Just One Thing: Programmable Thermostats

Several of my busy friends have asked me if there is just one thing they should definitely do, what is it?   To save money and use less fuel, get an Energy Star programmable thermostat and program it.   The energy auditors I work with tell me that reducing your house temperature by 1 degree for 8 hours a day (at least in New England) will reduce your heating fuel use by 1%.

If you have a regular (non-programmable) thermostat for your heating system and you leave it at the same temperature all day and night,  then you will see considerable savings by just installing a programmable thermostat to turn the temperature down after you go to bed and bring it back up before you get up in the morning. If you are out of the house during the day, an Energy Star thermostat has settings for morning, daytime, evening and night, allowing you to turn the temperature down during the day while you're gone as well.  You can easily set your temperature down 8 degrees for 8 hours at night, and if no one is home during the day, 8 degrees for 8 hours during the day, resulting in a 16% savings on your bill!

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Alternative Carbon Offset Idea

Traveling has one of the biggest green house gas (GHG) impacts during the holidays as we fly, drive, train or bus across the country to spend time with our families and friends.  While you may be able to leverage technology as an alternative to some business travel, nothing can replace being there with your family at the holidays.  So what do you do about traveling for the holidays?

First, you should try to take the most efficient form of transportation time and money permit, but since most of us can't drive a Prius instead of fly, like Ed Begley, Jr. does, we have to find other options.  One such option is Carbon Offsets.  Also, I'm not sure I'd survive driving from Boston to Denver for a wedding this winter with two five year-olds and an infant.

Carbon offsets are a formalized way that people can assuage their guilt for producing carbon.  If you are not familiar with carbon offsets, you can find out more about them at places like TerraPass and the Carbon Fund.  In general I am a big fan of putting a price on carbon (CO2 and other GHG emissions) and until a carbon tax or cap and trade system is in place, things like carbon offset programs are a form of voluntary price hike for carbon.  My big hesitation about the different carbon offset programs is how do I know if the money is going towards actual and effective projects that offset the carbon dioxide emitted from my activity.  I have purchased a few small offsets in the past, but with an uncertain feeling around whether they made a difference.  Could I do better investing the same money into energy efficiency improvements myself?  What I have settled on doing is instead of buying an offset through one of these companies, I see what it would cost to offset my flight and then put that money into a savings account for doing green projects around the house.

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My First HEET Barnraising

I am in fact caulking a window in this picture. I was participating in a "barnraising" for the Women's Center in Cambridge, MA where approximately 40 women got together to weatherize their building. It was organized by an organization called HEET.

HEET organizes gatherings to teach people how to weatherize their homes. They gather at a home or building that needs to be weatherized and volunteers break into groups to work on different weatherization tasks. Each group has a leader who is familiar with the work that needs to be done and an appropriate number of people who want to learn and practice the task.

At the HEET I attended, the groups included caulking, sealing a fireplace, winterizing windows, installing and programing thermostats, weatherstripping doors and touching up exterior concrete. I was interested in getting more experience caulking, so I joined that team. I practiced both caulking windows with a caulk gun and using temporary, removable putty (rope caulk) on the basement windows that could be sealed up for the winter.

The Cambridge HEET program has been running for a year now and they have been branching out to help other cities and towns set up their own programs. Their goal is that the volunteers will take the skills they have learned and implement them on their own homes.

Jonathan and I hope to participate in more of their barnraisings in the coming months.

Happy Greening!
Alicia

That Makes Cent$

Last November, as part of an EPA's Energy Star national campaign (p. 8 & 10), our home was featured as an example of reducing your home energy use in New England.  Channel 7 Boston (WHDH) interviewed us and the EPA's Energy Star's Melissa Klein for a "That Makes Cent$" segment.  Check out the online video from the interview for some good tips on saving energy around the home.  Look for the "Watch this video" link at the top of the article.

Happy Greening!
Jon

Alicia's Green Gift Guide

There are a plethora of lists of "green gifts" out on the web, in magazines and on tv.  I believe that the best gifts for the environment are ones that are not tangible at all.   I know a did a posting on consumable gifts,  but I'd like to take that one step further and talk about intangible gifts.

There is a time and place for tangible gifts,  for example, children should receive gifts and there are people who need things.   I believe that all children should receive gifts of toys and clothes occasionally, which is why we participate in Giving Tree programs in addition to giving our children things.   I have also been teaching my children that toys do not need to be new to be wonderful gifts. Sometimes a "previously loved toy" is just as good as a new toy, and sometimes you can get something you could otherwise not have afforded.

But back to intangibles.  If you are giving gifts simply because it is the season for giving,  or you want to thank someone with a gift,  consider whether they need another knickknack, sweater or water bottle or if there are other things that would express your feelings just as well.   Consider giving someone a gift certificate or gift membership.   One of our favorite wedding gifts was a gift certificate to a very expensive local restaurant and the gift giver included babysitting as well! (It was about a year after the wedding, so the babysitting was an important bonus!) Some other great gifts we have received include
 a year-long membership to our local Children's Museum and spa gift certificates.

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Reusing Old Business Cards

Over time things change, maybe your title changes or you have a new office, so what do you do with those old business cards that are no longer useful for their original purpose?  Of course, you should recycle them, but before you do that, first reuse them.

I recently started using my old business cards as scratch paper for taking little notes.  While I'm listening to voicemail I find it useful to write down the phone number, so I write it on the back.  I would not recommend writing notes for other people on them as they may get confused by the outdated information on the other side, but they make perfect little scraps of paper for personal notes.  When I'm done with the note, I put them in the recycle bin.

The other lesson I learned about business cards, is that you should really only get as many as you think you might need before that next change, let's hope promotion.  The last time I ordered business cards getting 500 was only a dollar or so more than getting 250, so I got 500.  Less than 2 years later, I still have well over 350 cards that I never used, so I can write a lot of notes.  This time around, I did the green thing and only ordered 250 cards.  I can always order more and hopefully by then the options for environmentally friendly business cards will be more readily available.

Happy Greening!
Jon

Reuse "Disposable" Restaurant Cups

It took me several years to realize that the plastic cups with lids and straws that are used for children at restaurants are considered "disposable" by restaurants. In other words, if you don't take them with you, they will throw them out. These cups are very, very reusable, and can save you a ton of money on buying straw cups for your kids. They are typically plastic number 5 and hold up very well in the dishwasher. One caveat is that the lids are not as sturdy as screw on lids, so they don't work well for wandering around the house or situations where they may get dropped.

We use ours for meals at the table, for drinks outside and for parties and gatherings. Because they come free from the restaurants, if they do get lost or broken, it's not a big deal. I don't have any qualms about sending one home with a friend who needs a drink for the car or with the kids to the neighbor's house. I have collected a couple of large stacks to use for children and adults at parties. This way I have plenty of reusable cups and I don't have to buy disposable cups when I entertain.

Other uses for these cups include playing in the sand, in the bathtub, growing plants, and a variety of craft projects.  Please let us know what creative ideas you have for these cups!

Even if you have too many already, don't leave them behind at the restaurant. The server will just throw them away, and at the very least you can recycle them!

Happy Greening,
Alicia

Plastic Silverware Is Not a One Time Use Item

Do you throw away your plastic silverware every time you use it? I challenge you to start saving it, running it through your dishwasher and reusing it. Most plastic ware can be reused this way for years.

When I'm in a situation where I'm using plastic ware, like a fast food restaurant or cafeteria, or a party at the office, for example, rather than tossing the plastic ware in the garbage, I usually wrap it in a napkin and stick it in my purse, coat pocket or other bag. When I get home, I run it through the dishwasher and stick it in our silverware drawer.

I send the plastic ware in lunches with my husband and children. They all know that the expectation is to bring it home, but if for some reason it doesn't come home, it's not the end of the world. I also use plastic ware for the children to eat with, rather than buying special plastic forks and knives designed for toddlers. This saved me a ton of money when they were younger!

We have accumulated quite a lot of plastic ware. Periodically I'll stick a bag of it in the cupboard. Then when it's party or picnic time, I have plenty for all my guests and I don't have to go out and buy plastic ware. We always make sure our guests know that in our house, plastic silverware is to be washed and reused!

Happy Greening,
Alicia

Defanging your Cable Box Vampire

Earlier this week, the EPA released the new Energy Star requirements for Audio/Video (AV) equipment including CD, DVD and Blu-ray players.

The new specification establishes On mode and low-power Sleep mode power consumption limits and Auto Power Down requirements that AV products must meet in order to earn the ENERGY STAR label.

When you are in the market to purchase new AV equipment, you can save considerable money in operating costs (electricity) by purchasing models with the ENERGY STAR label.

Unfortunately these new requirements do not magically make your old equipment more energy efficient and even worse, they do not cover the lurking vampire in most homes, the Cable Box (aka Set-top Box).  While there are Energy Star qualified cable boxes, the requirements around low power sleep mode do not apply.  Did you know that your cable box uses as much electricity when it is "powered off" as when you have it on? 

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Alicia Presenting Massachusetts Home Energy Seminars

Last winter a colleague and I developed a series of Home Energy Savings seminars for the Massachusetts Municipal Association.   These seminars discuss ways to reduce electricity and water use through a variety of do-it-yourself home improvements and more in-depth investments to reduce your energy usage for heating and cooling.  The seminars present information about free home energy audits (the ones we've talked about on the blog) and rebates available to Massachusetts residents for energy-reducing home improvements. 


So far the presentation has been given in over 40 cities and towns throughout Massachusetts and we are continuing to present it this winter.   



I will be presenting the following public seminars:

• Saturday,  12/5/09 1PM Reading 
  Reading Public Library "Weatherizing Your Home for Ultimate Savings"
• Saturday, 12/12/09 1PM Hamilton
  Hamilton-Wentham Library "Weatherizing Your Home for Ultimate Savings"

Some quotes from our attendees include:

I thought I knew most of the small tasks for saving energy – but I learned more!

Very enjoyable! Easy to listen to and understand

Our seminars are free and open to the public.   If you're interested in attending the entire seminar schedule is available at: http://www.mma.org/events-mainmenu-47/mma-energy-savings-seminars

I hope those of you in Massachusetts will find a seminar near you to attend, and please share this schedule with your friends and neighbors.

Happy Greening!
Alicia

Late Fall Broccoli Harvest

We live in the Boston area and we've already had some significant frost, in fact this afternoon we were clearing ice off the picnic table.  Most of my garden has been put to bed, but there are still a few things producing.   This leads me to thinking about what items to plant next year so that we have fresh vegetables and herbs as long as possible.   Thinking back to the spring, the first thing we were harvesting was snap peas, and if we had gotten them in even earlier, we would have been eating them earlier.  You can plant snap peas as soon as you can work the ground!  Right now I'm thinking about the other end of the spectrum though.  Right now we ave abundant fresh mint, parsley and sage in our herb garden.  Our last producing vegetables are broccoli and onions

Onions are new for me this year, and I haven't actually harvested any yet.  What I've read says that I'm waiting for the tops to fall over and turn brown.   They still seem to be growing away in our garden, the tops all look healthy and green.

Broccoli is a new winner for us this year!  We first started picking broccoli in the middle of the summer.  The plants that were in full sun produced first, and have produced the best.   After we cut off the big middle bunch,  the sides of the broccoli have continued to produce little, bite-sized bunches ever since.  These take a slight bit more effort because I have to cut each little bunch,  but they are ready to go for snacks for the children.

Ellie and I picked a good meal's worth of broccoli from three plants today and the plants seem to still be growing, I'm hoping to get at least another meal from them.

I like growing our own food when possible, because it cuts out the middle man, the transportation and we know what chemicals have - or in our case - have not - been used on the plants.  I also find that it's much easier to convince the children to eat vegetables that they actually plant, grow and pick themselves.

In the spring we'll talk a lot more about gardening, but for now I'm making a note that broccoli was a great investment this year, and for best results they should go in full sun.

Happy Greening!
Alicia

TIP: Reducing the ICK factor in composting with a countertop compost bin

Composting is a great way to avoid sending vegetable scraps to the landfill while at the same time making nutrient rich compost for your garden.  With a few tips you can avoid the ICK factor all together and make composting easier.  One simple step is to use a table or countertop compost bin to temporarily store your compost before you take it out to the outside compost bins or pile.

Our Countertop Compost Bin in Action!

We had sort of accepted that composting has to be a bit icky because you are after all dealing with the decomposition of stuff.  Since our compost bins are out back, we had been using a bowl or plastic container to put the peels, scraps, etc. into on our counter and worked very hard to take it out every night so it didn't get all icky or attract fruit flies.  It was a pain, but we knew it was good for the garden and the earth.

It wasn't until a good friend gave us a countertop compost bin that we really experienced how much easier it could be.  Now we take the compost out when the countertop bin is full, which is typically every 2-3 days, rather than every night.  We've gone over a week and not had any problems from odors or fruit flies from the compost.  The bananas left in the fruit bowl for too long is another story.  The ventilation in the lid actually inhibits the decomposition, which is what makes it icky and sometimes smelly.

We dump our coffee grounds, tea bags, vegetable peels, fruit cores, etc. into the bin and put the lid on.  Then every couple days, we take it out and dump it in our compost bin and we are ready for next time.  We have not found it necessary to rinse it out every time we empty it.

If you are going to compost, and we highly recommend that you do, then seriously consider getting a countertop compost bin.  We prefer the ceramic one because it does not collect any odors like a plastic one.  We also prefer the ceramic over the recycled plastic ones that use biodegradable bags because the bags are just one more thing to buy and stock in the house, even if they do degrade over time.  Some folks really like the stainless steel models for similar reasons to the ceramic.

Happy Greening and Ick Free Composting!
Jon

Green Thumbs Up for Joe's American Bar & Grill

Last weekend we took our family out to dinner at Joe's American Bar & Grill to celebrate our wedding anniversary.  The food and service were excellent, even with two rambunctious 5 years olds.  At the end of the meal, we had a leftovers and asked to take them home.  Of course getting the 5 of us out of the house to dinner was enough of a challenge that we did not bring our own containers for leftovers as some of our friends do.  To our surprise, instead of the standard styrofoam boxes the leftovers came back in 2 heavy duty paper containers (fully biodegradable or compostable) and two reusable and recyclable plastic containers.  I had never seen these paper containers before and was quite pleased by them.  The plastic bag they came out in was also environmentally aware.

The next time you are getting your favorite food to go and the restaurant doesn't use a green container, ask them about it.  If enough of their customers suggest a change, good places will adapt.  Like me they might not even know these containers are available.

I am giving Joe's American Bar & Grill a green thumbs up for their environmentally friendly leftovers containers.

Happy Greening!
Jon

Building your Energy Savings Toolbox - Kill-a-Watt meter

We can all reduce how much electricity we use around our homes and offices.  Everything in our lives plugs in these days, whether it is our cell phone chargers, or cable boxes or computers, they all use electricity.  The important questions about each appliance/device are:

• How much does it use when you are using it?
• How much does it use when you are not using it? You might be surprised how many things continue to use a lot of electricity when turned off.
• Are you using it efficiently?

My favorite tool for measuring electricity usage is a P4400 Kill-a-Watt meter.

The Kill-a-Watt meter, made by P3 International, will tell you how much electricity (power in Watts) a given device is using at that moment and how much energy (kWh) it consumes over time. 
The Kill-a-Watt measures the electricity used by devices that plug into the wall, often referred to as the plug-load.  Items like your refrigerator, toaster, and cell phone chargers are all plug-loads.  Room lighting that you control from the switch on the wall is hard wired (that is not a plug-load) so you cannot measure these with a Kill-a-Watt.  Fancier meters are available that will tell you the same things in more detail, but they are more expensive and the added accuracy does not help for general understandings.

The basic P4400 is my favorite one because it is inexpensive and simple to use. 
How to Use a Kill-A-Watt
Depending on how the device you are testing works, there are two ways to measure its energy usage.

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GLC Joins EFI Affiliates Program

We have been happy customers of the energyfederation.org for years.  They have a wide range of energy saving products from the most basic lightbulbs, to obscure items such as chimney balloons, to contractor products such as insulation.

We are happy to now be a part of their Affiliates Program.   We recommend them for their great energy and water saving products, their great prices and their great information.  Please share with us your experience with EFI, both positive and negative.

Sleep your PC to Save Energy

Personal computers account for about 1% of the total carbon emissions in the world according to the PC Energy Report 2009. Almost every family in the US has at least one computer at home and the sad fact is that most of the electricity used by computers at home is wasted.  Not because the computer is inefficient or an energy hog, but rather because it sits idle most of the time.  This is especially true for computers at home which are used by one or more parents that work outside the home and kids that go to school for a good chunk of the day.  If your computer is on when no one is using it, then it is wasting energy.  Fortunately you can do something about it and modern computers make it really easy to set once and then save energy without having to think about it.

Do Once Sidebar!
I am a big fan of things that you can configure once and then not have to think about again.  I find them far more effective at saving energy because you can't forget to do them or consider them not worth the effort at some later point.   I put configuring PC power management at home in the set and forget category.  In GLC we are labeling those as "do once."

To enable PC power management on your home computer, follow the instructions at the Energy Star web site.  About half way down the page you will find individual instructions for Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Macintosh.  Or you could use the EZ Wizard.  Energy Star even provides an Excel spreadsheet to estimate your energy savings, though I think it may be a bit too aggressive in estimating savings. 

I suggest starting with the following settings and tweak them to until they work for you:

• Sleep/Standby after idle: 15 minutes
• Display sleep after: 10 minutes
  

The right settings are the ones that work for you.    It is far better to have a longer time to sleep than to disable PC power management.  I also prefer using the sleep/standby setting for desktops and laptops because they power up much faster, a few seconds compared to a few minutes.  Another tip is to use hibernate for a laptop if you are not going to use it again for at least 4 hours to save on battery life.

I've measured how much power computers consume with my kill-a-watt, for example, my Dell Optiplex 745 desktop uses 2-3 Watts (W) powered off and the same in Standby.  The reason most PCs still use a few Watts when off is that they continue to provide power to the network card (NIC) so that the computer can be remotely administered through various protocols like Wake-on-LAN.  Only extreme techies use that on their home computers.


Savings
To use the savings calculator from the Energy Star site, download and open the Excel spreadsheet.  You fill in your information on the "Start Here" worksheet.  Be sure to select your state and switch it to "Residential" to get a more accurate estimate for $ savings.  Then go to the "Results" worksheet.

According to the spreadsheet, for a single desktop computer in Massachusetts, you could save just under $90 per year when switching from never turning the computer off to using the settings above.  I think that estimate is about double what you could realistically save and I've calculated it for my machine to be about $40 per year more that it would be costing me if I left it on all the time.


Regardless of how much or how little you save, with a few minutes of time, you can avoid wasting electricity and still have your computer ready to use within seconds.

A couple caveats for those using computers as DVRs or providing services that need to be accessible remotely.  If you don't know what I'm talking about, you probably don't have any of these to worry about. These systems typically need to be on all the time to record shows and so forth, so be careful when considering power management on these systems.  Also, before making changes at work, please check with your IT folks.

You can go even further by using a smart strip to automatically power off your peripherals when your computer goes to sleep, but that is a topic for another post.

Happy Greening,
Jon

Christmas Light Trade-In at Home Depot - Limited Time!

We're often asked what people should do with incandescent lightbulbs and Christmas lights strings.   We have a limited-time answer and discount!

Take your old incandescent light strings (working or not working) to Home Depot and receive a $3 off coupon for the purchase of energy efficient LED Christmas Lights.  Limit 5 exchanges per customer and this is only good through this Saturday,  November 15th!

Home Depot exchange details

Jon and the kids went today to exchange some of our lights, both working and non-working.  It was quite simple, they went up the service desk, gave them their lights, got coupons and went and picked out new lights to buy.   They decided to go with name brand LED lights, for a $1 or 2 more a strand in hopes that they will last much longer than the generic lights.  The ones they bought were each under $10 a strand, before the coupons.  Be careful, they still sell incandescent lights right next to the LEDs!


LED light strings are up to 80% more efficient that regular light strings.  If your electric bill goes up in December, this is a great way to reduce your electricity bill.

Happy Greening!
Alicia

Teaching Young Children About Environmental Issues

I mentioned in my Starting With Children post that I would post additional information about what our preschool did when teaching about environmental issues.  I asked their preschool teacher for information about what books she used with the children so that I could share the information with others.  She says:

"I just wanted to quickly respond to your questions about how we discussed recycling in the Preschool Room here. Obviously, Earth day and the the installation of recycling bins at the school were wonderful opportunities to introduce recycling to the children. There is a great book called, Thinking Green: My Home with photos by Ann Bogart and published by Smithmark Publishers INC in 1993. Also there is a wonderful song by Jack Johnson on the cd Sing-A-Longs & Lullabies for the Film Curious George called "The 3 R's" which is all about being "green." Having a book and/or a song are always good launching pads for preschool discussions. And sorting through the trash that we generated in the Preschool Room and having the children help us decide which things we could recycle and into which bin (paper versus plastic) we should deposit them was also lots of fun."

I will say this definitely worked.  My son came home chanting "Reduce, Reuse Recycle."  One day I was talking to my daughter about being careful about ripping holes in her tights, because now we had to throw them away.  My son chimed in "No we don't mom, we can 'reduce, reuse or recycle' them!"  I asked him how we would reduce, reuse or recycle her ripped tights and the told me that we could make sock puppets out of them.   Like a good mom, I put them in the craft bin.   It turns out we didn't make sock puppets from them, but they came in very handy when he and my mother-in-law needed stuffing for a pillow they were making.

Good luck in turning your children into "reduce, reuse, recycle" monsters,  and if you have any questions or tips you'd like to share,  please let us know!

Happy Greening,
Alicia

Eat Your Presents

Consider classy consumables for presents.   It really makes people feel good to give gifts to people they love, even if they don't need anything, and as much as some people protest, it's hard to find anyone who doesn't love receiving a thoughtful gift.

I've been telling Jon for years that I really don't need any more stuff, particularly as gifts (ok, every few years a new ipod maybe...).  This year he had the brilliant idea of getting me a box of chocolate covered fruit from Edible Arrangements for our anniversary.  This is a gift that the whole family can enjoy, and when we're done, we can recycle or reuse the box.  We first discovered this company when our friend Lucy used arrangements of fruit on the tables at her wedding reception.   It was classy, beautiful *and* delicious!  They work on a franchise system and all products are assembled and delivered locally.



Last year for Christmas I put together a basket of gourmet foods from our local supermarket for my mother-in-law.  They were things she loved, but not necessarily things she would normally splurge on.   As a prize during the Energy Smackdown,  we received a basket of local foods from Whole Foods.  This was great because it raised our awareness to a number of local products we were not aware of as alternatives to our regular foods.

Another green-friendly gift idea is homemade gifts, but I think what I like most about this gift is that I don't have to find a place to put it or store it and I don't end up feeling guilty because I never use it!

Happy Greening!
Alicia

Tip: Save Water, Time and Money: Train Your Hair To Need Less Washing

About ten years ago I decided that I wanted to grow my hair very long.  I searched the web for resources and learned that the best way to have healthy hair is to not wash it every day.   There were tips for training your hair to not need washing every day.  I followed these tips and for the past ten years I've only washed my hair on average twice a week.

Obviously,  washing your hair less often uses less water, less time and less energy to heat the water thereby saving you time and money.  I also use less shampoo and less conditioner which saves a ton of money.   (Second hint - use up all those hotel bottles of shampoo on your hair - rotating shampoo is good for your hair too!  Then I give the little bottles to my children to play with as bath and splash pool toys.)

The idea is that the less you wash your hair, the less oil it produces.  To train your hair to need less washing start slowly.   The first few days I washed my hair every 36 hours, instead of every 24, rotating whether I washed it at night or in the morning.   After a few weeks of this,  once my hair didn't need to be washed until the 36 hour mark, I pushed it off to 48 hours.   This wasn't long enough for people to really notice that my hair was greasy, just long enough for me to notice.  After a while, I pushed it off to 3 days.   Now I check my hair each morning, and if it seems a little greasy to me,  or if I have something fancy going on,  I wash my hair that day.  I wash it about twice a week and it's long, healthy and shiny.

It is wonderfully convenient to be away places and not need to wash your hair every day, it means that I don't always take a shower when the facilities are not comfortable to me.  Now that I have a new baby, and two older children, I often don't find time to shower every day, and I don't walk around with a greasy head of hair.  

This does require having a hairstyle that doesn't require styling when wet every day.   Blow drying your hair is bad for it and damages your hair, so should be saved for special occasions.   It also speeds up my morning routine to be able to just brush and go, or brush and put up in a ponytail holder.

Not washing my hair means that most showers I take are shorter - my husband and I aim for 5 minute showers, which we will discuss further in another post.  It means I use less water and less energy to heat the water.  I use less shampoo and conditioner, less electricity on a hairdryer and more time for myself.

Happy Greening!
Alicia

Check out our new logo

We have reconfigured the site to be able to better share information with you and customized it with our new look and feel.  I designed the logo to encompass the synergy of energy (sun), water, life (tree) and recycling all as seen through the lens of our lives and homes.  We hope you like it and welcome your comments and suggestions for how to make it even better for you.

At the same time we added a few eco friendly and sustainable products to our CafePress store.  Stay tuned for organic t-shirts and onsies and other green products.

Happy Greening!

Jon

Greening Birthday Parties - Part 1: Invitations and Location

We just had our twins birthday party and we tried to make it as green as possible, without being too expensive or too difficult.   I'd like to share with you what worked and what didn't work for us.  There are so many topics that I'm going to start with just two, invitations and location today.  Stay tuned for more installments soon.

Invitations:
On-line - it's greener because there is no paper used, and no transportation to send it through the mail.  It's easier - no hand-writing invitations or envelopes, you don't have to know snail mail addresses or how many you're inviting in advance. It's cheaper - no buying invitations or stamps. It's faster -  the invitations arrive faster, and with at least some invitation websites, you can be certain whether or not the recipient has received the invitation.

Read more »

Deep Energy Retrofit Example

So, we were wrapping birthday presents in the local newspaper when we noticed Jon's picture on the front page. He recently went to visit a house on which the owner had done a deep energy retrofit. The article points to some of the more extreme things that can be done to make a very efficient house. On our blog, we expect to talk more about things that most people can do with out making big lifestyle changes, however, this article is an interesting read and they have some nice pictures of Jon at the house.

Enjoy!

Happy Greening,
Alicia

The unobstructed southern exposure and optimizied roof angle make this 2 family house optimum for the 11 panel flat plate solar thermal system installed. The solar panels should provide all of the heat and hot water needs in this Medford home (New England winters).


The siding is local pine that has back ventilation.