Photo courtesy of littlenelly at Flickr.com.
Staples really bite. If you’ve ever caught your finger on the teeth of a staple or ruined important documents with a hungry stapler, you probably don’t appreciate these sharp little metal doodads. Well, the planet doesn’t appreciate them either.
Staples are wasteful and have a huge carbon footprint. The most common type of office staple is made with galvanized steel - that’s steel that’s been re-heated and coated with a layer of zinc. As you can imagine, this double heating process is a pretty energy intensive task. From mining and transporting ore, to smelting and forming the staples one at a time from wire spools, staples gobble up energy at every step of their production and use. This energy use causes millions of tons of pollution.
Since staples are tiny, they rarely get recycled. In fact, they often increase the cost of recycling paper because they contaminate the recycling stream and can jam machinery. In paper recycling centers, the staples are pulled from the line by powerful magnets and screening filters, and then they’re thrown away as a recycling byproduct.
So what does the office of the future look like? How do you bind pages together without using staples?
Photo courtesy of gordasm at Flickr.com.
Instead of adding a piece of scrap metal to your documents, a staple free stapler cuts a tiny strip of paper and then threads that strip through the other documents. Unfortunately, there are some limitations to the technology. It only works on a small number of pages, generally 2-7 sheets of paper of normal thickness. So, unless you want to make a new “un-staple” every 5 pages in a document (and mess with offsetting those marks), these are best suited for short memos rather than binding training manuals.
If your office uses a lot of short notes and you don’t want to waste time going to the office supply store all the time, perhaps one of these metal-free staplers is the answer. Otherwise, you might want to consider an older technology - the paperclip!
Photo courtesy of sabor.tijuana at Flickr.com.
Popularity: 9% [?]
2 Apr 08 |
It’s that time of year again - HGTV is giving away a custom built home with amazing features. This year, the dream home embraces a number of green technologies.
These features include:
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On the HGTV website, there’s an interactive map of the green home, video tours, and links to more information about energy and water saving innovations. Oh, and you can also enter to win the home. Good luck!
Popularity: 9% [?]
17 Mar 08 |
Photo courtesy of mtoreceptive at Flickr.com.
In the developing world, where electric grids are less reliable, many cell phone towers have to generate their own electricity. With diesel generators, that means that energy costs can add up to 2/3 of the total maintenance costs. Theft and vandalism are also a big problem with these systems.
As a result of these high energy costs, many cellular providers in the Third World have adopted green power supplies. In addition to wind and solar power, some of these cell phone systems incorporate biodiesel.
Photo courtesy of Tirau Dan at Flickr.com.
Designers are also rethinking the traditional cell phone tower. In 2007, Ericsson introduced the Tower Tube - a self contained concrete tower that has less visual impact and a smaller carbon footprint. Since they use concrete instead of a steel structure, and have no need for a perimeter fence, these towers release approximately 20% less CO2 than conventional towers. Other companies are getting rid of cell towers entirely by using trees!
If you look closely, the cell towers near your house may already be using solar or wind backup power supplies. Here’s an example of a solar panel that powers weather monitoring equipment on a cell tower.
Popularity: 8% [?]
15 Mar 08 |
Photo courtesy of krstl_blu at Flickr.com.
Most of the energy our homes use is spent heating and cooling the air to a comfortable level. By some estimates, 50-70% of energy is used on HVAC systems.
So, one of the best ways to cut energy use is to add insulation and seal any cracks in the home. But, how do you identify where insulation is needed, or where a draft is sneaking in? Rather than use subjective means, it’s now possible to use a Thermal Imager to spot energy leaks. That way, you can apply insulation and caulk in only the places where it’s really necessary, and you can limit the use of more expensive housing improvements to the places where they’ll do the most good! Here’s an example of what a leaky door looks like:
Photo courtesy of CBC || Thermal at Flickr.com.
If you don’t have a thermal imager hanging around in your closet, your friends may have one you can borrow. Alternate places to check include your local fire station, housing association, or community college. Many such organizations have equipment available for check out or rental. If nothing else, you can buy a camcorder with a thermal function from an electronics store, use it for an energy audit, and then pay the restocking fee to return the camcorder. Not that we recommend such shifty behavior, cheapskate.
Photo courtesy of CBC || Thermal at Flickr.com.
Popularity: 7% [?]
2 Oct 07 |
The Coffee Sock is a cloth coffee filter that is an eco-friendly replacement for paper coffee filters. I recently purchased a Coffee Sock for my personal 5 cup coffee maker. Although up until now I’ve been composting my unbleached coffee filters, I figured I’d give the Coffee Sock a try.
I’ve been very pleased with the result. Although the Coffee Sock required a bit of care and maintenance, I’ve found that my coffee actually tastes better than with a paper filter. This is the most surprising thing about my experience.
I was also surprised to read that the life expectancy of my coffee sock is only about 4-5 months or so. This is ok, though, as the manufacturers have made a great effort to make the materials 100% biodegradable.
Overall, for $4.99, I’m very pleased with my Coffee Sock. It’s eco-friendly and has actually improved the experience of my morning ritual.
Thumbs up!
Popularity: 11% [?]
Flickr photo courtesy of Clean Wal-Mart.
Talk about a mind boggling number of light bulbs! Wal-Mart announced a while back that they were going to push hard to sell more compact fluorescent lightbulbs, with a goal of selling 100 million of them per year.
It’s only the beginning of October, and they’ve already hit their goal for the first year. Not bad.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. reached an annual target of selling 100 million energy-efficient light bulbs ahead of schedule after heavily marketing them as a way for consumers to save money and fight global warming, the retailer said Tuesday.
The world’s largest retailer set the target, which roughly doubled its previous annual sales, late last year as part of a series of green policies. It expanded shelf space, cut prices and ran ads for the swirly compact fluorescent bulbs, or CFLs.
Environmentalists and manufacturers said Wal-Mart’s push has helped boost national demand for the efficient bulbs.
Backers including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency say CFLs use one-third the energy of a traditional incandescent bulb, last up to 10 times longer and save $30 or more in energy costs over their lifetime.
Last year, an estimated 150 million CFLs were sold nationally, and the number may be twice that this year thanks to Wal-Mart’s contribution, said Noah Horowitz, senior scientist with the Natural Resources Defense Council.
Popularity: 4% [?]
Flickr photo courtesy of fixedgear.
Do you hand wash your dishes because you don’t want to “waste” water and energy by using the dishwasher? If so, then consider this:
If you run hot water through your sink and keep it running, you are using at least 2 gallons of water for EVERY MINUTE that you have the sink turned on. And that is assuming that you have an efficient kitchen faucet. Does it take you 10 minutes to do the dishes by hand? Well, then you just used at least 20 gallons of water!
No way, you say! I don’t keep the water running. I fill up the sink and wash my dishes that way. Well, how long does it take you to fill up the sink? More than 3 minutes? I just did a test with my own kitchen sink. It takes my faucet 30 seconds to fill up a 1 gallon container, so my faucet is putting about 2 gallons per minute. After 4 full minutes, my kitchen sink was just over half full. That’s 8 gallons of water.
Not too bad, right? Wrong!
Want to know how much water a new Energy Star dishwasher uses each time that you run it? Just 4 gallons! Okay, so what about a regular new dishwasher? How about a mere 6 gallons. It’s right there on the Energy Star site for you to see for yourself.
Want to know how much it will cost you to use your dishwasher for a whole year under average conditions? Try under $30!
Don’t believe me? Look at the government mandated EnergyGuide label at your local appliance store and see for yourself.
Even if you think the EnergyGuide label is overly optimistic, then double their numbers and you’re still around $60 a year.
Compare this to taking a shower, where you’ll use 2.5 gallons per minute if you have an efficient showerhead. Just one person taking a 5 minute shower will use 12.5 gallons of hot water. And you were worried about the impact of your dishes!
From a strictly practical perspective, I could stop right now and sum up this post with one sentence that says, “Use your dishwasher to save water and energy.”
Want some extra eco-credit? Here’s what you do:
1. Only run full loads. You’ll be using even less energy and water than if you run twice as many half filled dishwasher loads.
2. Air dry your dishes instead of using the heating element. If you run your dishwasher at bedtime, you won’t unload it until the next day anyway, so there’s plenty of time for the dishes to drip dry. That makes your dishwasher even more energy efficient than it already is!
3. Take it easy on the pre-rinsing. I’m not going to lie and tell you that modern dishwashers don’t require any pre-rinsing at all because they work perfectly and your dishes will sparkle happily ever after. I own a brand new Energy Star Kitchenaid dishwasher that had high reviews from Consumer Reports, and I still have to pre-rinse. But I only have to scrape most plates and only use a brush under the faucet to get those stuck-on cheesy areas, and the dishes come out clean. Test out how little pre-rinsing you can get away with using your own dishwasher! You aren’t being lazy, you are saving the environment.
4. Use a phosphate free dishwashing detergent. Phosphates are a good thing to avoid because they encourage algae growth when they get into our waterways. The good news is that Consumer Reports rates several phosphate free dishwashing detergents highly. “The Ecover tablet and powder, Citra-Dish, 365 Everyday Value, and Seventh Generation do a good to excellent job cleaning.”
Anyone else have any good dishwasher tips or anecdotes they’d like to share? Leave a comment!
PS When I was looking for photos for this post, I noticed a disturbing number of photos of cats playing in dishwashers on Flickr. What’s up with that?
PPS It isn’t just cats, either! There are plenty of dogs, and even a goat.
Popularity: 15% [?]
3 Sep 07 |
Green is Sexy is an interesting website with tips and some very practical info for those looking for ways to improve the environment. But what’s up with the “sexy?” Well, let’s hear it from the site’s authors:
Green is sexy came about when three friends realized that exchanging quips & tips on ways to make an impact on the environment was becoming daily conversation. They decided that, with a little bit of research and some help from their friends, they could spread the word to all sorts of people and really make a difference. green is sexy is about tiny changes, big impact. Why sexy? Because being informed is sexy. Being responsible is sexy. Being eco-friendly is sexy. Making a difference is sexy. Green is sexy. We invite you to become part of the green is sexy community by helping us change the world one day at a time.
For the frugal environmentalist, they have an interesting set of tips called “Money Savers” which I found to be quite handy.
Enjoy, you sexy beasts!
Popularity: 7% [?]
27 Aug 07 |
I love gadgets that do two or more practical and environmental things at once. Thus, I present to you a gadget that cools your home while it heats your pool. News.com reports,
SolarAttic sells a system–the Pool Convection System 2–that sucks hot air out of the attic of your house and pumps it into a heat exchanger to heat your pool. In the summertime, the temperature in your attic can get up to 150 degrees Fahrenheit, says SolarAttic vice president James Kantorowicz.
“It also helps cool down the house by transferring that heat out of the attic,” he said.
Check out the SolarAttic website for more info on this innovative product.
Popularity: 5% [?]
20 Aug 07 |
I helped my brother move into a new house a couple weeks ago. It was a chore, and hopefully most people only move a few times in their lives. During the move I got to thinking about trying to reduce all that waste from cardboard boxes and such.
I present one of my finds: Earth Friendly Moving. Here’s some information about their organization:
EarthFriendlyMoving is out to change the way America moves with the world’s first comprehensive, zero waste, environmentally friendly, do-it-yourself [DIY], packing and moving system developed entirely from recyclable trash mined from local landfills. It’s detox for our landfills and it will save you time, money and Earth!
You pack, stack, and move with the RECOPACKS. When you’re done unpacking, call us and we’ll pick’em up.
I hope you don’t have to move anytime soon, but if you do, there are indeed some good options out there to make you move easier on the earth. Good luck!
Popularity: 5% [?]