The Origins of Solar Panel Jewelry

Jon loves me so much he invented something for me: Solar Panel Jewelry. It was such a hit with our friends and family that he's continuing to experiment with forms and techniques and now he's selling it online and he will exhibit pieces at an upcoming art show.



How does loving me turn into creating solar panel jewelry?  Last winter I started working as the Energy Efficiency Coordinator in our city and included in a long list of things that I do I work with the 100 kW wind turbine in our city and I'm working on the project to install solar panels on our schools.  One thing I quickly noticed is that men in the renewable energy field can buy ties with wind turbines on them, and both my husband and the Mayor have such ties.   Since I need to dress professionally while at work, I started to poke around for some earrings or other jewelry with wind turbines or solar panels or something on them that I could wear.   Having no luck and knowing that I'm very difficult to buy for, I told Jonathan that I'd love some jewelry that reflects the renewable energy field.

Jonathan searched for months for jewelry for me and had absolutely no luck! Not one earring with a wind turbine or solar panel on it.   He did eventually find a $1,000+ necklace with solar panels,  but it's truly not my style. 

1st pair of solar panel earrings

This fall our city hosted a table at the Boston Museum of Science for a renewable energy fair, and as a member of our former Clean Energy Committee, Jonathan was helping staff the table. One of the other tables exhibits had researchers from an MIT lab with a touch and feel exhibit featuring the components that go into making solar panels.  Jonathan noticed that the photovoltaic wafers kept breaking.  A lightbulb went off and he had the brilliant idea of using lamination to turn bits of the broken cells into earrings.  He spoke with the exhibitors and at the end of the fair they happily gave him the box of broken cells that were headed for the garbage can.

Making Solar Panel Earrings

Unbenownst to me, he consulted with friends about earrings, laminated some pieces, purchased jewelry parts to make earrings and presented me with a pair of solar panel earrings for our anniversary!

When I showed them off around work, the Mayor's secretary exclaimed "He has to make a tie tac for the Mayor!  That would be great!"

Solar Panel Cuff Links - more soon

Jonathan was happy to take the challenge on and talked with friends who have made jewelry and quickly dove into working with epoxy and other jewelry parts.  The orders have quickly been pouring in from friends and family and he has made and sold dangling earrings, stud earrings, tie tacs, pins, cuff links and he even made me a necklace on short order to wear to the Holiday Pageant at our church.

He's excited to expand his jewelry making hobby and you can find a changing selection of his work on his Etsy Store: Solar Panel Jewelry.

When asked what they power his favorite answer is "The Imagination!"

Happy Greening,
Alicia

Calming the Wrapping Paper Madness

This morning I read a blog post on Practically Green about how to avoid mountains of holiday trash.  It's a good article.  You should read it and take the quiz on Practically Green.  Love the site.   Then reflect on how you can best apply their advice to your holidays.   I started thinking about the mountains and mountains of wrapping paper, toy boxes, twist ties, plastic and more that are generated when my family gets together for Christmas.

These days we have three young children and upwards of 8 adults unwrapping gifts Christmas morning.  This year we're expecting 10 adults, pretty much all of whom exchange gifts (now why was I worrying that my children might feel disappointed that they didn't get enough gifts this year?  Geez!)

So, how to reduce the garbage?  My goals this year are to reduce the amount of waste and increase the percent of recyclables that are actually recycled.   My wonderful Mom has had a Christmas-changing revelation this year that will help dramatically: Gift Bags.  Why gift bags?

• They cut your wrapping time down dramatically.  She wrapped all her gifts in a fraction of the time it usually takes her.
• It will make opening the gifts much less frustrating for the young children.
• Gift bags are reusable.  Dramatically less waste
• Gift bags are not as messy as ripped paper.  It will be much easier to clean up.

Now of course, not everyone will use gift bags,  and there is still the packaging that many of the gifts actually come in to contend with.  What to do with all that?  That's where my plan comes in:

• Step 1: The day before speak with everyone about "the plan".  Get everyone on board.  Designate someone to be responsible for collecting reusable items like bows and and if there's a use for them, twist ties.  Decide if there is an interest in trying to save wrapping paper for future occasions.  We didn't use to think it was worth it to save a few pennies, but now we're willing to do it for ecological reasons - at least when we have space to store it.
  Make sure everyone knows what numbers are recyclable with the recycling system where you are.
• Step 2: When people bring their gifts to put under the tree, if they use large shopping bags to transport them to the tree,  gather the large shopping bags and have them available. Designate one for reusable items.  Get a large plastic bag for actual trash.  Set these aside, but available.
• Step 3: Action!  During the unwrapping, try to get the reusable items collected as they are produced.  Perhaps have a bag in the middle of the room that everyone can toss bows into it.  2 points for a good shot!  Teach kids to look for the recycling symbol on their packages, it can be like a "Where in the World is Waldo" game.  Have a bag designated for the reusable bags.

There are many reasons to keep the garbage under control on Christmas morning,  for one thing,  you don't want to lose the toddler under mountains of wrapping paper and for another you don't want that nice piece of solar panel jewelry you received going out with the trash!

It's possible to keep Christmas morning madness under control.  It helps for everyone to know the plan in advance and to have your tools in place before you being.

Good luck and MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Alicia

Great Video on Home Energy Monitors by Ask This Old House

We are big fans on monitoring electricity consumption so that you can manage and reduce it. This Old House has a great video showing the range of products for monitoring and managing electricity consumption in the house. We have and are big fans of the Kill-A-Watt, Watts?Up Pro and TED 5000 shown in the video.



Here are some other posts we've done in the past about understanding and reducing electricity consumption in the home:

• Quoted on CNET Green Tech about our TED5000

• Where do you use the most energy?

• What Impact Does 1 Watt Have?

• First Days with our TED-5000 Home Energy Monitor

• Defanging your Cable Box Vampire

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

• Sleep your PC to Save Energy

Happy Greening!
Jon

 

 

 

 

Resource: X-treme Geek - Not Active

Update - our affiliation with X-treme Geek has ended - 10/1/2011

As you probably already know about me, I'm a geek. One of the stores that I have occasionally found that really cool LED gizmo or techie gadget (not necessarily always green) is X-treme Geek. We have joined their affiliate network.

Check out all the different LED Flashlights and Accessories they have to offer:
Happy Greening!
Jon - a green geek

Resource: Edmund Scientific's - Old

Updated - We are not longer part of their Affiliate Program - 10/1/2011
 
As a kid, I remember getting really excited every time I got the Edmund Scientific Catalog in the mail.  I would flip through looking at all the cool science kits, solar projects, toys, etc.  What can I say, I was and am a geek.

Today, things have moved online making it easier to find the cool gadgets and science kits, saving on the paper catalog production and shipping, but I will miss that excitement of receiving the catalog in the mail.  Green Lifestyle Consulting has joined Edmund Scientifics Affiliate Network and you will probably see us recommending a few educational items from them in the future.


I'm really excited by all the Alternative Energy Kits
they offer or check out all their alternative energy items:



I look forward to building some of these with my kids and watching them experience alternative energy first hand. Of course, they've gotten to see inside Medford's wind turbine and see solar in action every day.

Happy Greening!
Jon

Raising Healthy Kids: Avoid BPA

Classic Glass Baby Bottle - BPA Free

A few weeks ago my mother called me to make sure that I was using all BPA-free baby bottles. She had heard on the news that Canada had banned BPA from baby bottles and that there were concerns about how it affects the brain, behavior and the prostrate gland, particularly in babies and children. I assured her that before our baby was born (he's over a year now) I had gotten rid of all our bottles that even possibly had BPA in them and replaced them with BPA-free bottles. In fact, we had recently gone through the water bottles and canteens in her house and taken all the ones that might have BPA and recycled them! Several years ago news of BPA and it's health concerns made a big impact on my mothers-of-twins email list and we have been trying to phase BPA out of our lives since then.

When I got that call I laughed about how behind-the-news my mother was, but the more I thought about it the more bothered I became. My mother is very well-educated and tuned in to current events and she's a nurse in a leading research hospital, so she tends to know about health concerns long before the rest of us do. If she was not previously aware of the dangers of BPA, then there were probably many more people who are not aware either.

What is BPA?
BPA is short for Bisphenol A, a chemical that is used in the production of certain kinds of plastics and resins. It is a chemical that has been used in plastics and in the linings of canned food for over 40 years. Some people use this as an argument that it must be safe. However, studies show that exposure to BPA in the womb and as a baby can cause long-term health problems and possibly affect the development of the brain. Studies have linked it to cancer, obesity, early onset of puberty and immune response. No one argues that Americans are ingesting measurable amounts of BPA - studies have found that BPA is detectable in the urine of 90% of Americans including kids.

I look at all the children and young adults with health problems, asthma, allergies and developmental problems that are much more numerous than 50 years ago and I have to wonder. There are many possible explanations for these problems. Could this be one of them? Well recent studies show that it is a health concern. The US EPA, National Institutes of Health and FDA all agree that there is at least some concern about BPA and they all have web pages with suggestions about how to avoid it. The US Department of Health and Human Services has a particularly easy-to-understand page on BPA. Canada, Denmark and France banned the use of BPA in baby bottles and in late November the European Union passed a ban that goes into effect in 2011.

Why hasn't the US banned BPA? There are strong lobbies - like the Chemical Association - who want people to think this chemical is harmless and they have convinced the Republicans in Congress. In November the US Senate removed language that would have banned BPA in baby bottles in the US from the food safety bill that they have subsequently passed - without the ban. So what can you do when our government is so responsive to the powerful lobbies?

How can you avoid BPA?

There are many articles and websites with information about how to avoid BPA including some of the ones sited above. Here is my summary:

• Avoid storing food in containers with a "7" inside the chasing arrows. These are the plastics that *may* contain BPA, which was used in many clear translucent hard plastic bottles.

• 

  Baby Formula

  The FDA recommends "breastfeeding as the optimal nutrition for infants." However, they are facilitating the development of alternatives to BPA for the linings of infant formula cans.
• Obtain baby bottles labeled "BPA-free" or made from glass (I used some glass baby bottles this year and even in our crazy house, none have broken!) The Daily Green has more information about baby bottles without BPA.

• 

  All these cans have
  BPA in their can liners

  Avoid canned food, unless from a company that doesn't use BPA in it's cans. Interestingly, many companies that offer BPA-free cans do not label their cans as such. Treehugger has an article about BPA free canned products. The most notable company is Eden Organic, who has had BPA-free cans for their beans since 1999!
  
• Wash your hands after handling cash register receipts. Really! The latest stir about BPA is around the fact that most receipts from stores and ATMs have high levels of BPA in them that transfers to your skin when you touch them, and then may be absorbed or transferred to your food when you eat. And don't use alcohol based hand sanitizers immediately after handling one of these thermal receipts as that has been found to increase the absorption of BPA through the skin.

What Can You Do?
Write to your congressmen and tell them that you want them to ban BPA, particularly in baby bottles and baby formula. Then vote with your wallet. Many things that you could only buy in cans before you can buy in other containers now. I have been buying soups and broths in tetrapaks which we can recycle with co-mingled or single-stream recycling, rather than canned products. I have been buying dry beans and soaking and cooking them, rather than canned (they're cheaper too!). The hardest thing to find alternatives for is tomato products, and even the companies making BPA-free canned products do not have BPA-free canned tomatoes because the FDA has not approved an alternative for canned tomatoes.

Now that you know about BPA, will you try to avoid it?

Happy Greening!
Alicia

Jon's Useful Green Gift Ideas

Let's face it, we all have too much stuff.  So this holiday season I'm taking a shift away from gadgets and gizmos to focus on gift ideas that can be used everyday and help people live a greener lifestyle. I've linked to some samples from Amazon.com, but it is even better if you can find a local crafts person who makes and sells many of these items.

• Reusable Sandwich Bags or Containers
  Don't use a disposable plastic sandwich bag everyday for your kid's lunch.  Instead put their sandwiches in reusable sandwich bags or other reusable containers.  Be sure to look for ones that are washing machine safe because you know they will get dirty.
  
  ReSnackIt Reusable Snack and Sandwich Set, Penguins, 2 Pack
  
• Cloth Napkins - they're not just for special occasions any more
  Around our house, we use cloth napkins instead of paper towels and napkins for almost everything.  Why not give that special someone a set of cloth napkins.  Small ones are great for including in kids' lunches (and adults' too).  If you are handy with a sewing machine, you could even make cloth napkins as gifts.  For everyday use, we prefer napkins in the 8-9" size.
  
  Shop for Cloth Napkins on Amazon.com and for even an greener gift go Organic
  
• LED replacement bulbs
  LED technology has improved a great deal this past year.  LED lights provide even better energy savings than CFLs, last much longer and do not contain mercury.  You can now find quality standard warm-white dimmable LED light bulbs at your local hardware store for $20-40.  Be prepared to pay more for specialty bulbs.  Be sure to purchase quality brands for the best satisfaction.  Our experience with LED bulbs over the past few years is that a cheap LED bulb is just that, cheap.  Look for names like Sylvania, Phillips, GE and CREE.
  
  Philips AmbientLED 16-Watt Medium Base PAR38 Indoor Flood
  
  
• Low Flow Massaging Showerhead
  Since most folks shower everyday, reducing your water consumption by installing a low flow showerhead is a great do it once way to be greener. We are very happy with our Niagra massaging showerhead and recommend it to others. You might even be able to get a free one, check with your local water company.  If you're the least bit handy, add installation as part of the gift to make it even better.
  
  Niagara 1.50 GPM Low Flow Massage Showerhead
  
• Rechargeable Batteries (and Charger if needed)
  All sort of gifts these days require batteries.  Make any gift even greener by providing rechargeable batteries and a charger if you know they don't have one.  I prefer Enerloop rechargeable batteries these days because they maintain their charge for years unlike most other rechargeable batteries. And if you want the kids (or kids at heart) to be able to play with their toys when they open them up, be sure to get the precharged rechargeables.

To make your holiday gift giving greener, be sure to look for eco-friendly packaging and shipping and give something that will be used every day.

Happy Holidays!
Jon