Green Living
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
New house: how to be green?
Now that we have a house w/ a yard I want to implement as many green practices as possible, but could use some resources as a starting point. I am using water/vinegar for cleaning and have some recipes for homemade soaps to try.
- Composting: I really want to get a compost bin and start this, but what kind of bin and how does the whole process work?
- Light bulbs: What is best to use? We have SO many lights in the house (that I usually keep off), but is CF the way to go?
- What else do you do at home to be as green as possible? What blogs or websites are your favorite for GL ideas?
Re: New house: how to be green?
check with your city/county to see if they provide compost bins. ours does for a really tiny fee (a few bucks).
i have heard that the CF bulbs are not all that great but I don't know details, perhaps somebody else can post about that. In our old house they were the only lights that didnt' burn out all the time so we converted for that reason.
I'd really like to recycle water from the house to the garden but with our layout it's not really do-able. The best i can hope for is a rain barrel, so that, and a clothesline, is on my to-do list. i don't have any favorite websites, i like coming here and to the EFF board for ideas. I also joined a local permaculture group that has classes for making rain barrels and other sustainable things for your home and yard, you could see if your area has something like that.
- Composting isn't as hard as people make it out to be. We just have a cheap plastic box... it was about 60 bucks at the hardware store. I probably wouldn't get it again, but it works. I would love one of the rolling ones. But for the price... we have raccoons, and they were getting into it... so be mindful if you have them. We have since fixed this by putting a bunch of yard waste in the bottom to deter the buggers.
- We are trying to use mostly CF's on lights that we keep on or off for a long period of time. In doing research, I have found that they don't work as well for lights that are consistently turned on and off... so our lights in our garage that are sensor activated I just use regular bulbs.
- Have you thought about putting up a clothes line? I am in the process of doing that.
This is the composter I have. It is more expensive than others, but I wanted a contained, rotating one.
Ditto the rain barrel - I love love love mine and I got a rebate from my county.
If you are interested in water conservation, you could look at installing a dual flush toilet kit. It was shockingly easy to do - I did it alone in less than an hour.
Otherwise, hang out here for lots of great ideas!
If you have older appliances, I strongly recommend replacing them whenever you can. I can't tell you how amazed I was at the drop in our electric bill when we replaced our old refrigerator.
This is geared toward MN residents, but a lot of the tips are universal no matter where you live.
Link
I had no idea there was a device to make a toilet dual flush. Do you know if you can remove it? Not sure that I would want to, but then again we are renting right now.
-We use CFL light bulbs- none have burnt out yet, so I think that's great. You just have to be careful about how you dispose of them.
- We have one rain barrel right now that I use to water the landscaping- love it! I would like another eventually, but right now 1 is doing well.
- If you have to buy/replace appliances, look into energy star rated ones. If you don't need to yet, I wouldn't do it. Wait until you need to.
- Get a compost bin if you can. We want to soon, and will probably get a rotating one because it will be easier for us. We always have a ton of food scraps that I feel bad throwing out.
BFP #2: 8/26/12, EDD 5/3/12, M/C 9/4/12
Living Simple Blog
I made a compost bin with a Rubbermaid bin for $4 and it is working well. I drilled some holes in it and shake it every few days.
Also, don't use paper towels... get some absorbant towels and wash and reuse them instead. Same for cloth napkins.
We got our compost bin from the region for free. Make sure you put enough greens (your produce) and browns (I use shredded paper, egg cartons etc). Mix that bad boy up once a week.
Light bulbs - Personally I would wait until they burn out and then replace them. CFL will give you better energy efficiency but there are some recent health concerns with them (not sure how founded they are).
We have a rain barrell, tankless water heater, plant trees/shrubs, window coverings, trying to make green choices when we purchase things, programmable thermostat, timers on our outdoor lights, sensors on some indoor lights (motion sensor), energy efficient appliances.
I have a blog if you want to check it out. I also follow a butt load of green blogs if you want to see my list.
Sure, you can absolutely remove it. Just keep the parts that you take out of the tank and replace with the dual flush kit - you can just reinstall them when you move out. For $30 it's pretty amazing!! I can't believe the amount of water it saves.
HTH!
To me the best way to be green is to save energy. How old is your house?
Adding insulation to your attic is one of the best energy saving things you can do because it has a quick turn around.
Changing your showerheads and faucets to low flow fixtures.
Adding a programmable thermostat.
Insulating your hot water heater, turning the temperature down, and/or replacing your hot water heater with a more efficient one or a tankless one (if you have big enough gas lines).
Replacing your air filters. Having your furnace checked & tunned by a professional.
Putting plastic on your windows in the winter.
Fixing/replacing seals around all exterior doors and windows.
It looks like your buying a new lawn mower why not get something green like a push mower or a plug-in electric mower?