City project

The winged Lego pile of tomorrow

Magnus Hølvold — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 14:06:59 PDT

It's no secret that the folks at Inhabitat are big fans of prefabricated homes and not without reason. Prefab houses can be assembled on-site in very little time and with highly reduced production waste compared to old-school building methods. Of course, this also leads to reduced production costs, something we really can't complain about.

But the features of zeroHouse are enough to make EcoGeek stand up with Inhabitat and salute. All the power for the house comes from that wing-like protrusion at the top. The solar panels up there provide more than enough sunlight on a regular day and on a full charge, you can go for an entire week with no sun at all.

Additionally, the rainwater cistern can hold 2,700 gallons of water which is distributed by gravity to the various rooms of the house, nixing the need for any pumps. There's also a composting system in place that takes care of organic waste.

I'd like to express some level of concern over the "house brain" they refer to as the system that controls how the whole house works, though. As a geek and fan of a certain science-fiction film, "house brains" make me uncomfortable.

Sadly, now I have to ruin it by complaining a little.

One of my favourite features of prefab homes is the chance of properly modular buildings. If I had my way, I'd sit on a computer and put a future house together in a Lego-like fashion from parts available to me. An assembly crew would come next week and, over the next couple of days, they'd assemble all the pieces. Hey presto: New, fully customised house for me! If I wanted another room later on, I'd order an extra module, and the company would come and slide it on to the rest of the construction.

So why doesn't Specht Harpman ever make these kinds of houses? It calls the various levels of the house "modules," because that's obviously how it's assembled. Why not expand on that and make it properly modular? It obviously has the know-how to create both well-designed and sustainable houses.

But to me, it looks more like the Lego airplane my two-year-old nephew made this Christmas than a home built for nature lovers. The design has the effect of making the house look like an intrusion on the otherwise serene landscapes. The house even looks like it wants to fly away from the scenes, perched with those solar panels sticking out like wings, ready for take-off.

Don't get me wrong, it has a lot of awesome ideas and features within it, they're just wrapped too tightly in "master architect" pretensions and impersonal design choices.

via Inhabitat

Natural weed whacking

Trystan L. Bass — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 11:28:15 PDT

Spring showers may be making lawns green right now, but they can also help weeds sprout too.Â Plenty magazine reports that weeds are getting "more robust and aggressive, thanks, in part, to global warming."

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service has found that rising carbon dioxide levels and overall warmer temperatures are helping weeds in urban areas grow like, well, weeds. The USDA has measured city weeds four times as tall as usual.

So how can we deal with these annoying plants -- without dumping nasty chemicals into the ground and contaminating nearby water systems?

The Green Guide has some handy tips. For spot killing, pour boiling water on a weed. Vinegar is also a good herbicide.

You can buy organic herbicides too. These rely on strong acetic acid (the active ingredient in vinegar), plus essential plant oils.

Another method for ridding your garden of weeds is soil solarization. Basically, you cover the area with plastic tarp for a few weeks and bake out the weeds. This also kills fungal pests.

Of course, the best way to stop weeds is to prevent them. About.com has useful info about mulching, landscape fabrics, and even using corn gluten to keep weeds from rooting in the first place.

Something to think about for the next growing season!

GE's new water heater could kill 30 coal plants

Hank Green — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 14:42:14 PDT

Until today, Energy Star didn't regulate water heaters at all. They're the most energy-hungry single appliance in the home and are responsible for about 17% of residential energy use. But because of a lack of consensus on how they should be regulated and resistance from industry, their efficiency went completely unregulated.

Well, that all has changed. Along with the announcement that the new standards will save Americans hundreds of billions of dollars per year, here comes two new water heaters from GE that will, of course, meet the new standards.

The first is available now. It's a tankless heater that provides hot water only when you need it. The result is an unlimited supply of hot water and about 25% less energy use per gallon of hot water produced.

The second is even more exciting, though, it won't be available until 2009. GE is calling it a "hybrid electric" water heater, I suppose hoping to capitalize on the excitement surrounding hybrid electric vehicles. But it is a kind of hybrid. The water heater first uses a heat pump to bring the water up to the temperature of the ambient air. Then the electric water heater takes over, bringing the water up to 140 degrees F.

This new design is 50% more efficient than previous water heaters. If every home in America had one right now, we would need 30 fewer coal-fired power plants! Every home that installs one will see its yearly power bills drop up to $250.

Because the new device uses a heat exchanger, it will actually make your furnace work harder during the winter. But in the summer and in warm climates, it will actually help cool your house.

This is exactly the kind of technology we until renewables take over for coal. GE's got a video featuring the new devices, if you'd like to check it out.

CordoClip upgrades your clothesline

Magnus Hølvold — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 02:03:06 PDT

As if it wasn't bad enough that your computer will be obsolete next week, now someone is doing the same to your clotheslines!

While drying your clothes on lines outside is decidedly eco-friendly and gives your clothes a fresh, outdoorsy smell, it's not without its problems. You've probably had your clothes fall off the line, leaving you picking your undies down from your neighbour's hedge. Let's also not forget the clothespins that tend to disappear or break.

Well, drying your clothes the eco-friendly way has just gotten a lot easier. The CordoClip promises to heal all your outdoor drying woes, with clips that never leave the line and make sure your washing doesn't either, until you say so.

Not only that, but it promises to make your loading go 60% faster and the unloading go up to 90% percent faster, thanks to the automated clipping system.

Be sure to check out their site for a highly instructional and old-school video on how the system works.

Via Treehugger

A new standard for green homes

Steve Brauneis — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 16:43:19 PDT

Over the last few years, the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification program has garnered a lot of attention in the media. What you may not know is that there are actually nine LEED programs.

The original program, LEED for New Construction, is the one we've heard the most about. This is the rating system under which your local school, library, or commercial office building has likely been certified. As LEED has been employed on more types of buildings, however, specific rating programs have been developed to provide a transparent program that ensures a positive impact.Â

LEED for Homes
After many years of volunteer work and consensus building, the USGBC unveiled one of its newest certification programs this past January: LEED for Homes. People looking to build new homes now have a standard to work toward.Â

LEED for Homes criteria include the familiar areas of a home's energy and water efficiency, indoor air quality, use of environmentally preferable building materials, and a few new categories, like "Location and Linkages" and "Awareness and Education."Â

Building a mansion? Well, you're going to feel a little pain. LEED for Homes includes negative points for having an overly large home. This controversial provision was included in the standards because size really is at the root of resource consumption and ongoing efficiency.Â

In contrast to the LEED projects you may have heard of, certifying your home under this new program differs from the other rating programs, because you must work closely with a LEED for Homes Provider throughout the design, construction, and certification of your home. Only after your project has been vetted by one of these providers can you register it with the USGBC.Â

You will also likely contract with your LEED for Homes provider to garner a pre-construction Home Energy Rating System (HERS) rating and to complete the onsite inspections necessary for LEED certification. After construction, this onsite work will typically include a blower door test (to test how tight the house is) and a duct blast test (to gauge the tightness of the ductwork), among other activities.Â

The LEED for Homes pilot phase included approximately 400 builders and covered 10,000 homes across the United States.Â

Check out some of the cool designs and accomplishments in this archive. USGBC has teamed with Environmental Design + Construction magazine to offer a paid, three-part webinar series on LEED for Homes. The third program, "The Delivery Process," will be presented on April 9, 2008.Â

Improving your current house
LEED for Homes may sound great, but if you're like me you're not going to be building a brand new home anytime soon. Luckily for us, the American Society of Interior Designers has teamed with the USGBC to create Green Remodeling Guidelines under the brand REGREEN. The program literature is full of guidelines, case studies, and other information to help you make the best decisions for your remodeling project.Â

And for those who won't even be remodeling soon, check out this handy list of quick retrofits. (You know the drill: CFLs, weather-stripping, programmable thermostats, etc.) Taking the time to make these small changes-and sharing them with people in our neighborhoods-can really start to affect the way we use energy and other natural resources.Â

If you haven't done so already, consider discussing your utility consumption and expenses with your neighbors to begin the conversation.Â

Steve Brauneis is a Sustainable Design Consultant with the Built Environment Team at Rocky Mountain Institute.

New windows would save $15 bil/year

Hank Green — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 14:05:55 PDT

In terms of energy efficiency, windows are one of the biggest contributors to heat loss from buildings.

But a new window technology called vacuum-insulated glass (VIG) being developed by Guardian Industries could allow for windows that can provide insulation values comparable to walls, thanks to a new double-pane glass with a vacuum between the panes.

The principle behind the Thermos, namely that a vacuum is a very effective insulator, is now being applied to windows, which are one of the most energy-inefficient parts of a building, responsible for up to 30% of the heating needed.

Heat is transferred by one of three methods, conduction, convection, or radiation. A vacuum prevents transfer by convection or conduction, and a low-E coating on windows can block much of the radiation transfer.

The manufacturer, Guardian Industries, is hoping to have this glass commercially available by the end of 2009. More importantly, while other researchers have been exploring the idea of vacuum glass for several years, Guardian is expecting to be able to produce this glass at a reasonable cost.

The head of the Building Technologies Division at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory notes:

This performance level would convert most windows in heating climates into net energy suppliers, providing more energy to the home via passive solar gain (even facing north) than the window loses ... If you could convert every window [in the U.S.] to this performance level, you would save homeowners about $15 billion each year.

via: BuildingGreen.com

A longer version of this article is cross-posted at Green Building Elements

Win a 'green house' and a big SUV

Don Willmott , Forecast Earth Correspondent — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 15:14:05 PDT

Win a "green house" that comes with a big SUV.

How's that again? The green blogs are in an amused and outraged tizzy about a new contest from the folks at HGTV. In conjunction with the presentation of its annual green home, the network is holding a sweepstakes that you can enter to win the Hilton Head, South Carolina house, completely furnished with lots of eco-friendly goodies.

So far, so good. But guess what else comes in the prize package: an SUV. Now to be fair, the SUV in question is the GMC Yukon Hybrid, which, according to GMC, "offers a 50% improvement in city fuel economy with the performance, capability and comfort of a full-size SUV."

OK, but the mileage is still only an estimated 21 mpg city/22 mpg highway, and that just seems uncool in conjunction with a contest that's promoting green living.

What's better are the appliances inside the house, such as the Kenmore HE5t Steam Washer, which uses 73 percent less water and 77 percent less energy than typical washers. That's a green prize worth winning.

Win a 'green house' and a big SUV

Don Willmott , Forecast Earth Correspondent — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 15:14:03 PDT

Win a "green house" that comes with a big SUV.

OK, but the mileage is still only an estimated 21 mpg city/22 mpg highway, and that just seems uncool in conjunction with a contest that's promoting green living.

Low-cost ways to conserve water at home

Kendra Tupper — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 11:15:18 PDT

"When the well's dry, we know the worth of water."

-Benjamin Franklin

If you live in an area where water shortages are not an issue, consider yourself lucky. Nearly 450 million people in 29 countries face severe water shortages. Predictions indicate that within 5 years, at least 36 U.S. states will face water shortages due to a combination of rising temperatures, drought, population growth, and waste.Â

But there is hope -- research has shown that residential water use could be reduced by as much as 50 percent through efficiency. Here are a few simple, low-cost suggestions for reducing your family's water consumption.Â

Reduce water use from showers and faucets
Although it's often the smallest room in the house, the bathroom is where 75 percent of indoor household water consumption occurs. Seem impossible? Consider this: The average 6-minute shower uses about 20 gallons of water! Reduce this amount with the following tips:Â

No cost: Limit shower time to 5 minutes or less.
Less than $10: Install an on/off valve between the shower arm and showerhead. This temporarily shuts off the flow while maintaining the temperature, and can be a useful water-saver while soaping up or shaving.
$10-$50: Install a low-flow (less than 2 gallons per minute) showerhead. Previous low-flow showerheads sacrificed water pressure for efficiency, but now there are many options (GAIAM and Delta make two of my favorites) that don't simulate a dripping faucet.
$20-$50: Insulate all accessible hot-water pipes, especially those within 3 feet of the water heater. You'll get hot water faster, avoid wasting H₂O while it heats up, and save energy in the process.

Finally, fit all household faucets with low-flow aerators (less than two gallons per minute). This is the best in-home water conservation method, and it's also the cheapest.Â

Toilets are the enemy
Each day, the U.S. uses 5.8 billion gallons of fresh water to flush waste. If you're in the market for a new porcelain throne, check out options with either a very low (less than 1.6) gallon per flush (gpf) rating, or dual flush controls.

This new technology provides 2 buttons for flushing: one at 1.6 gpf for solid waste, and another at only 0.8 gpf for liquids. These double-duty flushers can reduce water usage by up to 67 percent compared with traditional toilets.Â

Feeling even earthier? Go for a waterless composting toilet and be the envy of all your neighbors!Â

And if you haven't budgeted for a new toilet, try these quick fixes:Â

Check for leaks: Put a little food coloring in your toilet tank. If the color begins to appear in the bowl within 30 minutes, you have a leak that should be repaired. Most replacement parts are inexpensive and easy to install.
Displace water: Most older toilets don't require nearly as much water as they use (3.5-5 gallons) to flush properly. To "trick" your toilet into using less water, place a half-gallon plastic bottle inside your toilet tank to displace water volume. (Be sure at least 2.5 gallons of water remain in the tank so it will flush properly.) Ideally, weigh down the bottle with sand or pebbles so it doesn't interfere with the tank mechanisms. This simple retrofit could save a three-person family 225 gallons of water per month! Not a do-it-yourselfer? For only a few dollars, you can purchase a prepared toilet bag designed to displace 0.8 gallons of water with every flush.

Minimize appliance water consumption
Outside the bathroom, most water is used to wash clothes and dishes. Rather than wearing dirty clothes and using paper plates, keep these tips in mind while tackling daily chores:Â

Fully loaded: Dishwashers and clothes washers should be operated when full for optimum water conservation. If you must wash partial loads, adjust the water levels as appropriate.
The dishwasher is your friend: Even old-school dishwashers don't use as much water per dish as hand-washing. Newer, more efficient dishwashers use only 1/6 of the water used during hand-washing, and save 230 hours of yourtime each year.
Scrape, don't rinse: Pre-rinsing dishes before loading the dishwasher is unnecessary. Scrape off food and then trust that bad boy to do its job.
Pass on permanent press: Avoid the permanent press cycle when washing clothes, which uses an additional 5 gallons for the extra rinse.
Upgrade your equipment: Consider buying a water-saving front-loading clothes washer, or a top-loading one with no central agitator. Check ENERGY STAR for ideas and ratings.

Kendra Tupper is a consultant with the Energy & Resources Team at Rocky Mountain Institute.Â

Greening your home in the right order

Michael Ogburn — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 21:46:11 PDT

Michael Ogburn is a senior consultant at Rocky Mountain Institute.Â

Spring is a great time to think about what you could do this year to green your home and reduce your carbon footprint. As you open the windows and enjoy the warmer temperatures, you may be thinking about planting a garden, installing compact fluorescent lights, or even putting solar panels on your roof.

Reducing your carbon footprint is all about picking the right home improvements in the right order. What good is generating solar electricity or hot water on your roof if you keep forgetting to turn off your computer or closet light, or your leaky faucet drips all day and uses up all the solar-heated hot water? Â

Eat your vegetables first
Awareness of energy use and conservation must come first, and it will save you money. The good news is, this costs little (often nothing). And while energy-efficient windows might seem expensive at first, those PV panels could set you back $15,000 or more.

We all remember how we hated vegetables in our childhood. They were good for us, but gosh, did we have to eat them? Didn't all the cool kids eat their candy bars first, not their carrots?Â

The same is true today, but now we're grown up and own a house or rent an apartment. Saving energy by replacing that leaky window is like eating vegetables. It's hard, we don't want to do it, and we're jealous of that cool new house down the street that already has a solar panel or two on the roof.Â

We need to eat our energy efficiency "vegetables" before having our renewable energy "dessert."

The same effect at a fraction of the costÂ
In our consumer-conscious society, we want people to see what we buy. See my iPod! See my solar panels! See my new Prius! See, I'm sustainable!
Â
But the reality is we must first minimize our consumption, change that pesky leaky window, and fix that dripping shower faucet if we want renewable energy to fully support our needs. The cost of installing solar panels on your roof is much lower when you only need to install half as many to meet the needs of your more efficient lifestyle.

Becoming energy efficient doesn't have to involve pain and suffering. At Rocky Mountain Institute, we often joke that you can cut your energy consumption significantly and still have your hot showers and cold beer. It's just that, in the future, that shower and that beer will be enjoyed with the knowledge that much less (if any) fossil fuel was required to deliver them.

I for one have already converted nearly all the bulbs in my house to CFLs. I recycled the ancient beer fridge in the garage.Â And I've got EPA Energy Star appliances in the kitchen.Â

By taking these steps first, I'm consuming less of the renewable wind-power from my electric company. But as much as I'd like to install solar hot water panels on my roof to heat my house and show my neighborhood just how green I really am, I know that I must first replace those cheap windows so that I start with the real, important savings. And my wallet will thank me.

An extra hour of sun

Trystan L. Bass — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 14:08:36 PDT

It's not technically spring yet, but most of the U.S. sprang forward this past Sunday anyway. Daylight saving time (DST) started on March 9 this year, thanks to the changes brought about by the Energy Policy Act of 2005.

Not everyone agrees that DST really saves much energy. As I mentioned when we fell back last November, studies in the 1970s suggested huge energy savings, but more recent savings looked much smaller.

Last month, the Wall Street Journal reported on a University of California-Santa Barbara study of Indiana households that showed DST actual cost raised electricity bills instead of lowering them.

The conclusion was that reducing lighting needs were offset by higher air-conditioning and heating needs. Then again, I wonder about more moderate climates -- few people I know here in California have AC, and we rarely have mornings cold enough to require a heater.

Regardless, the law right now is to set the clock an hour ahead. So why not take advantage of an extra hour of daylight in the evening?

Here are some great green things to do with the sunny time:

Use Walkscore to find new restaurants, cafes, shops, parks, and services that are within walking distance of your home or office. Check out a different place each week.

Take your dog for a walk -- and make sure to bring a supply of BioBags for the inevitable trail Fido will leave behind. BioBags are "plastic" bags made from starch and are 100% biodegradable and compostable (unlike standard plastics that are made from oil).

Water your plants and make sure you're giving them the just the right amount.

Go for a bike ride, either solo or take a friend, spouse, or the kids. Looking for bike rentals or help with repairs? Cruise through this directory of community bike programs.

Wash your car and clean out the inside. Carrying around junk in the trunk reduces your gas mileage significantly. Make sure to use an earth-friendly, biodegradable cleaner (I like Simple Green) on the outside, so any water runoff into the storm drains won't pollute.

Channel your old scouting days and carve a willow whistle.

Plan a microdrip irrigation system for a larger garden. You'll save water and probably money too in the long run.

String up a clothesline so you can start drying some of your clothes outside this year. Even if the weather isn't great right now, the heat will be on soon enough. Then you'll save money (and energy) by taking advantage of free sunshine.

Tee off at an Audubon-certified golf course (PDF). These are doubly green greens because they protect water quality and provide wildlife habitats, according to the environmental organization.

Get outside and enjoy the extra sunshine!

Getting the most out of your CFLs

Noah Buhayar and Laurie Ramroth — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 21:51:05 PDT

Noah Buhayar and Laurie Ramroth are fellows at Rocky Mountain Institute.

You've taken the plunge. You've replaced all those incandescent bulbs in your house with energy-saving compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs). You've even gone as far as installing dimmable CFLs for the few places where you'd like to be able to control the intensity of the light.Â

But, lo and behold, some of those new lights are burning out sooner than the manufacturer claims they should. What gives? Aren't CFLs supposed to last 10 times longer than the cheaper incandescents?Â

Here's some straightforward information about how you can get the most out of your CFLs, and why you're probably still saving emissions and money even if you don't get all the advertised hours out of each lamp.Â

"Operating cycle" and CFL life
The life of your CFL depends on how often you turn it on and off, and how long you leave it on. In engineering lingo, this is called the lamp's "operating cycle."Â

Operating cycles can vary for practical reasons. Think of the CFL in your garage versus the one in your bedroom. The one in your garage probably stays on for only a few minutes: when you open the garage door, or when you go out at night to put something in your car. The CFL in your bedroom, however, probably stays on longer: when you read or watch TV in bed.Â

CFLs usually fail when the electrode's emissive coating (the part of the bulb that emits electrons into the tube to create and maintain an electrical arc) evaporates. This loss of coating occurs slowly during operation, but is accelerated each time the lamp is turned on, and the electrode is bombarded with mercury ions.Â

That means the more frequently you turn your CFLs on and off, the shorter its operating cycle, and the shorter its life.Â

Greenhouse gas emissions
The good news is that even if you're operating your CFLs for short periods of time, you're still putting less greenhouse gas into the atmosphere than you would have operating that old incandescent in the same manner.Â

A group of researchers at RMI recently studied the emissions associated with manufacturing, distributing, operating, and disposing of both incandescent and CFLs.Â

They found that even if a CFL's average operating cycle was reduced from 1 hour to 5 minutes, greenhouse gas emissions were still lower -- 63.4 percent lower -- than those of an incandescent. That difference takes into account the shortened life of the CFL (and the fact that another one would have to be assembled, shipped, and purchased at a store).Â

Getting your money's worth
Of course, saving greenhouse gas emissions may be a small consolation if you're buying CFLs more often than you think you should have to, and watching the up-front costs add up.Â

Remember, though, that CFLs save you money in 2 ways: (1) They last longer than incandescent bulbs, and (2) They use less electricity to provide the same amount of light.Â

In our emissions analysis, RMI's researchers also looked at average payback time for CFLs under different operating conditions and at different electricity costs.Â

Even with extremely cheap electricity ($0.0492 per kilowatt-hour) and a drastically reduced life (1,500 hours on a lamp rated for 10,000 hours), the CFL still paid back its extra retail cost before failing. This held true even if the retail price for a 23-watt lamp varied from $1.65 to $5.50.Â

Taking it to the next level
The bottom line: Even if you're replacing your CFLs more often than you think you should have to, you're still coming out ahead in terms of reducing emissions, and are most likely saving money.

Next time you screw in a CFL, though, see if you can make it last longer by changing its operating cycle. Monitor your energy bill and see how quickly you can get a return on investment. And know that the more efficiently you use your new lights, the more greenhouse gas you'll be keeping out of the atmosphere.

Escape from the suburban fringe

Trystan L. Bass — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 13:22:30 PST

The subprime-mortgage crisis has hit suburbia bad. Is this the straw that breaks the back of McMansions and unwalkable cities?

In the March 2008 issue of The Atlantic, Christopher B. Leinberger suggests that towns filled with identical houses and clipped green lawns may soon be a thing of the past.

He writes: "The pendulum is swinging back toward urban living, and there are many reasons to believe this swing will continue." Cities offer the ability to walk to shopping, jobs, and entertainment. With rising gas prices, this is a big advantage.

The article also points out: "If New York City were its own state, it would be the most energy-efficient state in the union." A large part of this is due to less reliance on cars.

While not everyone wants to walk or take the bus, clearly some folks want the choice. Suburbs don't offer these options, while urban landscapes do.

Preparing your organic garden for spring

Trystan L. Bass — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 15:58:39 PST

While much of the U.S. is still feeling winter's chill, gardeners know this is a great time to plan for spring planting. They pore through the seed catalogs and dream of lush green veggie beds.

Why not start an organic garden this year?

Cutting back on pesticides and chemical fertilizers is safer and better for your soil in the long run. And you'll find a wide variety of unusual plants to experiment with when you look for organic and heirloom seeds.

Many seeds sold in big garden shops are hybrids that have been breed to be uniform for commercial purposes. This sometimes sacrifices flavor and has put a dent in plant diversity.

But you can find a wide variety of seeds online. Heirloom seeds are for plants that were generally found before the 1940s and which are open pollinated. You can also get organic seeds that haven't been exposed to chemicals.

Here are some of the most frequently recommended sites:

Seed Savers Exchange: A non-profit organization selling seeds for heirloom veggies, flowers, and herbs.

Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds: Ozark Mountain-based company offering 1,200 unique heirloom seed varieties.

Seeds of Change: A research farm and business selling over 600 types organically grown seeds.

Wild Garden Seed: Pacific Northwest farm producing organic seeds for salad greens, vegetables, herbs, and flowers.

Also, Mother Earth News has an extensive list of seed companies in each U.S. state, plus some Canadian listings. This is a great way to find open-pollinated and organic vegetable and herb seeds near you.

Once the seeds are on the way, you'll want to get the soil ready and learn to maintain your garden without chemicals.

While soil prep is a a huge topic and will vary a lot depending on local conditions, several websites have good pointers to get started.

Organic Gardening: This is the mother lode of tips and techniques for all things about your green garden. Don't miss the simple seed starting article and slideshow.

HGTV's Organic Gardening: Tons of info., plus videos, on everything from picking the right plants to mulching to using water wisely.

The Organic Gardeners Podcast on Lime: Short weekly audio shows about gardening topics with handy advice.

G-Living also has some detailed articles on seeds and soil preparation in the organic gardening section. All this should be plenty to keep you busy before the spring thaw.

Kitty litter: A green conundrum

Trystan L. Bass — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 16:51:57 PST

Dogs may be man's best friend, but statistically, more kitties roam American homes. The Humane Society and the American Veterinary Medical Association estimate that the U.S. has 10 to 15 million more cats than dogs as pets (about 90 million felines total, as of 2007).

So we buy heck of a lot of kitty litter, which piles up in a stinky mess in our landfills. Green Living Online says we dump about 2 million tons of cat litter each year into the garbage. The editors of E: the Environmental Magazine point out that common clay-based clumping cat litter isn't biodegradable.

Do we have a more eco-friendly option for our furry friends?

In the past few years, biodegradable litters have come out that are made from stuff like wood chips, corn, wheat, and even recycled newspaper. Greenies at TreeHugger and Ideal Bite recommend these kitty litters over the old-fashioned kind.

But I want to take a look at the benefits of these "natural" litters. Because I'm one cat-lover with a pair of finicky felines who go into a tizzy just if I rearrange the living room furniture -- so I'm not about to switch their litter before researching the heck out of the environmental claims!

First, some background. The clumping cat litters found in every supermarket and pet store have bentonite clay as the active ingredient. This naturally occurring substance clumps when wet and expands to several times its size. It has many industrial, pharmaceutical, steel foundry, and even wastewater purification uses. Bentonite is mined in the western U.S., particularly Wyoming.

Clumping clay litters earn two big complaints. Some websites suggest that because the clay swells up, if a cat ingests it, the clay could swell up inside and cause deadly blockages. Or the dust from the litter could cause respiratory problems.

About.com has an excellent summary of the "clumping clay controversy" and traces it back to a couple of anecdotal reports. No scientific studies have linked clumping clay litters to feline illness.

Another ingredient in common litters, silica, has also been hyped as a problem. The ASPCA notes that, at worst, pets may develop mild gastrointestinal upset if they ingest litter that contains silica. But litter usually passes through the digestive tract without harm. If you're really concerned, carefully observe your cat and then talk to your vet.

The other accusation against clay litter is how it's produced. Many green websites complain that bentonite clay is strip-mined. How bad is this process for the environment?

I think you have to weigh it against the alternatives. The fact is that every type of processing has a carbon footprint, and so far, nobody has done a detailed comparison. I've uncoverd some facts, and fellow cat fanciers can be their own judges.

The Wyoming Mining Association site has pretty detailed info. about the process used to extract this clay from the ground. This group mined 5.2 million tons of bentonite in 2005, and the deposits in Wyoming make up 70% of the world's known supply.

According to the site, before a mine is dug, the topsoil and vegetation are assessed and stockpiled for future reclamation. After mining, the area is reconstructed to become grazing land for ranchers. The association claims that the new area provides "four times more vegetative production than undisturbed land."

That's the traditional litter. Now let's look at some alternative brands...

Cat Country Organic: Made from wheatgrass fiber.
Feline Pine: Made from recycled pine wood.
Good Mews: Made from recycled newspapers.
Nature's Miracle: Made from corn cobs.
One Earth Cat Litter: Made from corn cobs and yucca and pine woods.
PaPurr Scoop: Made from recycled paper.
Swheat Scoop: Made from non-food grade wheat.
World's Best Cat Litter: Made from whole-kernel corn.
Yesterday's News: Made from recycled newspapers.

Each of these materials has problems too. Farmed corn and wheat are often grown using pesticides that damage our water system. Non-organic corn may be of genetically modified stock. And the tree production for wood, then paper processing, involves plenty of chemicals and releases tons of greenhouse gases. None of these "natural" litters are truly clean either.

Also, most of these biodegradable kitty litters proclaim a big benefit is that they can be flushed down the toilet. I don't think this is a great idea. Thoughtful environmentalists know that water is a precious resource, and toilets aren't garbage cans. Let's save our valuable water for drinking, and put the cat poop elsewhere.

Another reason not to flush: sea otters. At least if you live in a coastal state and have a cat that goes outside at all.

Let me explain.

The Toxoplasma gondii parasite is found in many birds and rodents, and outdoor cats can acquire the bug from eating those critters. It usually doesn't do much harm to adult cats, but they'll pass the Toxoplasma eggs along in the cat's droppings.

It's the infected litter that's the problem. You may have heard that pregnant women shouldn't deal with the litter box -- this is why. If your cat is indoors-only (which is safest for the cat and other wildlife), you don't have to worry.

However, scientists from the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine found that 62% of dead sea otters found between 1997 and 2001 were infected with Toxoplasma. The suspected source was land-based runoff of the parasite. Landscape irrigation washes infected cat droppings from lawns into gutters, which drain into streams that feed in the ocean.

Municipal sewage systems can't always kill the Toxoplasma eggs because they have a very hard, durable coating. So when the treated sewage is released into the sea, that can hurt sea life as well. Let's not add to marine pollution with our kitty litter. A cleaner solution for those of us in coastal states is to keep the poop in the garbage.

As you can see, doing right by your cat and the planet doesn't come down to one simple choice. Do your own reading, weigh the pros and cons of the products, and decide how to clean up in a way that works for your feline family.

Finding the green job of your dreams

Trystan L. Bass — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 12:53:30 PST

The times they are a changin'. The U.S. economy isn't what it used to be, and old jobs are becoming old hat. But new technologies and shifting priorities are creating opportunities for job-seekers, especially if you want to make a living while leaving a lighter footprint on the planet.

Our own HotJobs points out several top recession-proof fields right now. The areas of education, energy, health care, and the environment itself are all good bets. And greenies will be glad to know that these overlap with E: The Environmental Magazine's list of booming eco-friendly job sectors.

Other hot fields include environmental law, information technology, government planning and land use, and waste management and recycling. Plus, jobs such as accounting, human resources, and project management continue to be needed within environmental organizations of all types.

So where do you start your green job search? We've collected some of the best websites for job listings and other resources for a new earth-focused career.

Sustainable Business Green Dream Jobs: Large list of positions at all levels with environmentally conscious employers. From solar water heating system installer to web producer, from human resources assistant to fish campaign organizer, you're bound to find something intriguing here.

Idealist.org Job Search: Openings at nonprofits; search on "environmental & ecology" or "energy conservation & green living" for unique listings such as organic farm manager in Southwest Florida and video editor for the Clinton Foundation.

Green Jobs: This site is all about the burgeoning area of renewable energy. If you're interested in solar, wind, or biofuels, whether installing, engineering, or selling, check this one out.

EnvironmentalCareer.com: Lists hundreds of jobs, especially in environmental sciences and energy fields. Also has opportunities to transfer existing skills into green businesses -- for example, a senior billing coordinator position for environmental consultants.

Business for Social Responsibility Jobs Board: Worldwide positions at companies that value people, communities, and the environment. Includes big names such as the Walt Disney Company.

Grist Job Board: Environmental groups from around the country post their jobs here. Also, Grist's Kevin Doyle has a series of articles about the green job market.

TreeHugger Job Board: Dozens of green business and organizations list their openings here. Subscribe to the RSS feed for the latest updates.

Jobs With the National Park Service: Love the great outdoors? You could work anywhere from Hawaii's volcanoes to Yellowstone's geysers. The park service has 16,000 permanent employees and another 10,000 seasonal employees each year.

World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms: If you're interested in the fast-growing field of organic food (no pun intended), you could volunteer on a farm to get experience. This site connects volunteers with farms around the planet.

Another green tip: Many companies encourage applying online these days, so you can email your resume. But if you have to print it, look for high-quality paper made with recycled fibers. No point killing trees when you're applying for an earth-friendly job!

The pen is mightier than the ... spork

Hank Green — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 14:16:21 PST

There's nothing I hate more than getting stuck using disposable cutlery. OK, actually, I just thought of several dozen things that I hate more than that ...

But I do hate it! What am I supposed to do, walk around with a spork in my pocket all the time? I already keep a plastic bag and a water bottle constantly handy -- a dining set would likely require a whole new coat!

But I always have pens. That's just the kind of person I am. So I could either use them like chopsticks or invest in a Din-Ink set!

The idea is pretty simple: it's just a biodegradable pen cap that happens to have a knife, fork or spoon on it. I don't know why they eschewed the ever-useful, surprisingly environmentally conscious spork. But, alas, they did.

These utensils are just as safe, and considerably more durable, than disposable cutlery. No word on pricing or availability yet. But I can't wait to whip one of these suckers out to impress my ecogeek friends.

Via Inhabitat and Zo_Loft Designs

New clothes dryer could save billions

Hank Green — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 10:20:57 PST

Generally when people offer up miracle devices from backyard and basement tinkering, we're pretty skeptical. But it's hard to argue with Michael Brown. Especially when he hooks his "Dryer Miser" up to a Whirlpool dryer, turns it on, and pulls out dry clothes using half as much energy as the exact same dryer without his device.

The device, really, is fairly simple. Instead of using a traditional air-in-contact-with-heating-coils heater, it uses an oil as the heat-transfer medium. The oil needs less energy to heat, and, once heated, holds onto the heat better. That oil is then used to heat the air that gets blown into the drying drum.

The device is so much more efficient that it can be plugged into a regular 110 V plug (instead of 220s now required by dryers). Considering how simple this is, it's a marvel (or perhaps a travesty) that GE or Whirlpool didn't think of it first.

Additionally, the heating unit only ever reaches about 150 F, since the heat-transfer is so much more efficient. Traditional dryers have to heat their elements up to 1000 F in order to reach optimal efficiency, resulting in about 15,000 household fires each year.

The device can be installed by a technician in 30 minutes at a total cost of around $300, which would be recouped in less then four years. A quick calculation based on the number of households with electric dryers (around 80 million) and the average amount spent on electricity for drying clothes a year ($85 per household) shows that this device could indeed save several billion dollars per year just in America.

Brown is already in talks with a major European manufacturer to integrate the device into new dryer units, and he's raised several million dollars in angel funding. He's also talking to the EPA about getting his dryers Energy Star rated. Up until now, dryers have been so inefficient that not a single one on the market has been awarded with the Energy Star label.

While it would have been easy to call his dryers the most efficient on earth, Brown always qualifies the statement with "aside from the sun." And that's a touch of modesty that, to me anyway, is very welcome.

Via CNet Clean Tech