True Green Home
I just finished the brief book/monograph, True Green Home: 100 Inspirational Ideas for Creating a Green Environment at Home. It included some interesting points about how to conserve environmental resources (ie, energy, water) at home in daily life. Some points I had not previously considered:
- The concept of “gray water” and reusing it around the home. The idea is to take water that has been “used” (ie, shower or bath water) that should not be used for drinking water, but can potentially be reused for purposes where perfect water is not required, such as watering a garden or yard, or recirculating it to the toilet for flushing. Redirecting this water seems reasonable from a conservation standpoint.
- Unplugging electronic devices when leaving for a prolonged period – ie, unplugging digital clocks, computers that may be in standby mode, etc. The authors go further to say that, when leaving for a vacation, empty the fridge, unplug it and leave the door slightly ajar. I don’t think they are implying that we should throw away perfectly good food to do this, but perhaps over a 1-2 week period prior to leaving for a trip, consuming the food in the fridge such that it would become empty as one is leaving town. It is quoted in the book that a fridge with a freezer uses ~1,800 kWh/year (an average family uses ~11,000 kWh/year – so the fridge consumes a significant amount of a family’s household energy). Other tips for reducing the fridge’s energy use include keeping the coils behind it clear of dust and debris for more efficient cooling, making sure the temperature setting in the fridge is not so cold that temperatures are near-freezing, and ensuring that the door seals properly when shut.
- According to the authors, a typical bath uses ~70 gallons of water, versus 20 gallons for a shower. Just thinking about these numbers, if one switches from a daily bath to a daily shower, the amount of water saved totals 18,250 gallons.
Anyway, an interesting and quick read with many bullet points about being a better environmental steward in the home.
Posted on June 26th, 2009 at 2:52 am. About 'True Green Home'.
Some of the greywater sites I’ve found have good information, including the fact that it may be illegal to use greywater in particular states. Others include stories of peoples greywater uses. One website talked about taking the trap off your bathroon sink and putting a bucket there to catch water. Then when you’re done using the sink, dump the bucket into the toilet tank, recycling the greywater. IMO, the easiest application of this is collecting the discharge water from the washing machine. Any other greywater would include a lot of replumbing the house. Just my two cents!