Interested in How You Can Add Green Energy To Your Lifestyle?

How can green energy change your life? It can do a number of things, such as reducing your need to rely on the electrical grid, lowering bills, and helping to save the environment. What ways are there for you to be involved? Read this article for simple tips on using green energy.

Buy rechargeable batteries for all of your gadgets instead of using the disposable version. Restrain from throwing any battery in the trash. The environmental impacts of such a disposal method are not good. Save yourself some money and do the environment a favor when you recharge your batteries. Choosing rechargeable batteries over traditional types will save you a lot of money over time.

Choose a green gas source to heat your home. This type of gas has a net zero impact on changes to the climate on our planet. You can often purchase this type of gas directly from your electric company, though you will pay a premium to do so. The benefits to the environment can be worth the extra cost though, and the more people who subscribe the less expensive this option will become.

When you install a solar energy system, place the batteries close to the cells. This avoids power loss in the cable. It also lowers the possibility of shading the cable cells and lessening their output capacity.

If you are not using the lights, turn them off. Lights should only be used after dusk when they become necessary. Also remember to turn off the lights when leaving a room. If you don't need them, turn lights off, like those on your porch or in your cabinets. This will decrease energy consumption.

Green Ideas - Soda Bottle Solar Lights

What a great inventive idea. Why this was invented for 3rd world countries, I bet we could find wonderful green uses in our own homes. A great recycled use for those bottles.

Go Green - Plant a Tree

Plant a tree or two around the southern exposure of your house and you will eventually appreciate the few degrees of coolness the shade provides. Not only will you have more shade around your house but you can run your air conditioner up to 40% less due to the shade the trees provide.

Having trees around your home also helps keep your yard cooler by counter acting the island effect that can happen in urban neighborhoods.

Another great benefit is all the wonderful oxygen hanging around your house because of those trees. Tress take our carbon dioxide and produce oxygen. What a great deal for us!

Go Green - Fix Water Leaks

It doesn't take much to usually fix a leaky faucet. Not much money and not too much time. Usually a leaky faucet has to do with a failed washer. They are quite easy to fix. Here is a video showing you step by step how to fix a leaky faucet.



Not sure how much water your actually wasting? I found this great website that will tell you just how much water your wasting per day, per year and so on. It will take you less then 60 seconds to get the information needed to show you how much water you could be saving if you fixed those leaky faucets. Head on over to Water Science for Schools and see just how much water you could save.

Building a Rain Water Collection System

We had the pleasure of exploring a 1910 one room school house that was being re-purposed for small living along with green living. One of the first things I noticed was their rainwater collection system. The owners had put a ridged metal roof on the old schoolhouse and had a gutter system attached to rain water collection barrels. Since this old schoolhouse is on the high desert, rain water is a precious commodity. It was perfect brilliance.
The property had an underground cistern for fresh water, but no other water for the landscape or simple chores. I just fell in love with this little school house not only because of the history but because it fits so well with the tiny house living and green living.




Making a rain water collection system is easy and inexpensive. As you see in the video below it does not take much rain to fill some pretty large containers. Perfect idea for areas like the one room schoolhouse where a thunderstorm might be the only rain for weeks.

344 Square Feet 24 Rooms

Green Buildings Hazardous to Health?

Late last night I was reading the fox news website from my pandigital while trying to fall asleep. I came across this headline and thought how in the world can green buildings be hazardous to your health. Interestingly enough it's only concern is that houses are being built so "energy efficient" that the air inside the home might become toxic.

This is more about homes in general I think vs. "green houses".
Houses today are being built tight so that the cost of heating and cooling costs less. Have you ever heard your mom say, "shut the door, we are not trying to heat the whole neighborhood?" However, now that our houses are so air tight and our workplaces are air tight, we do have concerns about the inside air pollution. No, we are not talking about the air pollution put out by our boys after they have eaten beans. We are talking about air conditioning units that might harbor mold spores, or heating units that blow dust, mites and germs around. With air tight homes, we do not get that fresh air exchange.
My suggestion, open the windows as often as you can and enjoy the fresh "green" and free air that blows through your house. Fresh air is not only good for your house, it's good for you too. That and it doesn't hurt to keep those filters cleaned and replaced.

Wave of the Future? I-House

A trip out of town led us by a manufactured housing sales office. As we drove by we were struck by this tiny little house sitting by itself and this funny slanted roofed house. Were they manufactured? Are they storage sheds? We just didn't know.
Since Jeff and I had been discussing tiny houses, we thought maybe they had caught on and the smaller one was a tiny house. Our interested was piqued for sure.

Home a few days later, and sitting in front of my computer I Googled the sales website and found out exactly what it was we saw.  It is called an I-house. Exciting I hear you say? Well, really it is. A little bit of research and I'm pretty impressed.

The I-house is a "green" inspired manufactured home meant to waste little space while adding all the touches of "green" to the house. Bamboo floors, energy saving appliances, lots of windows, solar panels, outdoor living areas, space saving design and even a way to collect rain water to water your plants or reuse in the garden.

Now, if your looking for a green house on a small budget, tiny houses is still the way to go. While this modern home may require more "green dollars" up front, it does look to be a combination of the best of tiny houses and green living.

While just the I-home starts around 75k, a home with the flex space and all the "green" choices can run you up to $150k. Not to bad if your looking to build a new home or already own land. Fully customizable with as many flex spaces as you need or want. There is even rumor of the I-House 2.0. You can check that out at Clayton's Homes. com
It could be the wave of the future!

Leaking Toilet Test

Are you pretty sure your toilet is leaking, but can tell for sure? Could it be condensation dripping or is there a crack? Here is a simple way to find out.

Add 10 drops of dark blue or red food coloring to the tank and leave it for one hour.

After one hour check the toilet bowl for any coloring. If colored water has lead in to the toilet bowl, then you need to replace the tank ball. 

If the colored water has lead from what seems like under the toilet where the floor and toilet meet, you need a new wax ring.


If the water is leaking from the water tank, you may see the actual water dripping or see water around the back of the toilet, but not  necessarily running from under the toilet. Carefully inspect the tank for cracks. You can empty the water out by flushing and then turning off the water at the wall. Replacing a new tank is not hard, but sometimes finding the right brand is.

Should You Ditch or Fix Your Old Appliances?

A great little video that gives you a bit of information on making the greenest choice for your appliances.

Department of Energy to cut solar costs by 75 percent- Can We Really Do That?

The U.S. Department of Energy said on Friday it will spend $27 million on a new effort to reduce the costs of solar power by 75 percent by the end of the decade in a bid to make the renewable power source as cheap as fossil fuels.

 

Energy Secretary Steven Chu dubbed the program a "sun shot" that was patterned on President John F. Kennedy's "moon shot" goal in the 1960s that called for the United States to land a man on the moon.

 

Chu said cutting the cost of installed solar power by 75 percent would put the price at about $1 per watt, he said, or about 6 cents per kilowatt hour.

 

"That would make solar energy cost-competitive with other forms of energy without subsidies of any kind," he told a conference call.

 

Costs for to install photovoltaic solar panels, which turn sunlight directly into electricity, currently run above 22 cents per kilowatt per hour, although federal grants and state incentives can trim that to below 15 cents for large projects.

 

Many U.S. solar industry advocates have long complained that the Chinese government's support of its solar companies has enabled its companies to take market share from U.S. manufacturers.

 

For the rest of this story, please visit The Mother Nature Network.