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Low Impact Living: New Green Products That Save You Money

Low Impact Living — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 16:27:59 +0000

One of the great things about many green products is that they’ll actually save you money, sometimes over the long term (solar panels), but sometimes almost immediately (CFLs). In this economy, finding green products that are healthy, environmentally friendly AND economical is more important than ever. So, here are some new products we’ve come across over the past few months that offer just that - high green benefits AND more money in your bank account!

Energy Cinch Window Blankets. Windows are often an energy efficiency problem spot. Many homes lack the latest energy efficient windows, leading to energy loss and uncomfortable rooms throughout the year. Because window replacements are so expensive, though, it almost never pays to replace a window just for the energy savings benefits. Payback periods can often be ten years or more. There are other solutions - films and solar screens reflect sunlight during hot weather, and insulating drapes are helpful year-round. But Energy Cinch Window Blankets offer another solution. They combine the high insulating qualities of the thickest drapes with the installation ease of an extendable shower rod. You can easily remove them during times of the year when they’re not needed. An Energy Cinch can cut a problem window’s heat loss by up to 80%.

Enersaver Programmable Thermostat. We’ve praised the virtues of programmable thermostats many times before, but it can be a bit difficult to get them set right. We’ve come across this new thermostat from Globe Electric, called the enersaver Spin-N-Click. It uses a scroll wheel and single button to make programming much easier and more intuitive. And, at $49.95, it’s a relative bargain for a full-featured programmable thermostat. At this price, the thermostat will pay for itself in less than a year’s time in most homes.

Is Home Automation Key to a Low Carbon Lifestyle?

Low Impact Living — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 15:27:45 +0000

Home automation systems (such as Colorado vNet and Control4) are becoming a necessary amenity in any high-end home, but are they also a new tool in our fight to reduce energy use and global warming? After all, these systems are designed so that you can control your high-end AV components, home security system, lighting and HVAC from one device (or via the web from somewhere else), so why not add energy conservation to the mix, right?

The idea is that these high tech systems will minimize or eliminate the wasted energy from lights left on by accident, vampire loads from home equipment in the “off” state, thermostats set too high or low for usage patterns or climate conditions, etc - the automation systems themselves will set things right even if you forget. We’ve certainly written about how important it is to kill of these wasteful elements, but are they big enough to warrant buying one of these systems just to reduce them?

Tip o’ the Day: Baby It’s Cold Outside

Rebecca Carter — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 14:24:43 +0000

Brrr! Winter seems to be coming and going this year in a way that is scaring some of us greenies to the bone. But if it's cold, it's cold - what can we do? Dressing appropriately is a big first step - and that advice holds true even when we are indoors.

Treehugger reminded us last year about Jimmy Carter's famous February 2, 1977 speech: Report to the American People on Energy, and we've been waiting for a good moment to bring it up. On that day almost 30 years ago, Jimmy Carter had been in office for 2 weeks, and was broadcast on television in a cardigan.

His advice then remains to be good advice today. Here is an excerpt from his speech:

We must face the fact that the energy shortage is permanent. There is no way we can solve it quickly. But if we all cooperate and make modest sacrifices, if we learn to live thriftily and remember the importance of helping our neighbors, then we can find ways to adjust and to make our society more efficient and our own lives more enjoyable and productive. Utility companies must promote conservation and not consumption. Oil and natural gas companies must be honest with all of us about their reserves and profits. We will find out the difference between real shortages and artificial ones. We will ask private companies to sacrifice, just as private citizens must do.

All of us must learn to waste less energy. Simply by keeping our thermostats, for instance, at 65 degrees in the daytime and 55 degrees at night we could save half the current shortage of natural gas.

There is no way that I, or anyone else in the Government, can solve our energy problems if you are not willing to help. I know that we can meet this energy challenge if the burden is borne fairly among all our people–and if we realize that in order to solve our energy problems we need not sacrifice the quality of our lives.

We encourage everyone to wear sweaters and slipper socks when indoors this winter, in hopes that we all can lower our thermostat a little, even if it is just one degree.

Rebecca says: Here in Miami we've had a very warm winter, just two weeks ago I was kayaking in my bathing suit. However last night we experienced one of our chilliest nights all season. I'm proud to say that by sleeping with 3 shirts, pants, and 2 pairs of socks I was able to avoid putting on the heat. Living without heat is unreasonable in most of the country, but each degree less does make a difference.

Transcript, Jimmy Carter Speech 2/2/1977