Global warming starts and stops at home
THINGS YOU CAN DO TO REDUCE GLOBAL WARMING
I got this in one of those global warming emails that periodically get sent around. There are lots of decent ideas in this list ideas for the house, road, shopping. I thought I’d start with my experience around the home. - I’ve done many of them certainly not all but I’m working my way down the list.
My favorites?
Replace incandescent light bulbs with florescent light bulbs (CFLs).
As they break I replace them with CFLs. The big question here is what to do with the Mercury contained in these bulbs - yes, the little secret that doesn’t seem to make the news. (mental note - need to check with Monroe County Hazardous waste to see if they accept them)
Turn the heat down a degree or two in winter and the air conditioner up a degree or two in summer.
Blankets and fleece are a staple on my couches
Install a programmable thermostat. Programmable thermostats can save you $100 a year on your energy bill.
Yep - difficult to find one for zone heating, at least the way my house is wired, but something about waking up to a warm house.
Insulate and weatherize your home.
Got the attic insulated and am cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter. Best investment in the house so far. I’m not as efficient as I could be.
Use a clothesline instead of a dryer.
Rarely use a dryer. Summer or Winter. Makes a huge difference in energy bills
Avoid stand-by and turn off lights. Turn off televisions, videos, stereos, and computers when they are not in use.
These are the bane of my electical existence. How you shut these things off unless you pull out the plug? The same with those energy vampires otherwise known as recharging plugs.
So what are your stories? Here is the complete list for the home below.
Focus on the home
1) Replace incandescent light bulbs with florescent light bulbs (CFLs). Did you know that Australia has effectively banned the old style of light-bulbs? By 2010 they will not be sold there because they will not meet energy efficiency standards.
2) Buy “green power” - clean, renewable energy like solar and wind power. Did you know that today about 75 million electricity customers in 42 states have the option to buy green power through their utility or an alternative power supplier?
3) Turn the heat down a degree or two in winter and the air conditioner up a degree or two in summer. Did you know that for every degree you adjust your thermostat for 8 hours daily, you save about 1% of your annual heating costs?
4) Install a programmable thermostat. Programmable thermostats can save you $100 a year on your energy bill.
5) Clean or replace filters on your furnace and air conditioner. Cleaning a dirty air filter can save 350 pounds of carbon dioxide a year.
6) Insulate and weatherize your home. Properly insulating your walls and ceiling can save up to 25% of your heating bill and reduce CO2 by 2,000 pounds a year. Calking and weather-stripping can save another 1,700 pounds.
7) Blanket your water heater with insulation. You’ll save 1,000 pounds of carbon dioxide a year. You can save another 550 pounds per year by setting the water temperature no higher than 120 degrees.
Use less hot water. It takes a lot of energy to heat water. A low flow shower-head can save 350 pounds of CO2 per year. Washing clothes in cold water can save another 500 pounds.
9) Get a home energy audit. Many utilities offer free home energy audits to find where your home is poorly insulated or energy inefficient. You can save up to 30% off your energy bill and 1,000 pounds of CO2 a year.
10) Use a clothesline instead of a dryer. You can save 700 pounds of carbon dioxide when you air dry your clothes for 6 months out of the year.
11) Wash economically. Use the washing machine or dish washer only when you have a full load. Use washing powder suitable for low temperature washes and use economy programs.
12) About your refrigerator. Don’t leave fridge doors open for longer than necessary. Let food cool down fully before putting it in the fridge or freezer. Defrost regularly and keep at the right temperature. Where possible don’t stand stoves and refrigerators or freezers next to each other.
13) Avoid stand-by and turn off lights. Turn off televisions, videos, stereos, and computers when they are not in use. They can use between 10 and 60% of the power they use when on “stand-by”. Turn off lights when you don’t need them. Turn off computer screens when you take a break.
14) Use Energy Star products. Look for the Energy Star logo.
15) Recycle. You can save 2,400 pounds of CO2 a year by recycling half of the waste your household generates.
16) Plant a tree. A single tree will absorb one ton of CO2 over its lifetime. Shade provided by trees can also reduce your cooling bill by 10-15%.
17) Use the sun. Fit solar panels on the roof of your home. Turn your own home into a clean power station.
Here’s some info on CFL cleanup and disposal:
http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/cfl.asp
Thanks Rotten,
Nice to have passed the snopes test. CFLS do contain mercury and require care in disposal.
Whoops, apparently CFL’s are a little more dangerous than was first thought.
“Compact fluorescent light bulbs, long touted by environmentalists as a more efficient and longer-lasting alternative to the incandescent bulbs that have lighted homes for more than a century, are running into resistance from waste industry officials and some environmental scientists, who warn that the bulbs’ poisonous innards pose a bigger threat to health and the environment than previously thought. …
As long as the mercury is contained in the bulb, CFLs are perfectly safe. But eventually, any bulbs  even CFLs  break or burn out, and most consumers simply throw them out in the trash, said Ellen Silbergeld, a professor of environmental health sciences at Johns Hopkins University and editor of the journal Environmental Research.
“This is an enormous amount of mercury that’s going to enter the waste stream at present with no preparation for it,†she said.
Even a single CFL could provide toxic levels of exposure for mercury. One contains five milligrams of mercury, which would be enough to contaminate 6,000 gallons of drinking water. Low-mercury models have about one-sixth of the amount, but that’s still enough to contaminate 1,000 gallons. It makes the CFL one of the most toxic components of a household, one that causes kidney and brain damage when people get exposed to enough of it.
What happens when an incandescent bulb hits the floor? Simple: sweep it up, and try not to step on a shard of glass with bare feet. Here’s how people need to handle a broken CFL:
1. Open a window and leave the room for 15 minutes or more.
2. Shut off the central forced-air heating/air conditioning system, if you have one.
3. Carefully scoop up glass fragments and powder using stiff paper or cardboard and place them in a glass jar with metal lid (such as a canning jar) or in a sealed plastic bag.
4. Use sticky tape, such as duct tape, to pick up any remaining small glass fragments and powder.
5. Wipe the area clean with damp paper towels or disposable wet wipes and place them in the glass jar or plastic bag.
6. Do not use a vacuum or broom to clean up the broken bulb on hard surfaces.
7. Immediately place all cleanup materials outside the building in a trash container or outdoor protected area for the next normal trash.
8. Wash your hands after disposing of the jars or plastic bags containing cleanup materials.
9. Check with your local or state government about disposal requirements in your specific area. Some states prohibit such trash disposal and require that broken and unbroken lamps be taken to a recycling center.
10. For at least the next few times you vacuum, shut off the central forced-air heating/air conditioning system and open a window prior to vacuuming.
11. Keep the central heating/air conditioning system shut off and the window open for at least 15 minutes after vacuuming is completed.”
At least we can all have a warm fuzzy feeling while the bulb’s working.
We installed a tankless water heater which when there is no demand for hot water does nothing.
As for the CFL’s, I have installed them throughout the house. Aside from mercury being fun to play with the color temperature of current bulbs available on the market make me ill.
The advertised color temps are WAY off.
So how do you like the tankless water heater? Have you found savings on your overall energy bill as a result of that?
So far I love it. Nice not to hear the thing running when there’s no need.
As for the savings….I have seen our gas usage decline quite a bit in conjunction with two new furnaces installed at the same time.
My wallet has yet to reap the benefits as the feel good purchases cost me 13 K.
how does the tankless hold up for showers and washing machine/dishwasher? and how much of the 13 was for the tankless portion - if you don’t mind me asking?
As long as there is a demand for water it will be heated.
Wanna take a 2 hour shower, dishes and clothing at the same time. No problem.
$3100
How To Reduce Your Energy Bills / Energy Conservation Begins at Home
Imagine leaving a window open all winter long — the heat loss, cold drafts and wasted energy! If your home has a folding attic stair, a whole house fan or AC Return, a fireplace or a clothes dryer, that may be just what is occurring in your home every day.
These often overlooked sources of heat loss and air leakage can cause heat to pour out and the cold outside air to rush in — costing you higher heating bills.
Air leaks are the largest source of heating and cooling loss in the home. Air leaks occur through the small cracks around doors, windows, pipes, etc. Most homeowners are well aware of the benefits caulk and weatherstripping provide to minimize heat loss and cold drafts.
But what can you do about the four largest “holes†in your home — the folding attic stair, the whole house fan or AC return, the fireplace, and the clothes dryer? Here are some tips and techniques that can easily, quickly and inexpensively seal and insulate these holes.
Attic Stairs
When attic stairs are installed, a large hole (approximately 10 square feet) is created in your ceiling. The ceiling and insulation that were there have to be removed, leaving only a thin, unsealed, sheet of plywood.
Your attic space is ventilated directly to the outdoors. In the winter, the attic space can be very cold, and in the summer it can be very hot. And what is separating your conditioned house from your unconditioned attic? That thin sheet of plywood.
Often a gap can be observed around the perimeter of the door. Try this yourself: at night, turn on the attic light and shut the attic stairway door — do you see any light coming through? These are gaps add up to a large opening where your heated/cooled air leaks out 24 hours a day. This is like leaving a window open all year round.
An easy, low-cost solution to this problem is to add an attic stair cover. An attic stair cover provides an air seal, reducing the air leaks. Add the desired amount of insulation over the cover to restore the insulation removed from the ceiling.
Whole House Fans and AC Returns
Much like attic stairs above, when whole house fans are installed, a large hole (up to 16 square feet or larger) is created in your ceiling. The ceiling and insulation that were there have to be removed, leaving only leaky ceiling shutter between the house and the outdoors.
An easy, low-cost solution to this problem is to add a whole house fan cover. Installed from the attic side, the whole house fan cover is invisible. Cover the fan to reduce heating and air-conditioning loss, remove it when use of the fan is desired.
If attic access is inconvenient, or for AC returns, a ceiling shutter cover is another option for reducing heat loss through the ceiling shutter and AC return. Made from R-8, textured, thin, white flexible insulation, and installed from the house side over the ceiling shutter with Velcro, a whole house fan shutter cover is easily installed and removed.
Fireplaces
Sixty-five percent, or approximately 100 million homes, in North America are constructed with wood or gas burning fireplaces. Unfortunately there are negative side effects that the fireplace brings to a home especially during the winter home-heating season. Fireplaces are energy losers.
Researchers have studied this to determine the amount of heat loss through a fireplace, and the results are amazing. One research study showed that an open damper on an unused fireplace in a well-insulated house can raise overall heating-energy consumption by 30 percent.
A recent study showed that for many consumers, their heating bills may be more than $500 higher per winter due to the air leakage and wasted energy caused by fireplaces.
Why does a home with a fireplace have higher heating bills? Hot air rises. Your heated air leaks out any exit it can find, and when warm heated air is drawn out of your home, cold outside air is drawn in to make up for it. The fireplace is like a giant straw sucking the heated air from your house.
An easy, low-cost solution to this problem is to add a fireplace draftstopper. Available from Battic Door, a company known for their energy conservation products, a fireplace draftstopper is an inflatable pillow that seals the damper, eliminating any air leaks. The pillow is removed whenever the fireplace is used, then reinserted after.
Clothes Dryer Exhaust Ducts
In many homes, the room with the clothes dryer is the coldest room in the house. Your clothes dryer is connected to an exhaust duct that is open to the outdoors. In the winter, cold air leaks in through the duct, through your dryer and into your house.
Dryer vents use a sheet-metal flapper to try to reduce this air leakage. This is very primitive technology that does not provide a positive seal to stop the air leakage. Compounding the problem is that over time, lint clogs the flapper valve causing it to stay open.
An easy, low-cost solution to this problem is to add a dryer vent seal. This will reduce unwanted air infiltration, and keep out pests, bees and rodents as well. The vent will remain closed unless the dryer is in use. When the dryer is in use, a floating shuttle rises to allow warm air, lint and moisture to escape.
If your home has a folding attic stair, a whole house fan, an AC return, a fireplace, and/or a clothes dryer, you can easily, quickly and inexpensively seal and insulate these holes.
Mark D. Tyrol is a Professional Engineer specializing in cause and origin of construction defects. He developed several residential energy conservation products including an attic stair cover, an attic access door, and is the U.S. distributor of the fireplace draftstopper. To learn more visit http://www.batticdoor.com
I know you guys have promoted “The Story of Stuff” video before, and I like the point it makes - that all waste relates to all sorts of pollution - including global warming. So we started to try to think about things like packaging. Kids’ snacks for school, for example - lots of little packs or a box we split into reusable tupperware? Wegmans reusable bags. Plastic bags to save food or reusable storage? We find that the more we think about these things, the more we find how wasteful we’ve really been. But no time like the present to try and make some changes, right?
The “story of stuff” per request
Another easy change is in making purchases from stores.
- turning down bags as much as possible - though be careful, I find that if they’ve already put an item in the bag and then I tell them I don’t need one, many clerks just throw the bag out.
- just putting my vegetables into the shopping cart loose. do you really need to put your 3 apples in a bag for transport home?
- all things being basically equal, purchasing items with less or recyclable packaging
- buying organic or other green products is great - but not necessarily always the best option. it may be better to buy a locally produced “non-green” item over a “green” item shipped a great distance to your store. an example - I bought a box of unbleached coffee filters last month. the price was about the same, so I figured I was making a better choice. I later noticed that the “green” filters were manufactured in Germany. So I ended up doing more harm than good on my filters trans-atlantic journey.
Remember, Reduce - Reuse - Recycle is a good plan, but it is also in order of importance.
Walking. So often I see people using a car when they could go the short distance by pedal bike or just walk.
Breastfeeding, cloth diapers (clothes line), gardening-grow your own(no, not that-they can detect that from the air-I’ve seen it happen), bee keeping, eating locally grown if you can’t grow it yourself. Try to eat only what can be produced within 30 miles of your home. Baths, not showers.
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