December 2009

Requiring Energy Efficiency Through Building Codes

by nan on 2009/12/18 · 2 comments

People in general do not voluntarily reduce their energy consumption. Unless they are directly and drastically affected, they won’t make change. There are laws in place in countries and municipalities where energy efficiency and sustainability are successful.

We could greatly reduce our emissions with laws for homes to be energy efficient. In Taos, NM, where I live, we have a High Performance Building Ordinance that took effect in 2009. Commercial new construction must have a LEED rating, and new homes must have a low HERS score (lower is better). This is the only way builders and building owners are going to reduce emissions.

One negative about our new ordinance is that builders can opt out of building more efficiently, BUT! They must pay a fee to the state weatherization program. They are still reducing emissions, just not directly.

remodelimg_3384 <~~ I installed solar thermal when I remodeled in 2007. The sun now heats our domestic hot water (kitchen, bath, laundry), and I have natural gas for back-up. My gas bill went from $1000/yr to $200/yr! With tax credits today, the savings would be even greater. Why don't more people do this? You save money AND reduce emissions. Win/win!

Why isn't solar thermal required in all building codes? It should be along with other energy efficient measures, since solar is not suitable for every site.

Read about the success of solar thermal required in building codes in Israel, China and Australia in this article by Susan Kraemer at Clean Technica.

(Read about my remodel, Solar Retrofit 2007.)

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No Need to ‘Go Green’ – Part 2

by nan on 2009/12/17 · 0 comments

(I wrote this series, because, for years, people have asked me how I got so ‘green.’ Hopefully this will provide some insight and give you ideas about how to live simply and appreciate the natural world of which you are a part. Read Part 1, The 50s, 60s & 70s.)

The 80s – New Hampshire

Even though I’d settled into a simple way of life by now, the 80s had a huge effect on me. I was still young, impressionable, inquisitive and seeking my place in the world.

I left New York and moved back to New Hampshire, where going to the dump was a righteous act of frugality.

Recycling was mandatory – there were bins for aluminum, steel and paper, a brush pile for burnables, an area for toxic things, such as paint, that got transported elsewhere, and a chute for other household trash in a garbage bag. Our dump-meister watched us very carefully, and if he heard glass go down the chute, he’d chew you out and threaten to ban you from the dump! He couldn’t, of course, but it gave him some sort of power, I guess.

We were also allowed to ‘pick the dump’ – we could scrounge and scavenge whatever we could bring home. Saturday mornings, people would convene at the dump with pick-up trucks, and wait with coffee and chatter. I knew a man who remodeled his garage into a shop with scrap lumber! I, myself, rescued two barn doors, the kind that slide open on tracks, that were sitting on the burnables pile.

Timberland was based in the mill in Newmarket back then, and we’d find hundreds of pairs of boots at a time. We’d bring them home and distribute them. Almost everyone I knew wore Timberland seconds.

It was a symbiotic relationship, dump goers and dump pickers.

I went back to college to study horticulture, and more important than diving deeper into organic gardening, I learned about pesticides and how disgusting they are.

Negative factoids that changed my life:

> 62 different pesticides are allowed on lettuce!
> Growing (for more things that just lettuce) begins with a pre-emergent herbicide designed to kill off all sprouts, except the lettuce, so it has free reign to grow without competition.
> Seed is treated with purple or turquoise fungicides to prevent rot.
> Farmers spray their fields weekly as an ‘insurance program,’ whether or not they have pests.
> On a hot summer day, my German Shepherd, Germaine, laid in a cool puddle in the barn of a farm I worked on. It turned out to be a spill from a 55 gallon drum of undiluted chemicals from Dow. Over the next four years, she battled some unknown auto-immune disease that acted like cancer, but did not respond to cancer treatments. I kept telling the vet at Angell Memorial Hospital in Boston that she’d laid in this puddle of pesticides, but he did not think it was related. I sure did! After uncontrollable bleeding, low platelet counts and finally irreversible kidney damage, I had to put her down. She was only 8.

Positive factoids that changed my life:

> Silent Spring by Rachel Carson: “Released in 1962, offered the first shattering look at widespread ecological degradation… focused on the poisons from insecticides, weed killers, and other common products.” (From Amazon)
> Mulch reduces the need for watering and weeding.
> Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is not an organic gardening method, but plants are examined for pests before determining how to eradicate them. Toxic chemicals are a drastic last measure.
> I studied ecology and weather, the major players in the natural world.
> I was turned on to solar energy and designed and built a passive solar home.

By the time I finished the two year program in horticulture, I was more aware of the world around me. I started backpacking, hiking and camping every chance I got just to get out and study it some more. My first backpack trip was four days long, and I was quick to realize the impact of carrying everything we needed on our backs. Everything! I also learned you need very little water for washing of self and dishes. Those were lessons in simplicity that came down the mountain with me.

Lamprey River flood, spring 1987 The winter of 1986-87 dropped a foot of snow every other day and drove me out of New Hampshire. I had been hating winter for many years, and that one was a catalyst. I was depressed when spring came after battling the snow, then it rained for nine days, and the river I lived on was in the basement of my brand new home. (The photo: That is not where the river should be. My yard was under water!) When the power went out for four days, I was pushed beyond my boundaries. A gift of $500 from a friend motivated me to rent out my house, and I hit the road in June.

Keep reading: Part 3, The 80s – Simplified Through Travel.

Read more about IPM.
My alma mater, University of NH, Thompson School of Applied Science

Must read ~~~> Silent Spring by Rachel Carson

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12 Hilarious Corporate Attempts to Look Green

by nan on 2009/12/15 · 0 comments

(Nan’s Note: ‘Going green’ is popular. So popular, in fact, that businesses see it as profitable and have jumped on the band wagon to boost their bottom line. Some of them will say anything to make you believe they are sustainable, some are simply uneducated, which is just as dangerous, and some must have paid someone to make them look very, very sustainable. They are greenwashing by appealing to consumers less educated than they are, so don’t be one of them!

How do you know if what you are being told is true or if it is greenwashing? Do your homework! There is plenty of information on the internet about what is truly sustainable and what is not. Question claims by major corporations of their green-ness. Find out where they get their materials or their products. Find out how they treat their employees. Find out if their carbon footprints and if they are doing anything to cut their emissions. Know what’s good for the planet and what is not. The following examples are blatant greenwashing, so bad, they are humorous. If you think any of these businesses are selling green, you need to keep studying.)

When companies like Exxon-Mobil and McDonalds think “green,” they’re thinking of cash, not the earth. And after all, what matters to unscrupulous marketers isn’t so much the reality of their brand or product, but how the public perceives it – which often results in greenwashing so absurd, it’s almost funny.
These 15 examples of extreme greenwashing range from woefully ignorant to downright malicious.

Find them in the article at Alternet.

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The Benefits of an Energy Audit for Your Home

by nan on 2009/12/15 · 2 comments

In 2007, I remodeled two-thirds of my old, rambling ranch house, installing solar hot water, attaching a solar greenhouse, replacing old single-pane windows, and beefing up my ceiling insulation. I also changed the floor plan for more efficient heating through better airflow. (The plan is to do the other third as soon as the economy shifts, and I can borrow a little more money.)

When the work was done, I did an energy audit. I tell my clients to do them, but I wanted to do it myself, so I could back up my suggestions with personal experience. I find people respond better to facts coupled with true-life experiences.

An energy audit:

• determines your energy use
• gives recommendations on making the home more energy efficient
• shows which improvements have a quicker return on investment (ROI)

You can do an audit yourself or your utility may do one for free or a discounted fee. You can also hire a professional energy rater, who will give you a thorough report.

I chose to hire a professional, my friend, Alva Morrison, a Certified Energy Rater. Alva knows energy efficiency – he has been in the weatherization industry for many years. Here is what he needed to start my audit:

• my gas and electric bills for a year
• an estimate of how much wood I burned
• age of the house
• volume of the house
• approximate wall area
• numbers of windows
• type of construction

Once he had my data input into his laptop, we closed the windows and exterior doors, and left the interior doors open for airflow. He ran a blower door test. He installed a high-power fan in a panel in an exterior door (see the interior and exterior photos below). He plugged it into his laptop and turned it on, sucking air out of the house. This would naturally draw air into the house through cracks and other small openings, and we went around the house looking for these air leaks. There were some where I did not expect them, and none where I was sure I’d find them! It was surprising!

The fan for the blower door test in the kitchen door. Interior and exterior views.

The Analysis

The report came back with different ideas about energy efficiency and ROI than I had expected or planned on. My insulation is old and sagging, and I was prepared to open some walls and replace the insulation and sheetrock. The report said this was not cost-effective. It suggested I insulate around my foundation, two feet deep, 4’ thick for less airflow and a higher ROI. It also said replacing the fairly new woodstove with a gas stove would have a greater ROI as well. I hadn’t considered this, either.

When I make these improvements, I will give the information to Alva to input into my file on his laptop. He will generate a new report each time I do this, and it becomes a living document.

All in all, the house got a good report. I opted to get a HERS (Home Energy Rating System) score in addition to the audit. My house received an 88, which means it is 12% more efficient than the model home, which is the reference point of 100. Alva said this was great, considering the incomplete remodel and the age of the home.

An energy audit is a good tool for homeowners when they decide to sell. As you saw, it will show which improvements bring the highest and quickest ROI. It will also show potential buyers exactly how efficient the home is. Improvements can be done by the homeowner or negotiated with a buyer.

If there is no audit on a home, a buyer can pay to have one done. This way, s/he will know how efficient the home is as well as the cost of improvements to upgrade. Those costs can be rolled into an energy efficient mortgage (EEM), but that is another topic entirely.

Check RESNET (Residential Energy Services Network) to find a Certified Energy Rater.

Windows Don’t Have to Be “Energy Losers” – USGlass Reports from BETEC

by nan on 2009/12/14 · 0 comments

By Valerie Jenkins

According to the Energy Information Administration EIA 2007, energy usage of buildings in the United States accounts for 40 percent of total energy usage. 80 percent of the building energy use is in heating or cooling or 32 percent of the United States energy use.

…snip…

Glazing can have the single greatest impact of any energy efficiency measure.

Read the rest of this article at the Serious Materials Blog

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No Need to ‘Go Green’ – Part 1

by nan on 2009/12/13 · 0 comments

I lead a very simple life. Cerebrally and emotionally, it’s not so simple, but materialistically, it is.

The 50s & 60s

I grew up in a well-to-do, materialistic, social-climbing, racist, greedy, post World War II suburban dentist’s family. I never felt like I fit in, but when you’re a child, you have to go along. Private schools and country clubs were not my choices, but I gleaned what I could from them and have good memories.

When I was home, I could usually be found playing outside in the woods, smelling skunk cabbage and catching frogs in the brook. This was where I belonged, not in some fabricated ‘cee-ment pond,’ as Jed Clampett called it. Indoors, I was creative, digging through my mother’s sewing supplies and magazines to make collages, or I was holed up in my room writing or designing houses. I rarely watched tv. I was a black sheep.

Meanwhile, kids a little older than me also from wealthy families were rebelling against money, greed, corporations and racism. This was one aspect of the hippie era, glorious and enlightening times. The emphasis was on simplicity and spirituality, not money, and the historic revolution was underway.

The 70s

When I became of age, I let go of years of right-wing programming. I finally had the chance to express my Self. I held onto what I had – creativity, writing and a natural love of the outdoors – and I observed and assimilated what resonated with me to fill the vacuum. Much of that today is called ‘green.’ I can forgo today’s popular and necessary movement to ‘go green,’ having been green for most of my adult life.

My first job in college was on a farm. I loved being in between rows of vegetables pulling weeds. A special calmness came over a troubled 19 year old doing mindless work. I had never eaten homegrown food before, either. That was a blessing at harvest time and changed my life.

The ‘oil embargo’ of 1974 taught me to be frugal, since gas was rationed every other day, and stations were closed on Sunday. The price of gas had shot up from 30 cents to 75 cents, which was outrageous. Even though I drove a VW, I learned to cut back on other things, like food and utilities. Sound familiar?

My boyfriend and I were out of work for winter, squeaking by on unemployment and food stamps. Living in rural New Hampshire, we traveled to the state capitol every two weeks to sign for stamps. We budgeted that money wisely, creating menus and ‘shopping to the menu’ when we got to the city. This is a tactic I still use, because it keeps me from frivolous food purchases, stretching a dollar.

In spring, we moved to New York to get work. I was a bookkeeper for a while, but being inside all day drained my soul. This office also had all south-facing glass and no operable windows, so we ran ventilators in winter to cool it off. In summer, I wanted fresh air and to bring the outdoors in. Frustrated and suffocated, I didn’t last there long.

Growing Into My Niche

My mother did not teach me how to cook. About this time, someone suggested The Joy of Cooking, which was an excellent place to start. I think the original version of this was from the 30s, and I remember reading how to harvest and prepare your chicken to roast it! My suburban upbringing did not prepare me for this information, but I was fascinated by growing your own meat and other foods.

Then I discovered another book, modern, meat-free and radical – Diet for a Small Planet by Frances Lappe. The first half was a political discourse in not eating meat. She touched on world hunger and poverty, ecology, the American diet and the waste of water and energy in the grain-to-beef equation. The second half was recipes that would fill your proteins needs through plants. Wow! I forgot about harvesting chickens, and swore by this book until the pages were yellowed.

We moved upstate to a cabin on a converted 200 acre estate. We bought a high-tech woodstove and started heating with wood to cut our electric bill and rebel against Con Edison. I started my own organic garden, recalling those sweet days on the farm in college. I also bought a new car, a Toyota Corolla, which got 30+ mpg, a major selling point. I hadn’t forgotten about running out of gas in front of the station during rationing.

I loved my simple country life, but in 1978, I left rural New York and went back to New Hampshire to deeper simplicity.

Keep reading: Part 2, The 80s, New Hampshire.

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11 Ways to Make Your Holiday Economically and Environmentally Friendly

by nan on 2009/12/11 · 0 comments

(Nan’s Note: The holidays do not have to be an exercise in mass-consumption a la The Coneheads – ‘Consume. Mass. Quantities.’ The giving meaning of the holidays has gotten lost at the mall, and our society needs to rethink what it means and how to deal with it. I saw a quote today that may help put the holidays into perspective: ‘What would Jesus buy?’ Um… nothing. He would give of himself.

I wrote Creative Christmas Consumption just before Black Friday (what a hideous name for a supposedly joyous holiday event!) to address the shopping, giving and environmental issues, but it bears repeating. I found this article at Alernet this morning, and could not help but share it.)

By Sarah Sloane O’Kelley

The holidays can mean big expenses and lots of waste (not to mention the emotional costs). Here’s how to avoid all that mess.

Our American vision of the holidays is like a Norman Rockwell painting — cheery-faced family members surrounding a table covered with a feast of the richest foods imaginable, and a tree in the background covered with tinsel and lights and surrounded by brightly wrapped boxes in every size and shape imaginable. The turkey is always plump and moist, the gifts are always better than last year’s, and families become closer, having shared such abundance and joy.

Sadly, that’s nowhere near the reality for most of us.

Find out how to ease the environmental and emotional impact of the holiday season at Alternet.

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Historic Palo Alto Net Zero Home

by nan on 2009/12/11 · 0 comments

(Nan’s Note: I was thinking about this one recent morning. Is it possible to remodel to Zero Energy or Passiv Haus standards? Well, I stumbled across this website that evening!

I’m a remodeling junkie and advocate, because we don’t need to take up every spare inch of private land for housing. We need to rework the buildings we have to be the most energy efficient. A net zero home produces more energy than it uses. This Palo Alto historical remodel makes me hopeful that there will be land for growing food or simply enjoying 50-100 years from now, as we remodel what we already have!)

The Palo Alto Net Zero Energy House is a renovated 1936 house that is now net zero energy and carbon-neutral. The green renovation used advanced high-performance sustainable methods and materials throughout the home while preserving the 1936 architectural style.

The five goals for the renovation were Energy Efficiency, Comfort, Health, Water, and Historic Preservation. Those goal have been accomplished. Energy monitoring at the house shows:

There has been a 62% reduction in energy usage.

Check out the website for the Palo Alto Net Zero House.

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Lighten Up! Nobody is 100% Green

by nan on 2009/12/09 · 2 comments

‘Mirror, mirror on the wall,
Who’s the greenest of them all?’

‘No one,’ replies the wise, kind face in the second-hand mirror from the thrift store.

There are various shades of green, but what constitutes the purest hue? Are you bright, jewel-toned, tinted or shaded?

Many of us are eco-minded in different areas of our respective lives.

• Some are vegetarians.
• Some drive fuel efficient cars.
• Some live in walkable neighborhoods.
• Some telecommute.
• Some live in energy efficient homes.
• Some grow organic food.
• Some shop only locally.

Do you do all of these and more? Not likely.

A Small Footprint

I don’t know what the criteria could possibly be for ’100% green.’ Even the homeless on the street have a carbon footprint, no matter how small. I have known some of these people and marveled at how little they consume. They dumpster food and clothes, and barter among themselves for other things they need. They do create the need for energy if they use the services of a shelter, food bank, community kitchen or medical clinic. Other than that, though, their lives are pretty green.

But not 100%.

A Smaller Footprint

Do we have to be dead to be 100% eco-friendly? Copious amounts of energy are used in a traditional funeral – build and ship a casket, toxic embalming, dig a hole with a back-hoe, take up valuable land area forever, have a service at a church or funeral home, have a procession of vehicles, and whatever else goes into your final party. Although cremation has a smaller footprint, it is still an energy hog in the act of heating and burning with fossil fuels.

You could be recycled into liquid fertilizer, but again, the process consumes fossil fuel energy – less than traditional cremation, though.

The Smallest Footprint?

Your friends could take you out to the desert, mountains or sea, and recycle your body into the food chain. This would have the lightest impact. You could be 100% green in your death, but the energy your friends spent to get you there would not. Would your pure green hue be the offset?

Hopefully none of us are headed that way soon, and most likely, none of us will be thrown to the animals.

While You Grace This Earth

Since you are here, be as conscious as you can. Find a reliable source of green living tips (read: no greenwashing!), and do what’s feasible without getting overwhelmed.

Get outside of yourself and into your community, too.

• Get energy efficient building codes implemented in your town or state.
• Go the the local Board of Realtors®, and ask for green criteria to be added to the Multiple Listing Service.
• Ask the city to consider energy efficient fleet vehicles.
• Ask for more and better public transportation.
• Ask for safe bike paths.
• Ask restaurants to buy local ingredients.
• Volunteer.

And so much more! Check out these links to purify your shade of green, because, let’s face it, none of us will ever be 100%.

365 Ways to Go Green
No Impact Man
The Good Human
Green Rednecks

Read about becoming liquid fertilizer and traditional cremation and energy use.

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Cash for Caulkers Could Seal $12,000 a Home

by nan on 2009/12/09 · 0 comments

(Nan’s Note: A home is the most sensible place to cut back on energy consumption and make a difference. According to the EPA, buildings in the US account for:

• 39 percent of total energy use
• 12 percent of the total water consumption
• 68 percent of total electricity consumption
• 38 percent of the carbon dioxide emissions

Cash for Caulkers, a newly proposed program for energy rebates, will help homeowners make their homes more efficient with insulation, appliances and windows. I can attest to the value of this! I cut my energy bills in half by insulating my attic and replacing my old windows. At a time when money is tight for so many, programs like this will hopefully motivate people to improve their homes, save money and lower their emissions.)

By Steve Hargreaves

Under President’s proposal, homeowners would be reimbursed for energy-efficient appliances and insulation.

President Obama proposed a new program Tuesday that would reimburse homeowners for energy-efficient appliances and insulation, part of a broader plan to stimulate the economy.

The administration didn’t provide immediate details, but said it would work with Congress on crafting legislation. Steve Nadel, director at the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, who’s helping write the bill, said a homeowner could receive up to $12,000 in rebates.

Read about Cash for Caulkers at CNN Money.

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