Carbon Footprint Diet

I always knew that eating a vegetarian or vegan diet reduced our carbon footprint.  But I never knew by how much.  I stumbled onto this article today, and even though its a couple of years old, it puts the reduction in carbon footprint in quantifiable terms. Eat a Vegetarian Diet, Reduce Your Carbon Footprint by a Ton – Planet Green.

I’ve been meaning to write about our switch from plastic water bottles to metal or reusable water bottles or a while. Then I read this article this morning which really provides a super description of whats involved in the process of making water bottles and one couples decision to stop using them.  I highly recommend this informative and colorful article. Green Parent Chicago : The single use plastic bottle culture.

We came to our own decision after receiving two reusable water bottles about two years ago as a corporate gift.  Well, it was the most useful corporate gift I had ever received although I didn’t know it at the time.  I have to admit I was caught in the culture of using plastic water bottles at the time.  The rational was that is was better than soda or other sugary drinks and I was recycling the bottles.  And, add in the general fallacy that municipal water is not as good.  But I was really missing the larger picture of all the energy being used to create the bottles and then transport the water!

Once we got into the habit of not buying water and bringing along our own with us, not only did we begin to feel better environmentally, but we were saving huge amounts of money. Just two bottles a day, 5 days a week @$1.50/bottle is $780. In more expensive cites, that could easily be $1,000/year for just one person, and many people drink more than two bottles a day.

After you do it for a while, you realize how easy it is to bring your own water along.  At work, I just keep a large glass from my house that I refill at the water bottle.  When on the road, we just refill at gas stations or other stops.  So we still drink plenty of water every day but we save money and the environment at the same time.  Pretty good deal I would say!

I’m a big fan of music and going to festivals has become my primary way to see bands. What I’ve found is that music festivals are trying harder and harder to be Green and operate in a sustainable manner, but like most things there are certain parts of the country that tend to be the leaders.

Although I am a fan of living in the deep south, we’re not usually on the forefront of progressive movements such as recycling and sustainability.  It makes it’s way here, just not as fast.  But I’ve seen some things this weekend that have really impressed me.

We’re in the middle of a really fun 3 day music festival on the beach called DeLuna Fest (www.delunafest.com).  Although there is a great musical lineup, there has been some internal politics and issues with the Festival that had soured many and led to some bad press and social media comments.  I had read very little if anything about their Green efforts and I just figured it would be minimal.  I was wrong!

While some of these items may seem small, they are a big step in the right direction for southern music festivals.  First off I noticed in the FAQ’s section that “no styrofoam or non-recycleable containers are allowed on the site.”  I had never really seen this before in a FAQ’s section so thought this sounded pretty good.

When we got there, one of the first things we noticed was all the water filling stations. We had brought our own water bottle, but since the filling stations were sponsored by Grooveshark, they were giving away free reusable water bottles!!  So no having to buy water and waste money and create all that waste, although recyclable…still waste.  I attended a music festival called Hangout in Gulf Shores, AL back in May and they promised water filling stations.  What they had was one or two water hoses with long lines.  Basically BS.  But DeLuna Fest got it right with lots of easy ways to fill your water bottles.

The other positive thing was all the recycle bins.  This needs a little work because unless you looked real hard, you really couldn’t tell whether it was trash or recycle since the two cheap cardboard containers looked the same.  Ideally, the recycle container should look different for easy ID.  But I still applaud DeLuna Fest for their efforts.

So these festivals are going in the right direction in trying to be fair to the environment. There is certainly less impact than having all these shows separately and its nice to see all the bikes on the beach! Hopefully other southern music festivals, like Hangout in Gulf Shores, will begin to understand the sustainability issues and responsibilities that come along with the ultimate profit they are trying to achieve.

I see a lot of online discussions based around the topic of what you set your thermostat at in your home.  People have lots of reasons for why they set it where they do.  Certainly, generally maintaining the highest comfortable setting in the summer and the lowest comfortable setting in the winter is preferred.  Buy what I discovered is that thermostats do not always read correctly and the temperature that the thermostat shows and the actual temperature in the room can vary greatly.  There are three major reasons which can cause this:

1. Simple calibration.  Like any similar type instrument, thermostat can occasionally become uncalibrated and read incorrectly.  Your HVAC technician can confirm this.

2.  The thermostat is mounted on an exterior wall.  This was the problem in our home.  The thermostat was reading 76 but it felt very cold in the room, probably more like 70.  When we removed the panel, it was so much warmer in the wall cavity that the thermostat was reading high and causing the system to call for cooling unnecessarily. Because of the nature of our home, we really couldn’t move it anywhere.  So we insulated the box the best we could and although the temperature reads closer, its still a few degrees off.  So we just know that 78 probably means about 74 or 75, and we tell our guest who stay here.

3.  The box is not properly insulated.  As I mentioned above there was no insulation in the box and it was picking up heat from the exterior wall.  Ideally, the box should be on an interior wall.  If the house is properly insulated and there in no air infiltration in the walls, then there is really no reason to insulate the box.  But if it is an older house, or there is too much air movement in the walls, the insulating the box will help ensure more accurate temperature readings.

In any event, its never a bad idea to measure the temperature in different parts of  a room and compare it to what the thermostat reads.  I think most of the time you will find the numbers to be slightly different.  You can then try to remedy the situation if you can, but if not, just recognize the difference and factor it in when you set your thermostat from then on.

Having just returned from the Greenbuild Expo and Convention in Toronto, I am loaded with enthusiasm and new ideas with regard to sustainable construction, energy efficiency, and conservation of our limited resources.   I was so impressed with the Canadian attitude toward recycling and energy conservation in general.  Toronto was a very clean and friendly city that I would like to visit again when I have more time to really take in some sites.  I did visit the Hockey Hall of Fame and get to see the Maple Leafs play the Canadians in the opening game of the NHL season.  All walking distance from the hotel.

But the reason I was there was for the Expo and education opportunities.  It was almost impossible just to view the Expo in the two days I was there.  There is just so much, and to see so many new and innovative products in one location was really exciting.  I’ll write more about some of my favorite new products and the one’s I think may easily be incorporated into our homes and businesses right now with minimal investment and quick payback.

One thing is for sure, the Expo seemed to be dominated by two recurring product themes; Green/Living Roof systems and water retention and reuse systems.  Maybe it just seemed that way because these are two systems I’m pretty familiar with and that I would like to add to my own home.  I’ve got a nice flat roof that would be perfect for a Green roof and big area under our deck where rain water could be stored in a bladder or other container system.  Then we can irrigate from there……and if I could get our county to amend a few ordinances, we could use that water for flushing.  Good information and education are the keys to understanding.