Simple Ways Wednesdays - Episode 11

Posted by A. Caleb Hartley on October 1st, 2008 filed in CFL, Simple Ways
4 Comments »

Replace your incandescent light bulbs with more efficient bulbs

Ever burned yourself on a light bulb? Ever think about where that heat comes from?

All that heat is energy that is used, but does not create light.  There is waste in just that realization.  But if you also think about how much energy you use (read: “money you spend”) to cool your home, you realize that you can save even more.  If your light bulbs don’t create so much waste heat, your cooling system will not have to work as hard, either.

So replace those incandescent bulbs with Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs (CFLs).  If each household in the US changed just ONE incandescent bulb to compact fluorescent, the US would save enough energy to power all the homes in Delaware and Rhode Island combined. And because of that, CFLs save money that can be spent on other things.  The money saved could be spent on necessities (right now, with the credit crisis, this might be the most important point), or on other things that will increase your quality of life.

Congress agrees that this is important, as in December of last year they passed an energy bill which included a phase out of incandescent light bulbs.  In actuality, what the bill said is that all light bulbs sold after a time period phasing in between 2012 and 2014 must use 25% to 30% less energy than today’s products.  By 2020, all bulbs must use 70% less energy.  CFLs already meet the 70% requirement.

Between 2012 to 2030, consumers will save $40 billion in energy costs.  14 coal-fired power plants will avoid construction.  And 51 tons of carbon emissions will be avoided annually, according to the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy.

But what about CFL’s mercury content?  Well - this is a concern; however, bear in mind that a compact fluorescent light bulb holds an amount of mercury about the size of the tip of a ball-point pen.  If you are considering avoiding CFLs based on this, take a look around at your mercury thermometer.  It holds MUCH more mercury than a houseful of CFLs.

But if this is a huge concern for you, there is another option: Light-Emitting Diode (LED) Bulbs!

Read a comparison of Incandescent Bulbs, versus CFLs, versus LED bulbs.

Namaste,
A. Caleb Hartley

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Do you use CFLs? What do You think of them? How about LEDs? Light up the comments and tell us what you think!

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3.8 (2 people)

Simple Ways Wednesdays - Episode 10

Posted by A. Caleb Hartley on September 24th, 2008 filed in Simple Ways, paper
3 Comments »

Consider digital versions of your magazine subscriptions

The paperless world promised by computers sure does use a lot of paper.  If your office is anything like mine, you have people printing emails - often many emails - and then just leaving the paper on the printer, forgetting all about it.  Even though we have a digital copy of nearly every document ever sent to us, businesses and individuals just don’t feel quite right unless there is also a hard copy filed away somewhere.

And then there are magazines.  There are trade magazines which are often offered for free to anyone who works in a specific industry.  These magazines are very easy to subscribe to (and often hard to STOP subscribing to), which means that businesses generally receive many copies of the same issue, when only a couple would suffice.  We also all have our own personal subscriptions.  Trade magazines have begun to offer electronic versions, which, if used, cuts down significantly in trash generated by businesses, as well as virgin paper used to print the hard copy version of the magazine.

But what can be done about the personal magazine subscriptions that come to your home?  Enter Zinio.  Zinio offers a pretty substantial number of popular magazines in a digital format.  When you subscribe to a magazine, you have two options:

1. You can view the magazines through the Zinio website - instantly.  No waiting for the issue to be mailed to your house or to pick it up on the newsstand.  You will need to be connected to the internet to use this option.
2. Download and install the Zinio Reader - this option allows you to download the issues of the magazine onto your computer. They will be available anytime even if you are not connected to the Internet.

Zinio actually does have some trade magazines available as well: http://www.mercurymagazines.com/pr1/105/10501

Here are a few of the environmental magazines available through Zinio:

• Ode
• Good
• Yoga Journal
• Green Source

Additionally, here is a post on Sustainablog that includes a review of someone who sampled Zinio’s service and what she thought about it.

Namaste,
A. Caleb Hartley

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Do you use any digital subscriptions? Would you consider doing so? Why or why not? Deliver your opinions to the comment section and tell people what you think!

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3.4

Simple Ways Wednesdays - Episode 9

Posted by A. Caleb Hartley on September 17th, 2008 filed in Simple Ways, energy
1 Comment »

Write your representative(s) to encourage use of renewable energy!

While a few lawmakers push for more oil drilling off America’s protected coastlands, Congress is about to let tax credits for wind, solar and other alternative energies expire.

It’s a seriously bad move. If the credits are not renewed, wind and solar manufacturing will move overseas. We’ll lose thousands of good jobs - and reinforce our dependence on oil.

Take a moment to send a letter to Congress on this issue! Just go to:
http://ga0.org/campaign/energybill0908?rk=T7AyJ8s11Vf2W

Tell them that they should help jumpstart our flagging economy by committing to clean energy and good jobs.

Tax credits for wind, solar, and other energy innovation could create or save more than 100,000 jobs in the United States and also could position the US to become and sustain itself as the world leader in green energy technology.

Tell Congress you want a clean energy future including clean energy tax credits.

Wind and solar energy are already helping turn our economy around, but these industries are crumbling because Congress hasn’t extended the Production and Investment tax credits that built them.

116,000 good, high-paying jobs in the wind, solar, geothermal and biomass industries will be in jeopardy if these tax credits are allowed to expire.  A decade’s worth of progress could go to waste.

Tell Congress to extend the tax credits for wind and solar energy!

Tax credits certainly aren’t the whole answer – turning our country’s economy around will take a bold new plan, a “New Apollo Program” to invest in green technologies and the new jobs they’ll produce. But this legislation could give us a head start.

Once you’ve sent your letter, please be sure to tell your friends about this critical vote and ask them to help!

Namaste,
A. Caleb Hartley

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What do you think about drilling for oil and green energy and our current energy “crisis?” Spout off in the comments!

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3.7 (1 person)

Simple Ways Wednesdays - Episode 8

Posted by A. Caleb Hartley on September 10th, 2008 filed in Simple Ways, plastic
15 Comments »

Re-use plastic bags; or, even better, use canvas bags!

We’ve all heard how plastic bags are bad for the environment - they are ingested by wildlife (specifically sea-life), and animals get entangled in them and are unable to protect themselves or hunt or even move.

But what do we do with the plastic bags we already have?  Reuse them, if they are reusable.  I use them over and over until they have holes in them and I can’t trust them to carry much weight anymore.  I then either use them as a trash bag for my smaller trashcans (one last use for the bag), or I recycle them when I go to the grocery next.

I also use reusable bags - canvas, mostly.  My wife got the below bag as a gift from my brother for X-Mas when we visited him in Hong Kong last year.

Okay, you say, but plastic bags are free, and I don’t want to pay for canvas bags - they can be expensive!

You’re absolutely right.  Here’s a solution:  make your own!  You can make reuseable bags with nothing but an old tee shirt, some thread, and a needle!  There are great directions at Not the Jet Set.

Namaste,
A. Caleb Hartley

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Have another idea for plastic bag reuse? Have another way to make reusable bags (or get them very cheap or free)? Let us know in the comments!

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3.7 (1 person)

Green Hosting

Posted by A. Caleb Hartley on September 4th, 2008 filed in energy, green, host
7 Comments »

environmentastic!’s webhost recently went green!

Yes, I’m a little ashamed to admit that environmentastic! was not hosted originally on a green webhost, and even when we switched to Hostgator (for service and reliability reasons - don’t EVER use e3 servers to host your webpage!), they were not green.

The reason (not an excuse, a reason) was that I needed a reseller hosting account, as I host and run several websites for my wife and myself, and also a couple for friends and our neighborhood organization.  Once I had decided on Hostgator, I set it up and really haven’t been back to their site.  Their service and reliability is so good that I haven’t had a need to!

That said, an e-friend just switched hosting companies and moved to Hostgator.  Lisa at My Thoughts, Ideas, and Ramblings was having trouble with her old host and switched.  She mentioned that Hostgator offset 130% of their energy usage for servers and cooling (yes, MORE than their actual usage, and for server cooling, too!) by purchasing RECs (renewable energy credits).  Essentially, an REC is a way for a company or individual to purchase energy from renewable sources (like wind), even if it is not available directly to them at their location.  In other words, the energy Hostgator is buying doesn’t necessarily power their servers and a/c, but it is produced and fed into the power grid, where it commingles and is used just like any other energy.  The great thing about an REC is that, once purchased by one person or company, that energy cannot be purchased by another.  It’s not diluted by selling the same energy to multiple people, each believing they’re getting the full use of that power once it has been generated.

So now that environmentastic! is officially hosted green, I’ve decided that I will sell hosting! “environmentastic! green hosting” has a nice little ring to it, I think!

Namaste,
A. Caleb Hartley

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Is your host green? Would you switch to a green host, even if it cost a little bit more? Why or why not? Host your answers in the comments!

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3.7 (1 person)