SmartGreen With Karen Queen

Green Lawn Mowing

kqueen — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 12:20:00 GMT

Simple repair investments can save serious money over the long-term.

Confession: that title is false advertising. You probably think you're going to read about techniques to mow your yard less often and how to plant an eco-friendly lawn. But this is about lawn mowers. Broken lawn mowers to be exact.

My husband's philosophy on lawn mowers is: buy a cheap one and use it up. 'Use it up' is part of an old slogan on stretching out the lifetime of everything. (Keep reading for the rest). That worked with our first mower, which lasted for 20 years.

But mowers 2.0 and 3.0 lasted only a little over a year each. Husband doesn't believe in repairs, only replacement. I didn't like the idea of disposable mowers but since I don't fix things and the small engine repair guy we trusted disappeared, what to do?

First, what do you do with busted mowers? Ours took up space in the garage. I don't know if the landfill even takes broken mowers and I was too cheap to pay to have them hauled away.

Then a few years ago, a local fire fighter put out the word that he'd take broken mowers because he was learning to fix them. Problems solved.

Fast forward another year and mower #4 won't start. Husband is ready to buy mower #5 when I remember an ad for a mobile mower repair. We decide to take a chance. Mower #4 is now fixed for one-fifth to one-half the cost of a new one. Then we learn we didn't really take a chance at all – mower #4 was repaired by the same firefighter who took mowers #1, #2 and #3 off our hands.

This is smart because we saved money. We helped a local businessman. This is green because repairing something instead of throwing it away saves landfill space. Earth Day wasn't even on the horizon when people said Use it up, wear it out, make do or do without. Those folks in the Depression and earlier were smart and green too.

Recycling Part Five: The Plot Thickens

kqueen — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 10:59:00 GMT

The citizens prevail and recycling will continue to be free.

The people have spoken—with their wallets. Recycling – the green thing to do – will continue to be free in my locality. My local government will pay its recycling hauling contract with $800,000 from undesignated funds. A $6.25 per month fee was set to go in place in July for households who chose to recycle.

Local leaders seriously misread the public. Again. In my locality, 11,000 residents needed to sign up for paid recycling so the county could break even. Close to the deadline, only 4,000 had signed up. Many, including this writer, complained to their elected board members.

To be fair, my locality wasn’t planning to charge us for recycling, only for picking up our recycling at the street. That’s a convenience to be sure. And they were trying to avoid a tax hike. But as I said in earlier blogs, residents still would come out ahead to pay extra for a second outside trash can instead of paying to recycle.

Over the next six months, elected officials will come up with another way to pay for recycling, or to be exact, recycling pickup. My prediction: higher trash fees to subsidize recycling. If my locality structures prices correctly, more residents might give up that extra outside trashcan. That would mean more recycling, less waste and a greener planet—at least our small corner.

Falling Off the Smart Living Wagon

kqueen — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 12:56:00 GMT

Keeping used printing paper flat and wrinkle-free allows me to use the other side and ultimately save paper.

Just because I write a column called Smart Green doesn’t mean I’m smart or green every minute. Yesterday, I thought about some of the non-green things I was doing. Here’s a partial list:

I regularly print notes from interviews multiple times…. just because I can’t find the first or second (or third….) set of notes. True greenies would argue that even printing one set of notes is not green—I should just work directly off the computer.
I throw some recyclables directly into the trash because I’m far away from the recycling bins but close to a trash can.
I leave lights on.

On the flip side, here is a partial list of green things I’ve done in the last 48 hours:

Turned the AC down to 74 degrees at night. Why is that green? Because if I left the temperature set at the daytime setting of 78 degrees, then Dear Husband will turn the temp down to … a chilly and expensive 70 degrees.
I reloaded the computer with paper that has been printed on one side. This works only if paper to be recycled isn’t rumpled. Rumpled paper jams the printer.
Used natural light to read by.

What’s the takeaway here? Look for ways to make it easier to live green. I can organize my notes so that one copy is enough. I can keep the paper flat so it can be reloaded into the printer. For occasional stories, I can work directly off the computer. Since I am drinking canned drinks and using recyclable paper (see section on notes) on the lower floor of my house, I can add a recycling bin so that being green doesn’t mean an extra trip up the stairs. And I can take five extra seconds to turn off a light.

What works for you?

Recycling: Part Four

kqueen — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 12:40:00 GMT

To pay or not to pay?

On its website, my local government says: "Remember recycling saves disposal dollars by diverting waste from the garbage stream." Yet, that same government is asking its green citizens to pay to recycle. OK-actually they're asking us to pay for the admitted convenience of having our recycling picked up curbside.

We're supposed to let the government know by mid-June if we want to get with the paid program. If not, the government will, the website say, retrieve our bins. (No word on if they're going to go door- to -door or garage-to-garage to forcibly take those containers).

But indications are our board of supervisors will once again reverse itself on a recycling decision. The county needs 11,000 households to sign up for paid recycling to be able to pay the company that collects recycling each week. During a work session this week, supervisors said only about one-fourth that number have signed up.

We'll call those who signed up dark green. They're committed to doing the right thing—recycling—even if it hits them in the wallet. Admittedly, the collection fee would be only $1.52 per week. Other residents, however, are speaking out in local forums saying that while they support recycling, they're not willing to pay for it.

Our local newspaper looked at what other nearby localities do. One city charges $10 a week for garbage and recycling, but residents who recycle pay only $4.25 a week. Works for me.

Call me light green. I agree recycling is the right thing to do. But let those folks who toss all their newspapers, bottles and cans in the trash—adding to the garbage stream—subsidize recycling. If they don't like higher garbage fees, let them get a recycling bin, cut back on the garbage they generate, eliminate a trashcan and save money.

Stay tuned. This issue isn't settled yet—but I predict a decision soon.

The Compost Bin: An Upscale Mulch Pile

kqueen — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 12:35:00 GMT

New name, same undesireable chore.

Growing up, we called it the mulch pile. Peels from potatoes, tomatoes, apples, bananas and other fruits and veggies, along with egg shells and more went into a low tech plastic container in the kitchen and then out to an even lower tech heap of leaves—the mulch pile—at the edge of the yard. It was the kids’ job to take the stinky mulch out to the edge of the yard.

My parents weren’t trying to save the planet or live green by cutting back what they sent to the landfill (which, back then, they called them city dumps). The goal was to grow a better garden come spring. All those peelings mixed in with leaves, grass clippings and (ahem) waste from my pony combined to form a rich, dark, very stinky pile that would enrich the topsoil for the garden.

Decades later, we’ve all gone upscale. In a spending fit five years ago at our new house, I decided the old-fashioned mulch pile was too…old fashioned. I bought a new-fangled (imagine my nose tilting up) compost bin. We still save all the peelings in plastic container with a lid. Then the peelings go to the fancy spinning bin where they mix with leaves and a special kind of conditioner to form better compost. Calling it compost doesn’t make the chore any more fun: my kids don’t like taking the compost out any better than my siblings and I enjoyed dumping the mulch.

Before we—OK my husband—planted the garden in April, he dumped the compost on top. So instead of taking root in our clay-heavy dirt, our fledgling tomatoes, peppers, radishes, onions and herbs are thriving in nutrient rich soil. Thriving plants means more peelings for later to go back to the mulch pile. Oops, I mean the compost bin.

Recycling Part Three: Charging for Recycling Idea May Be Headed to the Dump

kqueen — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 11:15:00 GMT

A call to my elected representative shed some light on the recycling issue.

After writing the last blog post, I decided to turn up the heat and call my elected representative to complain about the county board’s shortsighted decision to charge a fee for recycling. I pointed out that my family would save money by getting another trashcan and dumping our recycling bins.

As a journalist, I’m used to calling elected reps as I’m working on a story. This was the first time I’d ever called to speak as a citizen. My representative—in my county we call them supervisors—was very polite and open.

I was polite too. I told him I appreciated it was a tough decision and that I didn’t expect the board to carve money from the education budget to subsidize recycling. But why not raise garbage fees to pay for recycling, which would encourage more recycling?

I got the feeling I wasn’t the first, or even the second phone call he received on the subject. Maybe not even the third. The people are speaking and sending a message.

Side note: You might think that recycling would pay for itself—that someone somewhere profits from reusing at all those cans, newspapers and glass bottles. But my local government pays $800,000 a year for recyclables to be hauled away. Then all those items have to be sorted – glass with glass, cans with cans, and newspapers with newspapers. Workers also have to throw away all the things we put in the recycling bin—in my locality that includes the tops from water bottles—that can’t be recycled. Since local governments are often under a mandate to recycle, they should make it easier for households to do the green thing.

Since I’m not naming my locality, I’ll tell you this—my rep threw the board chairman under the bus—blaming the idea to charge for recycling on the chairman. He also told me that the board plans to discuss reversing the vote.

I couldn’t resist. Although I didn’t ask my rep how he voted, I did remind him of the vote two years ago to move recycling to every other week—a vote that led to a big outcry then and a reversal of that decision. I asked: Didn’t the board learn something?

I know I learned something. Speak up, politely but forcefully, when something isn’t right. Offer a better solution. Stay tuned.

Recycling Part Two: Paying to Be Green or If It Ain’t Broke, Don’t Fix It

kqueen — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 11:22:00 GMT

Should we pay extra for recycling or for trash pick up?

As I said last installment, it’s no secret that many local governments are facing budget crunches. I sympathize with the tough economic choices elected officials must make. My local officials, however, have made a bad decision—their second regarding recycling in just two years.

Starting in July, those of us who care enough about the environment now will have to pay $6.25 a month for the privilege. The new fee covers the cost of collecting the recyclables.

As it stands now, residents of my county pay for trash pickup, but not for recycling. For trash, those who fill two of the big rollout cans pay $16 a month. So-called low trash generators with one can pay $12.25 a month. Those with more than two cans pay higher fees. One reason my family of four is a low generator is that we recycle and compost (more on composting in a later blog). It certainly would be easier to just throw everything in one trashcan as opposed to maintaining recycling bins and taking them to the curb every week.

In its wisdom, our board of supervisors has decided to plug a gap in the budget by charging those who recycle. I do not advocate cutting teachers, police or firefighters to subsidize a recycling program. But our board made an ill-advised—OK bad—decision.

On its website announcing the upcoming fee, the county notes that our state, Virginia, mandates that each locality recycle at least 25 percent of its waste and that our county consistently exceeds that mandate. (That would be thanks to the green-minded folks who currently take the time to recycle their reusable plastic, glass and aluminum cans instead of taking the easy route to the trashcan and landfill). The county also notes that recycling helps preserve and protect the environment and is good for the economy.

“When recyclable materials are removed from the general waste stream, less money is spent on disposal costs for waste that would otherwise have to be taken to a landfill. Recycling is one of the most effective ways to reduce pollution, save energy and keep (our county’s name here) beautiful now and for generations to come.”

Since recycling is such a good idea offering numerous benefits, why has the board decided that green-minded folks should pay for this privilege? The board missed a key opportunity to encourage recycling. The board should have raised the rates on trash pickup to generate more income. Then those who don’t currently recycle might have been encouraged to start—to save money.

Instead, now many people who recycle may decide that being green is a hassle not worth paying for. People are already complaining in the local newspapers about the new fee.

We haven’t decided yet what we’re going to do. Our teen daughter pointed out that if we don’t recycle, we’d likely have to add another trashcan. That’s not 100 percent clear, but I’m willing to consider the possibility.

If so, the math adds up like this: $12.25 a month currently; $16 a month with two rollout cans and no recycling bin; $18.50 a month with one can and one recycling bin. Net cost to us per month to recycle: $2.25 or $6.25 depending on whether we can get by with our current single can if we don’t recycle.

Note to county: household budgets are tight too. It’s not a lot of money, but for some households it might be the tipping point for going to trash only. And it’s a huge amount of principle.

We have to let the county folks know what we’re going to do so they can repossess our recycling bins if we opt out. If enough people opt out and/or complain, the board may once again reverse itself and make a better decision.

Heads up local governments: doing the right thing—recycling—should not be more expensive.

Recycling Part I: Paying to Be Green or If It Ain’t Broke, Don’t Fix It

kqueen — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 17:42:00 GMT

The empty recycling bin.

I remember as a kid collecting glass soda pop (in the South we call it all ‘Coke,’ no matter the brand) bottles from construction sites and turning them in at grocery stores to get cash. Confession: I spent most of that cash on candy.

Now, many local governments, including mine, offer recycling bins. Instead of throwing away newspapers, glass bottles and cans, we put them in recycling bins. It’s a bit of a hassle and there’s no cash back for candy, but we know we’re doing the right thing for the environment by not adding reusable stuff to the landfill. A contractor hired by our county collects the bins every week.

As many local governments, again including mine, face budget crunches they are looking closely at every expense. That includes recycling.

But there are right ways and wrong ways to save money. So far, my local government has chosen poorly.

Two years ago to save money, the county switched households to an every-other-week pickup starting in July. If you forgot your week or were on vacation, the cans, newspapers and bottles started to pile up. Complaints also started to pile up in the county’s waste management office.

After only a few weeks, it became clear this was a PR nightmare. The county made plans to switch back to weekly pickup, but it took about six months to return to the old system with the contractor.

Lesson learned: if it’s working, leave it alone.

As you’ll see in my next post, however, the local government did not learn this key lesson.

How often is your recycling picked up?

Saving Water

kqueen — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 11:26:00 GMT

Use half-full drinking water to water your plants.

When I need water, it’s simple. With a flip of the faucet, I can run water to wash my hands, make my hot tea, take a shower, water plants and more.

Elsewhere in the world, people don’t take water for granted. One in six people worldwide lack access to safe drinking water, the World Water Council says. While world population tripled in the last century, water use grew at twice that rate, according to WWC. A small bit of good news: water use per capita in the United States actually has dropped.

Nevertheless, in the 21st century, wars are likely to be fought over not oil, but water, Steven Solomon predicts in Water: The Epic Struggle for Wealth, Power and Civilization.

Obviously, we can donate money to charities and other groups working to provide safe water around the world. But what can we do at home to cut water use and recycle what we do use?

To recycle water, I save the water from my husband’s boiled eggs, let it cool, and then use to water plants. So far, the plants haven’t complained about the tiny bits of egg they get along with their soaking. They did complain about overwatering when I got carried away on this recycling idea. That led to plants floating in their pots and water on the wood floors—a waste of water and damaging to the floor if not caught in time.

I save the last bit of filtered water in the teapot and use it to fill ice trays. No we don’t have a fridge with an icemaker yet. When everyone is finished with their meal and we’re cleaning up the kitchen, any leftover drinking water that I can’t force my family to finish goes to the plants. Note to self: get more plants.

Stop reading now if you’re easily grossed out. OK, you were warned. Both to save water and lessen noise, we don’t flush at night. That saves several gallons. Other people carry that policy through the day—the old “If it’s yellow, let it mellow…If it’s brown, flush it down.” To each his own.

I also turn off the faucet while brushing my teeth. Since my dentist wants me to brush for 2½ minutes, that’s a lot of water down the drain if I keep the water running.

Other ways to save water include using rain barrels for collecting water. Do a search on rain barrels and you’ll find all sorts of resources. You can use water from a rain barrel to water your garden and landscaping.

Note: if you ever shower using rain water, use very little shampoo. Rainwater does not do a good job washing soap from your hair. I know this because we spent a week at a vacation home using cistern water for everything. It took me until the middle of the week to figure out the problem – so by the end of the week, my hair had a nice buildup of shampoo.

Some homes even are set up with plumbing so that water from rain barrels serves the nondrinking water for household use. Think of how much water you use that never touches your mouth: flushing, watering plants and cleaning.

You can also get a home system that recycles what some called partially used water and others call gray water—fairly clean water that runs down your sink or out of your shower—and reuse it for flushing or to water your flowers, shrubs or vegetable garden. Do a search for recycled or gray water.

If you’re on a utility system and being charged for water use, you’ll save money as you follow these steps. And you can feel good that at least you’re not depleting the local water table…as quickly.

As for me, I have one confession: if I ever figure out a way to disable the low flow shower head and get a pounding shower again, just count me guilty. I’d even be willing to recycle water to lessen the guilt.

Nature’s Landscaping – My House

kqueen — Wed, 23 May 2012 14:39:00 GMT

Spring flowers in the yard.

When we built our house, we had long talks with the builder about trees and plants. We set the house back from the street—leaving a stand of trees to give us privacy even in the front yard. We cut only trees that were in our home’s footprint. We gave strict orders to leave all the wild laurel alone. Now, we’re enjoying the benefits.

I can’t wait for spring. That’s when the wild laurel begins to bloom, delicate pale pink blossoms all over the front yard, the back yard and the woods behind our home. Walking through the yard in May and early June is a trip through fairyland. This year, I’m planning a cookout in peak season to show off the beauty.

I can’t wait for fall. That’s when the leaves turn red, yellow and orange on the trees out the wall of windows overlooking our backyard. When the sun hits the red leaves on one tree a certain way, my heart soars at the beauty. In the fall, I make extra excuses to climb the steps from my office to the great room and that wall of windows just so I can gaze on that red tree. (So I’m greener and healthier!)

I can’t wait for winter. That’s when those beautiful fall leaves have dropped to the ground and I can appreciate the red and green of the numerous wild hollies throughout our yard. Even if I haven’t yet decorated for Christmas, those hollies get me in the spirit of the season.

I can’t wait for summer. I can sit in the front or the back yard in privacy, behind a natural screen of trees.

Whether you call it God or Nature, natural landscaping saves you money. The trees and flowers that already grow and thrive on your property won’t need the extra water and fertilizer that cultured plants will require. Enjoy what you have before pining away for new plants. Your wallet, your back and the planet will thank you.

Splurging: Counting the Cost

kqueen — Tue, 08 May 2012 17:26:00 GMT

The cost of my moment of weakness has yet to be calculated...

Today I splurged—wasn’t smart or green. What did I do? I was cold and turned up the heat. To 70. I am ashamed to admit this.

We’ve enjoyed an early spring here for weeks and I’ve gotten used to being warm. Last night, Winter returned and left a coat of frost on the yard and left me shivering inside.

Last winter, I routinely wore three layers of shirts and two pairs of socks inside. Bundled up, I kept the thermostat in the low 60s. Today, I was cold despite two shirts. Today, I wanted heat.

I have no idea how much I spent for today’s trip to the tropics. In the future, the Smart Grid and an associated Home Area Network will let me know right away how much that heat is costing me—by the hour or even by the minute. Some of you may already be in the know.

Studies have shown that when consumers can track their energy use, they use less energy. That’s smart, green and common sense.

Meantime, I’ll make these balmy temps a rare thing. Until summer and time to scrimp on the AC bill.

Nature’s Landscaping – The Corner Lot

kqueen — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 12:55:00 GMT

A corner lot down to one tree left is a sad sight indeed. Photo courtesy of Mihai-bogdan Lazar.

Trees covered the vacant corner lot in the upscale neighborhood on my running route. Although vacant lots often feel like a fishbowl because two sides face the street, this one with all its trees promised privacy. Until the new owners hired a contractor to clear their home site.

I talked to the tree cutter and even he was surprised to have been hired to fell down nearly all the trees—mature oaks, lovely hollies, wild laurel. One lone tree remained near the corner.

The new owners may own a landscaping company. Either that, or they’re keeping one in business. Because they have put in numerous new, albeit much smaller trees. They have added shrubs, mulch and flowers. They’ve planted grass—twice within four months. I know all this because running past, I can see all the work going on. In fact, I can see right up to their front door.

Now they want privacy. So they’ve installed a wrought iron fence. But you can see right through it. Around the fence, they have planted shrubs, which are now about six inches tall. It will take years before those shrubs reach the height of the trees they clear cut before they built. And those shrubs shield only a small part of their home from the view of the nosy neighbors and runner like me that they want to hide from.

Not smart. Not green.

Paying for Power in Advance

kqueen — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 12:03:00 GMT

If you had the option to prepay for electricity each week, would you?

Where I live in the Southeast, the winter has been incredibly mild. So my monthly utility bill has been a pleasant surprise – up to 25 percent lower than last year’s bills for the same months. But I remember well getting bills after a cold snap in past years and having to sit down while reading the amount. For people living paycheck to paycheck, those big bills pose a financial hardship.

Getting the power cut off for nonpayment poses more challenges. The most obvious of course is freezing in your house. Some people have frozen to death in their homes after the power was cut off. Even when consumers once again have money to pay, they often face extra reconnect fees to get electricity flowing again.

With new smart grid technology, some energy providers are offering pre-pay power. Consumers can pay in advance for power before they use it—perhaps paying for two weeks, a week, even a day’s worth of power depending on cash on hand—as opposed to having to ante up a whole month’s bill. I spoke to representatives from electric co-ops in North Carolina and Oklahoma who claim satisfaction rates in the high 80s to low 90s for the voluntary programs. These reps told me customers appreciate the ability to make frequent, smaller payments as opposed to a monthly bill running in three digits.

In Oklahoma, the average customer makes three payments a month with an average payment of $45. I was told about a waitress in North Carolina who would take time during her break to feed her tip money into the payment machine.

The same smart grid technology also allows these customers to track their energy use in real time to see how close they’re coming to running out of power. Customers say that pre-pay and monitoring their power use have helped them drastically cut the amount of electricity they use—and save money.

When late-paying customers do run out of power, they can bring their balance current and have their lights on in 5-15 minutes—even if service ends at midnight, the reps told me.

The co-ops like the program because they don’t have to write off as many unpaid bills.

But consumer advocates claim that pre-pay is just an easier way for electric providers to circumvent regulatory protections that prevent customers from being cut off. These advocates say that pre-just makes it easier for electric providers to disconnect customers who can’t or won’t pay.

What do you think? Is pre-pay a powerful win-win or a power play to cut off customers faster?

Giving the Power Company Control of the AC to $ave

kqueen — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 12:51:00 GMT

My utility company is proving that it is possible to stay cool and save money, too.

Even though we’re enjoying a warmer than normal winter in Virginia, AC season is still months away. But our electric utility, Dominion, is thinking ahead—wise move.

Dominion customers, including the Queen household, recently received a flyer urging us to sign up for a new program, Smart Cooling Rewards. “Be Smart. Be Cool. Be Paid.”

Here’s the deal: Dominion will install a cycling switch on the AC or heat pump. During periods of high demand, Dominion may call an event—meaning the utility could cycle off the AC or heat pump compressor at defined intervals. But the fan would remain on circulating already cooled air.

Benefits to us: At the end of the season, we get a check for $40. Also, we get the good feeling of doing something green.

Benefits to Dominion: the utility is better able to manage peak load without having to bring peak generators online or buy additional energy at peak prices.

It sounded great to me, but I had to deal with the skeptics in the house. No names of course.

Skeptics wanted to know:

Did we have to be home for the installation? Nope—and the flyer covered that.

How long would be AC be off? It would run half the time it ran the previous hour and would cycle 10 minutes on and 20 minutes off. The flyer did not cover that.

When would the overrides happen? Between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. The flyer did not cover that.

What would we have to do to override and run the AC anyway? Call Dominion. The flyer did not cover that.

How many times could we override the cut-off? Twice a season and still get the $40. After that, no $40. The flyer did not cover that.

After several phone calls to Dominion to answer questions (more kept cropping up), we decided to enroll. I’ll let you know at the end of AC season how we did, how many overrides (if any) we had. When we get our check at the end of 2012, I’ll write how we celebrated with our $40.

Advice for Dominion and other utilities: People want to be green, but they also want to know all the details for such a program before signing up. Next time you have a green energy program to promote, do a better job covering potential questions. My husband’s questions were basic and should have been answered in the initial mailing. If you run out of space, the back of the flyer was wide open. Do everything you can to limit reasons for people to avoid being smart and green.

How to Save Energy and Keep Friends

kqueen — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 14:04:00 GMT

Stop putting the freeze on your dinner guests. Keep that thermostat at a reasonable temperature when hosting. Lower it when they leave.

When my college-age son returns to school soon, I’ll once again be all alone in the house much of the day. After I do the introvert happy dance, I’ll turn the heat down. Way down.

Most of my writer friends do the same. We compare notes online about the heat settings in our home-alone homes. Some feel they are tightening their belts at 68 degrees in the winter. Others dial the heat down to 60, or lower.

I fall into the 62- to 64-degree range. I’ll layer up with a warm long-sleeved T-shirt under a sweatshirt and two pairs of socks. If I get really cold, I’ll turn on a space heater—only briefly—in my office. I’ll drink lots of hot tea.

This isn’t a manners column, but I have a message for my fellow smart greenies: we can’t force others to shiver and save with us.

We had one set of friends, now moved to the Deep South, who kept their home thermostat set about 60 degrees in winter even when company was coming. I’d freeze all through dinner and often would put my coat on inside.

Saving money and being green is great but we won’t convert others by freezing them out. When people are coming to my house, I turn the heat up to a comfortable 68 to 70 degrees in winter.

If I’m worried about the cost, I can add a third layer the next day or two and join my buddies in the 58-degree club.

It will all average out and I know I’ll still have takers when I invite friends over for dinner in the dead of winter.

How Green is Your Fireplace?

kqueen — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 15:51:00 GMT

Make sure your wood-burning fireplace isn't doing more harm than good. Close up the damper when not in use!

I have a confession. Over the Christmas holidays and onward into January, I have not been smart or green—at least in one part of my home. We’ve had a wood fire.

At our home, we enjoy the feeling of connecting with our farm ancestors, bringing big logs in to the fireplace, setting a fire and then soaking in the warmth. We use wood from trees that have fallen in storms and hurricanes over the years so at least we’re not paying to have a load delivered. A fireplace also comes in handy during power outages caused by said storms and hurricanes.

In normal times, we imagine that the fire is saving money on the next heat bill. Not a chance.

A fireplace is an inefficient heat source. Even with a good fire, lots of heat goes right up your chimney. We do have a fireplace blower for our rec room fireplace and it does do a better job of sending heat out beyond the fireplace itself. But our HVAC system still outperforms the fireplace.

A fireplace may do a decent job of heating the room it’s in. In fact, we had to open windows during one recent party because the fireplace heated our great room up to 77 degrees. Meantime, rooms that are away from the fireplace are significantly cooler.

Then when the fire dies down, we get very little heat at all – yet we can’t close the damper. So the HVAC system works overtime to make up for the heat loss up the chimney. I felt a big draft in our home one morning, checked for open doors and windows—and realized the source of the leak was the fireplace.

I’ve read some calls for open fireplaces to be banned in residential homes because they’re such a waste of heat. I wouldn’t go that far. There are products, including glass doors chimney plugs, which help prevent some heat loss.

But if you enjoy an occasional fire, as I do, just be realistic. Don’t imagine you’re being smart or green. Know that the cozy glow and the warm fuzzy feeling is costing you money. And close the damper when the fire is safely out.

Colleges Go Greener—Smart Moves

kqueen — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 16:45:00 GMT

Do you have a son or daughter looking at college? Is green learning a consideration? Photo courtesy of Sharon Miller.

With a son in college this year, I hear about green decisions in higher ed. And when institutions with thousands of students make change, that’s a lot of green—both in terms of savings and benefit to the environment.

Power Down

My son usually travels light coming home from college. He brings only his computer. This trip, he arrived loaded down with catsup, mustard, applesauce and other items from his mini dorm fridge. Then he texted his roommate to please get his frozen OJ out of the tiny freezer and take it home. What’s up, I asked?

The answer: Son’s college turns off the electricity in the dorms over the nearly four-week winter break. No refrigerators running. No TVs or other devices drawing power. That’s a savings. That’s smart and green.

Cut the Waste

Did your mother ever tell you your eyes were bigger than your stomach? I hate wasting food. If you eat dinner at my house, please eat all you want—but don’t take more food than you need and then throw it away. (Yes, I know we’re becoming a nation of overweight people—the key is to get the right amount of food the first time—then food doesn’t go to waist or waste). I cringe when I see perfectly prepared steak, potatoes and salad or veggie chili hitting the trash right after dinner. It’s costly and wasteful.

Multiply that by thousands of college kids on a campus, many of whom have all-you- can-eat meal plans.

Over the last few years, food service company Aramark has figured out a way to reduce wasted food on campus. The solution: no more trays. Yep, it’s easier to overload a tray with a salad plate, a dinner plate and extras. When you have to juggle plates and cups in your hands, it’s harder to handle.

In one study of more than 186,000 meals served at more than 25 institutions of higher learning, Aramark reported food waste was reduced by 1.2-1.8 ounces per person when trays were removed from the dining halls. That represents a 25-30 percent in food waste per person. Wow.

My only concern: with no cafeteria trays, what are college kids going to use to go sledding?

Smart Grid and PMUs

kqueen — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 14:00:00 GMT

Smart Grid and PMUs

With an extensive network of PMUs installed, there's a greater chance of the lights staying on in the case of a localized outage. Photo courtesy of Pooftaesch.

As Christmas approaches every year, my family always reminisces about the Christmas Eve ice storm that dramatically altered our holiday plans. We had decided to stay home instead of driving six hours to our ancestral homeland. No roast goose or duck for us—we chose a simple meal of baked salmon and baked potatoes.

Then, freezing rain and ice knocked out power on Christmas Eve. Instead of salmon and baked potatoes on the fancy Christmas china, we pulled out paper plates and ate canned tuna and marshmallows roasted on the fire. We slept by the fire. We played games by the fire. We tried not to envy our neighbors using generators to run elaborate Christmas light displays. For a few days, it was an adventure. But by day 10, our family and others across the region were ready for what we all take for granted until it goes off—electricity.

It’s fun to write about the George Jetson aspects of the Smart Grid—for example, the appliances you can communicate with from your job or vacation home. But anyone who, like us, has camped out at home through a power outage will welcome the news that Smart Grid technology will help keep the lights on.

Here’s how. Across the country, utilities and regional entities that manage the grid are installing phasor management units (PMUs) that give grid operators real time information about what’s happening—30 times a second compared to once every two to four seconds with the older technology.

That real-time monitoring is critical to manage small problems on the grid before they grow into large problems, many grid operators have told me. A storm taking out generation or transmission equipment causes electricity to take alternate paths to reach its destination -- traveling longer distances over smaller lines. Think about using a power saw connected to a very long, lightweight extension cord. The saw won’t work right and may trip your breakers. On the grid, those detours cause what’s called standing phase angles.

Undetected large standing phase angles contributed to blackouts and cascading events in Italy in 2003 and in Europe in 2006. With more PMUs and the precise time-stamped measurements they provide, utilities will be able to quickly detect large standing phase angles and take corrective action.

PMUs won’t keep a hurricane or ice storm from knocking out power lines. But they will allow grid operators to quickly detect a problem, isolate it and help prevent large-scale outages.

Installing enough PMUs is a major undertaking though. Until the job is done, I’m stocking up on canned tuna and marshmallows for this Christmas—just in case.

How Green Is Your House of Worship

kqueen — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 19:35:00 GMT

A few weeks ago, I walked into the restroom at my church, looked for the light switch and saw…a metal plate. Then I realized that as I opened the door, the light had switched on.

Automatic motion sensor lights—that’s a smart green idea. No more lights left on. No more paying for lights on in rooms no one was using. Even more important, the church could use the money saved to feed the hungry this holiday season.

These lights were in only a handful of bathrooms. There are plenty of rooms left, plenty of room for more savings. We could also add programmable thermostats, check to make sure our insulation is doing the job and check for leaks.

We could add recycling bins (no, not in the sanctuary). We could install automatic turnoffs on the faucets. We could add more shrubs and take out grass. The ideas just keep coming.

As many of us celebrate holidays, ponder the Message of the season, and visit our houses of worship more often, we should also ponder ways to save money and live green. The green we save can finance our mission.

Smart Grid Privacy Concerns

kqueen — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 16:32:00 GMT

Smart Grid Privacy Concerns

The Smart Grid presents some very real privacy issues for consumers. Where do you stand? Image courtesy of Lance Bellers.

When the Smart Grid arrives in your home, you’ll know how much energy your microwave, your dishwasher, washer and dryer use each day. The concern is—who else will know and what will they do with that information?

Your power company needs to know how much energy you use to send you an accurate bill. And you may want to know how much energy your individual appliances use to help you make smart decisions about energy consumption in your home.

But suppose you get busy at work and make microwave meals your dinner of choice until things calm down. Next thing you know, you’re getting ads for … microwave pizza, microwave vegetables and Lean Cuisine.

Or, your grandchildren come to spend a week and you run the washer more often than usual. Now you’re getting ads for economy-sized boxes of laundry soap.

But it’s not just marketers who want to know your energy use. Security experts have told me that criminals might also be interested in hacking into a system to get that information. If Joe The Burglar sees your energy use is way down, he might rightly conclude that you’re out of town and your house is ripe for a break-in. Speaking of Joe The Burglar, law enforcement agencies could use the information to give an idea of whether you’re doing something illegal at home. Tabloid reporters might want to know whether a movie star or other famous person—especially one who promotes green living—is in fact using energy-gulping appliances at home.

I wish I had the answer. One way to address privacy will be to disconnect individual data from individual names. But that’s no final answer. Government agencies, utilities and privacy experts are still looking at these issues.

I’m looking forward to the smart grid in my home. (That’s a hint to my utility but I don’t think they’re listening.) But I will read carefully any disclosure information I receive before signing away my privacy.

Smart Grid In Your Home

kqueen — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 16:26:00 GMT

Smart Grid In Your Home

A home connected to the Smart Grid would see the washing machine run only when electricity was not at peak cost. Photo courtesy of Stefan Redel.

I’m all the time telling my teenagers to turn their lights off. I’d turn the lights off myself, but in the case, for example, of their closet lights I’m afraid to navigate through all the debris on their floors. What if I could send my teenagers on light patrol all over the house to turn off lights no one is using—and see how much less electricity we’d consume? What if by running the dishwasher at 2 a.m. instead of 7 p.m., I could pay less money for electricity? What if I could check in online or at a small device to see how much electricity I’d save if I nudged the thermostat up or down?

These are some of the ways the Smart Grid can, will and in some cases already is impacting daily living.

It will start in most cases with what’s called a smart meter (sometimes called an AMI meter—for advanced metering infrastructure). With the old electromechanical meters, a utility meter reader must come to your home to read the meter to determine how much electricity your household used that month. In contrast, a smart meter records electricity use as it happens and sends the information back to your utility.

Using additional technology, including home area networks and web portals, utilities can provide energy use data to their customers once a day, every few hours or even in real time.

For many of us, our power bill is just another bill to pay that we have little control over.
With real time data, we could turn off lights, unplug cell phone chargers and other devices and maybe even adjust the thermostat. Then we could compare before and after hourly energy use.
That changes the way we’ll view energy use—to something we have control over and can monitor.

Some utilities are offering, or will offer, tiered and time of use rates to further encourage conservation.

With a tiered rate, you’ll pay more once your electricity use exceeds a certain threshold for your billing cycle. Need to do a load of laundry? Save money by waiting two days until the new bill cycle.

With a time of use rate, you’ll pay more during peak energy use times—often first thing in the morning and early evening. That’s when hitting the delay button on your dishwasher will come in handy.

You also could set a monthly budget for electricity use and check to see if you’re on track to hit that target.

Some utilities are planning or already using systems to send messages to customers via email, Facebook, Twitter and text—just as your cell phone company may let you know if you’re about to exceed minutes, data or texts for the month. With such a system, you’d get a heads up if your energy use were on track to exceed your budget or put you in a more expensive rate tier. You also might get energy saving tips to help you meet your budget.

Preliminary data shows customers using such devices and systems could save up to 25 percent, an official with a company that makes those devices told me.

That’s smart. That’s green.

Next: smart appliances in your home to help you manage energy use.

Smart Grid Keeps the Lights On

kqueen — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 16:32:00 GMT

Smart Grid Keeps the Lights On

Smart Grid: untangling the electrical web we've woven. Image courtesy of Lavanya Kurup.

Late in the 1800s, Thomas Edison invented the phonograph and pioneered electric transmission. Since then, music technology has evolved from 78s and 45s played on a record player to cassette tapes, bulky eight tracks, CDs, powerful home stereo systems, portable but bulky boom boxes to several generations of rapidly improving iPods.

Meantime, in many areas electricity is delivered to homes over a transmission grid not too different from the lines that delivered power to grandma’s house. That’s true where I live -- if I weren’t writing about Smart Grid there’d be no need for me to know about it. But that’s changing. If you live in California, Texas and a few others across the country, you’re not just hearing about the Smart Grid, you’re living it. Soon, the rest of us will be living Smart Grid too.

One Smart Grid goal is reliability. As I write this post, 1.6 million electric customers in the Northeast are without power, compliments of a late October snowstorm. The Smart Grid won’t prevent trees from falling on power lines and knocking out electricity, but Smart Grid transmission technology does make it possible to isolate a power loss. When power goes out, grid operators can reroute power around an affected area to minimize the impact. So if a tree knocks out a line the next neighborhood over, you may get your lights back on sooner.

New technology, called phasor management units (PMUs) enable those who operate the power grid to get a much faster picture of what’s happening on the grid. PMUs collect and organize data very quickly 30 times/second or faster compared to once every 2-4 seconds for the older technology they replace.

PMUs offer plenty of benefits and I’ll discuss some of the other benefits in later blogs. In terms of reliability, more PMUs across the grid likely could have lessened the spread of the massive blackout across the Northeast in 2003. An official with transmission operator PJM told me that with more PMUs, grid operators would have seen signs that the system was deteriorating in advance. Those grid operators could have taken action sooner and prevented the blackout from spreading across the region. So just remember: PMUs are good. The more, the better.

Up next: Smart Grid in Your Home.

The Smart Grid: Coming to a Town Near You?

kqueen — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 16:49:00 GMT

The Smart Grid: Coming to a Town Near You?

Are the days of dirty energy numbered?

If you live in California, Texas or one of the areas where Smart Grid pilot programs are underway, you’re likely very familiar with the Smart Grid. Nod your head yes as you recognize the following.

Likely, you have a smart meter. You may also use a device or web portal to track your energy use. You may be participating in a program where your heat or AC is cut off for short periods during peak demand at your electrical provider. You may own smart appliances.

If your utility hasn’t started Smart Grid pilots or full-scale service where you live, you may be shaking your head and wondering what’s up with Smart Grid.

My next set of blogs will answer that question and others. Look forward to a brief overview of the Smart Grid with a comparison of the old and new; home automation and Smart Grid appliances; ways the Smart Grid may help you save money; pay as you go electricity; why you should be a bit wary of Smart Grid in terms of security; other issues with Smart Grid implementation and how they are being resolved; what Smart Grid means to electric providers; how Smart Grid can make electrical service more reliable; how some electric providers are saving money with smart grid; and more.

In the meantime, if you have questions related to Smart Grid, feel free to post them. I'll do my best to consider and address each one as best I can.

D is for Ducts

kqueen — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 14:28:00 GMT

D is for Ducts

Time to seal and insulate!

Duct, duct goose? No, meant to say lose … as in lose money. Your heating and air conditioning ducts likely run through your attic, basement and/or crawl space before they get to the main part of your house. Those ducts can fall apart, get disconnected or fail to seal properly and end up becoming huge energy wasters.

Doug Anderson, manager of the EPA’s Energy Star program, told me that in the average home, one-fifth of the air leaks out of the ducts before that air even gets to your registers. If that air is leaking out into an unconditioned space, you could really be losing a lot of energy. If you live in the South and your air handler is in the attic, imagine how hard that air handler is working in a 140-degree, poorly insulated attic with leaky ducts.

The solution: seal and insulate. If you can see the duct seams where the metal comes together, seal them with a shiny foil tape with a UL181 label or duct mastic—not duct tape.

Yes, that’s right—researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Labs found at that duct tape doesn’t work on ducts—the tape falls off. Who knew?!

Other options include metal-backed tape and duct sealant, Anderson told me.

Finally, surround the ducts with cellulose or fiberglass insulation.

C is for Crawl (Space)

kqueen — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 15:12:00 GMT

C is for Crawl (Space)

Bugs, moisture, or odors -- what's worse?

Heat and cool my crawl space? You’ve got to be kidding.

Why in the world do my wheelbarrow, rake, potting soil, flower pots need a conditioned space?!

But done properly, a conditioned crawl space not only saves money on energy costs, but it can help prevent the problems associated with a damp crawl space. Problems such as insects, buckled hardwood floors in the living area, moisture damage and musty odors. You had me at bugs. And I sure don’t want buckled hardwood floors either.

I thought it would cost more to heat and cool a crawl space. But done properly, sealing, insulating and conditioning (heating and cooling) a crawl space is a great way to control moisture and save on energy costs. “If you have ducts down there, you can save as much as 10 percent of your total annual energy bill,” Doug Anderson of the EPA’s Energy Star program told me.

In a conditioned crawl space, exterior foundation walls are insulated and conditioned air from the home is introduced into the crawl space. That creates a small basement inside your house. Experts tell me that if you use a poly vapor barrier, take it beyond the six inches required by building code all the way up to 10 inches for extra assurance.

Finally, don’t add this to the Honey Do list. If the ground vapor barrier and the crawl space aren’t properly sealed, the result is excess moisture with no place to go. The problem could be worse than when you started. This is a job for an experienced contractor.

B Is For Basement

kqueen — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 18:03:00 GMT

B Is For Basement

Although they may be fun to bang on, drums do little to improve a basement's energy efficiency.

Whether your basement is a musty hangout for yard tools or fully finished—complete with a pool table, pingpong, wet bar and the latest movie projection equipment—you can and should look to be green and save money.

If your basement isn’t insulated, that’s a good place to start. Up north, unfinished basement walls are a major source of energy loss, Doug Anderson of the EPA’s Energy Star program told me. So yes, insulating your basement walls can improve your home’s energy efficiency.

But keep in mind, when you’re dealing with a basement – you’re not only working with heat loss, you’re also dealing with moisture.

The old method of keeping moisture out—and it was recommended by leading engineers-- involved stapling a moisture barrier to the basement wall, especially down low, and then adding interior insulation. But new research shows can lead to things you definitely don’t want--odors, decay and that bad M word—mold.

“Blocking moisture out does not necessarily work,” Anderson told me. “Water can get trapped behind the moisture barrier. When the ground is wet, moisture can get sucked up into the footers.”

Instead, you want to let the wall dry to the outside.

Based on the latest greatest research, the plan now for both new homes and retrofits is to install a rigid, semi-permeable foam insulation with a perm rating of 1 or better on the lower part of the walls Anderson told me. These are available from both Dow Chemical and Owens Corning. Leave a gap at the very bottom.

On the higher parts of the wall, Anderson recommends Tuff-R ™ impermeable rigid foam insulation made by Dow.

This setup allows the moisture to get through … and out.

Run an EnergyStar dehumidifier to get any remaining dampness out of the air.

A last resort is a French drain—easy enough on new construction but difficult to retrofit, according to Anderson.

Outside, you may need to regrade your lot to make sure water flows away from your house and not down the basement walls when you water your foundation plantings.

A Is for Attic (Part Two)

kqueen — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 11:00:00 GMT

A Is For Attic, Part 2

Energy savings starts in the attic space.

Now that your attic is sealed up from the elements, there are other things you can do up top to lower your heating and cooling costs and live green.

If you don’t have attic insulation, that’s a good second step. And when you consider insulation, remember the higher the R-value, the better the insulating properties.

Fiberglass batting, rated about R-3.6 per inch, is the most commonly used and least expensive. Blown fiberglass, rated about 2.4 per inch, fits more uniformly around wires and pipes. Keep in mind that fiberglass doesn’t perform as well in extreme heat or cold.

Blown cellulose, rated about R-3.6 per inch, is made from recycled newspapers and works even better in extreme heat or cold. Blown cellulose costs about the same as fiberglass batting.

In new construction, it will run you about 10 percent more than blown fiberglass. If you’re retrofitting an existing home, blown cellulose will cost about 10 percent less than blown fiberglass. It’s effective for 20 to 30 years.

An added bonus: blown cellulose contains boric acid, which helps resist ants and cockroaches. The downside: if cellulose gets wet, it’s ruined.

Closed-cell urethane foam, rated R-6 per inch, is by far the most expensive at three times the cost of blown cellulose, insulation experts tell me. But closed cell foam works for the lifetime of your home.

To get the best of both worlds, some homeowners start with a two-inch coating of urethane foam on the attic ceiling and then fill the rest with less expensive blown cellulose.

Moving down a little, if you haven’t done so already, weather strip and insulate your attic hatch or door to keep heated or cooled air where it belongs.

Finally, a whole house attic fan can save you money especially in hot, dry climates where temperatures reach 90 or 100 degrees in the daytime but then drop into the 70s at night. Open the windows and turn the fan on as soon as the outside temperature drops lower than the inside temperature.

The fan gets rid of the hot air and sucks the cooler air in. Would it work for the blowhard that talked everyone’s ears off at my last party?

A Is For Attic (Part One)

kqueen — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 15:28:00 GMT

A is For Attic (Part One)

This home needs some foam! Photo courtesy of feniks.

To save money on energy, the easy obvious fix is at your home’s thermostat: lower your home’s temperature in winter and raise it in the summer. I layer up in the winter with two T-shirts and a sweatshirt to work at home especially when no one else is in the house. In the summer, I just work in a swimsuit so I’m ready to relax at the pool at a moment’s notice. (Just kidding).

If you’ve already nudged the thermostat (down in winter and up in summer) and still want to live greener, you can.

In my next few posts, I’ll talk about the ABCs (and maybe a D and E too) of saving energy.

Today, we’ll take it from the top—your attic. You probably remember learning in science that warm air rises. That rising warm air is called the stack effect.

In your home, that means the attic. But the Christmas decorations, camping gear and snow skis in your attic don’t need a warm place to hang out.

That same pressure pulls outside air through any leaks around doors and windows and into a home’s main living areas. That’s why your home feels even colder on a cold day.

Mind the Gaps

To fight the stack effect and keep warm air in, seal your attic before adding insulation. It will be easier to keep heated air in if you first keep cold air out. (Or in the summer, easier to keep cooled air in if you keep hot air out).

Check for cracks and holes in your attic floor and ceiling.

“Make sure you air seal before you insulate – you don’t want to go back later and dig through insulation to seal leaks,” says Doug Anderson, manager of the EPA’s Energy Star program.

For cracks less than one-half inch, use a long-lasting, flexible elastomeric caulk made of silicon, latex and/or acrylic, he says. Silicon caulks are even better, but they’re smelly.

For gaps up to three inches long, use canned spray foam, either urethane or latex, that hardens after you spray it. Common brands are Great Stuff, Handi-Foam, Hilti Foam and Dap Foam.

Be sure to wear gloves, eye protection and old clothes.

Next up for attics: insulation and circulation. Stay tuned.

Lessons From Hurricane Irene

kqueen — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 19:23:00 GMT

Lessons From Hurricane Irene

A stream swells from Hurricane Irene. Image courtesy of Maggie Smith.

Here on the East Coast, many of us are still getting over Hurricane Irene. My neighbors and I are cleaning out refrigerators and freezers to toss food that went bad. We’re stacking brush and debris at the street for government pickup. We’re getting estimates from tree guys to remove trees from roofs and to cut up trees all over the ground. It’s not over yet.

First, condolences to those who lost loved ones. Anything I say here will be trivial compared to the loss of friends and family members. Second, a thank you to the utility crews, good neighbors and honest contractors who are helping get things back to normal. Third, a thank you to my husband’s father who drove six hours the day after Irene to loan us a small generator, a chain saw, and a set of willing hands to operate that saw. Fourth, this post is about lessons my family has learned from the hurricane—it’s not intended to take the place of a comprehensive hurricane preparedness plan. Fifth, many of these lessons will apply in any power outage. Sixth, those of you who regularly weather bad weather likely have more tips to add. Please do.

Here’s what we learned.

Water. I had been stockpiling water ICE (in case of emergency) since the spring. I bought distilled water at the grocery store. I ran tap water into empty orange juice jugs. We had at least eight gallons of water on the shelves. Seems like a lot. But when losing power means losing your pump, eight gallons of water doesn’t last long. Next time, we’ll have lots more water on hand. In fact, we’re filling up the empty jugs now.

More on water. Next approaching power outage, if one spouse wants to stockpile water in buckets and the other spouse wants to stockpile tap water in the bathtubs—you don’t need a winner of this argument. Stockpile water in both buckets and bathtubs. You’ll use it.

Ice. I also had been stockpiling ice. We don’t have an icemaker, so I’d been cracking out ice trays for a week before Irene arrived. We had several bags of ice in the freezer. As it turned out, it was not nearly enough to keep the food in the cooler and refrigerator cold. Next time, we’ll go out before a hurricane or ice storm and buy a few bags of ice to stash in the freezer just in case.

A side note on ice: our local Harris Teeter scored major points by giving away ice after the hurricane.

Food. I wish we had taken inventory of the raw meat in the freezer before the hurricane and made a plan for grilling out. We have thrown out several pounds of uncooked chicken and hamburger that thawed out before we brought the generator online. Next time at hurricane or ice storm minus one day, I will make a list of what perishable food we have and make a power outage meal plan for grilling and the camping stove. I’ll also make sure we have charcoal.

Food and ice. One thing we did right was to take our favorite perishable foods out of the fridge and put them in a cooler to minimize the number of times we’d open the refrigerator. When we did open the fridge, we had a plan in mind of what we wanted so the door wasn’t open too long.

More food. This is important. After a power outage, if one spouse says a food item smells OK but the other spouse thinks said food item has gone bad—then the spouse who says the food has gone bad wins the argument. Hands down. Do not eat or even taste the food to verify the truth of the matter. It’s not worth it. Don’t ask me how I know this—I just do.

Moisture Sensors For Sprinklers

kqueen — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 13:35:00 GMT

Moisture Sensors For Sprinklers

Adding a water sensor to your sprinkler system will save money and water and could prevent unwanted saturation issues in your lawn. Photo courtesy of Andy Heyward.

In my weekly travels, I often pass by a house in a nearby town. The current and previous owners have spent thousands of dollars on landscaping with several different landscaping companies—first to beautify the lawn and second to prevent water from pooling up.

Over the past three years, they have:

Dug a ditch.
Put rocks in the ditch.
Taken rocks out of the ditch.
Filled in the ditch.
Sodded the yard.
Added a gorgeous retaining wall.
Added lots of plants.
Added a drainpipe.
Completely regraded a hill.
Added mulch to the hill.

The new landscape looks beautiful.

But despite the ditch, the rocks, the departed rocks, the filled in ditch, the sod and the drainpipe—water still pools up, attracting mosquitoes and detracting from the rest of the lawn.

Here on the East Coast, we’ve recently weathered Hurricane Irene and several non-related heavy thunderstorms. This week, it’s rained hard all night every night, including last night. Like water pouring out of a boot. The ground is saturated. We’d love to be able to send that excess water to Texas.

So, this morning when I passed by this yard—still wet from last night’s storm--the sprinkler started running, watering the already soaked lawn. No wonder water is pooling up. That’s not smart. That’s not green.

Just now, I took a couple of minutes to price water sensors for sprinkler systems and I saw them for $17-$250. That’s a mere, ahem, drop in the bucket compared to thousands of dollars spent on landscaping. Be smart. Be green. If your sprinkler is on automatic, add a moisture sensor. You’ll save water. You’ll save money if you get charged for water. And the local mosquitoes can find another pool to hang out in.

The Sunny Side of the Aisle

kqueen — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 18:46:00 GMT

The Sunny Side of the Aisle

Let the sun shine in.
Photo courtesy of Stephanie M Hart.

Attention Walmart shoppers: on a clear day, you’ll be walking in sunshine—even inside the store. Walmart stores built since 1996 now have daylight harvesting systems with skylights to let the sunshine in and sensors to measure that sunshine. This according to Jim Stanway, the giant retailer’s senior director of global energy services.

Between 2,500 and 3,000 stores now have the daylight harvesting system.

“When it’s a nice sunny day outside, the sensor inside the store detects the amount of sunlight, feeds that data through our control system and it dims the lights,” said Stanway. “If it’s bright enough, the lights will actually go off.”

If clouds drift over the store, the system adjusts and lights start coming back on, he said.

The system is designed for gradual change so shoppers won’t notice. But I’m going to watch for it next time I shop.

The stores using the system can save up to three-fourths of what they’d spend on electric-lighting energy during the daylight—an average of 800,000 kilowatt hours per year. At 10 cents per kilowatt hour, those savings could add up to $80,000 per store.

Stanway declined to tell me the payback time—the amount of time it takes the system to pay for itself. But I’m confident that a company that prides itself on low prices wouldn’t spend money in a system unless management was confident it was good for the bottom line.

So what does this mean for us at home? I just took a break to cut off two lights. I’m not going to automatically turn lights on just because I’m passing the light switch. I’ll use my own system (that would be my eyes) and decide: do I really need to flip this switch or is daylight already doing the job to light this room?

Fridge Fantasies

kqueen — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 18:40:00 GMT

Fridge Fantasies

It’s nice to dream!

My thrifty side hopes my white, chipped 22-year-old refrigerator will last another two decades. But I have to confess that I sometimes dream of a gleaming stainless or even just a sleek black modern fridge. Wouldn’t have to be a side-by-side model. We don’t need a TV on the front or even a water dispenser. But I’d like a freezer on the bottom and an icemaker—I’m tired of cracking ice trays.

I admit it: I’d like a trophy fridge.

Of course, my new refrigerator will be an EnergyStar model. And if such a fridge exists, I’ll make sure it can one day sync up to the smart grid, going into defrost mode at 2 a.m. when demand for energy is low. I’ll be able to feel smug, knowing I’m doing my part to reduce my carbon footprint.

And if that old fridge still has some life left in it? I’ll stick it in the garage of course so I can store those extra gallons of milk, extra veggies from the garden, food I’m planning to cook for a party or big holiday meal.

That’s when home energy auditor Ray Walsh of Energy Efficient Solutions in Virginia burst my balloon. A lot of people buy a new refrigerator, happy they’re saving money and saving the planet with the latest energy-saving features.

But many of us buy models with more bells and whistles than what we had before (I am not going to feel guilty about wanting an icemaker) and those features use more power. Then, to compound matters, we put the old, inefficient fridge in an unheated garage or basement where it has to work even harder to stay cold.

“If your goal is to stick the old one in the garage, you might as well buy a refrigerator for the garage because it will pay for itself (in energy savings),” Walsh told me.

So now, I’m saving for two refrigerators. First, the sexy one for the kitchen—maybe I’ll even be able to see myself in the shine. Second, the solid model for the garage. I can even put extra ice trays in the freezer in case my new icemaker goes on the fritz.