While reading over my previous posts, and scolding myself for not being better about keeping up with my blog, I'm watching some stupid commercial on TV about getting people from third world countries to taste a Whopper vs. a Big Mac to see if the "Whopper Virgins" can actually tell us which tastes better. It reminds me that the hardest thing to face when it comes to being greener is changing culture or habits. People generally aren't eager to make a lot of major changes all at once. People get used to the way things are and change can be annoying, difficult, threatening, even scary. But the Whopper commercial should remind us of how toxic our culture can actually be; we just shouldn't be trying to convert millions, no billions, of other people to our diet of Whoppers and or Big Macs (not to mention flying and driving all over the world to make one commercial). It's just wrong.
But why is it wrong tinhart? Well, some may say it is cultural empiricism, others may say it is spreading an unhealthy way of eating to people who may have an intrinsically healthier diet (by virtue of their eating more simply, more sustainably than Americans tend to eat). The latter of those two would likely be, in my eyes, the bigger version of wrongness here. Let me be honest, I don't think there is anything wrong with hamburgers, or eating meat, or fast food restaurants. Burger King was my favorite fast food restaurant (and Taco Bell) when I was about 8 years old. I don't advocate a ban on all fast food or meat eating. But the fact is, our planetary ecosystems would collapse rapidly if everyone started eating the way we do. We simply can't support enough cows to make burgers for 6.5 billion people.
Somewhere in the U.S. Constitution there must be a clause about our god given right to eat hamburgers... or at least that is what I think after watching the Burger King 'documentary' about their taste test world tour. Seriously people, you don't have to stop eating meat or fast food, but we can't eat nearly as much as we do. If America wanted to solve both its green house gas emission problems, some of its health care problems, and address a number of other issues (not solve per se), we should reduce our consumption of meat, red meat in particular, by about 50 - 75%, immediately. If we drastically reduced the number of cows we eat, and reduced the amount of meat we eat in general, it would probably have a bigger environmental impact than if every passenger car in the U.S. were instantly turned into a hybrid (I have no specific research to back this up mind you, just years of reading about the environmental impacts of the beef industry). It would result in a healthier diet, and an increased level of general health in this country (relieving strain on the health care industry) and so on.
So if you want to make a small dent in the problem, put down the burger (or at least make it a turkey burger, or better yet, a veggie burger). Save the red meat for special occasions (if you must), or at least not more than once a week. Eat nothing but plants at least a couple times a week, more if you dare. When you do eat meat, favor the other types, especially poultry or perhaps venison should you be a hunter. It is a lot better for you.
Anyway, I know this is all kind of sanctimonious to some people, (some who I call my friends). People don't like change, and people don't generally like to be told what to do, or what is right or wrong. I have clearly indicated that I think the WAY we, as Americans, eat so much red meat and so much fast food is problematic, because it is not sustainable. If we don't revise the way we do things to be more sustainable, we'll perish... maybe not tomorrow, maybe not in 100 years. But eventually, either we will change or we will cease to be. Americans have a resolute faith in their own direct control over the world we live in, that our destiny is in our hands... and I think that is very true (not the only truth mind you, but I believe it is very much true). However, we aren't alone. Even if the rest of the world does not prevent us from stepping down from our perch at the top of the food chain, the planet/mother nature will eventually do this. We either start changing now, while we can have a relatively easy/painless time of change, or we can wait until it gets really bad, very difficult, and much much more horrible a situation. I say, if we really do believe our destiny is in our own hands... we have no time to waste. Make change happen, now. Make things better by doing it yourself first.
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Water
Been a bit too busy to post lately, but have been thinking about this a lot lately. Here in the Pacific Northwest, we have plenty of water (usually) and sadly this means we are often less concerned about how much of it we use. I have lived all over the country, and overseas, and in some of those places it was much harder to take water for granted. When I was a teenager in Southern California for example, we went so far as to build a gray water irrigation system to water our gardens and other plants (essentially by hooking up the drain from the bathtub to a 55 gallon drum and then connecting a hose/spigot to the drum).
Here in Seattle, with all our glorious rainfall, rain barrels make a lot of sense for keeping the garden, potted plants, or grass watered in the summer. They don't cost too much either (a few summers of use should recoup the cost), but I got to thinking... what about people who live in apartments or condos, what about people who don't have yards that need watering, what about something even cheaper and easier that could save at least several hundred gallons of water every year? There must be something suited to this market, something small and compact, sleek, or technologically sophisticated. Oh, but there is... and its called a bucket! I prefer the 2 - 3 gallon type for indoor use, the 5 gallon type for outdoor. But how can these really help you save hundreds of gallons of water each year?
1. catch rainwater to water your potted plants when the sun is out (add a couple drops of bleach if warm weather sets in to kill mosquitoes).
2. better yet, put one in your shower or bathtub to catch the cold water as your shower heats up. Some people have on-demand hot water or just faster delivery of hot water to their showers, but it takes a full 45 - 60 seconds for my shower to warm up. During that time I can catch 1 - 2 gallons of water every time I take a shower. In the summer, that is enough to water a lot of potted plants. During the rainy months (when they don't need to be watered) it can be used to flush the toilet.
Ew! I know, kind of gross and or inconvenient, but hey, it works just fine. Instead of that water just going down the shower drain, I can flush the yellow stuff away a few times every day without using any extra water (since I am using water that would have gone down the drain in the shower). All I have to do is pour a gallon or so into the bowl and that's it, wallah, a fresh bowl (no need to pull the handle or do anything else). And if you're thinking to yourself... that's fine tin, but I just pee in the shower anyway... (ahem). Sure, while that's all well and good, I assume you might have to pee again later, and so... why not do both? I figure one 2 -3 gallon bucket will save me at least 300 gallons of water a year. The five gallon buckets I use to catch rainwater will save me maybe a hundred more (I have 5 of these, catching rainwater in the spring and during the few rain showers we have up here in the summer... but after late September, there isn't much use for them until May).
But what else can we do with water, especially the free stuff that falls from the sky? I've long felt that we should be collecting it, using it, to do things like generate some power and or other useful purpose. A friend (he knows who he is) has mentioned micro hydro installations in people's homes, catching rainwater from gutters to make small amounts of electricity. I am thinking why not catch it at the sewer level, where all the rainwater flows together from a neighborhood? We could be generating several hundred kWh of electricity in the sewers of any neighborhood in the greater Seattle area every month from October to April. We wouldn't have to worry about chopping up salmon either! :o)
It isn't that hard to find small ways to make differences. It isn't hard to make better use of things we take for granted or simply don't notice. And in the case of the bucket, it's even cheaper to be greener than!
-tinhart
Here in Seattle, with all our glorious rainfall, rain barrels make a lot of sense for keeping the garden, potted plants, or grass watered in the summer. They don't cost too much either (a few summers of use should recoup the cost), but I got to thinking... what about people who live in apartments or condos, what about people who don't have yards that need watering, what about something even cheaper and easier that could save at least several hundred gallons of water every year? There must be something suited to this market, something small and compact, sleek, or technologically sophisticated. Oh, but there is... and its called a bucket! I prefer the 2 - 3 gallon type for indoor use, the 5 gallon type for outdoor. But how can these really help you save hundreds of gallons of water each year?
1. catch rainwater to water your potted plants when the sun is out (add a couple drops of bleach if warm weather sets in to kill mosquitoes).
2. better yet, put one in your shower or bathtub to catch the cold water as your shower heats up. Some people have on-demand hot water or just faster delivery of hot water to their showers, but it takes a full 45 - 60 seconds for my shower to warm up. During that time I can catch 1 - 2 gallons of water every time I take a shower. In the summer, that is enough to water a lot of potted plants. During the rainy months (when they don't need to be watered) it can be used to flush the toilet.
Ew! I know, kind of gross and or inconvenient, but hey, it works just fine. Instead of that water just going down the shower drain, I can flush the yellow stuff away a few times every day without using any extra water (since I am using water that would have gone down the drain in the shower). All I have to do is pour a gallon or so into the bowl and that's it, wallah, a fresh bowl (no need to pull the handle or do anything else). And if you're thinking to yourself... that's fine tin, but I just pee in the shower anyway... (ahem). Sure, while that's all well and good, I assume you might have to pee again later, and so... why not do both? I figure one 2 -3 gallon bucket will save me at least 300 gallons of water a year. The five gallon buckets I use to catch rainwater will save me maybe a hundred more (I have 5 of these, catching rainwater in the spring and during the few rain showers we have up here in the summer... but after late September, there isn't much use for them until May).
But what else can we do with water, especially the free stuff that falls from the sky? I've long felt that we should be collecting it, using it, to do things like generate some power and or other useful purpose. A friend (he knows who he is) has mentioned micro hydro installations in people's homes, catching rainwater from gutters to make small amounts of electricity. I am thinking why not catch it at the sewer level, where all the rainwater flows together from a neighborhood? We could be generating several hundred kWh of electricity in the sewers of any neighborhood in the greater Seattle area every month from October to April. We wouldn't have to worry about chopping up salmon either! :o)
It isn't that hard to find small ways to make differences. It isn't hard to make better use of things we take for granted or simply don't notice. And in the case of the bucket, it's even cheaper to be greener than!
-tinhart
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Transportation
So... going places, going green. From about the spring of 2006 to the spring of 2007, I ran a Ford f-250 turbo diesel and a VW TDI Jetta on home "brewed" veggie diesel (made mostly of free, used vegetable oil I collected from neighborhood restaurants). Why did I stop you ask? Well, that's complex, but basically a few reasons:
1. my VW kept needing repairs on a WEEKLY basis... no, not engine repairs (though I did have one glow plug relay go out, but unrelated to fuel use), but electrical. I am not a mechanic or an electrician (unfortunately), so after burning up thousands of dollars in repairs over three months, I sold the thing. My old Ford diesel is just, well, old and has also been needing lots of repairs... some of which may have been related to my next problem
2. I got very annoyed with restaurants dumping water into the oil I collected, even after I supplied them with equipment to avoid this
3. I moved to a home where I no longer had the space to make my veggie diesel
4. I got too darn busy to make it anymore (it easily took 5 - 10 hours a week to collect, clean, mix, filter, pump, etc the diesel... I needed a co-op!).
I learned a lot during this whole process though, namely that diesel engine vehicles can run perfectly on free/cheap fuel - vegetable oil... that there are better ways to go about doing that than the way I did and it if I did it over I would either convert my vehicles to run on straight vegetable oil (I was mixing in about 10 - 15% diesel and some other diesel additives to condition the veggie oil first), or I would collaborate with a community of people to either make our own bio-diesel with commercially available kits or buy in bulk from places like Dr. Dan's. For now, I just buy bio-diesel or bio diesel blend (B20) from one of the gas stations in the Bellevue area where I work.
But all of this costs a lot of money, or know how, or just plain guts (scary thought to put bio-diesel in your vehicle if/when doing so voids your warranty). What would be some easier ways to make your daily ride greener than it is today? Well, for starters... say you drive a gasoline powered car. EVERY gasoline powered car can run on a blend of 10% ethanol... currently most ethanol produced today is made from corn, unfortunately, which usually means it is overall as much or more polluting than gasoline is (when you factor in all the energy that goes into making the ethanol from corn). See these links for some more info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethanol_fuel
(general info about ethanol production and more links)
http://www.igreens.org.uk/ethanol_from_corn_.htm
(criticisms on how ethanol has typically been produced in the U.S.)
http://www.springerlink.com/content/r1552355771656v0/
(some information about energy outputs from different plants for ethanol and biodiesel)
But the bottom line about ethanol is there are truly sustainable ways to make it; check out an article in Wired magazine about one Vinod Khosla's approach (one of the co-founders of Sun Microsystems):
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.10/ethanol_pr.html
* We could utilize every part of the corn plant in the process, we could power the production facilities with methane produced from farm animals that eat the waste cellulose fiber (all of this is from article on Khosla's efforts).
* We could make the ethanol out of grass or algae or any sort of cellulose, preferably types we don't eat.
* We could optimize our engines (increase compression, etc) to run further on ethanol - currently, those flex-fuel vehicles you may have heard about... can run on up to 85% ethanol, but they get worse fuel economy on E85 than when running on lower mixes of ethanol or gasoline... because the engines are not optimized for ethanol.
To do that, gasoline/ethanol engines would have to be built more like diesel engines (higher compression and heavier/sturdier engine blocks). So, there are lots of ways we could be handling this better and cellulosic ethanol seems to be a mass production reality waiting in the wings... and in the meantime, increased demand should speed its development/circulation. So, find out where the blended ethanol gas stations in your neighborhood are and find out if they sell E10 (which ANY gas powered car will run on) or E85, fuel up with that stuff to cut down your carbon emissions a little. Note, since the MTBE gasoline additive was discontinued, ethanol is typically being used in most part of the country now during the colder months to oxygenate our fuel. Which means you are likely using it already, at least part of the year... but why not use it year round?
If you want to get more ethanol powered locomotion, see if you can't get your car converted to run on E85 (This article makes it seem relatively easy, but then... maybe it is more complicated than it sounds; I'm not a mechanic, and NEVER do anything like this without doing adequate research first and or asking a qualified shop to do the work for you). Hop online, do some research.
Of course, there are all the really easy things like:
* drive less
* ride a bike
* take the bus/train/alpaca/mule train
* walk
* drive a motorcycle/scooter instead of a car
* move closer to work/school
* inflate your tires properly
* get oil and filter changes at regularly scheduled intervals
* drive less aggressively
* coast whenever safe to do so
* turn off your engine if you are sitting still in a traffic jam for more than a minute (all newer fuel injected cars, unlike cars more than 15 - 20 years old, or so, do NOT use more gas by turning them on/off... they waste gas by idling though)
* use your engine to slow down/break as much as possible (down shifting)
* carpool
* combine errands
* drive stick rather than auto (if you can)
* don't haul around extra weight when you don't need to
* buy the most fuel efficient vehicle that suits your needs
and so on... the boring stuff basically (but smart never the less). But I want to share/hear about better ways to get ourselves around that go beyond the simple things, I want to hear about/share some unorthodox approaches.
Anybody else got any ideas? Me... I'm waiting for electric (think Tesla motors, but for the common people... wish I could afford a $109,000 car now though), and or plug-in hybrid cars... and if plug in hybrid, hopefully capable of running on ethanol, bio-diesel, or compressed natural gas (GM says the Volt will run on ethanol, in some versions perhaps, and has an optional solar panel roof to extend range! Do some searching). Hydrogen is too far out for now, though it does seem like a nearly perfect solution (as long as they are generating that hydrogen in a green way... like through solar powered electrical process). Time for bed... and greener dreams. :o)
1. my VW kept needing repairs on a WEEKLY basis... no, not engine repairs (though I did have one glow plug relay go out, but unrelated to fuel use), but electrical. I am not a mechanic or an electrician (unfortunately), so after burning up thousands of dollars in repairs over three months, I sold the thing. My old Ford diesel is just, well, old and has also been needing lots of repairs... some of which may have been related to my next problem
2. I got very annoyed with restaurants dumping water into the oil I collected, even after I supplied them with equipment to avoid this
3. I moved to a home where I no longer had the space to make my veggie diesel
4. I got too darn busy to make it anymore (it easily took 5 - 10 hours a week to collect, clean, mix, filter, pump, etc the diesel... I needed a co-op!).
I learned a lot during this whole process though, namely that diesel engine vehicles can run perfectly on free/cheap fuel - vegetable oil... that there are better ways to go about doing that than the way I did and it if I did it over I would either convert my vehicles to run on straight vegetable oil (I was mixing in about 10 - 15% diesel and some other diesel additives to condition the veggie oil first), or I would collaborate with a community of people to either make our own bio-diesel with commercially available kits or buy in bulk from places like Dr. Dan's. For now, I just buy bio-diesel or bio diesel blend (B20) from one of the gas stations in the Bellevue area where I work.
But all of this costs a lot of money, or know how, or just plain guts (scary thought to put bio-diesel in your vehicle if/when doing so voids your warranty). What would be some easier ways to make your daily ride greener than it is today? Well, for starters... say you drive a gasoline powered car. EVERY gasoline powered car can run on a blend of 10% ethanol... currently most ethanol produced today is made from corn, unfortunately, which usually means it is overall as much or more polluting than gasoline is (when you factor in all the energy that goes into making the ethanol from corn). See these links for some more info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethanol_fuel
(general info about ethanol production and more links)
http://www.igreens.org.uk/ethanol_from_corn_.htm
(criticisms on how ethanol has typically been produced in the U.S.)
http://www.springerlink.com/content/r1552355771656v0/
(some information about energy outputs from different plants for ethanol and biodiesel)
But the bottom line about ethanol is there are truly sustainable ways to make it; check out an article in Wired magazine about one Vinod Khosla's approach (one of the co-founders of Sun Microsystems):
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.10/ethanol_pr.html
* We could utilize every part of the corn plant in the process, we could power the production facilities with methane produced from farm animals that eat the waste cellulose fiber (all of this is from article on Khosla's efforts).
* We could make the ethanol out of grass or algae or any sort of cellulose, preferably types we don't eat.
* We could optimize our engines (increase compression, etc) to run further on ethanol - currently, those flex-fuel vehicles you may have heard about... can run on up to 85% ethanol, but they get worse fuel economy on E85 than when running on lower mixes of ethanol or gasoline... because the engines are not optimized for ethanol.
To do that, gasoline/ethanol engines would have to be built more like diesel engines (higher compression and heavier/sturdier engine blocks). So, there are lots of ways we could be handling this better and cellulosic ethanol seems to be a mass production reality waiting in the wings... and in the meantime, increased demand should speed its development/circulation. So, find out where the blended ethanol gas stations in your neighborhood are and find out if they sell E10 (which ANY gas powered car will run on) or E85, fuel up with that stuff to cut down your carbon emissions a little. Note, since the MTBE gasoline additive was discontinued, ethanol is typically being used in most part of the country now during the colder months to oxygenate our fuel. Which means you are likely using it already, at least part of the year... but why not use it year round?
If you want to get more ethanol powered locomotion, see if you can't get your car converted to run on E85 (This article makes it seem relatively easy, but then... maybe it is more complicated than it sounds; I'm not a mechanic, and NEVER do anything like this without doing adequate research first and or asking a qualified shop to do the work for you). Hop online, do some research.
Of course, there are all the really easy things like:
* drive less
* ride a bike
* take the bus/train/alpaca/mule train
* walk
* drive a motorcycle/scooter instead of a car
* move closer to work/school
* inflate your tires properly
* get oil and filter changes at regularly scheduled intervals
* drive less aggressively
* coast whenever safe to do so
* turn off your engine if you are sitting still in a traffic jam for more than a minute (all newer fuel injected cars, unlike cars more than 15 - 20 years old, or so, do NOT use more gas by turning them on/off... they waste gas by idling though)
* use your engine to slow down/break as much as possible (down shifting)
* carpool
* combine errands
* drive stick rather than auto (if you can)
* don't haul around extra weight when you don't need to
* buy the most fuel efficient vehicle that suits your needs
and so on... the boring stuff basically (but smart never the less). But I want to share/hear about better ways to get ourselves around that go beyond the simple things, I want to hear about/share some unorthodox approaches.
Anybody else got any ideas? Me... I'm waiting for electric (think Tesla motors, but for the common people... wish I could afford a $109,000 car now though), and or plug-in hybrid cars... and if plug in hybrid, hopefully capable of running on ethanol, bio-diesel, or compressed natural gas (GM says the Volt will run on ethanol, in some versions perhaps, and has an optional solar panel roof to extend range! Do some searching). Hydrogen is too far out for now, though it does seem like a nearly perfect solution (as long as they are generating that hydrogen in a green way... like through solar powered electrical process). Time for bed... and greener dreams. :o)
Sunday, September 21, 2008
What have I done?
+2.jpg)
So, put up or shut tinman.... what exactly have you done, so far, to be Greener Than? Well... the whole point of this blog is to chronicle steps, stages, compare notes, compete (in a friendly sort of way) to do even more, do better, do it right so that all of us can exist more sustainably... so this is just the beginning and this doesn't include everything, and some things I did, but don't do now, and some things, I'll say, are what I hope to do.
Perhaps the biggest things I have done is go solar (see photos). Specifically, I have a 2.7kw PV array plus a 20 tube Thermomax hot water heater system. 2.7kw is enough for about 35 - 40% of my yearly total power (based on last year's bill). I am trying to lower my power use by at least 10% from last year by switching to LED lights (the one flood pictured uses just 2.75 watts of power... compared to 16 watts for the compact florescent I replaced and lasts 10x longer, and mercury free to boot), replacing desktop PC's with laptops, plugging everything possible into power strips to completely cut them off when not in use, line drying, replacing appliances as they fail with the most efficient, longest lasting types I can find, turning down the heat, and so on. The solar hot water by the way has, since July, made 100% of all the hot water we need. In Seattle... I expect that our gloomy winter will reduce that significantly... but I expect overall for the 20 tube unit to make 60% of our total hot water, or better, on average.
There is much more to update on re: household greening... like comparing gas + electric bills before and after the solar stuff. Before, (2007) my August gas + electric bill was $85 (our house is already extremely well insulated). After, (2008) $12 in my favor (this is after factoring in the WA state incentive that I won't receive until July 2009... my actual power bill was $33). Our only natural gas use was to keep pilot light running on original water heater and our PV made approximately 57% of our total electricity). In the next two years, I plan to add additional PV to get to at least 3.5kw, hopefully more (this stuff ain't cheap, that's for sure). Next time... transportation.
Links:
http://www.ledlight.com/LZHousehold.aspx
(LED light source)
http://www.ccrane.com/lights/led-light-bulbs/index.aspx
(another LED light source)
http://www.aandrsolar.com/
(PV and water heater installers, I endorse these guys - they do great work and they are friendly, well informed, communicative contractors)
http://solar.sharpusa.com/solar/modules/1,2474,4-2,00.html
(I have Sharp PV panels)
http://www.thermomax.com/Tech_Index.php
(Thermomax - my brand of solar hot water collector)
http://www.iinet.com/~solarwashington/
(another great site for research on WA state solar resources)
Sunday, August 10, 2008
What is...
Greener Than... What? Greener Than is ideas. Greener Than is better ideas, and better still (because there is always a better idea, and a better one, and a... ), Greener Than is a space to freely share thoughts and skills and strategies for being more responsible, more efficient, more care-full with the place we all call home. Earth. Greener Than... is an idea, a premise that by communicating and competing (to be Greener Than...), we can do things better, do things right, do things that will slowly but deliberately reduce pollution and waste, and maybe, if we're really lucky, help save our planet from... ourselves. The answer is never to remove ourselves, no, the answer is always to think and compare notes and see if we can one up each other and do things more intelligently, sometimes by using or creating technological solutions, sometimes by going back to the old ways, but always, aiming to be Greener Than.
- Tinhart
- Tinhart
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