Green Options

I’m becoming a coupon junkie… you know, the slightly crazy lady who gets to the check-out with a cart full of groceries and 30 minutes later hands the cashier $15.78.  Yep, I’m there.

As such, I ALWAYS pick up the Sunday paper… two or three if there are a lot of valuable coupons inside. (I always recycle the paper after using it for art projects, wrapping, cleaning windows, etc…).

This week I was surprised at the number of coupons for “natural” or “green” products.  While I would dispute the green-ness of several of this products, I am pleased to see the mainstream corporations finally making steps in the right direction.  (But listen up Huggies, there is a LONG way to go yet).

German car giant BMW has announced plans to attach radioactive heat-collectors to the tailpipes of future models, in a move predicted to slash fuel use and reduce carbon emissions by around 5 per cent.

The massive fuel saving is bigger than the three per cent achieved by the two current key Efficient Dynamics technologies - stop-start and brake energy regeneration.

The revolutionary technology, originally designed to power space satellites, captures waste heat transferred down the tailpipe and converts it to electricity via a radioactive ‘thermolelectric generator.’

Want to help green up your office?

Manager not listening?

1.  Try these suggestions.
2.  Frame them in a money-saving language.
3.  Stand back.
4.  Watch pointy-haired-boss’s ears perk up.

• Substitute travel with videoconference or a web-based tool for getting together. Not only will you be ‘back in the office’ 5 minutes after your meeting is over (ahem, productivity…), you will be able to stay in your own bed, at your own home, with your family.  It will also save your company hotel, airfare, cabs, and meals/entertainment costs.  Don’t have videoconference?  Try Webex.  You can watch others on camera, and listen real-time.
• Shut down computers at night. Now this one is probably trickier than it first appears.  Talk to your IT department.  Night time is usually when they like to do system-wide updates, and they don’t like having to run around and fix people’s computers when they’re having problems because the person’s computer was not available for system-wide fixes at night.  But work with your IT folks and let them know what you’d like to do.  At the very least, pick one night per week that everyone has to leave their computers on, and have the IT department send out an email out on that day to let everyone know to keep their computers on.

GreenandSave.com’s Green Project Return on Investment table offers realistic information to help building owners make decisions on the cost effectiveness of green building measures, remodeling, and tune-ups.

But gaining an appetite for saving cash?

"People hate this green stuff" a senior member of the British Shadow Cabinet was recently quoted as saying.

That may come as a surprise - until very recently I’ve been writing enthusiastically of the rapid progress of European governments on green issues. However, as high energy prices begin to bite, and the world teeters on the brink of recession Europe is looking "at this green stuff" like a 10 year old staring at a plate of sprouts.

They say that location is everything. Where your business is located can certainly have a big impact on your operations and your bottom line. It can also have a big impact on the planet.

Many small businesses are born in the most humble of beginnings: a small corner of a bedroom, the kitchen table of an apartment, maybe even a closet. Most expand to off-site offices as they grow, leaving behind the convenience of working from home for the increased visibility and professionalism of a “real office.” But for many types of businesses, having an off-site office is not at all necessary. Especially if much of the work revolves around a computer.

Editor’s note: This week, Celsias writer Britt Gordon-McKeon looks at a new savings account option from socially conscious banking trailblazer ShoreBank. This post was originally published on October 16, 2007.

For the first time in the U.S., a triple-bottom line bank (working towards social, environmental and financial goals) is offering a high-interest online savings account. ShoreBank’s new ShoreBank Direct account currently offers a 5.00% APY with a $1 minimum,

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Saving energy at home will not only create less demand on the power grid, but will also save you money in electricity costs. Here are some simple things you can do to reduce your energy use.

Unplug. Whether it is the cell phone charger or the TV, when it is plugged in it is using electricity. Simply unplugging electronics and appliances while not in use will cut that phantom power

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Editor's note: This week, Lighter Footstep's Chris Baskind shares some tips for making your refrigerator run more efficiently. This post was originally published on May 30, 2007.

So how old is your refrigerator?

More than five years? If your fridge is similar to most, it uses about 40% more electricity than the ENERGY STAR certified units being sold today. And given the fact that your fridge is one of a typical home's biggest

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Mike Taylor is the publisher of Solar Kismet, where he orginally published this post.

Natural Gas , or how I saved $200 this winter (Part 1 of 2)

We moved to the DC area last September and in the first bill from Washington Gas, it had a table of the previous owner’s natural gas use for the last year. A perfect opportunity for a little data analysis…

Using data from the

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