Thad

My interests mostly focus on: all forms of alternative energy, bio-diesel and cars that run on recycled vegetable oil,plug in electric hybrids, and finding/implementing ways to reduce my carbon footprint.Also sustainable living, green living, organic gardening,Earthship Biotectures, recycling,vegetarian lifestyles,and doing what I can to make things better.

RECYCLING FACTS
1.It takes 95% less energy to recycle Aluminum than to make it from raw materials, and by recycling you are preventing them from cutting down forests in 3rd world countries to build new smelting plants where there are no laws for toxic dumping, so they are trashing the air AND the water and the forests in the process.
2.It takes 60% less energy to recycle steel
3.It takes 40% less to recycle newspaper, and using recycled paper saves a lot more water and energy.4.It takes 70% less energy to recycle plastic.
5.It takes 40% less energy to recycle glass.

so... RECYCLE...encourage others, and the companies that you support to do the same, and if they don't OR won't, then support ones that DO.
Please also remember to recycle ALL CFL BULBS, as they contain Mercury, and MUST BE RECYCLED.!!!!! If yours burn out, or break, please take them to a recycling facility to avoid that mercury leaking back into the soil/water.
This is an incomplete and always evolving list of things I am doing/have done to make our house and life more eco-friendly.This list is here to give ideas and to inspire, and if you see something missing please feel free to let me know, as I am always in search of new ideas to improve my carbon rating, with the ultimate goal of becoming "carbon neutral" or "carbon negative"
1.The #1 thing you can do to fight global warming, greater than driving a plug in hybrid, or putting some solar panels on your house, is to become and live a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle. Factory farming of animals produces %67 of all Nitrous Oxide, which is 230 times more warming than CO2.
It also produces over %50 of the Methane , which is 23 times more warming than CO2.
Factory farming produces more CO2 and global warming pollution than all of the cars combined, not to mention the poisoning of our water, land, and air from the other toxins produced, which kills billions of fish and water animals every year, and renders our environment worthless.
For some reasons, most "environmentalists", and global warming heroes, including Mr.Gore will not address this issue, or even mention it, LET alone make a commitment to going vegetarian or vegan themselves. (most likely because of the meat industries billions of dollars in campaign contributions)
For a comprehensive breakdown of the issues from this, please see the following myspace pages, as they are very informative on this subject.
1.Purchased and use only a laptop , as they use %50 less energy than desktops , and just 1% when running on batteries.
2.Place two or three bricks in our toilet tanks, as it basically turns a non-efficient toilet into an efficient one, as this saves enough water every flush to save of thousands of gallons a year.
3.Never take a shower over 5 minutes,using only warm water,(not hot), which saves the energy for water heater, and saves almost 10,000 gallons a year*(70% of americans surveyed said they take 10 minutes a day or more)over the average american.
4.Replaced ALL lightbulbs with Compact Fluorescent Bulbs, saving 1200 lbs of carbon dioxide and $240 a year.
5.Reduced water heater temp. (to a setting I wish not to disclose in case my housemates read this) saving 600 lbs of carbon dioxide, and $180 a year.
6.Laundry - wash full loads with the water level set on medium, and use only cold water for all my colors and loads.Using "Earth Friendly Products" free and clear detergent assures that we are using no phosphates, dyes, and is %100 biodegradable..do a google search for "ultra ECOS" It's a little more expensive for the bottle, but you only use half of what you would with regular crappy stuff, so it's cheaper in the long run..7.Applied weatherstripping and caulked all windows and plastic sealed available windows and entire porch to increase heating cooling efficiency, and saving 1700+ lbs of carbon dioxide and about $250 a year.
8.We use the dishwasher only when %100 full, and use only "Seventh Generation" earth friendly dishwashing soap, and sink soap.
9.When they say "paper or plastic" in the checkout lane, we say "neither" by using our reusable cloth bags from Whole Foods(where my sister has worked for 15+ years) or, you can buy some direct from many places, including my website, www.banplastic.com. Leave them in your trunk, and you'll always have them with you.According to the EPA, over 100 BILLION plastic bags are used in the U.S. each year.An estimated 12 million barrels of oil is required to make that many plastic bags.
Plastic bags are among the 12 items of debris most often found in coastal cleanups, according to the nonprofit Center for Marine Conservation.
It is estimated that globally over one million birds and 100,000 marine mammals and turtles die every year from entanglement in, or the ingestion of plastics.Sea turtles main source of prey, jellyfish, closely resemble a floating plastic bag.Plastic bags from U.S. stores have been found in the great barrier reef, Galapagos Islands, the artic, the south pole, Australia, etc, etc, etc..Bags in the marine environment can take from 450-1000 years to break down, and even then, they are not "gone".They turn to plastic "dust" which is then collected in filter feeding mammals, which are then passed up the food chain, back to us...
The toxic chemical ingredients needed to make plastic produces pollution during the manufacturing process.
In a landfill, plastic bags take up to 1,000 years to degrade. As litter, they breakdown into tiny bits, contaminating our soil and water.
Collection, hauling and disposal of plastic bag waste create an additional environmental impact. An estimated 8 billion pounds of plastic bags, wraps and sacks enter the waste stream every year in the US alone, putting an unnecessary burden on our diminishing landfill space and causing air pollution if incinerated.
According to the American Forest and Paper Association, in one year the U.S. alone uses 10 billion paper grocery bags, requiring 14 million trees to be cut down.
JUST SO WE CAN ALL CARRY OUR PLASTIC AND PAPER WRAPPED SHIT FROM THE STORE TO OUR HOMES....SO PRETTY PLEASE WITH A CHERRY ON TOP.. STOP FUCKING USING PLASTIC AND PAPER BAGS!!!!Each reusable bag you use has the potential to eliminate an average of 1,000 plastic bags over its lifetime. The bag will pay for itself if your grocery store offers a $.05 or $.10 credit per bag for bringing your own bags.If your store DOESN'T offer it, ask them to, or tell them you'll shop somewhere else that DOES!!

10.I use a reel mower (see picture) that emits zero pollution and saves 1000's of lbs of CO2 and other toxins every year, and not having to use gas or oil is cheap , so we save $100's a year on that too.
11.Purchase antique or estate jewelry instead of new. Mining of precious metals and gems in many countries is the source of environmental degradation, political turmoil and human rights violations.I personally gave my fiancee my grandmothers ring, and while it needed a cleaning and some maintenance, it didn't contribute to the problems listed above.
12.We recycle everything possible, or anything that the local recycling centers will take, and we give our metal products that can be recycled to our local metal recycling yard. We also recycle all motor oil, and anti-freeze.
13.Purchased a Diesel powered car, that runs on biodiesel, and will run on recycled veggie oil in the warmer months.I will calculate the actual co2 savings in the coming months once accurate figures can be obtained, but it will be in the THOUSANDS of LBS.
14.Insulated our water heater,which can save 1,000 lbs. of carbon dioxide and $40 per year.
15.Made a commitment to Move our heater thermostat down four degrees in winter and up two degrees in the summer. Saving 2000 lbs of carbon dioxide and $98 per year.
16.Purchased new Energy Star fridge in 06, which was the 2nd best energy rated fridge sold , saving countless amounts of Carbon Dioxide and money a year, as the fridge we replaced was....30 years old....
17.Switched to use ONLY 100% recycled post consumer toilet paper.(7th Generation brand)
18.Switched to use ONLY 100% recycled post consumer paper towel.(7th Generation brand)
19.Switched all cleaning products to biodegradable earth friendly products from Ecos, and Seventh Generation.
20.Switched to use 100% recycled Aluminum foil.
21.Have commited to use only 100% synthetic oil in our cars..well..because it's not dinosaur oil...
22.Installed/Installing timer switches in place of light switches to turn off, in key areas that people tend to leave on.(bathroom fans)
23.Installed Energy Star digital programmable thermostat which through accuracy and programmable temps, can save up to %30 a year on energy bills(probably not that high for me, but we'll see)
We plug in all "standby power" devices into powerstrips and turn off the powerstrips when not using.. for example, a t.v. that is just turned off with a remote control is actually still using 1/4 of the electricity, so even if you have it off for 24hours, it's still using 6 hours worth of energy!!!
So plug your t.v., stereo, and dvd player into a powerstrip and turn off the powerstrip when you are not using to save a ton of energy/CO2. If you are too lazy to walk over to a powerstrip to turn it on , you shouldn't be watching t.v. in the first place.
UNPLUG other energy wasters as well.
Unplug your cellphone charger when not using!!! Cellphone chargers use 3/4 of the energy when not charging and still plugged in...so it's wasting energy 24hours a day!!

With just the changes implemented above, and with commitment to conservation, we have brought our KWH consumption down from from 1547kwh LAST year,(from 11/22-12/22) to 500, yes,
500KWH in the same month THIS year. Since 1KWH = 1.3lbs of CO2, that is a net savings of 1,361lbs of CO2 in ONE MONTH!!and at this pace that will be 8+ TONS of CO2 saved per year....just on the household stuff alone..
While we did spend some time and some money on this, it was nothing hard, just implementing simple ideas, and some conservation mixed in, and we have made a dramatic impact.

Future updates will include:
1.Implementing 4 80 gallon rain barrel system around house to use water to water beds,flowers,plants,garden,and lawn.A 2,800sq ft house like ours can collect 600 gallons of water from 1 inch of rain!!

4.Updating our heating system either to energy star rate furnace, or alternative heating methods
5.Updating the rest of our appliances to energy star products.