Innovative News

21 July 2008

Top 10 ways for living a Green Life

Posted by Cecilia under: Energy; Environment; Home; Transportation .

Top 10 ways for living a Green Life

While nobody has yet to compile the definitive list of “How to Live Green” there are many guidelines out there to help you get started.   Over the last couple of months we put together a ten part series of our own basic steps for living the green life.  In order to make the list more readable, we offer the ten steps here in a combined version of our original articles.  Of course, you can always refer to the original articles by using the search box at the top of the page!

1 - Reduce your energy consumption in ways you CAN control

Reducing your energy consumption is easier than you might think.  All you need to do is look around your house and chances are you’ll find many ways that your energy consumption is higher than it should be.

For example, replace incandescent bulbs with Compact Fluorescent or better yet, LED.  LED lighting is just starting to come to market and while the initial prices are high, the reduced power consumption and the long life more than make up for the extra cost.  A typical LED bulb uses one fifth of the energy of an incandescent bulb and lasts over fifty times longer.

You can also purchase a programmable thermostat for your home, which will allow you to reduce the temperature while you’re away or during the night when you don’t need the extra heating or cooling.  Many of these can be purchased for less than $50.  Depending on where you live, you will likely make up that cost in the first couple of months.

Install an automatic wall switch for low traffic areas and for places like children’s bedrooms where the lights are likely to be left on!

The next time you are remodeling or upgrading an appliance, make sure you check that it’s Energy Star rated and buy the most efficient appliances you can find.  Energy Star rating used to mean that an appliance was more expensive, but these days the costs of purchasing an energy saving device are negligable

Turn off computers and televisions when you’re not using them.  You’d be surprised at the amount of wasted energy from pc’s, monitors and peripherals.

And of course, one of the biggest power consumers is your Hot Water Heater.  If you already own an electric hot water heater, look into ways of insulating your tank.  If you’re buying new, find the most energy efficient tank you can.  Some of the new tank-less, solar and even more exotic water heating systems are highly efficient.

2 - Be aware of the preciousness of water

About one-third of the world’s population currently lives in countries that are experiencing water stress. By 2025 we’ll be using more than 70% of the renewable fresh water, with very little margin for error and perhaps billions without basic water services.

What can you do?

First of all check all water lines in your house for leaks.  Before we even begin to think of moneysaving methods for water we should control where we may be losing water in the house.  Checking is easy: turn off all water and read the meter.   After 15 minutes check the meter again for movement.   In the linked article, at “What will you save today” you will find a couple of good tips for finding water leaks everywhere in your home.

If you have a toilet manufactured before 1992 it most probably uses 3.5 to 7 gallons water per flush.  You can install a ultra-low flow toilet with 1.6 gallon or less per flush which reduces your indoor water by an incredible 20%.

Use water-saving showerheads which use only 2.5 gallons of water per minute instead of 5 to 7 gallons per minute.  You can look also for a combination of water-saving and oxygenics showerheads if you have low water pressure in your bathrooms.

Your own behavior toward water can be changed by taking shorter showers or baths, and by turning off the water while shaving or brushing teeth.  If you use the dishwasher and the washing machine only with full loan you can save about 1,000 gallons water a month.

When you’re looking into energy savings, don’t discount the water to be saved, too.  Your dishwasher and washing machine can be replaced by more water-efficient models.

Also you lose less water if you install an efficient water heating system, so you don’t have to wait too long for warm water.

Lastly consider the water you use for your yard.   Did you know there are ways to stop stormwater from running off your property?   There are several choices of eco-friendly and cost effective underground chambers.

Have an automated watering system?  Install rain sensors on irrigation systems to avoid watering during rain.  You also shouldn’t water your yard on windy days, because the water will evaporate more quickly.  A very simple but necessary check is making sure that the water of the watering system reaches the needed areas and not more.

By saving water in any of these ways you preserve our resources and help promote conservation to others.

3 - Reduce your dependency on the automobile

There is no shortage of opinion on when we will run out of oil.  Some say because of rapidly rising demand that it’s closer than we think, perhaps only 30 years.  Others are more optimistic saying that we have at least 75 years or more because of the advances in our ability to find and pump it from the ground.  Others go even further.  Wherever you fall into this spectrum from Nostradamus to Pollyanna, you’ll probably agree with our contention that we should do our best to conserve now.

For many of us the automobile is an essential part of our life, necessary to get us to work, schools, shopping, doctors, etc.  Our cities are built for the automobile.  Wide highways, zoning and suburban sprawl condemned us to become dependent on them.

What can you do to be less dependent?

If you live close to shopping, work or school, try riding a bicycle.  Bicycles don’t have to be just for the guy down the street who pedals 100 miles each day.  There are a bunch of fun new bikes that can be bought for a few hundred dollars.

Don’t like to ride a bicycle?  Try walking.  Did you know that walking just thirty minutes a day has numerous health benefits, including lower blood pressure, boosting good cholesterol and reducing your risk of a stroke?

Try sharing a ride one or two days a week. You’ll get to know a neighbor or coworker better, you’ll save fuel and reduce your carbon dioxide emissions by 1,600 pounds each year.

Before you buy another car, consider car sharing.  Introduced in Switzerland in the 1980’s, car-sharing organizations provide access to a car and your membership fee covers gas, maintenance and insurance.  Check to see if you live in one of the cities listed.  If you don’t, maybe you can be the one to get it started in your community!

Finally, try telecommuting.   If you can work at home one or two days a week, in addition to the other steps listed above, you may even find yourself handing those car-keys over to somebody else!

4 - Get the most of your daily food

We’re used to just going to the grocery store and buying whatever we feel like.  Most of us have a list of our favorite meals and we shop for those items.  Normally we don’t think about such details as where the vegetables or fruits come from.  But if you want to maximize your food benefit, and also increase your shopping efficiency, it’s worth taking a closer look at our food and possibly to change our buying and eating habits. 

Look for seasonal food of your region. 

We’re fortunate in the United States.  Many of the things we like to eat are grown close to our homes.  Good grocery stores often label fresh items, naming the state or region from which they came.  If you buy items from your region, for sure you’ll notice that it tastes fresh and full-flavored.  You can take a look at a seasonal food calendar and put it up on your kitchen wall.  I’ve done this for years to the point where I no longer need to look at the calendar!  Each food you consume that’s out of season has to travel hundreds or thousands of miles to get to your store.  The other negative is they need to be harvested unripe and therefore the taste is frequently plain and their nutrients are minimized.

There’s another good reason to buy regional food: you reduce overall “food miles” - meaning the consumption of fossil fuels caused by long-haul food transportation.  Buying locally also means you reduce wasteful packing materials.

The third reason is improving the agriculture and it’s ancillary economy in your region.  If it’s possible in your area, you can find and support local farm markets by buying their products.  You also have the opportunity to become member of Community Supported Agriculture with which you can boost your contact to farmers of your region and to food production.

Try to buy organic food when possible.

Without question organic food is healthier and more tasteful than conventionally grown food.  This is directly a result of producing without chemicals such as pesticides.  

The other obvious reason in favor of organic food you’ll find in the quality of the soil where organic food is growing.  Research shows that organic soil store carbon dioxide much better than other soils.  A healthy soil is rich in nutrients and life, it has his own efficiently working ecosystem.

Looking for regional and organic food is important to your health and pleasing to your taste.  

5 -Create a compost pile in your backyard.

Composting is one of the most useful elements of a green lifestyle.  Even when you don’t have a vegetable garden you’ll be able to use the composted soil filled with nutrients for your flowers, bushes and trees.  Composting is an easy and cheap way to build rich, dark healthy soil.

There are some basic tips you have to consider before you start your compost pile in your backyard.

Choose a compost bin which is the right for your yard.  It should be large enough to hold heat and small enough to let air to the center. The smallest sizes start at about 3 feet by 3 feet by 3 feet.   People today rarely use a compost mound.  Bins and other containers are more practical.  You can build them yourself with wire or you can simply buy one.

Create a balanced content of your compost pile.  Fill in brown materials such as hay and leaves and add the same amount of green materials like grass clippings and kitchen leftovers like vegetable peelings.  As a starter, add a little topsoil or finished compost to improve the microbial activity in the pile.

More than 200 pounds of kitchen waste are produced per household and year.  Almost everything left from making meals can be given to the compost.   Just make sure that it’s broken into small pieces.  Chopped kitchen waste is easier for the composting process.  You can’t use meat, dairy products and other high-fat food.  Egg shells are perfect for the compost but you need to crush them first.  You can find a list of composting materials here.

If you want to harvest the soil quickly then turn the pile with a shovel several times a week.  By doing this you can see if the compost pile is too wet or too dry  A good working compost doesn’t need to be wet, but always moist.

You can start with your compost pile at any time of the year.  The length of time you have to wait for the composted soil depends on the types and quantities of used materials, the temperature, moisture and amount of air in the mix.  It takes anywhere from a month up to a year.

I encourage you to start your own compost pile.  You’ll begin to see a change in your behavior toward nature and also toward your kitchen waste.   Hopefully it will make you aware of how to reduce the amount you throw into the landfills, while encouraging reuse of a valuable material.

6 - Reducing waste means enhancing your green life style.

What can you do when you’re already making your own compost pile and recycling all of your recyclable material?   How about generating less garbage!  When you generate less garbage you have less waste or recycling to dispose of later. 

You can get used to reducing waste, it’s just a matter of starting new habits. 

There are many tips on how you can reduce waste in your daily life - at home, in school, in your office or even in your shopping.  I feel confident that once you pick up this new habit you’ll find them easy to do and you’ll probably add your own tips for reducing waste.

One of the biggest portions of our daily waste at home is something we seem to have little control over - the paper we get as advertising mail.  Did you know you can actually op out of many of these unwanted ads?  To stop this flood you can register with the Direct Marketing Association’s Mail Preference Service or you can contact certain catalog mailers to have them remove your name from their mailing list.

Another great idea to reduce shopping waste is taking your own reusable cloth bag to the supermarket.   When the cashier asks the question “paper or plastic bag?” you can proudly announce ”I have my own bags, thanks.”  I have a very special cloth bag I bought in Switzerland (which causes funny and interesting comments from the cashiers in the US) which has probably earned my the nickname of “the woman with weird bag”.  But I’m sure I save hundreds of these little bags each year from clogging the landfill.

Reducing waste in school begins with packing a no-waste lunch.  Instead of paper bags, a reusable lunch box replaces about 200 bags per year per student.  Inside the lunch box, place your items in reusable containers instead of plastic wrap or sandwich bags.  Again, this can save thousands of pieces of plastic garbage per child, per year.

In the office you can begin by attacking the number one waste item - paper.  Paper waste is one of the biggest problems across all usages.  In the office, a practical idea is to copy papers on both sides instead of just printing on one.  Many of the copy machines and computer printers have this feature.  Just doing this could save half of your paper consumption each year!

7 - Reusing items helps to reduce waste.

Reusing products is a great way to reduce our waste.  Some items can be reused without being reprocessed in any way, because they have a similar end use.  Many of us experienced this first hand as children when we got clothing from older brothers, sisters or cousins.  Back then we called them “hand-me-downs.”

Between two and five percent of the waste stream is potentially reusable according to local studies in California and Massachusetts.

You have so many items at home which you use daily until the moment you don’t need them anymore - for whatever reason.  The juicer, the exercise machine, the old pair of crutches.  It can be the toys your children have outgrown or clothes you don’t want to wear anymore or even the paperback books you’ve already read.  You might even be able to make a little extra money in the process.

If you just want to donate, you can give old things new life by giving them to Goodwill for example or one of the other numerous programs and projects.  Whenever it’s possible for you visit one of the Goodwill stores or other reuse centers you’ll discover they accept many household items, including kitchenware, lamps and furniture.

Of course there are items you can reuse yourself by remodeling, repainting, re-sewing or changing their appearance somehow.  For example a wine bottle can make a decorative vase or old boxes as cat bungalows.

Tech toys seem to become obsolete from the moment we buy them.  Before you throw out last weeks gadget why don’t you see if there’s somebody else who could use it. 

Whether you keep it for yourself, or give it away, when you learn to reuse, you benefit twice.

8 - Realize recycling in your life in a threefold way.

Recycling is the third R in the row of reducing, reusing and recycling.  All three “R’s” are important, but recycling maybe the most important because it applies to the choices we’ve already made in our purchases.  Recycling means that material already used to its end can be a transformed into raw material for other items.

The very first thought when people hear the word recycling is curbside recycling. We fill our recycling container at home with all kinds of recyclable materials such as paper, glass and plastic bottles and steel or tin cans.  Most cities have curbside recycling programs and if yours doesn’t you may be surprised to learn that the local trash company accepts your recyclables at the depot.  A quick call will find out if it’s available in your area.

The other way for home recycling is to bring the recyclable items to recycling centers.  You can find the next recycling center to your home here.  In Europe the recycling centers are very numerous in each town and therefore very much used by the citizens.

The second level of recycling involves getting rid of your home clutter such as old furniture, unused electronics, and working materials like paints and batteries. 

If you want to find places where you can bring your furniture, electronics and all the other things you want to get rid of, you can sell it online at UsefulGarbage.com. Another opportunity is Freecylce Place where, as the name implies, items are given away for free..

Last but not least you can find at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency EPA a whole list with all kinds of recyclable materials and information how to recycle them.

The third step of including recycling in your life is to use recylced materials or items made of recycled material for your daily life.  You’ll find accessories made of recycled materials or a  Toshiba PC made of recycled materials.  For further information, check out our post “Meeting your recycled glass again?”

9 - Create your own personal green day.

Here’s a summary of some of the previous steps for making an eco-friendly day from morning until evening.

Raise your thermostat to reduce the amount of cooling energy through the night.  Raise it even more when you go to work.

Limit the flushes on your ultra-low flow toilet and shower with a water saving shower-head.

For breakfast, eliminate the cooking and have cereal with healthy organic fruits which you bought locally from a farmer.

Prepare your lunch in a reusable lunch box and don’t forget to take a personal water bottle filled with filtered tap water.

Instead of using your car to go to work you take your cool bicycle, walk when possible, use a public transportation if available or share a car ride with somebody from your neighborhood or job.

At work Be aware of your paper use.  Whenever possible make copies on both sides of the paper or print your papers on both sides.  Separate the waste in your office so paper, plastic bottles and others can be recycled separately.

After work on your way home stop at the grocery store where you don’t have to choose between paper or plastic bag because you bring your own bag.  Then stop at Goodwill where you donate some of the old clothes which you collected through the months or (yikes!) years.

At home prepare a dinner in your kitchen equipped with Energy Star proved appliances.  Don’t forget to close the kitchen door so you don’t heat the house while you are cooking.  If you use the oven, don’t open the oven door unnecessarily.  After enjoying the meal with the family bring the food waste to the compost pile in your yard.

Instead of starting your computer or TV play with your children in your garden or a near park, walk for at least thirty minutes for your health or read a good book outside in nature light.

Before going to sleep check your electric devices and turn them off as long as you don’t need them, and you control the thermostat for the temperature during night.

When you begin to organize your days in an eco-friendly consciousness you’ll soon find it to be a natural and rewarding habit!

10 - Start living green!

In this series we’ve given you a lot of information about green living.  Now it’s time to put those words into action.  Here’s how you can get started realizing your new Green Life.

• Be informed!  Inform yourself about the newest technologies such as home appliances, energy saving methods and power technology.  Start by reading Innovative News or other great blogs.
• Be sure! Let grow in yourself respect toward nature and your neighbors.  Be deeply convinced that living green is your way of life.
• Be social! Speak with your family, neighbors, friends and other people about your experiences and theirs.  Visit schools and offer a lesson in practical green life style.  Organize a green party.  Share your green activities with others and learn from the experiences of others.
• Be open! Walk through your home.   Consider replacing some of your old, energy hungry appliances with Energy Star approved appliances.  Are you thinking of renovating your house or moving in a new house or building your own home?  Look for energy saving building ideas and rebates for solar installations.  Investigate unconventional eco-friendly solutions.
• Be courageous! Visit places where you can get the freshest information about new green efforts and ideas.  If you want an eye opener, take a trip to the local city dump and see where all that trash goes!  Take a friend with you!
• Be active! Change your habits so that living green isn’t a daily task but a natural behavior. Be one of the first on your street to turn in your gas guzzling SUV and buy a hybrid powered car.  Really impress your neighbors by installing solar panels on the garage roof to charge your hybrid car with solar power.
• Be creative! Write a book, a blog or an newspaper article about your green experiences. Plant a tree.  Create your own vegetable garden.  Start to reuse old items by remodeling or repainting them.
• Be unconventional! Try to realize new ideas at home, at work and in your leisure time.  There are numerous ways to express being green.  You could invent a new idea just by examining the things you use daily.  Look for an eco-friendly job - even in a slow job market there are more and more opportunities each day in this area.
• Be tolerant!  Contrary to what some would have you believe, you don’t have to be fanatic.  Living green means being tolerant.  Let other people live their lives even when you don’t agree with their life style. 
• Be happy! Your Green Life is your life choice.  It expresses your caring relationship about nature and human beings.

With these ten steps you have everything you need to get started with your daily green life.  Won’t you join us and share your experiences with us and our readers?

 

 

 

 

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