When talking green, people naturally tend to focus on vehicles, but the fact is vehicle emissions have nowhere near the impact that the building industry does.

Buildings and homes use more energy and are responsible for over 35% of all man made greenhouse gases and energy used worldwide. By “greening” every structure with existing technologies and techniques, the world would see a reduction in CO2 by over 1,800 megatons per year. That is equal to the amount of CO2 released by all planes and vehicles in North America last year.

With energy cost rising at a steady pace, energy efficiency renovations are the most cost effective ways to green a home or building, even more so than investing in alternative energies. Increasing efficiency does not have to be a daunting task, there are plenty of quick and easy things you can do which are not very involved. Below is a list of 10 things you can do to increase your efficiency and they are listed from cheapest and easiest to more expensive and involved.

10 steps to Energy Efficiency:

1. Reduce Phantom Loads – phantom loads are those unforeseen “standby” electrical loads that rob about 11% of annual energy consumption. Most electrical products have standby electrical loads which use electricity even when the product is turned off. DVD players, TV’s, Computers, phone chargers, and many other products all use electricity on a constant basis. The solution is to plug these things into surge protector strips and turn the strip off when they are not in use.

2. Seal Up Leaks – Air infiltration is a major cause of increased energy usage. When a structure is not properly sealed, heat will be lost during the winter and gained during the summer, driving up heating and cooling cost. The solution is to perform a pressurization test to locate air leaks and use some sort of caulk or silicon sealant to seal the air leaks in your walls and ceilings.

3. Weatherize – Weatherizing is very similar to sealing air leaks, however, it is different in that it is applied to moving parts such as doors and windows where a caulk type sealant will not work. Weatherizing doors and windows require special products such as v-channel, foam strips and sweeps. For a more detailed tutorial about sealing and weatherizing your home or business, check out “Air Leaks & Energy Exchange” over at NeutralExistence.com.

4. Change Lights – Inefficient lighting is responsible for not only wasted electricity, but added heat gain. The incandescent light bulbs of yesterday are slowly being phased out to more energy efficient Compact Florescent bulbs and LED lightbulbs. A new energy efficient CFL bulb can save about 150 kWh of electricity annually and save you approximately $37 over the life of the bulb. LED lightbulbs, although more expensive up front, will last much longer than CFLs and use less energy as well.

5. Control Radiant Heat – Radiant heat is the most efficient form of heat transfer and in order to increase a structures heating and cooling efficiency, radiant heat transfer must be stopped. Radiant heat is responsible for excess heat gain in the summer and heat loss in the winter. The only way to stop radiant heat transfer is by using a radiant barrier which is a sheet of low emisivity, high reflectivity foil. Although radiant barriers come in many shapes and sizes, but be sure to find a well made, durable, two sided (for winter and summer protection), perforated radiant barrier. I highly recommend Ra-flect radiant barrier as a cost effective quality product (www.raflect.com).

6. Increase Water Efficiency – Massive amounts of energy are used to treat and move potable (drinkable) municipal water, so reducing water usage very energy efficient. There are a variety of things you can do to reduce your potable water usage such as using low flow faucet and shower fixtures, taking shorter showers, only running dishwashers and washer machines when they are full, not leaving the water running needlessly and using water banks in toilet tanks to reduce water used to flush toilets.

7. New Insulation - Insulation retards the passage of convective and conductive heat and is rated in R-values, which is the measure of the rate that heat energy is transferred through a material. If your insulation has been pressed down over the years or the R-value is not the proper value for your location, re-insulating your home is well worth the expense. In order to choose the most efficient insulation for your home or building check out the Energy Star website to find out: www.energystar.gov

8. Window Renovation – Windows are generally the most significant energy sink in almost every structures due to lack of insulation. Windows come in a variety of configurations such as single pane (not efficient), double pane, gas filled, mirrored, etc.. In cooler climates gas filled double pane windows with high R-values are excellent and well worth the cost of replacing old single pane windows. In hotter climates, these same windows are not as effective as they only reduce convective and conductive heat gain but fall short in stopping radiant heat gain. Stopping radiant heat gain in hotter climates requires exterior shading elements or the use of an energy film which helps to block the suns UV rays. Window energy films are applied directly to the glass with soap and water and will essentially make an existing window perform like that of an energy star rated double pane gas filled window.

9. Energy Star Products – Energy star is a governmental rating system which gives its seal to products, buildings, homes and devices which meet minimum requirements of energy efficiency as compared to the norm. When buying new devices such as refrigerators, washer machines, dishwashers and home electronics be sure to purchase products with the Energy Star seal as they will use less electricity than their competition. For more information about energy star and there rating system please see their website (www.energystar.gov).

10. Build Green – In order to increase your energy efficiency build green instead of buying an already made home or business. The benefits of having an architect design a green home or business for you are too many to count. Some benefits of building green include increased energy efficiency, better interior air quality, higher resale value, higher rental rates and occupancy rates for businesses and not to mention, you get the house or building that meets YOUR needs, not some generic home or building which may not be sized appropriately.

Efficiency IS greener than green

Anyway way you look at it, there is no getting around energy efficiency if you really want to green your lifestyle. Efficiency does not have to stop at your home or business, the idea of efficiency can be used in every aspect of your life, from shopping for products to driving around town, efficiency is the key to being green,

Adam Beazley is a LEED accredited professional and green architectural designer, who focuses on green, energy saving design techniques. He is also the founder of Neutral Existence, which is an environmental website dedicated to helping individuals green their life and save money in the process. The website has a plethora of tutorials, articles and products to help individuals reduce their energy consumption, entire environmental footprint and reliance on non renewable resources.
www.NeutralExistence.com

One of the greenest things you can do on a personal level is to stop using your car. Yes, wouldn’t that be nice. It all works out in that green version of reality I aspire to. Incidentally this is the same version of reality where a horse delivers my vegetables from a local farm.

Recently on the way back from holiday in Cornwall, my car’s engine died. The repair quote, £5800. I love my car, for one reason only, it emits 121g/CO2 per Km and I get 61 miles to the gallon. That’s 550 miles (approx 880 km) for £40. I don’t have £5800 lying around, and if I did I wouldn’t want to spend it on a car.

After a bit of research, I worked out that for the cost of my monthly fuel and insurance bill, I could go to work by train for the same price. Food shopping would be possible by using local shops and on-line shopping. My CO2 footprint would drop, my mountain bike would be given a new lease of life, and my doctor would love me for my new exercise regime. I had turned a nightmare situation into something positive.

But all was not well. With exams to sit, and a house move on the horizon, I couldn’t get away from a niggling feeling in the back of my mind. How I would cope without a car? I should add that during this time, someone I knew was also admitted to hospital, and the inconvenience of not having a car also became emotional. Not having a car was not going to be easy.

But then the answer came. I could resurrect the car with a second hand engine. Alleviating my guilt by the fact that I was still recycling (albeit still feeding my addiction to oil) I scoured the internet. My lifeline came from a engine part recycling website called 1st Choice Spares. Thanks to a good friend, before I long I’d worked out t that I could buy a recycled engine and get it fitted for a total of £1500. Less than it would cost me to get another used car of the same efficiency.

The engine took a while to arrive. It took a while to fit. During that time I lived out my green commute dream by train and cycle. The days were a lot less stressful, no idiots on the road to contend with, and I even caught up on my reading. My thigh muscles burned for the first couple of days, but all round I felt good and virtuous.

Fortunately I was never sold monthly ticket, because South West Trains were planning to strike. (This was subsequently called off). Daily tickets got me by, until a couple of weeks later, I got my car back. The price of diesel had risen, but it was nice to have it back.

I had a lot of time to think about the decision I was making. The fact that I was reading George Monbiot’s book, ‘Heat’ made my decision all the more poignant. Was it the lack of cheap reliable public transport, or the lack of clean cars that annoyed me? Who should I blame for the corner I found myself in. I felt disenchanted with the government for not doing enough to make public transport cheap and I felt angry that car makers for not doing enough to force me to buy a greener vehicles.

So what did I do? Well I channeled all that anger. I lobbied the EU parliament along with thousands of members Friends of the Earth to ask them to impose tough CO2 limits on the production of new cars, and made myself a note to talk about the train ticket price issue with my MP next time I saw him (this would have been another thing difficult to do without a car).

In reality we can all turn the lights off, buy green goodies and follow the grassroots movement for environmental improvement, but we still have to convince those that can make changes to the national grid or make deep structural improvements. With all the good will in the world, we still have to convince our leaders that there is no further wiggle room, otherwise everything we do today will be nothing but tokenism. It’s going to take governments and international agencies to make bold, unpopular decisions to save humanity from disaster.

Today I got stuck in a traffic jam.

Yours,

A guilty car owner.

Wanting to make your computer faster without buying a new computer? Well there are several things you can do.

The first thing and best thing is to upgrade your memory. Before buying new memory check what kind of memory is in your computer/laptop so you don’t buy the wrong memory and also check your computers manual to see what the maximum size of memory your computer can handle. If you are unsure what memory you need try asking a someone that knows about computers or try a local computer shop. There are many places you can buy memory from places like local dealers to hundreds of online places like tigerdirect and newegg or E-bay.

Next you should get the latest patches, drivers, security updates from Microsoft or if you own a mac make sure that you run software update. Also make sure that you download other drivers that were not downloaded by Microsoft or Macintosh that you may need which can be downloaded directly from the manufactures web page. Next you should remove programs that you rarely use or never use by accessing add/remove programs by going to Start>Control Panel>Add or Remove Programs and also you should remove any unwanted files that are taking up unnecessary space. Next thing after downloading updates and removing unwanted items is to defrag your computer. If you have never defraged your computer in a long time it could take a few hours depending on your system and hard drive size. To accessing Defrag click Start>Programs>Accessories>System Tools>Disk Defragmenter and choose the drive you want to defrag.

Next monitor should have the brightness on your monitor turned down all the way or down enough so you can still read what is on your monitor. If you are still using a CRT monitor you should go out and buy a Energy Star flat panel monitor and properly dispose of your CRT monitor at a nearby recycling program that takes CRT monitors (some places will take your CRT monitor for a small fee).

Also make sure that your computer is plugged into a outlet strip and make sure that you turn off the switch when not using the computer and turn it on when you do use your computer (Your computer still uses power when not turned on). Lastly if you use window 2000, XP or Vista your computer should be able to use hibernation. Hibernation makes your start up time drop dramatically and extends the hard drive life span. For more information on how to configure this XP users, Win 2000 users. For windows vista it should be already enabled by default (I’m unsure about hibernation in vista since I have never used vista).

I run an online eco retail shop and am committed to helping the earth in whatever way I can. I firmly believe that we as individuals can all make a difference by making greener and more ethical choices. For me, saving energy is a priority because this will not only save money, but it will also help preserve our planet. It means a change of attitude and giving up old habits, but ultimately it’s something we’re all capable of doing. Here are my top energy saving tips:

Don’t use stand by
Gadgets left on stand by are responsible for producing 4 million tonnes of excess carbon dioxide (CO2) each year. An average family can save 150kg of CO2 a year just by turning off appliances. Appliances in standby mode account for around 10% of UK household energy use. If we switch off or unplug devices when not in use, or invest in a standby saver, you’ll save around £40 per year.

Use energy efficient lighting
In most homes, lighting accounts for 10 to 15% of the electricity bill. If we use a smart meter to compare the power consumption of normal light bulbs with that of low energy and energy saving light bulbs, we save about 80% of the energy of normal bulbs. It’s simple – use energy saving light bulbs!

Recharge those batteries
We throw away over 650m batteries every year in the UK, polluting the soil and clogging up landfill sites. Rechargeable batteries save energy, and the slightly higher cost is recovered in the first five charges. Recharging costs are also minimal.

Watch your washing
I try not to wash my clothes on a setting above 40C. A wash at 60C uses 30% more energy, as 90% of the energy used by a washing machine is used to heat the water. I also use Eco Balls or a natural laundry soap called Soapods to minimise the effect of harmful chemicals being released into the environment.

Defrost your freezer
It’s a messy job, but I try to defrost my fridge and freezer on a regular basis to maintain efficiency. I acquired a saving device developed in conjunction with the Department of Energy that helps me save up to 20% of my fridge’s energy by better regulating its power use. When fitted, it helps my fridge or freezer run more economically by adjusting the electricity supply according to the motor’s needs.

Lower the thermostat
I like woolly jumpers – wearing one means I can turn down the heating. Lowering the thermostat by just 1.5C can save up to 10% on heating bills and reduce the greenhouse gases households produce by up to a tonne.

Go to my website for more eco-friendly ideas and to see the full range of products available.

By Nigel Berman – Founder of www.nigelsecostore.com

If you are anything like me, you’ll have read a plethora of books about the impending climatic catastrophe were facing, and will have worked out the difference with this disaster story, is that is all backed up by science. Joy!

It comes as no surprise then, that as consumers we’re getting angrier at those companies that talk green, but fail to live up to our expectations. My latest annoyance is the industry of excess packaging. Cling wrapped vegetables, biscuits that come in several wrappers, box after box, after box… Does the consumer really want so much waste?

The Industry Council for Packaging and the Environment argues that ‘Just because we can recycle most materials doesn’t mean we should. Some packaging is simply not worth recycling because it takes a disproportionate amount of energy to collect, clean and transport the materials’(1) . This argument can be turned around, what about all the energy and materials it takes to produce packaging in the first place? More plastic (which comes from oil), more paper, more ink. It’s a rather basic point of view but I personally believe that more packaging not only means a greater cost to the environment, but a greater financial cost to the consumer. The Recycling Consortium estimates that packaging waste constitutes approximately 24– 30% of household waste in the UK and represents £6.50 for each £50 spent (13% of the average shopping bill) (2).

At this point if you don’t really care too much about this issue, let me remind you about all those extra journeys forcing you to take this extra rubbish out to the bin. Not only are you paying more financially, but it’s also costing you more time as well.

I’ll tell you what else makes me angry – people that don’t pay the correct postage (stick with me on this, it will make sense in a moment). The day arrives when it looks like something interesting has arrived through the post (apart from further rubbish). You go to the post office to pay, and your hopes are dashed. They’ve got you again. More stuff you never wanted and you’ve paid for it again.

I hate excess packaging and recently I found a way to channel all my annoyances into something constructive. I’ve found a way to turn those coy consumer woes into costs for the industry.

Conveniently many companies put their address on produce packaging so you can complain if you are dissatisfied. Save up your junk mail envelopes, get yourself a nice batch of penny stamps, and the next time you get something from the shop that has more layers of packaging than the skin of an onion, place it in that used envelope, and send it back to the company with a penny stamp on the front. Personally I like to write something on the front like ‘We want less waste’. The resulting factor? The company has to pay to get their waste back and you feel satisfied that you’ve stuck your two fingers up at a system we never wanted in the first place. Most important of all, hopefully the company gets the message.

I know it’s not the most pressing environmental issue, and I know that there are a whole swathe of other things much more constructive to reduce your impact on the environment, but it sure does make me feel good.

Just remember, consumers are the masters in any consumption society.

(1) INCPEN, The Industry Council for Packaging and the Environment Waste Management Factsheet, http://www.incpen.org/pages/userdata/incp/wastemanFS.pdf 16 Jan 2008

(2)The Recycling Consortium, www.recyclingconsortium.org.uk

Living in Southern California we get plenty of sunshine (though admittedly it is currently raining). It’s therefore usually an ideal spot for home solar panels, however speaking with various people about it there are some common misconceptions, some conflicting, that people have.

1. It takes 30 years to get your money back. Of course it depends where you live, what type of system you have and how much energy you use. Here in California, 6-8 years is more the norm. Plus, don’t think of it as getting your money back, think of it as an upfront cost that then provides you something for free.

2. If there’s a main power cut in your street, you will still have electricity. No, this isn’t normally correct, almost all systems are “grid-tie” systems. This means you receive power from the national grid as normal, and your solar panels send any electricity generated to this grid, essentially using the grid as a battery. If there’s a power cut then you will not be able to receive any power from the grid or your solar installation.

3. The electricity company will pay you for any extra energy you produce. This isn’t usually true. Your solar installation will, at times, be generating more electricity than you are using so your electricity meter will start going backwards. Over a 12 month period, if you have generated more electricity than you have used, you will NOT get any money for this, therefore it is very important to size the system you have to the amount of electricity that you use. Else you will be paying to build a bigger system than you can benefit from.

4. The government will give you massive rebates. Once again this depends on where you live and what current rebate program is in effect. It’s not uncommon to get 50% or more back in rebates and tax credits, however you should investigate this and apply before you order anything. It’s usually calculated on a per watt basis.

5. My condo owner or Home Owners Association won’t allow it. In California it’s against the law to restrict the installation of solar panels. They can make demands on how it looks, position etc, but nothing that will add more than 15% to the cost. It’s likely to be similar wherever you live – the government want you to pay to create your own energy!

6. It’s difficult to install, and looks ugly. No, it’s actually relatively quick and simple (less than a week depending on the size), but there are hundreds of companies that are licensed and will do it for you. As to whether it looks ugly, well, that’s in the eye of the beholder!

Picking a good carbon offset provider can be very tricky and usually can take some work. There are some generally accepted key principles that you want to keep in mind while picking an offset provider. Most large offset providers have third party verification, which is when an outside company verifies that the offset provider says they are doing what they are actually doing. Another important principle is permanence; the carbon that is offset is truly permanently not created. The last principle is additionally; the offset can not be business as usual.

You also then have to think about what kind of project you want to be involved in since there are many projects out there. Tree planting is by far the most popular and the most controversial. The key issue is that trees can die from drought, fire, or disease before they offset the promised amount of carbon. When trees are burned in a fire they will release carbon into the air, the exact opposite of what you want them to do. If you follow the news closely, there is new research out almost every week saying trees absorb more carbon than originally thought and a week later the news is that trees absorb less carbon then originally thought. I suggest that you stay away from trees as an offset project.

There are many other great offset projects like; renewable energy certificates, methane capture, and energy reductions. Each renewable energy certificate (RECs, Green Tags) is the creation of 1 megawatt of power usually from a wind turbine. Wind turbine construction is EXTREMELY expensive and selling RECs is a way to pay for it.

Cow dung historically was collected into big pools and allowed to just biodegrade, a byproduct of the biodegradation is methane. Methane is 10 times more potent a green house gas as carbon. One common offset project is to cover the dung fields capture the methane and use it to generate power.

Energy reductions is another important and under rated project. Companies can do many things to reduce the carbon foot print of existing buildings and new construction. There can be such a large reduction in carbon production that you can sell them as an offset project.

There are a few things that I think are important when evaluating a carbon offset provider. I hate when the provider pools your money and can not specify the project. The provider offers more then just tree planting, because it is not the best offset project. Most people tell you third party verification is king, a small provider that is doing a really great project can’t necessary afford to pay for outside verification.

With all those criteria in mind NativeEnergy is the only large scale provider that meets all of them. Some other really great large providers are TerraPass, and Carbonfund.org

Matt Feldman – Carbon Neutral Digest
carbonneutraldigest.com

Good Magazine has a great graphic depicting the economic implications of leaving appliances plugged in for an entire year. We all know that a minuscule amount of energy is being consumed just by leaving a device plugged in – but, an average consumer with a reasonable electronics collection will waste around $300 leaving all those gadgets plugged in year round. Thats 2,500 kilowatt hours completely wasted!

In a recent research published by the Energy Saving Trust they’ve calculated that if one mobile phone charger per household in the UK is left on standby, the energy wasted is enough to provide the electricity needs of 66,000 homes for one year.

Those of you with a plasma TVs, take notice…

Story via the fantastic PSFK

Ever asked yourself why what you can call ‘green aesthetics’ are so unimaginative? Best case in point is energy-efficient light bulbs – why are they so generically bad looking?

Well, not any more thanks to Hulger Design that decided to marry beauty, personality and low-energy light bulbs in their Plumen Project. And the result is simply stunning. It’s still in prototype but will soon be available for purchase.

We need more ideas like that!

Read more here:  Kevin Roberts – CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi Worldwide on sustainable design

GreenGirlsGlobal have written about the free 100 Ways to Save The Planet eBook which was written by Adam over at our usual website. As not everyone likes to read we’ve turned it into a video. It’s (hopefully) a reasonably short, nice, relaxing watch and another way to get the message out there. Please feel free to send it to anyone and everyone. The link is: http://www.revver.com/watch/501547/.

Not everyone will agree with the points made and some of them are vague and loose as we couldn’t fit more text on there (and have the ebook anyway), so it would be great to hear your comments and any feedback that you have.

Due to feedback we already have from the eBook, we’re now working on the next generation of the 100 Ways which will be followed up by a new, improved version of the eBook in the months to come – there’s no end to the ways you can go green!