Eco-Footprint Solutions

Entries categorized as ‘reduce’

Cleantech Open Awards Gala next Tuesday, November 17

November 13, 2009 · 2 Comments

The Cleantech Open is running an amazing event at the Masonic Center in San Francisco on November 17th. You need to be there!

Details:
Expo from 10am to 2pm – showcasing technologies from alumni and this year’s semifinalists
Awards Gala from 2pm to 6pm – technology demonstrations and speakers
Networking Reception from 6pm to 8pm.

There will be networking all day, and speeches from Bill Weihl – Green Czar at Google, Lesa Mitchell – VP of Innovation at Kauffman, Gil Friend – CEO of Natural Logic and Steve Westly – CEO of Westly Group. All are outstanding speakers.

The Cleantech Open is a nonprofit and the Awards Gala is intended as a fundraiser. Tickets normally go for $129 and up – but I have some discounted tickets which will give you a 40% reduction – just use this code: CTOGala when you register: http://www.cleantechopen.com/app.cgi/events/view/84

Categories: Clean Tech Open · energy · impact · recycle · reduce · sustainability
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Curbside Recycling – Local Variation Gets Smaller

October 3, 2009 · 3 Comments

I was reading my local Independent Newspaper today and found two articles on recycling/trash in my local area.  One was about my city and one about the city next door.

In my city, Livermore, CA,  the monthly rates for trash pick-up have been approved to go up next July (~$3.00 per household.)  That was the main genesis for the article, but the interesting part was the change for commercial customers.  As part of the negotiations between the company and the City’s Public Works Manager, drop box waste fees are now based on weight as well as frequency of servicing.  Savings incentives were put in place for less material or lower service frequency.  Rather than one price fits all, reward those who reduce waste.  I like it. Seems this might be a good idea for local residents too.  I know that since we started paying attention here at home, we have significantly reduced what we contribute to the landfill.  Some weeks, sometimes several weeks in a row, we don’t even bother to take the non-recycling garbage can to the curb.  But it takes some effort and commitment.  A little incentive could go a long way.

In my neighboring city, Pleasanton, CA, changes are being made for residential customers.  While both cities have curbside recycling, to my surprise, Pleasanton’s old system was a two can system: one for yard waste and one for everything else.  Recyclable material was sorted out from the garbage at a facility.  While quite convenient for the customer, I can’t even imagine how difficult and inefficient that would be at the sorting center.

Pleasanton implemented the program in October with the intent of capturing more recyclable material.  Their new program sounds very similar to Livermore’s program: a can for yard/food waste, a can for all other recyclable materials and third can for the rest.  This makes a lot of sense to me.  Next step is for Pleasanton to increase its list of recyclable materials to be as impressive as the recyclable materials list is for Livermore.

Although recycling is not equal across this nation, it appears that in my local area, things are starting to unify.

So that’s what’s happening around here, what’s going on in your neck of the woods?

Categories: impact · recycle · reduce · waste
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Trash-FreeNYC finishes up plastic free month…

July 11, 2009 · Leave a Comment

As you may remember, I’ve been following trashfreenycthe month long experiment of the Elliott family, a family of 5 who live in Manhattan, NYC.  I found them on twitter and started following their story because they lived a large urban city, much different than my experience in a relatively small, suburban city.  I thought you might like to hear an update on their experience and future plans.

According to their postings over the month of June, the project took a lot of effort, partly because it was new and partly because there were convenience trade-offs.   They had to haul a lot of compost from “110th st. to Union square” (at least I have a backyard compost).  It was less convenient to have to shop at different stores to find products that didn’t use plastic.  Meals took more effort because “plastic free” eliminated many take-out meal options and almost all pre-packaged, prepared products from the market due to plastic containers and packaging.  Beyond meals, they decided to get creative and try things like making their own liquid hand soap and experimenting with home made toothpaste recipes (I suspect that one might go by the wayside.  Quote from one of the daughters, “It burns, It burns!”)

There were many pleasant discoveries too.  Shopping for most of their food at the Farmers market turned out to be nice and fun, and their overall diet was healthier.  They enjoyed the experience of making their own yogurt, cheese and bread.  The kids even discovered an ice cream source that was plastic-free.

There was other learning too.  They had a great “It’s a big old plastic world” facts post. You should check it out, but here’s a couple of the more interesting ones:

  • According to estimates by the EPA and the Wall Street Journal, the United States uses over 275 million plastic bags every day.
  • Based on decomposition studies, plastics buried in landfills take up to 1,000 years to decompose.
  • According to Recycling-Revolution, the United States goes through 2.5 MILLION plastic bottles every hour.
  • It takes more than 15 million barrels of oil (not including those used for transport) to manufacture the estimated 22 billion plastic bottles the U.S. uses annually. Incidentally, that’s enough to fuel about 100,000 cars for an entire year.
  • It takes more than 3 liters of water to create one liter of bottled water.

The best thing to come out of it (especially for the parents, I suspect) was that “It felt good to really limit the amount of garbage we put into the system.”

They have decided to continue the plastic free effort throughout the rest of the summer (not all were happy with that).

“This idea was not met with universal cheers at home. In the interest of family harmony, we may ease the rules occasionally. But the girls understand that the whole point of this exercise was to increase our awareness and understanding of this disposable society, and to change what we can, even if it’s just the five of us.”

Way to go Daniela and Steve and the girls.  You are not the only ones who learned from this exercise.  Good luck and thanks for sharing.

Categories: impact · recycle · reduce
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What does sustainability mean, really? Part 2: Home

July 2, 2009 · 4 Comments

In my last post, I focused on sustainability in the business environment. But what does sustainability mean for us as individuals, in our personal lives, in our homes?  Wikipedia outlines sustainability for humans as:

“the potential for long-term improvements in well-being, which in turn depend on the well-being of the natural world and the responsible use of natural resources.”

Okay, so how does that translate to everyday life for the individual or family?  How can it be measured?  Carbon footprint is a common term bantered about these days.  It is actually a subset of a larger metric called the Ecological footprint, which Wikipedia describes as:

“a measure of human demand on the Earth’s ecosystems. It compares human demand with planet Earth’s ecological capacity to regenerate.”

In 2005, humanity was using ecological services 1.3 times as fast as Earth could renew them. (Wikipedia source: Global Footprint Network. 2008-10-29.)  Ecological footprint is measured in the number of global hectacres (gha) it takes to support humans.  In 2005, it took 2.1 gha of the earth’s surface to support all aspects of each individual human on the planet.  (In the US it was 9.4 gha per person.)

The subsets of the ecological footprint include:

  • Carbon footprint – (Home energy and all forms of transport)
  • Food footprint – (Agricultural and delivery)
  • Housing footprint – (Details about your home)
  • Goods and Services – (Purchasing, services, water, waste, etc.)

I found a website that has a free ecological footprint calculator. It’s a ballpark number, but you might want to check it out.  Here’s my family’s result: (Average per family member.)

gfn footprint

Well, we are better than the average American at 9.4, but we’ve got work to do for sure.

Here’s some things to consider that can help reduce the ecological footprint on a personal or home level:

Energy is a big contributor.  Find out from your provider what percent of the energy they supply is alternate energy.  They can give you that information.  If it’s low, ask them why and what their plans are.  Check with their website, they often have deals or tricks or tips that can save energy and money.  Consider solar power for your home.  Many solar panel companies now have creative, longer term payment plans.  Check into local, state and federal credits.

Reduce energy consumption by turning off things when not in use.  We’ve saved ~23% since the first of the year with a few simple steps.  Convert to energy efficient light bulbs.  When old appliances break down, be sure to get energy efficient replacements.  Consider on-demand hot water heaters when it’s time to replace the old one.

Use public transit more, walk or ride a bicycle when possible.  Fly less.  Fi nd out if your foodgarden planted (3) is locally grown as product transportation is a major CO2 contributor and energy consumer.  Go to farmer s markets for your produce.  Buy organic if it’s not too expensive.  Sometimes it’s just a few pennies per pound more and buying local helps the local economy.  Start growing a backyard organic garden.  It’s fun too! Eat less animal products as they require far more energy (and have a larger ecological footprint) than plant products. We started having a vegetarian meal or salad for dinner twice a week.

Install low flow toilets, or at least upgrade the mechanical components. tankwatercontrolInstall low flow shower heads and sink aerators.  Transform your yards into water-wise landscaping by planting indigenous plants.

Take a second look at how well you are really doing on recycling (I have many blog look-for-numberpost tips on this.  Search for recycle on the main page.) With a few steps and a little work, we reduced our landfill waste by more than 90%.  Some weeks I don’t even take out the regular garbage can.  Check the numbers on plastics (including lids) to find out if they can be recycled. Start composting your yard and food waste.

Purchase items with minimal packaging.  Stop your junk mail.Too Much Junk Mail! Convert to on-line banking, credit card statements and utility billings.

Buy things that are designed to last and that can be repaired.  Reuse empty containers, save plastic bags from bread and other items for reuse, take advantage of thrift stores and find creative ways to bring new life to old belongings. Join groups like freecycle, where you can look for or post offers for free items you no longer need.  It’s like craigslist, but all items must be for free.

After all that, if you still want to get to an even smaller ecological footprint, there are websites and organizations that will accept your CO2 offset donations.  For example my wife’s Honda gets 27 mpg.  At 12,000 miles /year, she could offset her 3.94 tons of CO2 generated by donating $39.42 /year.  This money would go towards a company (already committed to reducing their CO2), add additional programs (funded by my wife’s and other’s offsets) to drop their CO2 by the number of tons her and other contributor’s vehicles generated that year.  Theoretically, then my wife can drive up to 12,000 miles with a zero carbon footprint because of the offset.  Here’s a link to the one I used for the post, but I haven’t  validated their credentials, so do your homework before donating: www.carbonfund.org

Okay readers, what have I missed?  Let me know so I can update, or perhaps post about your great idea.


Categories: energy · impact · recycle · reduce · repurpose · reuse · sustainability
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The zero waste race between San Francisco and San Jose.

June 20, 2009 · 2 Comments

It’s the tale of two cities in an eco-friendly competition of sorts.

San Francisco, according to a recent article in the on-line New York Times, already considered one of the most effective recycling cities in the country, has enacted new recycling and mandatory composting rules to improve their already impressive 72% diversion of waste from landfills.  This action is part of a plan to get to zero landfill waste by 2020.

Likewise, San Jose is aggressively going for zero waste.  According to a presenter at a recent workshop I attended at the Clean Tech Open, San Jose “recycles more waste than any large city in the nation.”  It is obvious that they are doing quite well, but  there are some conflicts to this bold claim.  According to a published memorandum to the SJ Transportation and Environment Dept dated 11-24-08, San Jose currently diverts 62% of its waste from landfills.  They have a goal of 75% by 2013 and 100% by 2022 according to the city’s Zero Waste Strategic Plan.  This a great and aggressive goal, but not as good as San Francisco’s.  Hmmm, perhaps San Jose doesn’t consider a city to be “large” unless it is one of the top ten. (San Jose 10th largest city by population in the U.S., San Francisco is 13th.)

Both cities are performing at a level far superior to much of the nation.  For comparison, according to the EPA 2007 msw fact sheet, the nation as a whole, in 2007 recovered only 33.4% through recycling or composting.

San Francisco’s new ordinances may seem aggressive, but there is a moratorium on levying the fines until 2011.  For now, notes will be left when violations occur with follow-up when needed on repeat offenses.  The intent is to change behavior, until it becomes part of the norm.  But they are serious.  They are talking about waste management leaving a note if they found you threw orange peels or coffee grounds in the landfill waste bin instead of the green waste bin!

Back in July 2008, when Mayor Gavin Newsom, first proposed the changes, he noted that San Francisco had doubled its recycling rate from 1996 to 2008, but acknowledged it will take time to win over hearts and minds.

“People are used to doing things a certain way. And when you change that, they say it can’t be done. Well, we’ve proved them wrong.” – Gavin Newsom

“People don’t knowingly want to waste,” Environment Department Director Jared Blumenfeld said. “At the moment, we have a missed opportunity.  Overnight we could be at 92 percent if everything people are throwing away that could be reused or recycled actually was.”

I have anecdotal evidence of that opportunity here my home.  Over the last eight months, we have really gotten serious about separating out our recyclable and compostable items.  We used to have a stuffed full garbage can at the end of the week.  Now, the amount of landfill waste remaining is so small that some weeks, I don’t even bother to take the garbage can to the curb.

Back in San Jose, they do have plans going on several fronts.  Here’s the areas where I found links to actionable programs (Source: San Jose Zero Waste Home Page):

Commercial Programs

Commercial Program

Redesign of commercial program will allow capture of more recyclables and compostables, as well as greater service and rate equity for businesses.


Residential Programs

Residential Program

New contracts will provide opportunities to implement program enhancements to capture more materials and compost food waste. See Organics Diversion

Okay, San Jose.  Good ideas, good progress.  But San Francisco is beating you right now and with their target goals.  They have thrown down the gauntlet, raising the bar yet again.  What’s your next move?

What’s happening in your city?  Got a great story to tell?  Want to air your city’s dirty laundry?  Let me know!

Categories: recycle · reduce
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Hidden water waster and did you know you have a weir?

June 10, 2009 · 7 Comments

I read recently that the three biggest water wasters in the home are leaks and drips, toilets, and lawns.  Now, I haven’t yet coughed up the bucks to replace all my toilets with the  low flow variety (I’m working on it!), but I thought I had at least minimized the water waste, by adjusting the tank levels.  Last week, I discovered another hidden water wasting feature built right into our toilets.  Coming into the bathroom, I could hear the telltale sound of water slowly trickling.  Being the resident Eco-Fascist (and, by majority vote, the home maintenance guy), I took the top off the tank and found that the valve was not quite turning off, so the water level was reaching the top of the fill pipe, continuing to slowly spill over into the bowl.  No big deal, time to get a new fill valve assembly.

IMAG0193Off to the local home improvement store I went.  I wasn’t surprised to see a multitude of choices and manufacturers, but I did discover there are newer types available now for about $6 more than the basic, familiar model.  These newer types not only allow you to control the Tank Water Level, they have also added a valve that allows you to adjust the Bowl Water Level.  I didn’t even know that was possible or necessary.

I’m assuming most of you know how to reduce water usage by adjusting the tank water level.  Cool.  But, according to the manufacturer, because of the way the refill mechanism works on a toilet, as much as 5 quarts of water can be wasted every time you flush due to overfilling of the bowl after the flush.

toilet diagramHere’s what I learned.  In the photo, you can see that the bowl water level is determined by the height of the weir.  The goal is to ensure there is a water seal between the outlet and the bowl so smells can’t come up through the trapway to the bowl.  The problem with the standard water valves is that they are preset for the worst case (largest) size bowl to ensure the water level reaches the top of the weir.

tankwatercontrolThe new style assemblies have an added adjustment to control the amount of water flowing to the bowl fill tube that tops off the bowl.  The process is pretty simple.  After flushing, you slowly add water to the bowl from a bucket until the water level in the bowl stops rising.  (If you listen carefully you can hear the water spilling over the weir.)

DSC06470After waiting a minute or two, take a pencil and mark a line about 1/8″ below the water level.  Flush a few times, adjusting the bowl water level valve until the water only refills the bowl to the pencil line.  Once set, you have an optimal  water seal without allowing any water to spill over the weir.

There you have it!  The average number of flushes per day is five per person.  For our family of four, assuming we had the worst case scenario (5 quarts overflow), we have reduced our water usage by 25 gallons per day with the new valves installed,  over 9,000 gallons per year.

Categories: impact · reduce
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Update: Still Saving 21% on Electricity Bill; Five Months Running.

June 5, 2009 · 7 Comments

Below is the running monthly status report for savings on energy since I started doing a few simple things like shutting down P.C’s, T.V.’s and stereo’s at night with a power strip.  There’s a bit more to it than that, but you can read the details in the original post.  I will give monthly updates.  As you can see, our running totals so far are looking great!  Still averaging 21% lower electricity this year compared to last (month to month comparison.)  That’s ~$76.00 per month with a 5 month total of $378 still in our pocket!  Not bad!

energy savings

Categories: energy · impact · reduce
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Eliminating plastic-y. One family’s quest.

May 31, 2009 · 7 Comments

I was checking out Eco-Trash Solutions’ twitter account and came across a new follower.  @TrashfreeNYC is the twitter name of the Elliott Family, who lives in New York City.  They have decided to challenge themselves to be trash free for a month.  On their web page, they state the following:

“We are a Manhattan family of five that is going to spend the month of June reducing the plastic and packaging we bring into our city lives. If it can’t be recycled or composted, don’t bring it home!”

A novel idea, but in our modern plastic world, a daunting task.  According to their website, they “became freaked out by the trash swirl” and wanted to see if they could live a plastic/trash free life.

“For one month, we won’t buy anything that is shrink-wrapped, or wrapped in  that hard plastic, or anything that is itself plastic-y.”

They were inspired by a New Zealand couple who lived for a year in which they only generated a plastic grocery bag’s worth of garbage.  And while that is a phenomenal feat, to be sure, I suspect it will be an entirely different adventure for a family of five, living in the city.

The Elliot Family intends to control what they bring into their home, which will severely restrict their purchasing options.  Plastic is everywhere these days.  Here’s a teaser from one of their recent posts, just six days before D day:

…But in June, 95% of that store-bought stuff will be off-limits…This has been a serious topic of concern at breakfast lately.  During June, there will be no Cocoa Puffs, no pop-tarts, no Sunday-morning cinnamon buns… Is that waxy paper around a stick of butter recyclable? And yogurt — plastic! We are looking at a lot more fruit and oatmeal.

Is the Elliott family’s goal an impossible one, to bring nothing home that can’t be recycled or composted?  I wish them the best of luck.  I’ve added their website to the Eco-Trash Blog Roll and I will monitor their progress and keep you posted.

Categories: recycle · reduce
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Trashy Art or Artsy Trash?

May 1, 2009 · 3 Comments

pill-bottle-lights

Light display made from pill bottles

We all need to think of ways to reduce the amount of trash we end up sending to landfills.  Here’s a unique way:  Turn trash into art.  I’m not talented enough to do it, but 38 year old artist Jean Shin certainly is. I was sent a link to this NPR article about Jean Shin, who takes everyday throw away items and turns them into interesting, creative artworks.  Here’s a quote from Shin from the NPR article:

“As artists, we’re thinking about these ideas that are meaningful to us and [we] hope that other viewers can also translate the viewing experience into a thinking process,” Shin says. “For me, my meaning is [not just] looking, but feeling and thinking.”

Her latest project, Everyday Moments, got a write up in the on-line New York Times, and is debuting at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C.  The Museum also has a article on the artist and her latest project.

Built from $25,000 worth of used lottery tickets

Built from used lottery tickets

One of her first projects, Chance City was created in 2001 from $24,496 worth of old lottery tickets.  (I assume none of them were winners!)

Check out the articles, or just take a peek at photo’s of her other works.

Enjoy!

Chad M. Wall

Categories: now for something completely different · reduce
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Saving Energy and $$$ On Your Electric Bill.

April 29, 2009 · 15 Comments

Well, it’s been over three months now since we have made a concerted effort to reduce our electricity consumption in our home. I got the idea to try it from an insert in my bill from my energy provider.  Further research led me to a more detailed post from EcoExistent that I used to find the what they call “vampire power”, or stand-by power consumption examples below:

  • Cell phone chargers pull 1 watt/hr when plugged in not charging a phone.
  • DVD players, when plugged in, but turned off pull 7 watt/hr.
  • TV’s pull 10 watts/hr. while plugged in and turned off.
  • Computer monitors can pull 11 watts/hr. while on standby.
  • A Desktop Computer pulls 15 watts/hr. plugged in but not turned on.

According to one of the DOE’s web pages, stand-by power can account for as much as 20% of home energy usage.  There are many sites out there that also list power consumption by common household appliances and equipment.  Here’s one from another US DOE web page.

We first started paying attention a few years ago, and I thought we were doing pretty well.  Most of our lights (including recessed lighting) are now florescent, and we are pretty good about turning off lights and the TV when we leave the room.  But armed with this new information I went to work.

As I looked around, I realized we were leaving many, many chargers plugged in 24/7.  Not only cell phone chargers, but my sons’ iPod chargers, chargers for electric razors, hand-held games, rechargeable battery chargers, camcorders, blue tooth devices… Everywhere I looked, I found an unused charger pulling electricity on the AC side of the charger transformer.  Solution: I consolidated many of them onto power strips and flip the switch when not in use.  I added a power strip at the stereo, at each TV and on the Desktop PC in my office.  In the kitchen, we now keep less-used appliances (like the bread maker) unplugged until we need them.

My primary time to “clear” the house is just before bedtime, ensuring 6-8 full hours of minimal stand-by waste.  Often times, this means many items stay unplugged until they are needed, sometimes as late as the next evening.  It all seems like a lot of work, but once you get a routine, it isn’t too bad.

So here’s a typical just before bed walk-through in the Eco-Trash home: As I’m locking up, I flip off the family room TV power strip switch and everything (except our TIVO!  It has to remain on, so I plug it directly into the wall) is off with one simple click.  I pass by the stereo and flip the power strip along side the system.  I finish locking up the house and head upstairs.  In the office/den, I turn off the power strip I set up for my youngest son’s ‘wires nest’ he calls his gaming place.  I power down the family desktop PC and flip off power strip switch.  Lastly, I head into my oldest son’s room to power down and flip the power strip for his desktop and monitor  (which also disconnects his wad of electronic charging devices).  Then I turn off his fan, switch off his closet light and (aha!) un-plug his cell phone charger that he keeps by the bed.

So what were the results?

In terms of reduced energy, we went from 33.6 kilo-watt hours (kWh) per day last year to 24.1 kWh per day this year.  That’s a 28% reduction in our electric usage, a total of  855 kWh this quarter.  That is enough electricity to burn a 100 watt light bulb 11 hours a day for over 2 years.

Let me tell you, in today’s economic climate, being green can save the green!  Our energy provider charges us with a graduated billing process; the price per kWh goes up at each tier of usage (see below).  The energy we save comes from the upper tiers with this billing process.

This is from our April 2009 bill.

Baseline Usage                 327.60    kWh    @    $0.11531
101-130% of Baseline       98.28    kWh    @    $0.13109
131-200% of Baseline    179.92    kWh    @    $0.25974
201-300% of Baseline        0.00    kWh    @    $0.35443*

That means as you reduce your upper tier energy usage, you gain significant savings.  I looked at the first 3 months of this year and estimated we saved at least $74 per month!  *Actually we saved more than that because we were able to stay out of the 201-300% tier which as you can see runs over 35 cents per kWh!

This result has re-fortified my resolve to do even better in the coming months.  (I know there were several nights where I forgot to shut things down…not any more!)

If you try this, let me know how it works out for you.

Chad M. Wall

Categories: energy · reduce
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