5 Business Apps to Go Green

Image  by okalkavan

1. PowWowNow - PowWowNow is a free conference call service that can not only help to reduce your business carbon foot print by reducing the need to travel to meeting, but can also help you to save time and money. After a short sign up process, for a conference call simply provide your conference members with a call in number and a private PIN number to access the call. The only costs associated with the service is that each participant will pay for the cost of their own call if charges apply. Also there is a small fee for international users to join in.

2. Avego – Ride to work sharing Avego offers a real time I-Phone App which allows you to save time, money and reduce your carbon foot print by offering to provide the empty seats in your car to other commuters or you can register to fill someone else’s empty space. Registering is free and easy and any payments are handled between drivers and riders.

3. Fuze Meeting is another iPhone app which can assist you in cutting your carbon foot print your carbon by using video conferencing. Parties can share information while using the iPhone. Fuze Meeting is also compatible with other phones including the Blackberry and Android. It saves money and lowers your carbon emissions.

4. Find Green works on the I-Phone and helps you to locate and work with other environmentally concerned businesses in your area that are trying to focus on green and eco-friendly products or business practices. The app will locate the green businesses nearest to you so that you can choose those your business would be compatible with and start communication with them.

5. Bump is an easy to use application for personal and business use that is compatible with I-Phone, Android, and Blackberry phones. It is an excellent tool for those with an interest in eco-friendly business practices.With Bump you can exchange contact information, photos, and documents with potential clients or other business associates who have the Bump application by simply bumping phones together after bringing up the wanted file. This app could potentially have a large impact on your carbon foot print by reducing the use of paper for business cards and small file printing.

10 Ways to Make an Eco Home

1. Energy Saving Light Bulbs

Manufacturers in the UK have replaced the traditional incandescent light bulbs with energy saving, compact fluorescent, light bulbs. These new compact light bulbs are brighter, last longer and are available in a variety of sizes. Your savings can average around $4 (£2.50) a year per bulb by using the energy saving light bulbs throughout your home.

2. Save on Heat Cost

When the weather turns cold, you want your home to remain warm inside. A poorly insulated home loses much of its heat through the roof and the walls. Replace the old insulation with new and improved insulation to save on energy and reduce your heating bills.

3. Decrease Use of Tumble Dryer

Tumble dryers are energy guzzlers that use a large amount of electricity. Whenever possible, hang your laundry outside and let air dry on a clothesline. Within a month, you should see a huge reduction in your electrical bill.

4. Fit Aerators to your Taps

Stop letting your hard earned money go down the drain. Reduce your water bill by fitting aerators to your taps. These energy saving gadgets work by mixing the water flow with air. Your taps will have a fuller flow, but less water usage. If you are replacing your old taps, buy new ones that are already fitted with aerators. To save even more on your water bill, replace your regular toilet with a low flow toilet that uses less water with each flush.

5. Solar Panels

Fit solar panels to your home to save on energy and lower your electrical bill. Solar panels work by harnessing the sun’s energy and converting it into electricity. Investing in solar panels can be expensive, so consider the benefits and possible savings before purchasing.

6. Draft Proof your Home

Cold air flowing through your home can quickly raise your energy bill. Draft proof your home by sealing off all door and windows where the cold air can come in from. You can easily find the supplies you need for sealing a home at all Do-It-Yourself stores.

7. Double Glazing

To help lower the cost of your heating bill, have your home fitted with double glazing. These are two layer glass windows with a spacer between the panes. They are sealed permanently together to keep the heat trapped inside your home.

8. Motion Sensor Light Bulbs

It’s easy to get in the habit of leaving the lights on even when you have left the room. This results in the usage of unnecessary energy and can quickly increase your electrical bill. By using motion sensor light bulbs, you can save on your energy bill. They will detect when no one is in the room and automatically turn off after a certain amount of time.

9. Composting

You can help to protect the environment by composting old food and table scraps. Purchase a recycling bin for fruits and vegetables that have become over ripe and toss in leftover foods from your meals. You can use this organic waste as compost for the plants in your garden.

10. Collect Rain Water

Every year the UK and US receive an abundance of rain. Instead of being an annoyance, the weather can be used to your advantage by helping to protect the environment and save on your water bill. Collect the rain in a water barrel or water butt that is attached to your external drainpipe. When the water butt is full, you can use the rain water you have collected to water your garden.

Just by making some of these changes, you can help to protect the environment while saving on your energy bill. To help more with your savings, search online for a Carbon Footprint Calculator.

How can this improve your Energy Performance Certificate when Selling your Home

In the UK today it is a legal requirement when you are selling or letting your home to have an energy performance certificate (EPC) carried out for the property to assess how energy efficient it is. Following these Steps will definitely go a long way to giving your home a better EPC rating. If you are selling or letting your home and are looking for an EPC provider why not visit My Online Estate Agent for a guide on how to chose the right one.

**Note: This post sparked some debate so I have edited it to include some real world numbers from our own holiday decorating last year. We used incandescent bulbs last year and I had no idea how much energy they would be using. I will be using figures for LED bulbs from www.HolidayLEDs.com for my calculations.

LED Decorating Can Equal Huge Energy Savings

I found myself asking… How much energy could we save using LED lights for decorating our house?

Calculating LED Decorating Savings:
Lets assume the incandescent bulbs use about 6 watts per bulb, the LED replacement bulbs which will allow reuse of all the cabling can run at just less than 1 watt per bulb;

Quote from HolidayLEDs.com: Both the C7 and C9 retrofit bulbs use only .96 watts per bulb and will last for 50,000 hours or more. Our retrofit replacement bulbs can be used with any standard C7 or C9 socket wire.

Now lets also assume the lights are lit up from 8PM till midnight, i.e. 4 hours of use each night.
Now lets assume the cost of electricity is $0.10 per kilowatt hour.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/david_gray/ / CC BY-NC 2.0

Let's assume 1000 bulbs to decorate a typical roofline

In my original post I quoted 1000 bulbs to light up the typical roofline, after some of the comments we received I went out and counted the number of bulbs we used to line our house last season, our home is 2600 sq ft and we used approx 400 bulbs… We can start our energy calculations from there;

Energy Used and Cost for Incadescent Lights:
400 x 6 watts = 2400 watts or 2.4 kilowatts. This equals 9.6 kilo watt hours which would cost $0.96 per night of illumination. (This is much less than I had originally quoted and is much more realistic for the typical home)
Let’s say the lights are lit for 30 nights over the holidays, that would be a total energy usage of 288 kilo watt hours at a total cost of $28.80 in electricity for a month.

Energy Used and Cost for C9 size Screw in Replacement LED Lights:
400 x 1 watt = 400 watts or 0.4 kilowatt. This equals 1.6 kilo watt hours which would cost $0.16 per night of illumination!
Let’s say the lights are lit for 30 nights over the holidays, that would be a total energy usage of 48 kilo watt hours at a total cost of $4.80 in electricity for a month.

I was amazed, the grand total using LED lights on a house in place of incandescent bulbs for the above example would realize a saving of $24.00 for the month of December.

The savings would be even bigger for larger homes, imagine how much you could save if you lived in a castle! The picture below is of an energy efficient sleeping beauty castle which Disney has decorated completely with energy efficient LED lights.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/masteryofmaps/ / CC BY-NC 2.0

The Savings Can Be Huge Especially for Larger Homes

LED bulbs save so much energy, they could save you around 60 kilowatts for a typical holiday season of illumination!

To put this in perspective, the 60 kilowatt saving (240 kilowatt hours over the 30 days) would be the energy produced by burning approximately 7 gallons of gasoline. So with the energy you save using LEDs over a single holiday period you could drive a 50 mpg Prius 350 miles!
So this holiday season, if you walk around a local parade of lights, make sure you give extra praise to families who have invested in LED decorations, they’re saving energy and the planet.

P.S. Thanks to everyone who commented on this post, it made me take a hard look at my calculations and the above post reflects multiple corrections!

This was simply un-acceptable in our eyes. We purchased our current home 2 years ago, it is an older home and needed lots of upgrades to make it more energy efficient.

Our Carbon Footprint Back in March 2009 shown below…

Our Carbon Footprint in March 2009

Back in March when I saw these results I decided to really commit to reducing our household energy consumption and check our progress at the end of the year…

Here are the steps we have taken so far in 2009 to reduce our average ecological impact;

1. When we first bought the house we immediately replaced all of the old incandescent bulbs in the house with  new high efficiency compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs and extremely efficient LED bulbs.
   • Read more about our lighting upgrades here;
   • http://www.oureverydayearth.com/2009/04/12/led-flood-light-a-cool-find-for-energy-savings/
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2. Purchasing recycled materials such as bath tissue and kitchen paper all made from recycled post consumer content is something we have done for a long time but we also switched to using biodegradable trash bags for all of our garbage disposal.
   • Check out our favorite green trash bags here;
   • http://www.oureverydayearth.com/2009/03/22/go-green-biodegradable-kitchen-bags-making-our-trash-greener/
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3. The next big upgrade for us was to replace all of the outdoor lighting with two stage security lights, the new lights run at low power until motion is detected then they switch to high output for a minute or two if motion is detected.
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4. Here in Texas the sprinkler system is a very important part of keeping the yard looking good and maintaining constant moisture in the clay soil. We upgraded our entire sprinkler system to add more efficient zoning as well as a rain and freeze detector. The system knows if it has rained and prevents the system from running for 48 hrs after a good rainfall. This saves lots of water, the system also shuts off when the temperature drops below freezing.
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5. The addition of a compost bin outdoors has helped us greatly reduce the amount of trash we have collected, all of our fruit and vegetable waste goes into the compost bin and we are looking forward to the rich compost in spring 2010.
   • View our compost bin install here;
   • http://www.oureverydayearth.com/2009/07/07/home-compost-bin-a-self-assembled-solution/
   • 
6. The next change was forced upon us! Our antiquated air conditioning system finally broke down and our home was over 100 deg F for several days, we quickly arranged to get a completely new system installed and we noticed an immediate drop in our electricity bill.
   • Check out the air conditioning system upgrades here;
   • http://www.oureverydayearth.com/2009/07/19/our-upgraded-cooling-systems/

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7. I finally purchased a new truck which both increased my miles per gallon and decreased my monthly bills!
   • You can read more about my new vehicle purchase and my green dilemma surrounding it;
   • http://www.oureverydayearth.com/2009/07/28/green-truck-maybe-just-green-thinking/
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8. Our clothes dryer also broke and it gave us another opportunity to upgrade, we purchased an energy star front loading washer and dryer and we hope to see large savings in both water and electricity consumption.
   • Our new washer and dryer should save us water and energy;
   • http://www.oureverydayearth.com/2009/11/15/upgrading-to-a-high-efficiency-washer-and-dryer/

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     Our New High Efficiency Washer and Dryer Installed

9. The most recent change we have made is a new energy star fridge freezer which will again help us cut down on our electricity consumption.

So with all of the above changes we implemented what impact did it have? I repeated the impact assessment with the Berkeley Institute of the Environment eco-calculator and here are the results;

Our Current Carbon Footprint is shown below…

Our Improved Carbon Footprint - Still A Long Way to Go!

As you can see, we greatly reduced out housing impact but we’re still not below the U.S. average which got me thinking;

As a family, we’re still consuming too much energy, but we’ve made significant changes and our carbon footprint is rapidly reducing – We’re looking forward to a much greener 2010!

Our plans for next year include upgrading our dishwasher and the other remaining appliances to energy star rated, we also want to improve our homes insulation and install radiant barrier in our attic spaces to reduce heating and cooling energy consumption.

What are your plans for 2010? Let us know by leaving a comment today…

Once I realized that the red light stopping me from getting home was in fact a new super efficient traffic LED light system I suddenly didn’t mind staring at a red light!

I Love Traffic LED Lights - Red but Green!

This new breed traffic lights is made from groups of LEDs which are literally electric diodes that produce light! They are extremely energy efficient and have a very long life. LEDs are very small (smaller than your little finger tip) so in order to get the required brightness for a street light there have to be lots of them grouped closely together. The old incandescent traffic lights were typically 50 – 150 Watts which means they consumed alot of electricity! There are numerous advantages to using LED traffic lights including;

• LEDs are brighter and can be seen in bright sunlight as well as foggy conditions and through heavy rain.
• LEDs don’t have to be replaced as often as the old incandescent or halogen style bulbs.
• LEDs use far less energy saving big cities lots of electricity and money!

How to Spot an LED Traffic Light

So how much electricity does a new LED traffic light system save?
In a traffic light group (normally three lights) one of them is always on, 24 hours a day, 7 days week! The old 100 watt incandescent bulbs used 2.4 kilowatt-hours per day. Lets assume power costs 10 cents per kilowatt-hour, this means that one traffic signal costs about 24 cents a day to operate, or about $87 per year. There are perhaps eight signals per intersection, so that’s almost $700 per year to supply traffic lights to a single intersection!
LED bulbs might consume 15 or 20 watts instead of 100 so a big city can easily save a million dollars a year by replacing all of the bulbs with LED units.

So next time you are driving home and get caught at a red light, take a look and see whether it is made of lots of tiny red (but green) LED lights and give your city a virtual pat on the back for saving money and more importantly, energy!

If you want to learn more about LED traffic lights check out this “enlightening” video!

Wind Turbines Silently Turning Together

#2
The Brooklyn wind turbine was installed on the top of a hill in Brooklyn, Wellington in March 1993 as part of a research project.
The Brooklyn site was chosen for the wind evaluation project due to Wellington’s “higher than normal” wind patterns.

The Brooklyn Wind Project

#3
There are 25 windmills, each 20-stories high, on the North side of I-8 near Campo Blvd, an hour east of San Diego (18 miles north of the Mexican border). Called the “Kumeyaay Wind project”, these power 12-15,000 homes and is 70 times larger than the next largest wind project on tribal land.

Wind Power South of San Diego

#4
They have wind turbines out at sea off the coast of Copenhagen. It made for a beautiful sight as we sailed away.

The Coast of Copenhagen Wind Turbines

#5
Night shot,taken from car with camera balanced on windowsill! (I had the camera strap wrapped round my wrist, so I wouldn’t lose my camera out of the window – and no, I wasn’t driving on this occasion!)

Wind Turbine at Night

#6
Windmills are beautiful! (The Bloomington, Illinois Windmill Farm)

Windmill in Bloomington Illinois

#7
Another beautiful image of windmills from Bloomington Illinois

Bloomington Illinois Wind Powere Reflected

#8
Swiiiiiish, that’s the sound the blades make. they hardly make any sound at all! there is no reason to object to wind turbine based on noise pollution, that’s for sure. I think they are quite beautiful objects.

Swiiiish, Wind Power!

#9
Taken from the bridge between Malmo and Copenhagen in August, 2008 (from the train)

Wind Turbines Taken from a Copenhagen Bridge

#10
Path to Freedom, Whatever your politics are, we need more of this. Its clean, quiet, and really quite beautiful.

The Path to Freedom

Help us to choose the best Wind Turbine photograph;

Did you know that a whopping 46 percent of home energy use is actually energy loss! In other words, there is no productive energy use at all! Here are 10 simple ways of reversing this energy lose, by changing some old habit and starting some new ones! Check out this list, these are some very simple solutions to save energy and reduce carbon emissions for the planet. Some of them will even save you money!
Thanks to climatecrisis.net and The Home Energy Diet (New Society Publishers, 2005), for many of the carbon savings figures.

10 Tips to Save Energy (and Money) in Your Home

1. Each degree you turn down the heat saves 3 percent of heating costs, while each degree you raise the temperature of your air conditioner saves 3-4 percent of cooling costs. By changing the temperature by 2 degrees all year, you can save about 2,000 pounds of C02 a year.

2. Cook with a slow cooker or a toaster oven (or even a solar oven!) to reduce electrical use from kitchen appliances. For a meal that requires one hour to cook in an electric oven, and which uses 2.7 pounds of C02, a crockpot uses 0.9 pounds of C02 for seven hours, a toaster oven takes 1.3 pounds of C02 for 50 minutes, and a microwave only 0.5 pounds of C02 for 15 minutes of cooking. A solar cooker requires NO C02!

3. Switch to a laptop instead of using a desktop computer and cut three-quarters off your electrical use. Turn off the laptop at the end of the day.

4. Switch to cold water washing and save 80 percent on energy used for laundry and save an estimated $60 a year. Hang dry your clothes instead of using the dryer and save 700 pounds of C02 a year.

5. Plug anything that can be powered by a remote control or that has a power cube transformer (little black box) into a power strip, and turn it off, and/or unplug, when not in use. (Power cubes are 60-80 percent inefficient.)

6. Turn off the lights when you aren’t using them and reduce your direct lighting energy use by 45 percent. Stop using heat-producing halogen lamps (they can also be fire hazards). Install occupancy or motion sensors on outdoor lights.

7. Switch to compact fluorescent from regular incandescent bulbs and use 60 percent less energy per bulb and save 300 pounds of C02 a year.

8. Wrap your water heater in an insulation blanket and save 1,000 pounds of C02 a year. Insulate your hot water pipes.

9. Use public transportation whenever possible, carpool, shop locally, and ideally switch to a hybrid or energy-efficient car (if you haven’t already).

10. Keep your tires inflated to improve gas mileage by 3 percent. Every gallon you save also saves 20 pounds of C02 emissions.

Yes, ceiling fans do work and save you money if…. and that’s a big IF, you turn up your thermostat in the summertime, and down in the winter time. It works because we feel cooler, in the summertime, when we feel a breeze. Therefore if you turn your thermostat up about 5 degrees you’ll notice a difference in your electric bill. (5 degrees, appears to be what is considered a breeze). However, if you are not in the room when your fan is running, it doesn’t do you any good. You see, inanimate objects don’t have feelings, your sofa, chair, carpet, not even your rock collection, notices a temperature difference if the fan is running. So get in the habit of turning off your fan when you leave the room. Just like you are supposed to do with lights, Sharen. I know your parents taught you that, (ha, ha) mine did.

Do Ceiling Fans Cut Costs?

image by tamaradulva

On the other hand, in the winter time, you are to reverse your fans rotation, so that it pulls down the warm air, everyone knows that warm/hot air rises. Its also important that you slow down your fans rotation, other wise you’re going to feel 5 degrees cooler in the winter time, this is because of the breeze that will be created if the blades are spinning too fast. Breezes don’t typically give you that warm cozy feeling. That’s not to say that you shouldn’t try to use a throw blanket in the winter anyway to save $, but you might be able to save just a little bit more. It can’t hurt.

To finish this article, I would just like to say (Sharen) for once I’M RIGHT! Just like I knew I was. (okay, I was feeling pretty good about it) Try out my suggestions and let me know if it helps on the electric bill, keeping you cooler, warmer, or whatever it is you are trying to achieve with the ceiling fans. Mostly I just want Sharen to turn the ceiling fan off when she leaves the room, and after reading this she has agreed to try and do that. Until next time….

Give the eco-calculator a spin and see how much you are saving today, and how much you could be saving tomorrow for a greener earth.