Greening Up

We're greening up around here. Not just because it's spring, I'm talking about our lifestyle. It's nothing new, but we're pushing our boundaries all the time looking for ways to impact our planet a little less. Sadly CFL's (compact fluorescent lightbulbs) still aggravate my headaches and while that's a great place to start for many we just use them in places like our garage and outdoor lighting where I don't spend enough time for them to trigger my symptoms. But we're always looking for other ways where it makes sense to make the change.

Travis' new job in sustainable water solutions is instigating further changes for us, too. He thinks carefully about planning travel, trying to limit his flying and making sure every trip counts. After living with one car for four years, we've had two for a whole week now. We don't really know what to do with that second car...it's been parked in the garage since the new one arrived.

I've been interested to learn a few surprising things. It was intuitive to me not to do crazy things like toss out working appliances or perfectly good kitchen cabinets to go with greener products. Manufacturing new products takes a lot of energy, too. We'll just wait until things wear out or break and then make the appropriate green choice. But did you know it's more energy efficient to use a (newish) dishwasher than to handwash dishes? It uses significantly less water and thus the energy to heat that water. I also learned it takes more energy to produce a hybrid than to maintain an older conventional vehicle that gets at least 25mpg. Makes me feel better about driving :)

We also had an energy audit done on our house. This is a service subsidized by our power company. This is crazy when you think about it, what other business helps pay for a service that will, in the long run, have you paying them smaller bills? We learned a lot about our house, mostly that it wasn't as bad as we thought it was (phew!). Travis did run out and buy a case of caulk and will be sealing up our leaks over the next few weeks. The coolest part of our audit, the giant vacuum seal around our house and then the tour with the infrared camera which literally showed us where the cold air was coming in.

Travis is going to try his hand at replacing some windows in the coming months. He's armed with a book, DVD, some new tools, and the knowledge that he's at least as smart as whoever put in the crummy windows that are in our house now. That ought to be good for a post or two.

If you want to know some things you can do in your home, check your power companies website for an energy audit checklist or try out this Environmental Impact Calculator at Low Impact Living. Even with more recycling than trash, our lack of CFLs and old furnace puts us at about average, but we have a list to work on!