Is My Organic Garden Saving Me Money on Grocery Bills?

Scott Cooney — Tue, 05 May 2009 00:28:25 +0000

When Michelle Obama helped break ground on the White House organic garden, I’m sure she understood that the benefits went far beyond the borders of the veggie patch. It may help create green collar, shovel-ready jobs. Low-income kids from local schools get an incredible opportunity they will never forget: playing in a vegetable garden and learning where our food comes from, at the White House, while they grow food that may well be eaten by our President or the President of Costa Rica or South Africa. The garden also provided other intangibles that America needs right now: hope, independence, and a can-do attitude. Michelle’s approval rating stands at 84%, and most articles talking about why she’s so popular will mention the garden.

But I have to wonder…did she guess that she’d be saving the taxpayers money by reducing the grocery bills at the White House? A recent Wall Street Journal article touted the savings in backyard gardens: investments as small as a dollar can produce $75 worth of veggies, and the average family with a garden saves about $530 per year on groceries.

Intrigued, I decided to investigate my own cost/benefit analysis in my small organic garden in San Francisco.

Is Your Green Project Worth It?

Dawn Killough — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 17:29:03 +0000

How do you determine if a green project you are considering is worth it? There are so many things to consider - the up front costs, savings over time, rebates and tax credits, and the savings to the environment.

A tool is available to help assess the financial costs and benefits of several green projects. GreenandSave.com provides an ROI (return on investment) table that lists the added costs, annual savings, projected savings over 10 or 20 years, and the ROI for a given improvement. Improvements include Tune-Ups (small projects or changes that can be made to green up a home or building), Remodeling, and Advanced (larger projects or decisions for a new building).

An example of a Tune-Up project is installing an Energy Star approved programmable thermostat. The average cost is $115.00. The projected annual savings is $180.00, yielding an ROI of 156.5% and a payback of 0.6 years.

One of the Remodeling projects is to replace windows with Energy Star Low-E windows. According to the GreenandSave Remodeling Table: the payback time in years is 2.3, the added cost is $700.00, the annual savings is $300.00, ten year savings is $3,000.00, and the ROI is 42.9%.

Advanced projects include doubling the insulation factor (R-value) of the exterior walls from R-19 to R-30. The added cost for this improvement is listed as $900.00, annual savings of $120.00, ROI of 13.3%, and a payback of 7.5 years.

While the costs and savings may vary according to the area of the country or world a project is located in, this tool certainly gives an owner some hard data to use to when making a decision on whether to pursue a project or not. Some projects, such as adding a programmable thermostat, pay for themselves quickly, so they become almost “no-brainers.” Others, like the added insulation example above, require more thought. Tools like GreenandSave.com’s ROI table give owners the data they need to make an educated choice.

Green Options » return on investment

Is My Organic Garden Saving Me Money on Grocery Bills?

Is Your Green Project Worth It?