Haste Makes Waste

Your parents always taught you not to waste. Wake up early, don’t waste your day. Finish that food on your plate—there are starving children in Africa. Live within your means, don’t spend $200 on a trucker hat just because it says Von Dutch on it.

And we all know in the “green” arena that waste is bad, but what is the worst waste? Surprisingly one of the largest wastes of energy happens in our own homes. It’s called Standby Power—(creepily aliasing as Vampire Power) which is the energy and electricity consumed by an appliance during the lowest possible electricity consuming mode.

Here’s what we never thought about before: Almost every appliance in your home from your TV to your computer to your espresso machine STILL USES ELECTRICITY when it is in standby power mode—that is, plugged in but not in use. The truth of it is, our appliances are not that “smart” so whether it is in use or not, if it is plugged in, it “thinks” it’s being used. So, when your appliance plugged in but are not heating, blending or computing for you, they are still sucking down energy (and sometimes just as much as when it’s on).

In the U.S. alone, residential consumers (i.e., YOU) spend over 4 billion dollars per year on standby power alone. Estimates indicate that standby power in the U.S. can account for 5%-8% of a home’s electricity use. In the 15 countries of the EU in 2000, the total energy lost to standby in households was estimated at 94 billion kWh—the equivalent of 12 large nuclear or coal power plants.

But if you stop leaving your appliances on stand-by, and start unplugging them, you could save up to 1,000 pounds of Carbon Dioxide and a few hundred bucks to boot.

First things first-

* UNPLUG your cell phone charger when not in use! Your charger is consuming energy even when your cell is not attached to it. Recent Environmental Protection Agency estimates indicate that there are 1 billion cell phone chargers in the U.S., and predicts that number will grow. In January, Energy Star began a major campaign to make chargers more efficient. By doing this, the EPA believes it can save more than 1 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions, equal to that spewed by 150,000 cars. Until you get that Energy Star charger, though (and even after), make sure when you’re done charging your phone, you take the charger out of the wall…if you change just one thing this week, THIS should be it.

* Unplug your appliances when not in use. Or at least get in the habit of unplugging them at night. Here are some of the top culprits: Computer, Printer, Internet Terminal, Scanner, Fax Machine, Copy Machine, Telephone, and Shredder. Refrigerator, Oven, Microwave, Toaster, Coffeemaker, Bread Machine, Artisan Stand Mixer, DVD players, Cable Boxes, Stereo Systems, Gaming Consoles. (Yes, everything plugged in and not in use is wasting energy.)

* Use a Power strip. In a room with a variety of appliances and electronics (like your office or media room), plug a bunch of them into a power strip. Then you can cut off all the devices at once. The Power Strip. Use one large power strip for your computer, broadband modem, scanner, printer, monitor, and speakers. Switch it off when equipment is not in use and cut out 200 kWh/y or more of standby losses.

Now we always felt awful when we wasted the ends of our dinners as children and thought of all the starving children in Africa who apparently really liked soggy broccoli and peas. If you also felt this guilt, unplug your cell phone charger, toaster and fax machine you never use and let the pride and satisfaction wash over you.

P.S.-In the coming weeks we will go over all the rooms in your house and show you how to be more energy efficient.

Back to Basics: Winter Energy Guide

Now we have never been described as “simple and practical” people, after all, we did grow up in the sequin-and-rhinestone 80’s era. From Hummer cars to Viking Ranges, our generation has been spoon-fed a “big and bold” lifestyle. But, as we learned from Audrey and the little black dress, sometimes minimalist chic is way better than big perms and shoulder pads. Sometimes simple and practical isn’t boring—it’s just plain better.

Below are basic tips to maximize the energy of your home appliances this winter. They are neither groundbreaking nor sexy, but we thought a reminder was due…

Basic Home Energy Efficiency Tips

• Are you one of those people who turn up the heat in your house so that you can comfortably lounge around in your tank top? Well, start layering and stop turning up your heat! In the winter, turn your thermostat down to 68 degrees or below (or as cool as you can stand). Reduce the setting to 55 degrees before going to sleep or when leaving for the day. (For each 1 degree you turn down the thermostat in the winter, you'll save up to 5% on your heating costs.)
• Turn off non-essential lights and appliances. The electricity generated by fossil fuels for a single home puts more carbon dioxide into the air than two average cars!
• Avoid running large appliances such as washers, dryers, and electric ovens during peak energy demand hours from 5:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
• Use kitchen, bath, and other ventilating fans wisely. In 1 hour, these fans can pull out a houseful of warmed or cooled air.
• Keep the draperies and shades on your south-facing windows open during the day to allow sunlight to enter your home and closed at night to reduce the chill you may feel from cold windows.
  

Fireplace Energy Saving Tips

• If you never use your fireplace, plug and seal the chimney flue.
• Keep your fireplace damper closed unless a fire is going. Keeping the damper open is like keeping a 48-inch window wide open during the winter; it allows warm air to go right up the chimney.
  

Kitchen Energy Saving Tips

• Be sure to place the faucet lever on the kitchen sink in the cold position when using small amounts of water. Placing the lever in the hot position uses energy to heat the water even though it never reaches the faucet.
• Try using the microwave or toaster ovens for small meals rather than your large stove or oven. A toaster oven uses a third to half as much energy as a full-sized oven, and they both can save energy by significantly reducing cooking time.

Laundry Energy Saving Tips

• As the note read on the communal clothes dryer in Lydia's sorority house: "Future Mothers of America, you have to clean the lint filter in between each cycle of the dryer." If you do, it improves air circulation.
• Wash your clothes in cold water using cold-water detergents whenever possible as it requires less energy.
• If you’re like Jess and you wait until every last item in your closet has been worn before doing laundry then this should be an easy one. Wash and dry full loads only. (But if you really need those jeans for tomorrow night, and have to wash a small load, use the appropriate water-level setting.)
• Don't over-dry your clothes. If your machine has a moisture sensor, use it or use the cool-down cycle to allow the clothes to finish drying with the residual heat in the dryer.
• If you live in an apartment building with a communal washing machine area, why not print out these Laundry Room tips and hang them up in there for everyone to see?
  

Switch to Green Power

In Los Angeles County, the Department of Water and Power offers a “Green Power” option. Green Power is electricity produced in a more environmentally friendly way by using renewable energy sources like the sun, wind, and water. It’s just as powerful and reliable as your “normal” electricity, and it’s only $3.00 extra per month. All you have to do is call (1.800.dial.dwp) and request Green Power. You can also sign up for Green Power Online.

The best part about signing up for Green Power is that you actually help bring MORE renewable power to LA - electricity that is cleaner than fossil fuels and nuclear energy. SoCal Edison (if you have them) offers their version of Green Power to some customers so see if you can get it (1-800-655-4555). Their site also has a link to help their customers energy audit their home energy use. After you fill it out, they’ll give you suggestions of how to be more efficient. If you don’t live in LA call and see if your area offers green energy—if not, ask when it will be provided.

Sometimes it’s the simple things in life that make you feel good. So tonight, go turn down the thermostat and cuddle up with a cozy blanket, a nice book, some warm cocoa and candles.

For more information, also check out: www.earth911.org

What Dr. Atkins doesn't want you to know...

It seems like there’s always a new diet trend—from those Zone meals that you so carefully measured out (30/30/40!) to Weight Watchers (how many points was that slice of cheesecake, again?) to the Cabbage Soup diet (I mean, what you were thinking???)

Well, we’ve got a new one. The Green is the New Pink Diet will make you feel good, look good and reduce global warming at the same time, too. It’s easy and you can eat all the (free-trade) chocolate you want. It’s called….Vegetarianism.

Did we lose you? Okay, don’t worry, this week’s tip is accessible to carnivores, meatitarians and “I only eat fish and chicken” folk. Here’s the deal: Meat eating is one of the foremost causes of global warming. In fact, scientists at the University of Chicago calculate that “switching the average American diet to a vegetarian one causes OVER a 50% greater cut in climate warming than switching from the average car to a Prius.” Say what?

You may not be ready to become a vegetarian/vegan overnight (neither are we,) but we still have to try to cut down on our animal-consuming ways. Thus, the Green is the New Pink Tip of the Week: Replace just one serving of beef, one egg and one serving of cheese PER WEEK with fruits, vegetables or whole grains. Over-achievers should try to replace a serving of beef, one egg and one serving of cheese PER DAY.

Basically, whatever your current meat or non-meating habits are, step it up a notch or two. If you already don’t eat red meat, try to cut down on chicken a few times a week. If you’re already a vegetarian, try eating vegan 3 times a week. Want to see how much your diet is affecting the environment? Use the online “eating green” calculator to see how much land and water your current food choices cost.

Here’s what Dr. Atkins doesn’t want you to know….

Reason #1 to cut down on meat and animal products…METHANE

Wait. What is methane?

• Methane is a greenhouse gas, responsible for nearly as much global warming as all other non-CO2 greenhouse gases put together.

• Methane is 21 times more powerful a greenhouse gas than CO2.

• While atmospheric concentrations of CO2 have risen by about 31% since pre-industrial times, methane concentrations have more than DOUBLED.

And what does that have to do with my cheeseburger?

• The number one source of Methane worldwide is animal agriculture.

• Animal agriculture produces more than 100 million tons of methane a year!!!

Yes, we’ll say it again. Animal agriculture produces more than 100 million tons of methane a year. This is due to the amount of methane produced in the digestive processes of livestock (relatively small individually, but ENORMOUS collectively), and from the massive “lagoons” used to store untreated farm animal waste.

Global meat consumption has increased fivefold in the past fifty years, and shows little sign of slowing down (all those people scared that pineapple and oatmeal have too many carbs have to eat something). If we don’t start cutting down at some point, our dangerous Methane output will keep increasing and increasing.

It’s not hopeless, though. Unlike carbon dioxide which can remain in the air for more than a century, Methane cycles out of the atmosphere in just eight years! So that the sooner we lower Methane emissions, the more quickly we can reserve the effects of global warming.

Reason #2 to cut down on meat and animal products…FOREST LAND

• Of all the agricultural land in the U.S., nearly 80 percent is used in some way to raise animals.

• To date, more than 260 million acres of U.S. forest have been cleared to create cropland to grow grain to feed farmed animals (go back to our first blog entry if you don’t remember how important trees are to combating global warming)

• More than 2.9 million acres of rainforest were destroyed in the 2004-2005 crop season in order to grow crops that feed chickens and other animals in factory farms.

• According to scientists at the Smithsonian Institute, the equivalent of seven football fields of land is bulldozed every minute to create more room for farmed animals.

• Countries across the globe are bulldozing huge swaths of land to make more room for animals and the crops to feed them, from tropical rain forests in Brazil to ancient pine forests in China.

The scary, but true bottom line?

• Almost twenty times more land is required to feed a meat-eater than a vegetarian. (A meat eater requires 3 ¼ acres of land per year, whereas a vegetarian requires 1/6 of an acre).

Reason #3…It wastes our resources and pollutes our surroundings

• About one-third of the raw materials, including fuel and other non-renewable sources, used in America each year are consumed by the farmed animal industry.

• We feed more than 70 percent of the grains and cereals we grow to farmed animals, and almost all of those calories go into simply keeping the animals alive, not making them grow. Only a small fraction of the calories consumed by farmed animals are actually converted into the meat that people eat.

• Nearly half of all the water used in the United States goes to raising animals for food.

• It takes 5,000 gallons of water to produce 1 pound of meat, while growing 1 pound of wheat only requires 25 gallons.

• A totally vegetarian diet requires 300 gallons of water per day, while a meat-eating diet requires more than 4,000 gallons of water per day.

• You save more water by not eating a pound of beef than you do by not showering for an entire year.

• According to the EPA, the runoff from factory farms pollutes our rivers and lakes more than all other industries combines.

• Animals raised for food produce 130 times more excrement than the entire human population – 86,000 pounds per second. Since factory farms don't have sewage treatment systems as our cities and towns do, this concentrated slop ends up polluting our water, destroying our topsoil, and contaminating our air.

• Chicken, hog and cattle excrement have polluted 35,000 miles of rivers in 22 states and groundwater in 17 states.

And it goes without saying that cutting down a bit on meats and animal products and replacing with fruits, veggies and whole-grains not only helps the environment, but is also healthier….

Now that you’re sufficiently aware of the facts, we can already hear you next question: But if I’m not eating meat, pork, chicken, cheese or eggs in a given meal, what CAN I possibly eat???

Glad you asked…GITNP, in conjunction with L.A.-based gourmet foods and catering company Apples and Onions LA, has compiled a number of DELICIOUS and EASY (obviously) recipes. These dishes do not use animal products, perfect for that one day a week or more that you’re going to go veggie. Instead of eggs in the morning, have a bow of hearty Coconut Milk Oatmeal. Or for dinner try the Soba Noodle Salad with Veggie Slaw. Yum.

For more recipes, keep checking the Apples and Onions L.A. Blog.

Obviously the issue of how livestock and other animals affect our environment is complicated and multi-faceted. Be sure to check out our future posts on the subject, including going organic and eating locally, and for now, try reducing that animal intake as much as you can.

But please don’t become a judgmental vegetarian who makes baa-ing noises when people order lamb or cry when someone orders veal. That is not cool.

P.S. Cheers to all our readers who bought Compact Florescent Light bulbs last week. Did you? We’re going to keep bugging you until you do!!!

If you want to read more check out these sites:
www.goveg.com/environment.asp
www.earthsave.org/globalwarming.htm

Finally, a New Year's Resolution You Can Keep

Looking for a meaningful New Year’s resolution that you can actually stick to and brag about at dinner parties? No, it’s not losing weight, cutting bangs or converting to Scientology. Those things are hard. This, dear friend, is a resolution that is easy to incorporate into your life and will work for you all year long (actually 7 years or more, but we’ll get to that…)

Switch all the light bulbs in your house to Compact Fluorescent Bulbs! It’s honestly sooooo easy and this one tiny life change will have HUGE effects and drastically help reduce your personal carbon emissions.

We know some of you may have heard about these “low energy” bulbs, but you never followed through. Maybe you didn’t realize what a difference they made, maybe you didn’t know where to start—-where do you get them, can they fit in your favorite lamp, are they expensive? Now you’ll have no excuse…

Quick Facts about compact fluorescent bulbs

• They use 1/3 the energy of average light bulbs! If you replaced just 3 of your bulbs for CFL’s, you’d save 300 pounds of carbon dioxide per year. The more bulbs you replace, the more carbon emissions you reduce.

• They last about 10 times longer than an average bulb, approximately seven years. (An amazing thing if you’re like us and absolutely hate changing light bulbs all the time!)

• They produce 70% less heat than an average bulb, saving your need for air conditioning due to excess heat from you light bulbs.

• The come in all the same wattages as regular light bulbs and they fit in all your standard light sockets.

• The lights in our homes contribute 10%-20% of our overall energy costs. If you replace just 5 bulbs, you’ll save over $100 on electricity bills over the course of the year.

• You can find them in the grocery store, drug store and hardware store right next to the incandescent bulbs. EVEN BETTER, they sell them on Amazon, too. So you can click on the Amazon link on the sidebar RIGHT NOW and start your New Year’s Resolution today….

Choosing the Right Compact Florescent Light Bulbs
So, you need to teach yourself a new light bulb language with the Compact Florescent Bulbs (CFL’s). Since they use so much less energy to operate than incandescent bulbs, a 15 watts CFL puts out the same amount of light as a 6o watt traditional light bulb. Most boxes will say what the conversion is, but you can also look for the lumen rating (a lumen rating is the measure of light the bulb puts out,) on your old bulbs to find the compact fluorescent that gives the same amount of light.

Is this fluorescent light going to make me look fat?

No!! This is not the fluorescent light from your middle school bathroom or Nordstrom’s dressing rooms. These bulbs actually have a few different color temperatures for you to choose from. From “soft and cozy” to “daylight” you will find a bulb glow to fit your needs.

Size does Matter

There are tons of different kinds of Compact Florescent Bulbs in many shapes, sizes, wattages and colors to fit your every need, whether it’s a ceiling fan, your romantic dimmer lights, sconces or even outdoor flood lights. We found THE MOST HANDY GUIDE EVER to help you find the best energy efficient light bulbs for you and make sure you’re never caught in a patch of bad lighting again. (“I don't get it. Did my hair get flat? Did I stumble into some bad lighting? What's wrong with me?” Cher, Clueless)

Are they hard to find?

No. They are sold in all locations regular light bulbs are sold! Or order from Amazon.com if you’re the type that doesn’t like leaving the house. Also, price-wise they are pretty comparable to the incandescent bulbs…but if you do end up paying a few dollars more for them, you will more than make up for it in your electricity bills.

Your First Successful Resolution Ever.

If every U.S. household made a "5 light change", together we'd keep more than one trillion pounds of greenhouse gases out of our air--the equivalent to taking 8 million cars off the road for an entire year.

So, say it with us, “In 2007 I will replace all the light bulbs in my house with compact fluorescent bulbs.” Now get to it.