. . . Per-capita carbon dioxide emissions by households in the United States and Canada are the highest in the world — in part because of bigger homes . . . READ MORE.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Energy Inefficient: U.S. Trails Some Third World Countries
. . . Per-capita carbon dioxide emissions by households in the United States and Canada are the highest in the world — in part because of bigger homes . . . READ MORE.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Tax Incentives to Help Trim Home Energy Costs
From Matter Network January 6, 2009A force of public interest and government agencies is working to ease the financial crisis by revitalizing and adding tax incentives for homeowners across America under the Tax Incentives Assistance Project (TIAP).
TIAP, which includes he Natural Resources Defense Council, and businesses and environmental organizations like the Alliance to Save Energy, provides information on the available tax incentives for reducing a home’s energy consumption through installation of energy-efficient technologies. Home improvements that qualify under the plethora of tax breaks include the purchase of:
Teaching an Old House New Tricks
by Lester Graham - The Environment ReportListen to the NPR story here:
Maybe a brand-new home equipped with all the latest technology isn’t in your budget. The Environment Report’s Lester Graham reports on another approach that takes an existing house and recycles it. Environmentally friendly architecture is becoming very common. Architects are designing innovative, cutting edge, energy-efficient homes, using renewable resources. But, Lester Graham reports on another approach that recycles an entire house:
You know, we’re always hearing about new green building construction - new homes with all the latest. That’s nice, but it’s a little ironic to think about all those resources being used to build new to save resources.
That’s why I kinda got interested when I read about Matt and Kelly Grocoff. They bought a modest, century-old house and started making energy-efficient changes. A lot of them as Matt showed me in the bathroom.
“We have the motion-sensor light. We have the compact fluorescent bulbs. We have a dual-flush toilet that will use only (flushing sound) use point-eight gallons for a flush. This is actually a one-gallon-per-minute shower head by Bricor [Note: Standard showerheads are 2.5 gallons-per-minute]. It will save you at least $120 in electricity your first year of having that because of the sixteen-thousand gallons of hot water that you’re going to be saving. (faucet sound) This faucet aerator is also point- five-gallons-a-minute. It’s plenty of water to wash your hands. Most people will never notice that they’re using two-gallons-per-minute less in this faucet than another faucet.”(stairs sound)
And that’s just the bathroom. As the couple took me upstairs, they
told me about the really, really efficient geo-thermal heat. They insulated everywhere. It’s tight. But everything was off-the-shelf. None of that, ‘oh this is custom, you can’t buy it anywhere’, type stuff.Kelly Grocoff says if your house is a statement about you, then having a low-impact on the earth’s resources and reducing greenhouse gas emissions is part of the statement they want to make.
“For us, we proclaim loud and clear 'this is where our values are. And this is where we’re going to spend our time and it’s incredibly important to us'.”
And with all the efficiencies, all the updates, the house looked normal, comfortable. And the Grocoff’s say that’s the way it should be.
Matt: “One of the things with building green, everyone thinks that you’re going to sacrifice something, you’re going to spend more money and you’re not going to be as comfortable. And that is completely not true anymore.”
Kelly: “We have made zero sacrifices. We have gained enormously. And we have no time to waste. Your house is the number one place where you can make a significant impact on a daily basis. For me there’s no other choice to be made.”
Matt and Kelly Grocoff say doing something about reducing energy use, reducing the emissions that are causing global warming, and re-using old lumber and this old house is just a start for them. They want to help other people do it too. That’s why they’re launching an online site for do-it-yourselfers called ‘GreenovationTV.com’
Matt: “Uh, through Greenovation TV, we’re going to take everything that we’ve learned from this house and teach others about it.”
Kelly: "We need that kind of resource there as we're going through this process. And so there was hours upon hours spent researching things. And that's kind of the goal with this station."
Matt: "Once you have the knowledge to do it, it's really, really easy."
The Grocoff’s say the one thing holding people back from making their homes more environmentally friendly is they feel like they have to do it all or it won’t be right. They say just take the first step. Even if it’s just changing to a lower-energy compact fluorescent bulb, it’s a good start.
For The Environment Report, I’m Lester Graham.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Nine home renovation projects that make sense for 2009
. . . Hint . . . the best bangs for the bucks are good for the planet and your wallet too.
By Karen Klages | Tribune reporter
With sales of existing houses in the Midwest down 6 percent in October (and remain 9.1 percent below figures from October '07) and the median Midwestern home price down 6.7 percent from a year ago (according to the National Association of Realtors), it makes sense for homeowners to think at least twice about investing in a renovation.
What projects make sense, given the state of economic affairs? What improvements will allow folks to live better now and make the house more saleable later—and offer a handsome return on investment? READ MORE
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