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Issue 352
July 28, 2008 ARE YOU GREEN YET? CREATE AN ECO-FRIENDLY HOME! BREATH CLEAN AIR CLEAN IT GREEN The average U.S. household spends approximately $600 on 40 pounds of chemical cleaning supplies annually. The business of chemical cleaning supplies is an 18 billion dollar annual business. They not only threaten our health but also end up in our rivers, soil, air, and oceans. Many of the products we use to clean our homes are a source of poisonous chemicals-toxins that may cause cancer, asthma, or other medical problems. You can save $580 annually by making your own non-toxic household cleaning products. You can find recipes for making your own non-toxic cleaning products using everyday items like baking soda, vinegar, and soda water at www.greenpeace.org/usa. AIR PURIFIERS CO2 emissions are the largest contributor to global warming. You can reduce these emissions by purchasing Energy Star® qualified products. The average 1,500 square foot home collects 40 pounds of dust per year. Energy Star® qualified air purifiers will help you and your family breathe easier while saving you money and lowering CO2 emissions. Operating 35% more efficiently than standard models, an Energy Star® qualified purifier saves an average of 215 kWh per year, preventing 370.9 pounds of CO2 from entering the earth’s atmosphere. ELECTROSTATIC FILTERS The easiest way to filter the air in your home is to use the heating and air conditioning systems already installed. The most common type of filter is the inexpensive fiberglass filter that only traps enough of the larger particles to keep your heating and air conditioning equipment from clogging up. Electrostatic filters are 97% efficient at filtering all indoor air pollutants including dust, bacteria, pet dander and mold spores. VOC PAINT (No Volatile Organic Compounds) The average adult spends approximately 80% of their time indoors – that’s 19 hours out of the 24 hours in a day. Indoor air quality is very important to maintain good health. Indoor paints expose people to volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from the paint for up to six months after application. The Freshaire Choice paint (only from the Home Depot) is the first-ever and only tinted paint to contain no VOCs or harsh chemicals. Issue 353
August 4, 2008 ARE YOU GREEN YET? CREATE AN ECO-FRIENDLY HOME! WATER CONSERVATION Water is a vital resource to our planet and the living things that inhabit it. With booming populations and ongoing drought conditions, our water resources are becoming taxed. Protecting and preserving the nation’s water supply is critical to our economy, environment, and human health. Using water efficiently now will help ensure water supplies for future generations. INSIDE YOUR HOME: • WaterSense label products use about 20% less water. The bathroom is one of the biggest water-wasters in the home, so start your conservation efforts here. • Fix leaky faucets, toilets and plumbing joints. To make sure your toilet tank isn't leaking, place a drop of food coloring in the tank; if the color shows in the bowl without flushing, you have a leak. • Fully loading an automatic dishwasher takes just as much water as when it is only half full……so load it up! • Replace your washing machine with an Energy Star qualified model and save up to 7000 gallons of water annually. • Replace your toilet with a low flow model and use less than 1.3 gallon of water per flush. Your toilet actually uses the most water of anything in your home. A regular toilet can use up to 7 gallons of water every time you flush, depending how old it is. But the new, dual-flush models have separate buttons for big and small flushes, using just 1.6 and .9 gallons (instead of 7)! They cost about $230 to $400, compared to $175 for a standard model, but will save you 5,000 gallons of water a year. Also avoid flushing the toilet unnecessarily. • Take shorter showers and replace you showerhead with a low-flow version. • Add a “Low Flow” Aerator to your faucet/sink. Faucets account for approximately 15% of indoor water usage in the average household. That is more than 1 trillion gallons of water in the United States annually. Federal law requires that new faucets not exceed 2.2 gallons per minute (gpm) however, older faucets can flow at rates as high as 3 to 7 gpm. Water efficient faucets labeled by the EPA’s WaterSenseTM program will use no more than 1.5 gpm, reducing the standard flow by more than 30 percent without sacrificing performance. Faucet aerators mix air into the water to reduce the flow while keeping regular water pressure (ends up saving water and saving money on bill). By using aerators in your kitchens and bathrooms, your family can reduce water use by more than 200 gallons a month. A normal sink's faucet flow is 3 to 5 gallons of water per minute, this aerator reduces water flow to 1.5 gallons a minute • Don’t run the water while washing your face, shaving or brushing your teeth. OUTSIDE YOUR HOME: • When you water plants deeply you will need to water them less often. Most plants do best if the soil is allowed to dry out between waterings. • Set your lawn mower blade one notch higher. Longer grass has less evaporation, therefore it will need to be water less frequently. • Adjust your sprinkler heads so that you are watering just your lawn and not the driveway and sidewalks. • Water early in the morning or late in the evening when it’s cool. This saves on evaporation, prevents fungus and prevents plant and grass sunburn. • Layer mulch around plants to reduce evaporation. |
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