Green Options » Energy-Efficient Appliances

Obama First to Enforce 34-Year-Old Energy Efficiency Rules

Timothy B. Hurst — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 10:12:50 +0000

Policymakers can make all the rules and regulations they want, but if the administration chooses not to implement and enforce them—or finds legal loopholes allowing them to shirk their responsibility—sometimes, there’s not a whole that can be done about it.

And that is exactly what has happened since 1975 when Congress passed the Energy Policy and Conservation Act, requiring the Department of Energy to come up with tougher energy efficiency standards on a broad range of products—from residential air-conditioners to industrial boilers—standards that decades of administrations have failed to do.

But decades of shirking the responsibility for writing those efficiency regs are coming to an end.

Phantom Loads Adding 8% to Your Electric Bill (video)

Timothy B. Hurst — Fri, 02 May 2008 05:48:41 +0000

Did you know that over the course of a year, a microwave operating in standby mode will use about the same amount of electricity as it would if it ran on HIGH for 24 hours? Frightening, isn’t it? In fact, the average American home has 20-40 appliances plugged in at any given time, and in a year those appliances will together use what is equivalent to one month of electricity for the entire household - just sitting there. This great little short from GOOD Magazine called “Vampire Energy,” explains the costs of running your home’s appliances on standby mode, and does so with tangible examples and real numbers. Enjoy.

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How Green Can a Second Home Be?

Preston Koerner — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 13:12:00 +0000

Every now and then, I see comments like the following, "That home is 2,200 sf. There's no way it can be green, such a monstrosity! People need to live in smaller houses." I disagree with that blanket statement. No house is too big, it's just the number of people in the house is too small. But I've heard equally judgmental comments with respect to second homes and vacation homes. How green can a second home be? To help us with this one, Amy Gunderson of the NY Times wrote an article called "Making Your Second Home Green." It's pretty good.

According to the article, James and Kathleen Seligman decided to build a green second home in Three Rivers, California. The 969 sf, two-bedroom house has double-paned windows, energy-efficient appliances, clay-based wall coverings and no paint, and non-toxic cotton insulation. Additionally, the house was designed to accomodate solar panels (not sure if they were actually installed), sustainably harvested wood was used, and construction debris was recycled, as opposed to going to the landfill. Note however, they decided to go with the granite counters for stylistic purposes, rather than opt for some of the other sustainable counters on the market. But for the most part, this is a fairly impressive green home.

James and Kathleen also have their first home in Three Rivers, so this home will be lived in occassionally and rented out to tourists the rest of the time. Which brings us back to our initial inquiry. How green can a second home be? I think, imho, to determine whether a second home can be green, one must look to the first home. In this situation, the second home is an investment and many of the green features serve to lower operating costs, but as it relates to James and Kathleen, have they lessened their incremental impact on the environment at all? Not that I know of. Sure, it's better to build a green second home than a non-green second home, but in reality, the question of greenness cannot be separated from the occupants or the people. What changes do we see in the people? That's what going green is all about. Incremental change on a going forward basis.

So to answer the queston posed by the title to this post, one must look a little deeper. What is happening to the people? Any home can be a green home, but the question of whether something is or is not green also depends on the circumstances. Look at the circumstances and you decide. You tell me, how green can a second home be?

Image via Nancy Doniger.