Eco Sighting: Lifetime Saint Paul

So my gym is in a recycled building - in a few floors of what used to be the downtown University Club.

One of the quirks of this setup is that we gymgoers sweat through our aerobic workouts in an old ballroom beneath chandeliers serious enough to make even the Phantom of the Opera nervous.

There are 16 chandeliers, each with 20 candelabra bulbs.

Everyone is familiar with candelabra bulbs:

image from wilsonlighting.com

Well today in the University Club lobby, I noticed that the everyday incandescent candelabra bulbs had been replaced by - gasp! - energy efficient CFL candelabra bulbs!

image from TreeHugger.com

Whoever is retrofitting the building hasn't made it into their tenant's aerobic ballroom yet, but I have high hopes.

Downsview Park "Trail of Lights" (Toronto)

From November 28 until the end of 2008, Toronto's Downsview Park will host Canada's largest walk-through holiday light show. Stretching 2 kilometers, "Trail of Lights" is powered by LEDs - over 400,000 of them.

It runs from 5 - 10 p.m. and costs $10-12 (more on certain holidays).

Check out this cut from the brochure, or visit this daily dose of imagery picture taken by Sam Javanrouh.

The Stars Weigh In

Two things:

1. A delightful quote from Carl Pope.

image from MoonBattery.com

"Efficiency is the steak," said Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club. "Renewables are the sizzle."

from "Efficiency, Not Just Alternatives, Is Promoted as an Energy Saver." The New York Times. Matthew L. Wald, May 29, 2007.

2. The Gilmore Girls (Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel) weigh in on global warming.

image from spanielsng.blogspot.com.

Green Wii

image from istyles.com.

The National Resources Defense Council released a report yesterday finding that video game consoles use a significant amount of energy, costing up to $134 per year if not shut off when not in use.

The Wii is far and away the most energy efficient model, says this article from Yahoo!. The console uses between $3-$10 per year in energy (depending on habits of turning the console off if not in use).

What goes up must come down...

image from Sacramento State

Energy rates are going up in California, Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Texas, and elsewhere.

Either your paycheck must go up, or your energy use must go down.

So barring any year-end bonuses, I wanted to post an excerpt of strategies from Xcel Energy to help bring home energy costs down without spending any money to upgrade equipment.

1. Heating and cooling uses 45% of the typical house's energy.
Reduce indoor thermostat temperature from 72 to 68 degrees during the heating season to save 5 percent on heating costs.

2. Household appliances, such as ranges, ovens, and microwave ovens, account for 15% of the typical home's energy use.
Use lids to trap steam and help food cook faster.

3. A water heater uses 11% of the typical home's energy use.
Take a short shower. Every minute you cut from your shower time saves three gallons of water and the energy used
to heat the water. You’ll save hundreds of gallons of water a year taking showers over baths, and you’ll save the energy to heat all that wasted water.

4. A clothes washer and dryer uses 10% of typical household energy.
Dry loads back to back. Since your dryer retains heat, dry several loads in a row. You can reduce the heat level on the last load or two. Dry your lightweight items together, using a lower heat setting for less time.

5. Lighting uses 7% of a home's energy.
Turn off lights when unneeded. Every time you turn off lights when they’re not needed, you’re saving energy and money. Keeping one 75-watt bulb off for one hour per day saves $2.15 per year.

6. Your refrigerator uses 6% of your home's energy.
Cover your food. Covered foods reduce power consumption by limiting moisture evaporation into the air. Moist
air takes more energy to cool than dry air, forcing the compressor to work harder. Plus, your refrigerator will smell better.

7. Your dishwasher uses 2% of your home's energy.
Scrape your dishes. Scrape your dishes instead of rinsing to save water and the energy needed to heat the water.

8. A computer & monitor uses 2% of household energy, as do TVs, VCRs, & DVD players.
Unplug when not in use.

Weatherizing Your Windows

It got cold this weekend. It's my first year living in a big drafty Victorian house. We can hear the wind blowing through the skylight. So what is one to do? Go out and buy some industrial strength tape, some cling film, and get ready to weatherize! The best part is shrinking the wrap with a hairdryer. The worst part is cutting the plastic film.


DoItYourself.com has a good instructional section about window insulator film.

Temple News talks about other ways to weatherize a leaky window.

Alliant Energy says it should only cost you $10-25.

And Thrifty Fun says that leaky windows can account for up to 40% of your home's heat loss. Yikes!

It's a bit time consuming, but my room already feels a ton warmer. Now if only I could insulate my walls as easily...

How to Make the Most out of an Inefficient Furnace

So, like many renters, I don't have much say over the furnace my apartment has. As it just so happens, our furnace's efficiency is rated near the bottom. We live in a floor of a drafty old house, and I'm terrified of my upcoming Xcel bill. The Department of Energy says we spend most of our money heating and cooling our home (see this chart).

In honor of this expense, I bring you tips for maximizing the heating efficiency of your living space.

1. Lower the thermostat as much as you can stand. Even turning it down 2 degrees can save you $300/year, according to New Jersey Natural Gas.

This comes from a person who can't stand it any colder than 66, but at least 66 is better than 70. They say you should be able to withstand 60 dressing in layers, but I just can't do it. I do turn it down to 60 whenever I leave the house, though. But don't turn the furnace off altogether - if you do, the furnace will have to spend a lot of energy the minute you get home.

2. Weatherize your home. If you have storm windows, be sure to close both sets of window. When fall has arrived, get plastic weatherization film.

3. Take shorter showers. It means you'll spend less heating the water. Wash clothes in cold or warm water instead of hot.

4. Make sure your vents are unobstructed. I was keeping my laundry basket in front of a vent, which was dumb.

5. Open shades to let sunlight in during the day. Who needs solar panels! Close blinds and curtains before the sun sets to keep the night cold out.

6. Limit the use of kitchen and bathroom exhaust fans. This shoots your nicely heated air out into the world, wasting all that heat!

7. Add a rug to wood or tile floors.

AFUE is the American Fuel Utilization Efficiency rating. Your furnace will say what its AFUE rating is - a rating of 78 means that, of every dollar you spend on natural gas, 78 cents of it turns into heat and 22 cents is wasted.


(more tips from GasSouth)

Energy Vending?

I think one of the smartest business decisions utilities made was divorcing the dollar from the service. By keeping the utility bill as far removed from the meter as possible, and by keeping the meter as far away from the power-using device as possible, it's easy to forget what it costs to turn on the coffee maker.


So I started to wonder and plugged in some numbers. To wash and dry a load of laundry, you pay around $0.79 in energy costs. How different would our energy use be if we dropped quarters in a slot to power the TV?

Here are some common costs for common household actions:

$3.13 to keep the house heated to 70 degrees each day
$0.56 to keep food cold in the refrigerator every day
$0.54 to run a load of clothes through the washer
$0.31 to heat water for showers and handwashing for one person each day
$0.29 to run a load of dishes through the dishwasher
$0.25 to bake something for an hour
$0.25 to run a load of clothes through the dryer
$0.09 to cook something for an hour on the stovetop
$0.06 to leave a single light bulb on while you are gone for the day
$0.05 to dry your hair with a hair dryer
$0.03 to watch TV for an hour
$0.03 to vacuum for a half hour
$0.01 to run the blender
$0.01 to run the coffee maker
$0.01 to toast toast
$0.01 to run a computer for an hour

Check out your own energy use here.

Home Energy Efficiency, or What Not To Do with a CFL

Image from CNET.com


Hi folks! I have migrated - from a generally "green" job in Santa Rosa, California to energy efficiency work in Saint Paul, Minnesota. In honor of this change, I will provide you with some home energy facts and tips.

* One CFL can save you up to $30 over the course of its lifetime, according to EnergyStar.gov.

* When you break a CFL, don't vacuum it up. To avoid ingesting or inhaling the hazardous mercury inside, follow EPA guidelines: stop air from flowing, get everybody away (especially kids and pets), let it sit for 15 minutes, then "scoop and stick" - scoop as much as you can with a sheet of cardboard, then stick up the remaining pieces with the sticky side of duct tape.

* When a CFL is broken or used up, take it for proper disposal. Home Depot will accept them, as will IKEA. Your local household hazardous waste facility will happily take them in - check with your county waste department.

* The modern CFL was invented as a result of the 1970s energy crisis. Ed Hammer, a General Electric engineer, created the bulb in 1976 - it is now housed in the Smithsonian. It was shelved at the time because of the prohibitive expense to create the new manufacturing facilities required. Read more from CNET.

* CFLs probably won't reign forever. More efficient, less hazardous LED lights will likely overtake CFLs as soon as production costs decrease.

Become a Trained Energy Auditor

Sing! Dance! Act! Then you become a triple threat in show biz.
Energy! Water! Waste! Be trained to audit all three and you are a triple threat in the world of environmental consulting!


Free Energy Audit Training in San Francisco! IAll that is required of you is signing up and "a fundamental understanding of building components and energy concepts." It is expressly geared towards the non-expert.

If you are a little closer to Wisconsin, the University of Wisconsin-Madison offers energy auditor training through the Department of Engineering/Professional Development. It is 5 days and not free, offered in July and March.

Green Your Apartment - Energy

This begins a series of how to green your apartment. Begin by ramping up your apartment's energy efficiency with these top tips from Health Goods:



1. Set your thermostat. If you are healthy, set it between 65-68 (F) during the day and 60 when you go to bed. (Additionally, set the thermostat to 60 when you leave the house for an extended period of time).
2. Thaw frozen foods in the fridge instead of the counter. The frozen foods will help cool the fridge as they defrost; your fridge will use less energy cooling itself.
3. Unplug TVs, VCRs and DVD players. Even when not in use, they draw PHANTOM POWER (dun dun dunnnn) and ratchet up your energy use.

New Year's Goes Green

Green is the new black in 2008, as the Times Square New Year's Eve ball rang in the new year with energy-efficient LED lights.