Green SUV? This gas and electricy guzzler is one with nature. The picture tells us so.
Hogwash. Rubbish. Poppycock. Or my favorite: Bull. It is all the same as Greenwash. It’s not uncommon to get excited about a few great products that boast to “save rain forests and fuzzy little animals” or SUVs that are so eco-friendly that flowers shoot from their exhaust pipes. While Company X is planting a tree for every ten dollars customers spend on their clothes, the clothes are being manufactured by poor, starving children halfway across the world. This type of boasting about being green when the information is censored and/or skewed is labeled as greenwash: it consists of blatant exaggerations and misleading notions mostly, but may involve noting positive aspects of a product or service while strategically ignoring the product’s or service’s negative qualities.
Greenwash is hype about “eco-friendly”, “green”, “environmentally responsible” things. It exists because people want green/healthy products and services nowadays. Marketing professionals have picked up on the demand for this green market niche and use it to the fullest advantage. We are all victims of Greenwash. This “Greenwash Guide” reference guide is a funny, informational and witty piece. Give it a glance. Learn to better point out advertisements that try to pull the 100% organic, unbleached wool over your eyes… The best piece of information I came away from this piece with: American companies are under no obligation to steer away from exaggerating the ‘wonderful’ qualities of their products and services on their websites and in advertisements. US advertisers are able to do the following: ThinkDwell
“use environmental images capable of making a sweeping claim of environmental benefit”,
“be technically or narrowly correct, without looking at the bigger picture”,
“present claims as universally accepted when the scientific basis is under dispute of inconclusive”,
“make claims indicating an environmental benefit that while literally true, is unlikely to happen in practice”
“use exaggerating language”
That means its your job to determine what is Greenwash.
Excellent: people are catching onto the benefits of investing in radiant heating systems. This video gives us a good idea of how radiant floors are installed. They cost more than your standard forced air system, but in the long run, your home will be more comfortable (warm floors heat interiors more evenly and are nice to walk on without slippers or socks) and will not have dust, mold, mites and other allergens that forced air systems send through the air in your house. This greatly benefits people with respiratory ailments such as asthma or emphysema as well as allergy sufferers.
Cleaner air, more comfortable temperatures throughout your home. So why does anyone bother with any other system? Cost is usually the inhibitor here. I found this info on radiantheat.net:
“ A typical force-air furnace system for a 2,000 sq. ft. home will cost you between $3,800.00-$4,500.00 versus a hydronic boiler system costing about $4,000.00-$5,000.00. The average life expectancy of a forced-air furnace may be between 10-25 years where the average boiler system can last between 30-45 years. The cost of filters and other maintenance including, bearings, belts, fans and motors for forced-air systems can dramatically increase the amount of your investment from a service standpoint. Radiant heating systems are less maintenance and more efficient which means less cost to operate.”
When you take into the account that with a radiant system your energy bills will be reduced, the value of your home is increased, and your indoor air quality is improved, the upfront costs should no longer an inhibitor; it should be seen as a worthy investment that will pay back the cost difference plus in the long run.
Applying Earthen Plaster 'building without borders'
Building Green TV has a great video clip with information on earthen plasters, the primary sealant for straw bale construction. These plasters are available in several finish colors, eliminating the need to paint the house upon completion of plastering. Some plasters are all-natural and contain no toxic ingredients (something we definitely recommend that you look into when your builder is specifying which plaster you use). I also highly recommend, if you are researching straw bale homes, you pay attention to Building Green TV’s excellent resources. Check out the earthen plasters clip here.
Companies are producing spray foam insulation using soybean oil in place of some of the petroleum in their products. It’s good to see healthier products being produced by responsible companies. Check out the full article I wrote at BuildingGreenTV.
Additionally, George Chittenden with Spray Foam Energy Solutions shares some very on-point information regarding spray foam with this blog post.
Q: What Are SIPs and Are They Environmentally Friendly? The original question was more simple, but I felt the need to elaborate. Matt asked, “Who makes the compressed straw panel?” that I had made a comment about in response to a reader’s comment about styrofoam homes… anyway… long story cut short.
A: SIP stands for Structural Insulated Panel. The most common SIP is made by sandwiching expanded polystyrene board (styrofoam) with OSB (oriented strand board) into which openings are cut for doors and windows. The panels are assembled together to form the walls/roof of a home. This is a good, short video of standard SIP construction. There are a few things that set off alarms here: phenol formaldehyde resin used to bond the wood chips and (the more obvious) styrofoam. Off-gassing formaldehyde is no good for indoor air quality and styrofoam is not biodegradable, although expanded polystyrene SIPs have good insulating qualities. There are several reasons that buildings are made with SIPs instead of wood/stick frame these days. There is a big push to find other methods of building homes than wood, simply because deforestation devastates huge areas of the earth, annihilating fragile ecosystems and species of plants and animals. SIPs provide increased insulation, reducing the amount of fuel/energy a home takes to keep heating and cooling year round. SIPs are manufactured in a facility before they reach the site, making on-site construction incredibly quick (think a couple of weeks instead of a several months).
Agriboard Compressed Straw SIPs
The ecofriendly award for the SIP that has the least impact on the environment from production to disposal goes to a compressed straw SIP manufactured by Agriboard. This product has excellent insulating and fire prevention qualities. Check out Agriboard’s video to see how it is made by compressing straw with fifteen thousand pounds of pressure and how it stands up to various structural and fire tests (hint: it stands up very well to these tests). Agriboard is also sandwiched between OSB, so sadly formaldehyde is still present in this product. The major benefit is avoiding the use of styrofoam which is notorious for cluttering landfills and is estimated to take over 900 years to decompose. Straw is a biproduct of cereal grain production and will decompose very quickly- it comes from the earth and goes back into it without any trouble. Man-made chemical styrofoam is just not so nice.
Q: I have looked into installing solar panels on my house but the price is not within my current budget. Is there an alternative to the common big name companies I have contacted that offers solar panels at an affordable price? LynneMarie
affordable energypeak solar system
A: While at the AIA (American Institute of Architects) Convention 2008, I visited a vendor that represented EnergyPeak Solar Systems for standing seam roofs. This product is a solar energy collector that is manufactured as a dark woven material that can be easily installed between seams on standing seam roofs. The rep told me that the product is 80-90% as efficient as traditional glass solar panels but can be purchased at 50% of the price. This product is my suggestion for an affordable solar solution. I like that the product adheres to a surface, eliminating the awkward look that solar panels can give to a home’s roof. These solar mats are durable enough be walked on, so if you have a deck that receives a lot of direct sunlight, that may be a good location to install. Of course, the angle of the sun is a huge factor when installing traditional solar panels, and I’m not exactly sure what how this effects the return rate for EnergyPeak’s system. It’s worth checking them out! You can do so at EnergyPeak.com .
You can certainly make your garden green and less toxic with a little effort. In fact, the most green landscaping choice is one that requires little or no maintenance - that means no watering and no chemical fertilizing. Here are 5 tips for growing a beautiful garden that is self-sustaining and productive.
minimize the percentage of your yard that is covered by lawn: Lawns require a lot of upkeep, water, and fertilizer to stay healthy and look good. Not only does this cut into the precious amount of potable water, it pollutes oceans, streams and water tables with high levels of nutrients that destroy ecosystems and available drinking water. *Only 1% of earth’s water is potable (drinkable). In place of lawn, try more regional ground coverings. In drier climates, stone is a good option. In seaside locations, crushed shell is popular. If you still want to keep your lawn or grow a smaller area of lawn, go with a species that is native so it requires less water. If you have sprinklers, have a sensor installed that can gauge when your lawn actually needs watering and when a sprinkling session can be skipped when it rains.
grow your own food: By farming your own land, even if it is merely one tomato plant and one cucumber vine, you are helping to reduce your energy consumption. Rather than having those cucumbers and tomatoes shipped from Mexico to your local grocer, they skipped the trip and went straight from your yard to your table. Fruit trees require little attention and will produce large amounts of food for years, while vegetables, berries and herbs require slightly more attention and watering but are well worth the effort. Choosing species of plants that are not genetically altered will almost always assure that your home grown food will taste better than the average food you find in the local grocer. Genetically modified plants (or hybrids) are created by crossing the DNA of two types of plants to produce a variety that has characteristics to either speed up production time or create larger fruit or vegetables with little or no regard for its nutritional value or flavor.
use more natural fertilizers: When I was younger, my father and I would go fishing and if we had luck, we ate fish for dinner. The fish head always went in the garden. Sure, it stunk for a few days over by the zucchinis, but those zucchinis were huge and the plant produced plenty to supply the neighborhood with zucchini all summer. Good alternatives to MiracleGro are: natural compost (which you can make yourself); seaweed ; and grass clippings/leaves . All of these things took nutrients to grow, decompose relatively quickly, and put nutrients back into the soil for plants to eat. Your local dump will probably have a compost pile that you can shovel into a barrel and take home for free.
plant native species: Plants that originated in your climate have adapted to the temperatures, seasons, sun, rain, soils, etc. of the region. For this reason, they require little to no maintenance and will be stronger and less likely to croak or be eaten by wildlife like squirrels, rabbits or deer. Seasoned gardeners know all too well how expensive their experiments with the foreign plants can be- that spectacular group of flowering bushes that died when transplanted and cost over $7,000- ouch. You can find native species of plants with this nifty tool: Native Plant Database
install a rain/grey water collection system: This will enable you to recycle grey water and rain you have collected to water your garden and lawn. If it rains periodically in your region, there is a good chance that you can use recycled water to irrigate a good portion of your landscaping. This will save you money and save your community’s water supply.
Q: I’m in Arizona. My living room has four large windows and the sun just pours in. The place is like an oven. I’ve tried to put an AC unit in a window but it is getting expensive and looks awkward (it looks pretty ugly smack in the middle of my nice view). Any suggestions on what I might do instead of the AC unit? Thank you!
Bart L., AZ
A: Hi Bart,
Instead of trying to counteract the heat gain you are experiencing from the sun through your windows, you might want to try a few things that are more pro-active and will give you better results. Here’s what I suggest:
-External shading devices over windows (such as louvres or canvas awnings)
-Install UV-blocking film on windows: more info
-Mitsubishi Electric’s Mr. Slim ductless A/C unit : if you still require cooling, this is the way to go without having to place a unit in your window
There was no greater time I felt as connected to the ocean than while I lived in Hawai’i. Every year, Jack Johnson, a native of O’ahu, puts on a concert to benefit the Kokua Foundation, which he founded to help support educate children in Hawai’i’s school system about sustainability. Message in the Waves is a video by BBC Hawaii. Check it out for information on how all the trash we throw away winds up harming our oceans and all the animals that live there. There are a number of shocking facts you will find out about plastic shopping bags and other items that may have you thinking twice about those reusable canvas bags your local grocery now sells. Yes, you have to pay for them. But they aren’t going to kill turtles and seals while you are using them to bring groceries home week after week.
If you don’t want to buy them, an alternative is just bringing bags you currently own. I know I must have four canvas bags laying in the back of my closet that go unused. If you do, dust them off. You’ll feel better about checking out at the grocer next time. An afterthought: it’s always good to get your kids involved in as many meaningful projects as you can. What if you asked them to devise a replacement for plastic bags? Maybe they find the old canvas bags and decorate them in ’save the earth’ spirit.
