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Working hard or hardly working to be Green

Posted 17 months ago|7 comments|467 views

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Green energy savings , recycling energy savings , green home energy tips , saving energy , saving money

Written by

The Cypress Gang

Needless to say most folks are just plain lazy when it comes to being green. I love all of the lip service by the greenies. Many of them believe they are doing their part while in fact they are not doing much in real terms.

It is hard work being green. You can't just remember to turn off the light switch when leaving a room and earn the green label award.

Here are a few things that everyone can do to earn that elusive green award. How many of these items can you say you have completed?

Caulk windows
Weatherize doors
Install solar attic ventilation
Install a radiant barrier in your attic
Insulate your attic and walls
Tint your windows
Add a shear drape to windows
Install motion sensors to outdoor lighting
Replace your air filters
Clean your A/C unit (both evaporation and condensing coils)
Install a setback thermostat
Use a dehumidifier
Recycle the dehumidifier water to plants
Lower your water heater temperature
Insulate your water heater
Use gas appliances (stove, water heater, clothes dryer, furnace)
Install a sealed barrier on your fireplace
Grow some of your own food
Compost your household and yard wastes

While many folks think ceiling fans are always helpful. I have mixed thoughts on ceiling fans.

If your home has high ceilings it might actually increase your energy consumption by forcing the hot air down to the living area.

This will cause your A/C to run more.

By adding the dehumidifier and maintaining a 40 percent relative humidity you can raise your thermostat settings by almost 2 degrees and feel comfortable. Maintaining a 40 percent relative humidity in your home will also retard mold and mildew growth. Think about the chemicals you will no longer need to use.

Those are just a few things we have found useful in conserving energy and saving money.

What can you add to the list?

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redstateguy

17 months ago: Good idea, but I will not be doing it for a stinky, green award.

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The Cypress Gang

17 months ago: The green award I'm looking at is the money I save.

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Ghost Rider 17
Methuen, MA

17 months ago: Saving money is, indeed, the balls. I've been toying with a few ideas up here in the North; in my drawings the look simple enough to work and I've seen a lot of them done in various places if you have the time for it:

One thing I'm working on is utilizing the stream out back for electricity. Even if it only drops a little bit in elevation, if you can spin some form of a paddle or turbine you can generate enough electricity to power a small fridge or something of that nature. Or, if you have a gratuitous amount of wind you can make a small (maybe six feet or so) windmill, which I've also seen done.

I'm also working on solar heating for the pool water. A simple system of black plastic tubing coated in 1/4inch plexi glass seems to provide enough heat to the water pumped through it to raise the temperature of the pool a bit.

Running the same looped style of tubing, but copper, along the outside of a wood stove also is pretty decent at saving money from a hot water heater in the winter if you're capable of putting the system together on your own. Insulating that same tubing a bit also helps, plaster or clay for fire reasons.

It's not enormous amounts of savings all at once, but it does add up.

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amishking

Moderator
Auburn, NY

17 months ago: Great post, Cypress. I would say I could complete at least two thirds of this list over a weekend. I am printing out this post and asking the wife which one she wants to do first.

Thanks.

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The Cypress Gang

17 months ago: Don't know too much about the weather patterns in your area. I can't comment too much for New York state...

If you have southern and western facing windows start with them. Add some tint (you can do it yourself) and a sheer drape. I tinted all of my windows years ago with a reflective tint (be forewarned..reflective only when the sun is up...Check them out for privacy when the sun goes down...) and added a drop sheer drape.

My electric bill dropped by almost 10 percent over night. A setback thermostat will allow you to cycle your comfort control system for your normal daily routine.

I set my summer home temp to 81 degrees during the out of house time and recall it to 79 degrees before returning. Sleep mode is 78 degrees.

Keep in mind I also control the humidity to 40 percent so 78 degrees feels like 78 degrees and not 81 or 82 degrees. Oh yeah, keeping the relative humidity around 40 percent also controls mold, mildew, fungus, bed bugs, dites mites, roaches, ants and more water hungry pests. While making your air cleaner.

Drop the extra money on a larger dehumidifier if you can afford it. I pull about 8 to 10 gallons of water out of the air per day.

Be careful on the cleaning of your A/C coils. It can cause more damage if you do it wrong. They bend real easily and each bend will cause the unit to work harder.

Thermal barriers in you attic? They work as well for cold as they do for heat.

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Huey Newton

17 months ago: My wife is really better at it than I. At least as far as recycle goes. I'm the handyman with the caulk gun, weather strip and insulation. I also tend to tun the lights off that are left unnecessarily on. As a family, we are pretty good at that though.

No ceiling fans. My family and I play far too much ball in the house for that.

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Altruist
Eugene, OR

17 months ago: An informative post. Too bad you had to poison it with your anti Green bias.

What makes you think that "Greenies" want to waste more money, or don't conserve more energy than rednecks?

I know that you and several other right wingers on the site do practice good conservation efforts. I applaud those efforts however, I doubt that you can conclude from that, that the rest of the rednecks driving around in pickups that get 12mpg share your enthusiasm for conservation.

I and most of the "Greenies" I know do practice good conservation.

I personally designed and built my home from energy efficient alternative building materials so it doesn't need or have air conditioning, and in the winter we place rigid foam panels over the double pane low e windows to conserve heat. Most of the lights are CFL's but I am working to convert some to LED's which use much less energy. The new powerful LED's that provide the same lumens as the CFL's are still pretty expensive but LED Christmas tree lights are cheap and can provide low intensity light.

Perhaps you should stick to a premise you can prove.

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