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Efficient Living: Spring 2009 |
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Written by Nevada Home
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Tuesday, 03 February 2009 |
Econet Tip: Tips to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint by 20%
by Nevada EcoNet
2009 marks Nevada EcoNet’s 20th anniversary. Why not help celebrate by reducing your energy, waste, water, and emissions by 20%? Here are 20 tips to help you get started.
1 Where to begin? A great Web site for ideas is www.carbonfootprint.com.
Reducing Energy Consumption:
2 Reduce your energy consumption by turning off lights, electronics, and small appliances when not in use.
3 Turn down the heat and the water heater.
4 Insulate your water heater.
5 Fix air leaks and add insulation to your home. Go to www.energymastershome.com for more information.
Reducing Waste: Think reduce, recycle, reuse
6 Buy in bulk (to avoid individually packaged items).
7 Use your reusable bags when shopping (and not just for groceries).
8 Use reusable coffee mugs and water bottles.
9 Start a home compost pile. Go to www.compostguide.com or www.howtocompost.org. Local organizations, Sierra Worm Solutions and Full Circle Compost, can also help.
10 Use Waste Management’s curbside recycling program for your plastics, glass, and paper. For a recycling index, check out Keep Truckee Meadows Beautiful at www.ktmb.org.
11 Local non-profits such as New2uComputers and Computer Corps will take unwanted computers and other electronic waste.
12 Donate clothing, old furniture, and other household items to your favorite non-profit organization. Many will even pick up at your house.
13 For hazardous materials, contact Clean Harbors Environmental at www.cleanharbors.com.
Reducing Water Consumption:
14 Take cooler, quicker showers, and don’t let the water run when not necessary.
15 Replace old toilets with efficient ultra-low flush (ULF) toilets or retrofit your toilet with a displacement device.
16 Fix leaks.
17 Install a faucet aerator to your kitchen sink or replace an old dishwasher or washing machine with a new water-efficient one.
18 Fill up the sink versus running the water to wash dishes and vegetables. Make sure your dishwasher is full before running it.
19 Use water-efficient landscaping. Plant drought-resistant perennials, trees, shrubs, and groundcover. For information about local plants, contact Interpretive Gardens at www.interpretivegardens.com.
20 Properly position sprinklers. Water twice a week and at cooler times. Don’t let water run when not being directly used. Set sprinkler timers to avoid overwatering. For more ideas, check out Truckee Meadows Water Authority at www.tmh2o.com.
Remember that small steps do make a difference for the environment, and your water and power bills.
Mark your calendars for Sunday, April 19th for Nevada EcoNet’s 20th Annual Earth Day Celebration at Idlewild Park, the largest and most informative environmental event in Northern Nevada.
Nevada EcoNet is the center for environmental information and education in Northern Nevada. For more information or to volunteer: 323-3433 or www.nevadaeconet.org.
Tit for Tat: Bathroom Air Freshener
by Doresa Banning
The typical, off-the-shelf air freshener tends to be environmentally toxic and mask, instead of eliminate, unwanted odors. There’s good news on this front, however.
A new product on the market eradicates and replaces human bathroom odors with a pleasant fragrance—hence, it’s name: Poo~Pourri.
Rather than being made up of chemicals and manufactured scents, Poo~Pourri (www.poopourri.net) is comprised of all-natural essential oils, known for their aromatherapeutic qualities.
Poo~Pourri works a bit differently than other fresheners. You spritz the toilet water with about four to six Poo~Pourri sprays before doing your business. The product’s oil-based formula creates a film on the toilet water’s surface, trapping obnoxious smells. Flushing diffuses the Poo~Pourri into the air, creating a nice and fresh-smelling bathroom. Who doesn’t want that?
Three different Poo~Pourri scent combinations are available. Original Poo~Pourri contains lemongrass, bergamot, grapefruit and other essential oils. “Royal Flush” mixes eucalyptus and spearmint. “No. 2” is a blend of mandarin, bergamot, and orange with hints of peach and berries. Various gift sets are available, too. Because of the classy packaging, you easily can display the product in your bathroom, hoping that it catches your guests’ eyes (and that they use it).
Poo~Pourri comes in two-, four-, and eight-ounce bottles. Two ounces of the Original cost about $10, four ounces are about $15 and eight ounces are about $25. Poo~Pourri is available at Lounge (538 W. Plumb Lane, Suite C) in the Plumgate shopping center and at various online stores.
Doresa Banning is a Reno-based freelance writer.
Using Passive Solar Design to Save the Energy Bills
by Tim Hauserman
You’ve had an energy audit performed on your house and then plugged all the leaks with insulation. When you leave the room, you usually remember to turn off the lights and you’ve replaced most of your lights with compact fluorescents — better known as CFLs. You’ve even hauled away that ancient refrigerator and installed a more energy-efficient one, and your clothes flap in the breeze in the bright sunshine instead of spinning around in the dryer. And still, the media dishes out daily lectures on what an energy scofflaw you are, chewing up more than your share of kilowatts and destroying the planet in the process. Finally, after all this, you are left cringing in the faint light of your living room, frightened by the sight of your electric bill. What else can you do that doesn’t require you to rebuild your house or live like you are camping? First, take a deep breath, look at your house and your situation, and start to take a few more small and simple steps to lower your energy bills.
One way to decrease both your electric and gas bills is to incorporate passive solar design elements into your home. Basically, passive solar design uses a few simple design features to let the sun light and heat your home (see sidebar). It is considered passive solar because there are no electronic gadgets required. Active solar, on the other hand, uses an array of photovoltaic cells to actually produce electricity. This electricity is then used directly by the homeowner or sold to the power company to reduce or eliminate the power bill. Active systems are becoming more common and are certainly worth looking into, but they can be a substantial investment, while incorporating a few passive design elements can be relatively inexpensive.
While it is certainly easier to incorporate passive solar elements when you are building your home, there are still a number of things you can do to make your existing home more energy efficient. The first step is to get more light into your house. In so doing, you won’t have to turn on the lights as often, and the house will be warmer, thus requiring less heating. Think of installing skylights and solar tubes.
One solution is The Solatube Daylighting System, which captures sunlight on the rooftop and redirects it down a reflective tube into interior spaces. It doesn’t take up a lot of space and once the tube reaches your ceiling, a diffuser spreads the light throughout the room. Another easy fix is to use task lighting. Instead of flipping a switch and having twelve lights blaze on, producing perfect conditions for nighttime baseball, have a single light right next to your favorite reading chair. And if you need more lighting, set it up so that your light switches allow you to turn on only the lights you need. Another way to reduce your energy bill is to make your house brighter by painting over dark interior colors with light colored paint and removing that drab brown carpet that has been in your house since Jimmy Carter was president.
If you are lucky enough to have your house oriented towards the south, take advantage of the opportunity. First, if they are not there already, put in some nice-sized windows facing south. Then install an awning above the windows — shading out the sun in the summer, but letting the lower winter sun shine in. If your south-facing side is surrounded with thick trees, cut the conifers to allow the sun to reach your house. You can keep the deciduous trees. The leaves will shade out the heat in the summer, but fall off the trees in time to let the sun in when it is needed.
Eli Meyer from the Sierra Green Building Association says, “Install insulated curtains over all windows, especially the large windows facing south. This will help the home hold heat at night, reducing or even eliminating the need for supplemental heating.
Automated/mechanized shades reduce the need for the homeowner to constantly be opening and closing window shades. The cost of the system will quickly pay for itself by reducing heating demands. Shading systems may also help prevent overheating in spring and fall.”
A primary goal of passive solar design is to reduce the daily temperature swings so your house is not too hot during the day and too cold at night. You do this by absorbing heat coming through south facing windows and insulating and putting mass between you and the outside on the north facing walls and windows. On the south side this might mean installing tile or concrete floors next to the windows, or a stone veneer on the walls — they all absorb heat. Interested in adding a greenhouse? The warmth from this room could help heat up the rest of the house. Meyer notes, “Radiant floors do not function well to absorb passive solar energy since they are already heated, compromising their ability to absorb any additional heat energy. Buildings with radiant floors should locate the thermal mass on the walls instead.”
While passive design suggests focusing on bringing the sun in on the south side, you also need to focus on not allowing the cold coming from the north side to get into your house. This means fewer windows and more thermal mass on the north side. If you have a garage or storage area on the north side of the house, this can be helpful, as it insulates the house from the colder air. Chris Worcester from Solar Wind Works in Truckee recommends something as simple as putting your shelves loaded with books on the north side of the house. Scott Terrell, a conservation specialist with the Truckee Donner Public Utility District says, “I recommend double or triple-pane glass on the north and generally the east and west window orientations.”
Looking to learn more? The Sierra Green Building Association is a great resource, go to www.sigba.org. You can also attend Terrell’s Passive Solar Building Design Class at Truckee Meadows Community College. Get information at www.tmcc.edu or call Terrell at (530) 582-3931.
Tim Hauserman is a freelance writer living in Tahoe City and the author of The Tahoe Rim Trail: The Official Guide for Hikers, Mountain Bikers and Equestrians. He also wrote Monsters in the Woods: Backpacking with Children and Cross-Country Skiing in the Sierra Nevada. |
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