Looking for an environmentally friendly watch?
- posted by Chuck Eesley @ 6:59 PM

 
For everything from eco-friendly CD/DVD towers to eco-friendly baby baskets . . . check out Greenculture.
- posted by Chuck Eesley @ 6:01 PM

 
Install solar.
- posted by Chuck Eesley @ 8:05 PM

 
Skip the screen saver . . .

Green Computing: Practical Tips to Make Your Computer Environmentally Friendly
- posted by Chuck Eesley @ 12:48 PM

 
Quote from a research article that I'm reading entitled: Why Companies Go Green: A Model of Ecological Responsiveness.

"Several respondents (companies) indicated that if environmental science was more definitive in assessing the ecological impacts of alternative activities and if consumers were more demanding, then they would more likely show greater ecological responsiveness."

A number of articles demonstrate that companies are very willing to produce a line of "ecoproducts" when customers are willing to pay more for them.
- posted by Chuck Eesley @ 9:58 AM

 
SETI for environmental data
Go, download this climate prediction model -- the more people download it, the better and faster climate predictions will be calculated.

» climateprediction.net portal: "The climateprediction.net experiment has been developed to allow a state-of-the-art climate prediction model to be run on home/ school/ work computers. By getting data from thousands of climate models, we will generate the world's largest climate prediction experiment."

We want you to run a climate model as a background process on your computer (similar to the successful SETI@home project). It should not affect any other tasks you use your computer for. If you choose to download the model, you will be supplied with your own, unique, version of the model. As the model runs, you can watch the weather patterns over the globe evolve. The results are sent back via the internet, and we are developing an interactive portal to allow you to compare your results with other people's as the experiment progresses. The Open University will be offering a short course based on the project, and there will also be opportunities to get schools involved with the project.

[via Greenswitch.org (the other enviroblog)]
- posted by Chuck Eesley @ 6:48 PM

 
Natural cleaning recipes

If you want to switch to natural cleanser and ditch those chemicals in your cupboard, start with these ingredients and check out these recipes, likely used by your grandmother and found in a number of Web sites:

Lemon juice – A good whitener, and cuts through grease on aluminum and porcelain.

White vinegar – The must-have cleaning product, a good whitener, disinfectant and polisher. Use with water for cleaning glass, metal and other hard surfaces. Removes mildew, water stains and grease and wax.

Baking soda – Cleans, deodorizes, polishes and removes stains. Use mixed with salt as a scouring paste or mixed with water for all-purpose cleaning.

Ketchup – Use to clean copper. Or, try scrubbing copper with vinegar and salt.

Pure soap – Made with animal fat or vegetable oil, as opposed to detergent, which is a chemical cleaner. Look for the word “soap” on the label, and use to clean just about anything. Available in flakes or liquid.

Window cleaner: Mix 2 cups water, 3 tablespoons vinegar and 1/2 teaspoon liquid soap in a spray bottle.

All-purpose household cleaner: Add 1 teaspoon TSP (tri-sodium phosphate) to a quart of water. This solution works well on countertops, walls and other surfaces.

Floor cleaner: For vinyl floors, use a gallon of water mixed with 1/2 cup vinegar. For wood floors, damp map with mild liquid soap.

Oven cleaner: Put warm water in a warm oven overnight to loosen burned on food. Scrub with steel wool after using water mixed with baking soda or TSP.

Sink scrubber: Mix baking soda and salt in equal amounts and use as a paste to scrub.

Furniture polish: Rub toothpaste on wood furniture to remove water marks.

Mix two parts olive oil to one part lemon juice. After rubbing the mixture in, let stand for several hours, then polish with a soft, dry cloth.

Drain cleaner: Pour 1/2 cup each vinegar and baking soda down the drain. Let sit for 10 minutes, then flush with half a gallon boiling water.

Silver cleaner: Soak silver in bath of warm water, 2 tablespoons of baking soda, 1 tablespoon of salt and a piece of aluminum foil. Wash normally after an hour. The tarnish will transfer to the aluminum foil.
- posted by Chuck Eesley @ 2:21 PM

 
I was doing some internet searching today to try and figure out if it saved more water to run the dishwasher or to wash the dishes by hand. There doesn't seem to be much evidence, but it appears that if you have a water effecient dishwasher than it does. It probably depends on how efficient you are when washing by hand too.

Around The House
Washing machine:

* A front-loading washer uses 22-25 gallons of water per load versus the 35-50 gallons consumed by a top loader. Even if you don?t change washers, you can save water by washing full loads, or making sure the water level adjustment is appropriate for the size of load you're washing.

Dishwasher:

* An automatic dishwasher uses 16-20 gallons of water per load. Resist the temptation to run a partially loaded dishwasher. (A dishwasher using on average 12 gallons per load is probably using less water than washing the same number of dishes by hand).
- posted by Chuck Eesley @ 1:37 PM

 
Stop pre-rinsing

Pre-rinsing

One consumer decision that greatly affects water and energy usage during dishwashing is rinsing the dishes before washing them in the dishwasher. If dishes are pre-rinsed using a dishwasher pre-rinse cycle, approximately one gallon of water is used. Pre-rinsing in the sink under running water, however, uses up to 25 gallons of water for 5 minutes of pre-rinsing--a substantial difference.

In the study discussed here, 93% did some pre-rinsing of dishes in the sink, and 48% rinsed five or more times per week. Generally, the younger the respondent, the more likely they pre-rinse dishes. These results were comparable to a 1978 study where 73% of dishwasher users (Leipnitz, 1980) pre-rinsed dishes before placing them in the dishwasher.

Appliance manufacturers recommend only scraping (and not rinsing) dishes before placing them into the dishwasher, yet the pre-rinse practice continues. Independent testing labs like Consumers Union (Consumers Reports, 1993, 1995) generally obtain satisfactory results without the pre-rinsing. So why do consumers continue to include this practice in their daily dishwashing routine? When asked why, consumers in this study gave five major reasons:

* It depends on the food (20%);
* Out of habit (28%);
* From experience dishes do not get clean without rinsing (28%);
* Don't think they will become clean if not rinsed (35%); and
* Dishes will not be washed right away (39%).

The foods study participants perceived as most difficult to remove were baked-on food, eggs, starchy food, melted cheese, greasy foods, and chocolate. Such foods likely received fairly intensive pre-rinsing. In addition, consumers may be pre-rinsing dishes instead of scraping to remove leftover food.
- posted by Chuck Eesley @ 1:32 PM

 
Conscious Conservation Makes A Difference
Conserving Saves Water And Money
In the bathroom:

The Toilet:

* Everytime you flush the toilet, you use 4-6 gallons of water. 25% of all water used in the home is flushed down the toilet.

* Replacing an old toilet with a water-saving, low-consumption model can save 1.5 to 3.5 gallons per flush.

* Never use the toilet as a wastebasket - every extra flush wastes water.

* Installing a toilet "dam" is an inexpensive way to save several gallons of water with each flush.

* Placing a plastic container filled with water in the toilet tank will displace some water used in each flush. (Make sure the container doesn't block the float arm and don't use a brick that could crumble and damage the toilet).

* Even a small leak in the toilet wastes hundreds of gallons per year. To detect a leak: Place several drops of food coloring in the tank, but don't flush. Wait 5 minutes. If color shows up in your toilet bowl, you have a hidden, silent leak -- quietly wasting up to 10 gallons of water per day.

The Shower:

* Standard showerheads dispense 5-15 gallons of water per minute. For even a short, 3-minute shower, that's 15-45 gallons.

* Shortening a shower from 15 minutes to 10 could save 10 to 30 gallons per shower.

* Using an aerated head can save an additional 10 gallons per shower. (Showers, however, conserve FAR more water than taking baths.) Low-flow showerheads are really inexpensive, and dispense only 2-3 gallons of water per minute. (The difference is virtually undetectable to the shower taker, and as an added bonus, you'll not only save water, but money and energy because you'll be heating much less.)

* The best low-flow showerheads include a flow-regulator and/or push button, on/off switch. They make it easy to reduce or turn off the water flow while you're lathering up. Even without a low-flow head, you can save 2-4 gallons per shower if you turn off the water while lathering up.

Around the house:

Washing machine:

* A front-loading washer uses 22-25 gallons of water per load versus the 35-50 gallons consumed by a top loader. Even if you don't change washers, you can save water by washing full loads, or making sure the water level adjustment is appropriate for the size of load you're washing.

Dishwasher:

* An automatic dishwasher uses 16-20 gallons of water per load. Resist the temptation to run a partially loaded dishwasher. (A dishwasher using on average 12 gallons per load is probably using less water than washing the same number of dishes by hand).

Faucets:

* Like the shower, inexpensive water aerators available to fit almost any faucet. A low-flow faucet aerator uses only .5 to 2.75 gallons of water per minute, and models are available with on/off buttons and flow regulators, too.

* Turning off the water while shaving can save 2-4 gallons

* Turning off the water while brushing your teeth can save 1-2 gallons of water

* Fix dripping faucets/and always turn faucets off tightly. A slow, steady drip can account for 350 gallons a month; a fast drip, 600 gallons a month; a small stream, 2,000 gallons a month, and a large stream, 4,600 gallons a month! That adds up to a cost of anywhere from $30-$300 per year.

* While waiting for water to run hot, catch the unused water in a container and use it to water plants, or do cooking or kitchen chores.


- posted by Chuck Eesley @ 1:30 PM

 
Hey, look! Duke's Environmental Alliance added Envirotech to their links page! While you're checking out their site, which I also helped to create a few years ago, check out the Duke Green Power Initiative, where Duke will match your donation towards purchasing "greener" electricity.
- posted by Chuck Eesley @ 2:29 PM

 
I thought that with the recent visit of Hurricane Isabel to my yard, a post on WIND POWER would be appropriate. This hurricane sure could have provided quite a bit of wind powered energy.

There was enough, in fact, to knock a big branch down, just missing my deck, but crashing right into my poor little home composter! It took a chunk out of the side which I'm about to go try to repair with some duck tape. :) Amazingly, the composter didn't blow over in the 30 - 40 mph winds! I had visions of my compost being strewn all over the neighbor's houses! I should write to the company and tell them. ha!
- posted by Chuck Eesley @ 7:34 PM

 
Go Solar

Hopefully Hurricane Isabel won't blow my roof off on Thursday. One day I will have a solar panel for a roof. :)

When most people think of solar electric power they
envision large, metal-framed panels that must be
individually mounted on some kind of racks, or in some
cases, moveable sun-tracking racks that turn the panels to
keep them facing the sun.

Recently, however, Uni-Solar and the U.S. Department of
Energy have joined forces to develop solar panels that
actually become part of the roof itself. This allows
roofing to evolve from protection from the weather to also
become a source of electrical power.

These solar panels can be applied as shingles, factory
bonded panels or field applied roll roofing. They are
flexible, unbreakable and weatherproof. They are also
aesthetically pleasing, blending in with standard roofs and
normal house construction. With the solar shingles, they
can be closely matched to standard asphalt shingles.

- posted by Chuck Eesley @ 11:09 PM

 
Doing a little background reading for one of the studies I'm working on as a volunteer research assistant and I came across some interesting information.

This study was on the factors leading to voluntary self-regulation by companies in order to avoid governmental regulation. The most important factors they found were the number of people in a state who are part of an environmental lobbying group, such as the Sierra Club, as well as how dirty the industries were in the state to start with, and finally the value of the manufacturing shipments that are made within the state (i.e. how "deep" the pockets are of the companies to make environmental improvements).

The value per additional person joining an environmental group was 31 pounds of reduced emissions per 1,000 pounds of emissions.

So go out and join an environmental group, it really works!
- posted by Chuck Eesley @ 10:27 PM

 
Got a question about solar? Ask Mr. Solar.

I was surprised on this one with just how much energy efficient appliances and light bulbs can save.

Can I Save electrical power on my refrigerator?

Modern refrigerators that include a heating element to defrost automatically use approximately 10 times the electrical power that an efficient one does. The space age Sun Frost refrigerators have approximately eight times more insulating in the sides and door than the regular domestic ones do. If you will feel the outside of your home refrigerator you will discover that the box is cold. This means that you are wasting a lot of electrical energy cooling the room as well as your box. Another major difference between the regular ones and the energy efficient ones is that they have their compressor installed on top so that the excess heat from the plates and motor will go into the room rather than heat up your box.

The Sun Frost refrigerators are very expensive, but they actually pay for themselves in reduced power consumption. They use only about 10 kilowatts of power per month compared with the normal refrigerator which uses 110 kilowatts per month. This is the reason that we have sold so many where people are needing a dependable refrigerator for their home or cabin. If they were to use solar electric panels to run the normal refrigerator then they would need an excessive amount of panels and therefore wasting money.

- posted by Chuck Eesley @ 8:02 PM

 
For those of you who may have had doubts . . .

Recycling works.

This was part of on-going research inspired by questions brought up by Patty about what's going on with recycling . . . is it happening as much as it can, what's the deal are people not buying the recycled stuff, is it just getting thrown away after all?

Everything I've found so far says that it is getting turned back into products and people are buying them . . . though they could certainly make more of an effort to buy more recycled products.
- posted by Chuck Eesley @ 11:59 AM

 
Thought I'd finally go solar . . .

Solar Energy Basics

Sunlight—solar energy—can be used to generate electricity, provide hot water, and to heat, cool, and light buildings.

Photovoltaic (solar cell) systems convert sunlight directly into electricity. A solar or PV cell consists of semiconducting material that absorbs the sunlight. The solar energy knocks electrons loose from their atoms, allowing the electrons to flow through the material to produce electricity. PV cells are typically combined into modules that hold about 40 cells. About 10 of these modules are mounted in PV arrays. PV arrays can be used to generate electricity for a single building or, in large numbers, for a power plant. A power plant can also use a concentrating solar power system, which uses the sun's heat to generate electricity. The sunlight is collected and focused with mirrors to create a high-intensity heat source. This heat source produces steam or mechanical power to run a generator that creates electricity.

Solar water heating systems for buildings have two main parts: a solar collector and a storage tank. Typically, a flat-plate collector—a thin, flat, rectangular box with a transparent cover—is mounted on the roof, facing the sun. The sun heats an absorber plate in the collector, which, in turn, heats the fluid running through tubes within the collector. To move the heated fluid between the collector and the storage tank, a system either uses a pump or gravity, as water has a tendency to naturally circulate as it is heated. Systems that use fluids other than water in the collector's tubes usually heat the water by passing it through a coil of tubing in the tank.

- posted by Chuck Eesley @ 9:29 PM

 
Here's an easy way to save water in the old WC (watering closet).

In addition, you can place a stone or plastic bottle filled with water inside the watertank. So you can save the quantity of water that equals to that stone's volumes each time you clean the closet. The wrinkle is called “to build a dam inside the watertank” in America.

I realized this might be confusing . . . it's referring to the toilet. You can stick a plastic bottle filled with water in the tank of the toilet to save water each time you flush because it doesn't have to fill up so much water in the tank.
- posted by Chuck Eesley @ 12:10 AM

 
Here's a fascinating one in the category of, "I never knew what I was missing:

Now, Enviro-Friendly is proud to introduce the revolutionary E-Co Shower AAA-rated water-saving showerheads. What makes them revolutionary, you ask? They give you a great shower, save you water, save you energy, and save you money. The way they do it is brilliant.

The "Secret" to the E-Co Shower shower is, there's an air bubble in almost every droplet of water, making the water stick to you and not bounce off like ordinary shower heads. The water passes through a tiny hole which makes the air bubble droplets cling and flow over your body like a warm champagne overcoat, spraying a strong gentle flow.

Last time I was in the shower I thought to myself, "this is nice, but a warm champagne overcoat would be much better!" An air bubble in almost every droplet, huh? Almost? Did they count? Leave some out on purpose?

[via these folks.]
- posted by Chuck Eesley @ 11:04 PM

 

Showering
The shower is typically the greatest consumer of hot water in a home. Determine whether your shower is a good candidate for a new showerhead with the help of a one gallon bucket and a watch with a second hand. First, turn on the shower to the pressure you normally use. Next, hold the bucket under the shower and time how long it takes the water to reach the one-gallon mark. If it takes less than 20 seconds, your flow rate is over 3 gallons per minute (gpm), and you should replace it with a water-saving showerhead. Conventional showerheads dispense four to five gpm, but installing a water saving showerhead will drop that number to two to three gpm, a big savings over time.

When buying a water-saving showerhead look for one that uses no more than 2.5 gpm at standard residential water pressure. Theshowerhead vary in cost but will pay for itself in as little as four months. Check with the local utility before purchasing a showerhead since many companies offer special prices or rebates on energy-saving products.

Faucet Aerators
A conventional faucet will deliver 2-4 gpm while faucet aerators can reduce that amount to .5 or 1 gpm. A higher flow rate may be needed in the kitchen if the sink is used for dish washing. Some aerators are sold with a shut-off valve, allowing it to temporarily turn off the water without changing the hot/cold water mix. A faucet aerator will cost just a few dollars and can easily pay for itself in a short period of time.

- posted by Chuck Eesley @ 10:06 PM

 
Water saving shower heads

Most 'older style' shower heads use twenty litres of water, or more, a minute, while ten litres is actually enough for a refreshing cleansing shower.

So, if you have a 7 minute shower, that's 50,000 litres per year.

Your local hardware or plumbing supply store stocks inexpensive, water-saving shower heads that you can install yourself.

Install an AAA rated shower head. It uses only 7 litres per minute. That's a 45 per cent boost in its efficiency which could save 28,000 litres per year, per person.

For even less money, you can purchase a small valve that will limit flow through your present shower head.

Brushing your teeth

If you brush your teeth twice a day, for 3 minutes each time, and leave the tap running while you're brushing, you'd use around 5 litres per minute. That's 10,950 litres per year, per person.

If you use a glass of water instead to rinse your mouth after brushing, you could save 9,100 litres per year, per person.

Taking a bath

A normal sized bath holds 150 litres of water. This is the same amount of water you would use in 7 minutes using a conventional shower head.

If you have a AAA rated shower head a 17 minute shower would use the same amount of water as an average bath.

[via these guys]
- posted by Chuck Eesley @ 8:53 PM

 
Here is a selection of abstracts and papers from a professor who I am working with on some research on exploring the locus of profitable pollution reduction.

In recent years, scholars have argued that reducing pollution can improve financial performance (Velazquez, 1999). Previous research has demonstrated that an association exists between environmental and financial performance, but the direction, nature, and mechanism for the relationship remain only partially understood. In this paper, we more completely test for the existence of the relationship, and we extend and test theories for why pollution reduction may cause financial gain. Drawing from the information economics literature, we hypothesize why managers miss opportunities for profitable pollution reduction and where these opportunities are likely to exist. We find strong evidence that firms under exploit source reduction (pollution prevention), and thus find that additional source reduction often leads to financial gain. We find no evidence that they under exploit pollution reduction by other means. Indeed, we find weak evidence that they may over exploit the treatment of waste onsite.

The study we are going to be working on this year though is when environmentally advocacy groups are effective in pressuring industries to adopt higher standards.
- posted by Chuck Eesley @ 4:11 PM

 
I just created a comments feature, so if you have suggestions, comments, questions, or are just reading this blog, please leave a comment and let me know what you think.
- posted by Chuck Eesley @ 4:20 PM

 

Ninety percent of solid waste in the U.S. was deposited in landfills in the mid-1980s.

U.S.A. Statistics generated by the Environmental Defense Fund were reported in the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission Master Composter Training Manual as follows:

* Every Sunday, more than 500,000 trees are used to produce the 88% of newspapers that are never recycled.
* We throw away enough office and writing paper annually to build a wall twelve feet high stretching from Los Angeles to New York City.
* Americans go through 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour, only a small percentage of which are now recycled.
* Every year we dispose of 24 million tons of leaves and grass clippings, which could be composted to conserve landfill space.
* We throw away enough iron and steel to continuously supply all of the nation's automarkets.
* American consumers and industries throw away enough aluminum to rebuild our entire commercial airfleet every three months.
* We throw away enough glass bottles and jars to fill the 1350-foot twin towers of New York's World Trade Center every two weeks.

In Texas in 1991, our solid waste was made up of 41.1% paper, 14.7% Yard Trimmings, 10.1% Food Scraps, 8.3% Plastic, 7.9% Metal, 4.8% Glass, and 13.1% Other.

While I don't have statistics for every country, the evidence is that the problem is widespread in developed countries:

[via this very extensive site on composting and buying home composters.]
- posted by Chuck Eesley @ 12:02 PM

 
Think you can't compost in a cold environment? Think again!
- posted by Chuck Eesley @ 11:30 PM

 

Yard and food wastes make up approximately 30% of the waste stream in the United States.

The standard means of disposal for most yard and food waste include landfilling and incineration. These practices are not as environmentally or economically sound as composting. Yard waste which is landfilled breaks down very slowly due to the lack of oxygen. As it decomposes, it produces methane gas and acidic leachate, which are both environmental problems

Landfilling organic wastes also takes up landfill space needed for other wastes. Incinerating moist organic waste is inefficient and results in poor combustion, which disrupts the energy generation of the facility and increases the pollutants that need to be removed by the pollution-control devices. Composting these wastes is a more effective and usually less expensive means of managing organic wastes. It can be done successfully on either a large or small scale, but the technique and equipment used differ.

[via this site]
- posted by Chuck Eesley @ 11:29 PM

 
Think that you can't compost in an urban area? Think again! With the right mix of browns like leaves, wood chips, even cardboard to "greens" like food scraps you shouldn't get any odors. If there are odors, just add more "browns".

Why Compost?
Composting is a practical and fun way to turn your organic waste into a useful soil amendment for use in your plants, yard or garden.

Composting:

* Saves you money by producing less waste for disposal and not having to buy soil amendments.
* Saves water by helping the soil to hold moisture.
* Benefits the environment by recycling valuable organic resources at your home which saves on waste collection and disposal costs.
* Helps garden and house plants by improving the fertility and health of the soil.


Composting Basics:

* Compost piles are living systems and need Carbon ("Browns"), Nitrogen ("Greens"), Air and Water.
* Mix two parts "Greens" (vegetable and fruit wastes, coffee grounds, grass clippings, herbivore manures) to one part "Browns" (leaves, straw, saw dust, chopped wood and pruning).
* Maintain the compost pile air and water balance so that it is as moist as a wrung out sponge.
* During the composting process, the volume of the materials will decrease by one half and temperatures can reach 130'-150'F.
* Do not compost: meat, bones, fish, dairy products, breads, dog or cat feces, treated wood or sawdust, diseased plants.

[via Durham, NC's site]
- posted by Chuck Eesley @ 11:27 PM

 
I bought a composter yesterday and set it up last night. Mine is the Harmonious Technologies, 13 cu. ft. bad boy. Threw my first batch of "browns" and "greens" in along with some water . . . fresh soil here we come!

Here is one site on composting.
- posted by Chuck Eesley @ 9:27 AM