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  • How Green Are You? (quick Green Questionnaire)

    How Green Are You? | Parade.com

    Earth Day Questionnaire.

    Great Earth Day. Planting and Sowing…  Try this simple questionnaire to see: How Green are You? Parade.com: How Green Are You?
    Pretty good questionnaire. I’m not as green as I should be.  I drive too fast, for example.
    Couple questions were a little fuzzy.  I didn’t like the rationale on the Light Bulb questions.
    See how you do.
    Only takes a couple minutes. 
    Maybe it will lead you to some Earth Day resolutions you made yesterday.
    Good luck.
    Think Green.

  • Earth Day Number 4 (of 4). Transportation & Telecommuting

    Number 4. Transportation
    & Telecommuting    . Consider alternatives before you drive some place.
    Smart phone “apps” let you do all kinds of comparison shopping without driving
    an inch. Consider carpooling. Most jobs can be done via telecommuting, at least
    occasionally. The savings are 5 to 10 times the price of the gas involved when
    consider the costs to the employer, employee and the environment.
    ToDo: Telecommute occasionally if
    your job allows it… Work to get your employer to allow it (only about half have such an option). There are about $20,000 to $30,000
    in telecommuting savings for a Full-time equivalent (FTE) employee.)
    A quick summary of statistics related to telecommuting
    research can be found at Commute
    Zero    .
     “If all those who
    drove or carpooled who had the ability to telecommute actually did so, the time
    savings would be equal to 470,000 new jobs in the economy.” Stated differently,
    might be that if they all worked (another job) to replace the lost time in
    commute they would represent about a half million FTE workers. 
    Wow!.
    About half of the workers in the US could telecommute at
    least occasionally. About 25% could telecommute full time, but only about 11%
    do.

  • Earth Day Number 3 (of 4): Energy Efficiency (EE)

    Number 3. Energy
    Efficiency    . The savings for energy efficiency at home (and at the
    office, church, etc) can easily be 20% to 35% with a fractional investment.
    Ring up the local power company to schedule an energy audit. With very
    inexpensive fixes like duct tape, caulk, programmable thermostats, and timers, the
    utility savings can easily be $30 to $100 per month. (Payback in a couple
    months.)

    ToDo    : Buy a couple Compact Florescent
    Light (CFLs) bulbs and start to use them in place of the most frequently used
    incandescent light bulbs. CFLs (and LEDs) cost more but they will save $30 to
    $40 in electricity over the life of the bulb. (Save 5-15% on utilities, payback
    2 to 8 months.) Oh, make sure to buy the special versions if the light is
    adjustable on a rheostat.
    ToDo: Get (and program) a programmable thermostat. Adjusting
    the thermostat 1 degree warmer (and 1 colder in winter) can result in about a
    10% savings. 
    It makes you wonder. If your power
    company suddenly charged you an extra $1,000 or $2,000 per year, you would
    break out the shotgun and go have a talk with them about it. Right? (Well,
    maybe not the shotgun, but …) 
    But
    virtually everyone everywhere can take $1,000 to $4,000 off of their annual
    bill, starting within one month. AND, that savings would be realized for years.
    Forever, really, if you continue to pay attention to the WATTS.
    And we
    are all not doing this…. Why?

  • Earth Day 2012 | Earth Day Network

    Earth Day 2012 | Earth Day Network:

    A Billion Acts of Green and COUNTING!!!…

    Mobilize the Earth.

    ‘via Blog this’

  • Earth Day Number 2 (of 4): Reduce, reuse, recycle (rethink)

    Number 2. Reduce,
    reuse and recycle    . You actually want to add rethink here. Something as
    simple as using water bottles saves hundreds of dollars per year, per person.
    You simply buy one or two water bottles and use them for years… refilling from
    fountain or tap water that is essentially free.
    ToDo: Buy (BPA-free) Water Bottles
    and start using them instead of bottled water and sodas. (A couple dollars
    invested results in up to $100 savings per month.)