With the advent of increased CO2 emissions that increase global warming, people are looking for inexpensive, yet efficient means to increase their environmental responsibility while reducing their carbon footprint.
Look no further than the types of light bulbs used at home, the office, etc. Incandescent bulbs are heat-driven light emitters. In simple terms, an electric current passes through a filament, heats it and then produces light. Fluorescent light is created by electricity that excites mercury vapor. However, health concerns over mercury in fluorescent lighting is exaggerated as mercury dissipates into the air within a few hours and recycling is available.
Some fluorescent lamps can be in the form of bulbs, rods or globes. In terms of use, an incandescent light bulb has a shorter life than fluorescent bulbs. An incandescent light bulb will last up to 1,000 hours compared to compact fluorescent light bulbs that last up to from 6,000 to 15,000 hours.
Concerns about water purity, most notably our drinking water, have led to a whole industry aimed at providing a pure, contaminant-free water supply. This comes in two forms; bottled and filtered.
Bottled water is available in small quantities and in larger bulk containers, from half pints to five gallons or more. The source of this water may be glacial, artesian, springs, purified or just plain tap water. Most consumers don’t know and just assume that because it is bottled, it is good.
The cost of bottled water ranges from twenty-five cents to $2 per container, with ninety percent of the cost being the container itself. An additional concern is what happens to the bottles when they are emptied? Our landfills are accumulating these non-degradable remnants in huge quantities.
Shaving, Your Face, legs, armpits, or undercarriage, but NOT the Environment
In order to asses the impact of anything on the environment a plethora of issues must be considered. Packaging, production and transportation should be considered when deciding whose razors to buy. Some companies are more environmentally friendly than others. When it comes to shaving, how much water and/or electricity is used is also a component. Normally, the question, with shaving, revolves around disposable or electric razors, but there are degrees to both that should be considered as well.
Disposable safety razors, ones where the blades cannot be removed or replaced, are easily cast down as having a higher environmental impact. They produce more waste than other types of razors, not to mention packaging, transportation, and production. While they are less dense than most other razors, leading one to believe they would break down easier, they make up for it in sheer quantity. The cheaper of safety razors are good for use, only one time. The better they get, the longer they last, the more dense the material of which they are made. Safety razors are a lose-lose situation for people hoping to shrink their footprint.
Razors wherein the blades themselves are disposable create less trash, but they still include prodigious packaging, transportation, and production on a lesser scale than safety razors. The blades normally last longer than safety razors, and there is less waste to be found, but they usually come with plastic blade holders. Before you write those blade holders off, consider how many holders there are. There is the one that sits or attaches near the shower or sink on which the razor is expected to rest between uses. Then there is the packaging of the blades once you bring them home from the store, the packaging that remains with the blades once you insert them into the back of the holder on which your razor rests. All of these pieces of cardboard and plastic eventually make it into the trash, as well as the razor holder itself.
Most electric razors do not require interchangeable parts, greatly reducing the amount of waste they produce, but they do use electricity. While the packaging is normally minimal for electric razors, some are plugged in throughout the day, increasing the amount of energy they use, and once they break there is more to throw away. The initial packaging for an electric razor is normally minimal and the fact that additional parts are rarely needed does move the electric razor towards the front of the pack as to environmental friendliness.
In the end, the most environmentally friendly shave is the one from an antiquated straight razor. Short of snapping the blade, those razors require minimal maintenance, no interchangeable parts, no more water, and possibly less water, than other models and give the closest shave to boot.
Unfortunately, you cannot, should not, use a straight razor on your drive to work, or for a quick shave. Convenience comes into play at this point. How many people want a large blade near their face? If you truly want to be environmentally friendly, then perhaps this is the blade for you.
If a risky shave, albeit environmentally friendly, is out of consideration, then the next best thing would be an electric razor. However, just as with cell phones, laptops and all the other conveniences of modern life, be sure to unplug between charging and use. The higher end electric razors with blade cleaners and various systems requiring the leaching of electricity throughout the day should be avoided. Less is less. Fewer features mean less impact. Choose a brand that has been around for some time, is known for its quality and durability. Spending more, in your quest for the least damaging razor, can mean a great deal less trash for future generations and our animal friends to wade through.
Today’s gadgets require batteries and regular batteries must be replaced often, especially those that are alkaline or made with carbon and zinc. Not only can this get expensive, it adds to the pollution of our planet. Rechargeable batteries are less costly and have the bonus of reducing the carbon footprint of individuals who use portable electronics.
Rechargeable Batteries Versus Regular Batteries: The Rundown
* Two regular AA batteries last between 20 and 30 hours depending on the device you are using. Devices such as digital cameras use them up much faster.
* Two rechargeable will last for hundreds of hours because when the batteries run low, they can simply be recharged and used again.
* The cost for two AA batteries is between 2 and 4 USD. Replacing them several times a month in multiple gadgets can potentially cost families over $50 each month.
* The average cost of two AA rechargeable batteries plus the charger is between 10 and 12 USD. Realistically, you can save hundreds of dollars a year by buying rechargeables.
* The mercury in regular AA batteries pollutes the earth when thrown into landfills and can pollute the air when burned.
* Using rechargeables is a fast way to help reduce the carbon footprint you leave on the earth. Though made with cadmium and nickel, the nature of rechargeable batteries means there are less of them being left to build up as waste.
In the battle of rechargeable batteries versus regular batteries, rechargeable win by a andslide.
Millions of screens from TVs to Computer Monitors– Which is the best for the environment?
All of us use some type of electronic device with a screen such as TV, Computer, Mobiles etc. These electronic devices use one of a couple types of screens to display the output. When screens and outputs were originally introduced the CRT was used for display purpose, but now the latest addition to list of display device technology is the LCD and Plasma displays. Let’s Compare for the environment.
Today the communication evolution is on its peak. Telephonic communication allows the user to verbally communicate to other users in different geographic locations. The majority of voice communication is still telephonic and despite some new VOIP technology the vast majority of the population breaks down into two categories: Land line telephone and Mobile phones. The comparison of both is as following:Continue reading "Phones: Cell vs. Landline"»
Cat boxes – automatic verses manual. What is the environ mental difference.
There are many things that should be taken into account when making the decision to use an automatic cat litter box, or a manual cat litter box. Which is better for the environment? Which uses less energy and disposes of waste more efficiently?
The truth is that the manual litter box saves on the environment as it is not plugged in and will therefore save electricity and decrease your greenhouse gas emissions. Automatic litter boxes are plugged into the wall and therefore increase your electricity bill and emit greenhouse gases. Continue reading "Cat Boxes: Automatic vs. Manual Boxes"»
Today the temperature of earth is rising due to huge pollution and it makes those really hot days that much more uncomfortable. This post dissects the pros and cons between running your AC versus using fans to cool the space you inhabit.Some of the factors are listed below:
1. Hardware Cost- The electric fan is less costly then the air conditioner , and there is a huge price difference between the cost of fan and central or window AC units.However, the majority of homes here in the US are already equipped with central air or the window units, so the cost comparison is difficult to evenly compare between the options. Continue reading "Cooling Off: Ac vs. Fans"»
There are various types of heaters that are cost-efficient and energy-savers. This depend on overall size of the area to be heated, type of home and home insulation. For example, a relatively small, 1800 square foot, ranch-style home on one level with a basement, may find savings of up to 50% with a thermal heater in larger rooms or large master bedroom when individual thermostats in each room are lowered. If there is only a single thermostat, choose to heat the room furthest from the furnace or boiler room.
Be aware, however, that the use of portable heaters has been a major cause of residential fires. Obviously, all safety features should be carefully checked before buying.
Most heaters, with the exception of those utilizing propane, kerosene or oil, require basic use of electricity. This should be considered a factor if saving energy is more important than saving on the cost of your electricity. However, the cost to replace liquified fuels should also be a consideration.
Newer heaters on the scene use copper conductors or infrared quartz tubing. Heaters with quartz elements find a life span of approximately a decade. These heaters reduce natural gas or oil consumption by allowing lower temperatures in rooms not in use while maintaining comfortable temperatures in a single room in use. Electricity generates power to these thermal heaters. The amount of electrical energy used depends on the home’s room configurations.
Kerosene heaters are recommended for temporary use only and in well ventilated rooms.
Join Now Breast Implants: Types vs Cost vs Results Breast enlargement is performed through a prosthesis called a breast implant. Two most common breast implant types are silicone gel filled or saline filled. Sterile saline liquid fills an elastic silicone shell to make saline implants. Viscous silicone gel fills a silicone shell to make silicone gel implants. Other developed implants such as soy oil or polypropylene string are not manufactured anymore. Implant types have different results in appearance, longevity and cost.
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France’s goal when beginning saline filled implants in 1964 was to perform surgeries with smaller incisions. Today’s manufactured shells are thicker than previous generations’ and room temperature vulcanized (RTV). The elastic silicone shell is first placed in the body and then filled with the saline, a salt water solution. The result of inserting empty implants is a smaller scar. There is a smaller scar with this saline surgery than the silicone gel implants which are filled before performing the surgery. Continue reading "Fake BOOBS: Types vs. Cost vs. Results. vs. Environment"»
From HERE….
There are studies about everything these days-flu vaccines, why people vote the way they do, how bat sonar is affected by wind turbines-but there is one that really stuck out for me. A. T. Kearney published a study on how the retail supply change is being affected by going (or not going) green. Mainly they are talking about packaging and environmental concerns are soon going to affect the retail sectors ability to compete. They coined a term that was new to me: Ecoflation.
The Rest is HERE
Helping the environment, saving money, and practicing safe sex are all very important topics. One of the many ways to protect yourself when having sex is to use a condom. The two most commonly used condoms include polyurethane condoms and latex condoms.
“Compared to latex condoms, polyurethane condoms have been shown in lab tests to be just as effective as barriers to sperm and HIV. Furthermore, correct and consistent use of condoms (latex or polyurethane) during sexual intercourse greatly reduces the risk of an unwanted pregnancy and/or sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Actually, latex and polyurethane condoms are the only birth control products that also help protect against HIV.”
Polyurethane condoms are made from plastic, which is nearly twice as strong as latex. One of the most popular polyurethane condoms is the female condom. The female condom helps to prevent the transmission of HIV and guards against pregnancy. It is shaped like a pouch and can be inserted into the rectum before having anal sex. The condom costs about $2.95, so if the person used a condom three times a week it would add up about $8.85.
Compared to latex condoms, polyurethane ones are made from a type of plastic that:
is thinner
is stronger
offers a less constricting fit
is more resistant to deterioration
transmits heat better, which helps increase pleasure
Alright, so I admit it. I wasn’t a Brett Favre fan for a couple of reasons: 1. Madden had a man crush 2. He played for Green Bay – and I’m a Vikings FAN!
But you have to check out the hilarious commercial that will run during the Super Bowl Today with Brett!!
While visiting the City of Angels, I had a chance to stop by the Undesigned boutique, where eco designer Carol Young sells her gorgeous clothes (and accessories and shoes by other sustainable companies). Carol wasn’t in the store that day, as she has recently had her first child (congrats, Carol!) but Alexandria See, a reuse-oriented designer herself, was there to answer my myriad questions.
I tried on a number of pieces, all of which are made from factory-second materials. This means that the fabrics were used by larger clothing manufacturers and these extras would otherwise have been thrown away. Carol Young uses these materials (mostly from high-end designers) to create her smaller-batch designs.
Having written about Carol’s designs previously, it was a treat to get to try on and experience her whole line; I ended up buying the perfect black travel dress (pre-wrinkled and washable in cold water, with an edgy but comfortable crinkle around the neckline and hem), the Moth Microfiber Cowlneck has already been dressed up (lovely dinner) and down (thrown over my bikini at the beach) and worn about 10 times in three weeks. I also found a grey and black striped wrap/scarf that’s the perfect layering piece on the sale rack.
Alexandria See, showing me around the store.
The exposed pocket is a classic Carol Young design motif, on a skirt that can be gathered at each side, for a shorter look, or left longer.
I haven’t made up my mind about Meg Whitman, former eBay CEO and current Republican candidate for governor of my birth state of California. And REP’s California chapter hasn’t made an endorsement decision for next year’s primary, so what follows is not an endorsement.
However … after finding out what extremists have been saying about Meg Whitman lately, I’m ready to bake her a cake. Whitman, you see, has been criticized for – oh, the humanity! – donating large sums of money to environmental organizations. For her support for conservation, Whitman has been branded not conservative by the chiefs of the ideological thought police at the far right edge of the political spectrum.
This all came about because Whitman donated $1.15 million to a Colorado land protection organization that persuaded the town of Telluride to condemn nearly 600 acres owned by a developer who planned to build homes, a golf course, and a hotel. Reasonable people can disagree on whether such measures should be pursued to protect open space. Nevertheless, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled, 6-1, that the town was within its rights to do what it did. A jury awarded the development company $50 million in compensation, equal to its appraisal.
Whitman also has been taken to task for donating a tidy sum to Environmental Defense. ED is hardly a bunch of radicals; the buttoned-down group works closely with household-name companies such as DuPont, McDonald’s, FedEx, and WalMart on projects to reduce waste and chemical hazards.
None of that matters, however, to radicals for whom stewardship of our natural heritage is the first step on the road to socialist perdition.
I know this is the age of instant gratification, but — this being the season — let’s hear it for planting young trees. The rewards (I speak from experience) are huge: a personal forest or great big hedge isn’t simply a visual treat, a haven for Our Friends The Birds and a way to help fight global warming. It’s also a shelter from road intrusions, wind and whatever lies next door.
Even a single tree offers most of these benefits, and if it provides shade from summer sun it gets extra points, for making it easier to turn off the air conditioner.
All this and money too. As long as you don’t overpay at the start, trees are a terrific investment. Deposit a 4- to 6-footer now, enjoy a major increase in property value when it hits the 14-foot mark — or, of course, soars beyond.
My husband Bill trimming our hemlock hedge. That’s a 12-foot ladder.
The hedge in the picture is about a hundred trees long, so it had to start out as young ones. We paid 5 or 10 bucks apiece — this being 12 years ago, more or less — for an assortment of rather spindly 4- to 5-footers. Two years later, when the tallest had barely hit 6 feet and all were still more promise than performance, I got antsy. Bought a bunch of 10-footers, at about 40 bucks a pop, to plant in front of the most grievous eyesore.
Sure enough it did make an immediate difference, but the little guys only took two or three more years to catch up, and once they did that was it for the benefit. Annual pruning evened it all out. Now that every tree in the hedge is 14 to 16 or more feet tall, you can’t tell which is which.
Other benefits of starting small:
* Small trees suffer less damage when taken from the field, so they recover more quickly when planted (big trees usually stay the same height for at least a couple of years; they’re too busy repairing their roots to do much of anything else).
* Small trees are DIY, which matters huge when you’re talking about a lot of them. You can pick up a 4-footer without serious consequences for your back. You can dig a hole for it without taking all day, and you can keep it watered…even a skinny 8-foot tree needs about 20 gallons of water each week, more if the weather is hot and windy.
As you’ve no doubt noticed if you follow these things, the current fashion in bouquets has oneness at its heart. Either it’s one kind of flower — roses, say or gerbera daisies — or it’s one color: white or pink or (in the higher rent districts) green.
Not usually purple, it must be admitted, but otherwise this is typical, or typical of one colorness, anyway.
Gladioli and sweet peas are not typically buddies but this has been a weird summer.
This year, the kind of bouquets my old friend Sharon calls “It must be August,” only became possible in early September. Most of the good annual cutting flowers take time to start producing in earnest, and that goes double for the ones you get by letting things like Verbena bonariensis and nigella self-sow.
Snapped this picture on the way into work while on the on-ramp to the highway. I realize that there is some hypocrisy in the fact that I took a picture while stopped on the on-ramp, but this was hilarious to me!
Texting and driving is one this, but reading a BOOK?!?!?!
When I moved to Connecticut’s largest city, Bridgeport, in January 2001, I soon learned that the struggling Rust Belt town had several claims to history that the locals were proud of. Storied showman P.T. Barnum had been mayor, Tom Thumb was born there and Frederick Law Olmsted had designed the beautiful Seaside Park. (Bridgeport had its share of bad memories too, being the site of the horrific L’Ambiance Plaza disaster and still struggles with a legacy of toxic pollution from its industrial past.)
Since 1871, Bridgeport was home to the Frisbie Pie Company. Yale students in nearby New Haven had amused themselves by tossing the used pie tins through the air, and when the Wham-O toy company was looking for a fresh way to market their new plastic flying discs, they adopted the name “Frisbee” as an homage.
The organizers of the recent Green Market Exposition at Bridgeport’s Barnum Museum picked the iconic Frisbee “to represent the City of Bridgeport, its spirit of innovation and its long association to the local avionics and aeronautics community.” Co-organizer Remy Chevalier added, “I knew Wham-O sold a recycled plastic version so I envisioned artists painting the top of Frisbees, putting them on display at the Expo and at auction to raise some money for green projects.” Chevalier hooked up with Wham-O licensed manufacturer Discovering The World and Robert Araujo from nearby Sikorsky, and ended up with two large boxes of 200 Reflyer 100 Mold Frisbees, 60% post-consumer recycled polyethylene.
He is now asking artists to paint a Frisbee, to be auctioned off at the next Green Market Exposition, starting October 8th, 2010 at the Barnum Museum. Funds will go to retooling the Bridgeport area as a hub of green business and innovation. Remy also hopes to do a pre-showing of the Frisbees at City Lights Gallery on Earth Day, April 22nd.
Get painting details, and download the request form, at Greenburbs (or find local locations where you can pick up a Frisbee).
The countdown to zero-emission battery cars has begun, but very little of the rubber has hit the road yet. That means that, for the 2010 model year, hybrids (and a lone natural gas car) are the cleanest and greenest vehicles on the market. Each year, at Greenercars.org, the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) presents its list of best and worst choices, and the news this year is not that Honda and Toyota are the stars of the show (that’s been a given for more than a decade) but that American companies, Ford and Chevrolet, actually made the list (with the Fusion Hybrid, also known as the North American Car of the Year, and the soon-to-be-replaced Cobalt XPE).
ACEEE awards a green score based on fuel economy, emissions and other variables, including manufacturing practices. The low-emissions Honda Civic GX, which is the car that natural gas-loving billionaire T. Boone Pickens drives, is once again the top green scorer, at 57. The GX is the only natural gas vehicle on the U.S. market, however, in part because we have no significant public infrastructure for the fuel. The chances are, then, that you’re looking for something a bit more mainstream.
It’s no surprise that the Toyota Prius and Honda Civic Hybrid are at the top of the list, and they’re both excellent choices. Honda’s newest hybrid, the Insight, is at #5, just below the Smart fortwo. I’m not a huge fan of either of these — the Insight is bare-bones compared to the Prius and Civic, and the Smart is simply not the best small car choice: The top-rated Honda Fit, Toyota Yaris, Hyundai Accent and Mini Cooper are better bets. The Nissan Altima Hybrid, also on the list, remains a good alternative.
Now the fun part: Not the greenest, but the “meanest” cars on the road. It may surprise you to learn that the winners here aren’t for the most part huge, gas-guzzling SUVs but the kind of “supercars” routinely celebrated in the pages of Car and Driver and Motor Trend. The single worst environmental performer is the Lamborghini Murcielago and its roadster variant. Not only does this European boulevardier get only eight mpg in the city and 12 on the highway from its 6.5-liter V-12 engine, but it also does dismally in the emissions ratings.
The Bugatti Veyron (a whopping 16 cylinders and eight liters of displacement) is almost as bad, though it musters 14 mpg on the highway. Greens can take a grim pleasure in a YouTube video showing the owner of a brand-new Veyron accidentally dumping his car into a Texas salt marsh (below).
Other big offenders include the Bentley Azure/Brooklands, the Maybach 57S limo, the Ferrari 612 Scaglietti and the Mercedes ML63 AMG. I assume there’s no Hummer on the list because it’s slightly better than behemoths like the Chevrolet Suburban K2500 and the Dodge Ram 2500 Mega Cab, but the sale of the brand to China may have something to do with it.
Here’s the top six from both lists, followed by the cars’ green scores.
If the Toyota recall and “stop sale” order is confusing you, you’re not alone. The sudden acceleration problem is something you HAVE TO UNDERSTAND because it is VERY VERY DANGEROUS. If it happens you’ll only have nanoseconds to make decisions. Here’s what you need to know:
What did Toyota do?
Shortly before it suspended sales of eight of the most popular models, Toyota issued a massive recall of 2.3 million vehicles whose gas pedals may get stuck or become slow to return. It then followed up with another 1.09 million more. The cars affected by the first of those two recalls are all Toyotas : RAV4, Camry, Corolla, Matrix, Avalon, Highlander, Tundra and Sequoia. Check dates, because it’s most years. Most recently, Toyota added the Venza to the list.
Toyota says new gas pedals are on the way to replace the “sticky” ones. On Thursday, Toyota said it was extending the recall to Europe, though an assessment of which models are affected is still going on it will damage the Toyota brand forever because no one will feel safe buying these vehicles again after tthe deaths they have caused. With Europe added, there are now nine million cars likely to be recalled. It’s unclear how long the U.S. sales suspension will last. Two House committees are holding hearings on the issue.
What do I do if sudden acceleration happens to me?
Hundreds of drivers report their cars suddenly taking off on them, and there’s no clear pattern — some are at stop signs, others cruising on the highway. Here’s one way it played out: “The car accelerated without driver input on two separate occasions – doesn’t sound sticky, huh. The last event resulted in smashing through the plate-glass window of a travel agency, injuring one employee. The car ended up totally in the agency, halted by an interior wall.”
It can occur anytime, anywhere; the important thing is to be prepared. The natural response is to hit the brakes, and that is indeed the right idea — but it’s important to maintain firm, even pressure and to not pump them, because, as Consumer Reports points out, that can lead to a catastrophic failure just when you need the brakes most. (Pumping the pedal when the engine’s racing will cause the brakes to lose the vacuum that sustains them.)
Shifting into neutral is another really useful tactic and, if you can, take a moment to practice that maneuver in a parking lot. Neutral should be one notch up from drive, but not all of today’s automatic transmissions (some with manual-shifting functions) are set up that way.
Finally, you’ll be tempted to turn off the engine, but don’t do it until you’re safely parked. Shutting off (a challenge on some cars with pushbutton start) will disable power steering and brakes — again, when they’re needed most.
The money Con Edison received will help fund smart grid research, including work on distribution monitoring devices, electric vehicle charging stations, renewable energy generation, energy storage, consumer systems, and a command and control network. Con Edison had previously received $136 million to deploy some smart grid technology. The utility is working with other parties on the project, including the New York City Economic Development Corp., Boeing, Columbia University, Viridity Energy, the Prosser Group, CALM Energy and Rudin Management Co.
The head of the industry’s Edison Electric Institute, Thomas Kuhn, recently addressed a group of journalists in NYC about the smart grid (and URTH Guy was there!). “A smart grid will allow quicker service restoration after outages, it will enable new technologies, it will help the environment, it will facilitate plug-in hybrid vehicles, it will reduce our dependence on oil, and it will lead to smarter rates,” Kuhn said. One of the benefits will be that utilities will no longer have to hire “meter men,” which “won’t have to worry about dodging people’s dogs to read meters,” added Kuhn. Electricity usage will be monitored from afar, and in fact consumers should be able to view their own data in real time, making their own budgeting and energy decisions much better. But don’t worry too much about the meter men, there will be many new jobs in building out and servicing the smart grid, so utility payrolls won’t necessarily shrink, at least for the foreseeable future (although eventually a smaller workforce could mean cheaper rates for consumers).
Today the communication evolution is on its peak. Telephonic communication allows the user to verbally communicate to other users in different geographic locations. The majority of voice communication is still telephonic and despite some new VOIP technology the vast majority of the population breaks down into two categories: Land line telephone and Mobile phones. The comparison of both is as following:
If there is only a single thermostat, choose to heat the room furthest from the furnace or boiler room.
