Greenversations

“Change the World, Start with ENERGY STAR” is a national campaign encouraging all Americans to take small, individual steps that make a big difference in the fight against global warming. Take the Energy Star pledge.

What have you done to meet your Energy Star pledge?

Each week we ask a question related to the environment. Please let us know your thoughts as comments. Feel free to respond to earlier comments or post new ideas. Previous questions.

Gosh, where did the summer go? It’s hard to believe that the kids are back in school and summer is almost gone. The warm weather and trips to the shore will soon be a thing of the past. I guess that’s one side of the coin. The other side is that cooler weather and snow could be just around the corner. There has been a lot of discussion about protecting ourselves from the sun, water quality, and other summer time subjects, but let’s not forget to prepare ourselves for the winter time too!

Sun protection should still be a priority (especially in areas with lots of snow to reflect the sun’s rays), but the next several weeks would be a great time to focus on making some changes around your home to prepare for “Old Man Winter”. Do you have a drafty window or two, maybe water pipes in a crawl space that could use some extra insulation, or how about that maintenance to the furnace or heat pump to get ready for those cold winter nights? These are just a couple of the things I’ve had to do to make my home more comfortable in the past year or two. The weeks between the end of summer and the beginning of winter are a perfect time to make these changes.

Being proactive to prevent problems from arising instead of having to react when a problem occurs could save you not only time and money, but energy too! If you are a do-it-yourselfer, the climate is much more cooperative for doing this kind of work. If you rely on others for taking care of these kind of repairs, I’d venture to say you could probably get a better price and a scheduled appointment rather than having to wait for someone to “squeeze you in” and then pay premium prices to get that warm air flowing through your home again.

Check out some of EPA’s Energy Star resources to learn about sealing and insulating and get some answers to questions you might have about other Energy Star topics to prepare your home for the winter months. What improvements have you made that have really made a difference in your home?  Oh, and by the way, button up, this may be a cold one!!

About the author: Kelly Chick has worked for the EPA for many years.  She currently works in the Office of Public Affairs at EPA Headquarters, and manages the EPA blog, Greenversations.

One minute I am sitting in Argentina at the end of my study abroad dreading the return to the Detroit suburbs and the next I am told that I was chosen for an internship at the EPA. I found out quite last minute but that just made it all the more exciting. Good news is I am learning more than I could have imagined and am having a great experience.

One of my favorite experiences so far was working the EPA booth at the Taste of Chicago. This is one of many festivals that bring people from all over to the city during the summer. The EPA often has information and activity booths at festivals all over the country.

Although it was raining, we eagerly unloaded the van of the Environmental Jeopardy board I had worked on for about a week and the Energy Star bike which were our main attractions at the Taste this year. I was a little nervous about how appealing the Jeopardy game would be to kids and told myself I would be happy if kids stayed long enough to answer more than one question. The questions were in categories like Energy Issues, H2O, and Climate Change and the kids got to choose which category they wanted just like real Jeopardy. To my delight most kids wouldn’t leave until they answered all of the questions. There were kids all the way from 4 years old to 18 years old and there wasn’t a moment of silence at my table. It was really rewarding to see that so many kids were interested in the environment. Our EPA kids’ websites are a great place for kids to learn about different environmental issues. With the Energy Star bike on the other end of the table, EPA’s booth turned out to be a great success and seemed to have reached lots of kids of all ages as well as their parents.

My EPA experience will have been short but sweet. Soon I’ll be back in Michigan but I do plan to stay involved with my new found passion for Environmental Education.

About the author: Kelly Archer is an intern working with Environmental Education and Indoor Air Programs in Region 5. She is a junior at Michigan State University working on a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Policy.

Do you have ENEGRY STAR light bulbs in your home? ENERGY STAR light bulbs are light bulbs that conserve energy and wear a label that says ENERGY STAR on them. Compared to an incandescent light bulb, an ENERGY STAR light bulb uses up to 75% less energy. These light bulbs conserve energy and therefore reduce the greenhouse gas emissions associated with energy use. In fact, by replacing just one incandescent light bulb with an ENERGY STAR light bulb you can save 400 pounds of greenhouse gases from entering into the atmosphere! So, let’s make an impact by using ENERGY STAR light bulbs in our homes, not only will we be helping the environment, but these light bulbs will also save our families some money. Some ENERGY STAR light bulbs last ten times longer than incandescent light bulbs and will save $30 over the course of their lifetimes. Therefore, by using ENERGY STAR light bulbs, we are able to save energy, greenhouse gas emissions from entering into the atmosphere and some cash! Encourage your friends and family to use ENERGY STAR light bulbs so that they can also be a part of these savings. Let them know that by acting together we can make a difference. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, if every American replaced just one light bulb with an ENERGY STAR light bulb, we would save enough energy to light three million homes for a year, we would save more than $600 million in energy costs in a year, and we would reduce greenhouse gases emissions equivalent to taking 800,000 cars off the road. Who knew that such a simple task like replacing a light bulb could make such a difference! Become a climate ambassador in your community and take the ENERGY STAR pledge today! . Do you have any products in your home that help conserve energy? If so what are they and how do they help benefit our environment?

About the author: Michelle Gugger graduated from Rutgers University in 2008. She is currently spending a year of service at EPA’s Region 3 Office in Philadelphia, PA as an AmeriCorps VISTA.

About the author: Ken Sandler is Co-Chair of EPA’s Green Building Workgroup. He has worked for EPA since 1991 on sustainability issues including green building, recycling and indoor air quality.

Lots of people complain about government, and often for good reason. But few really dig deep to find the core problems with bureaucracies, and how to fix them.

Bureaucratic systems aim to solve problems by dividing these problems into steadily smaller pieces. This works, up to a point. The problem is that somebody has to make sure that all those individual instruments, while they’re playing their own pieces, also fit well into a broader symphony.

Here at EPA, we divide up problems at the broadest level into the issues of air, water, land & materials, and toxics & prevention. We then break them down into even finer levels of detail. This allows us to devote greater scrutiny to a whole host of issues, but the challenge is to ensure that, in the process, we don’t lose the big picture.

EPA’s Green Building Workgroup is one of our efforts to ensure that we’re all playing from the same sheet of music. Our agency has a lot of strong programs to deal with specific buildings issues, like Energy Star, WaterSense, Indoor Environments and Industrial Material Recycling. But a building is a whole system and if you only focus on one aspect of it, you may lose other opportunities or cause more problems. In the 1970s, when we started tightening buildings for energy efficiency, some of them starting having indoor air quality problems due to inadequate ventilation. We’ve since learned how to build and operate buildings that are both energy efficient and healthy.

Similarly, when we’re looking at buildings’ energy profiles, we need to take into account not only the energy used to power them, but also the energy used to manufacture building products, bring water to buildings, and convey and treat wastewater from them. Not to mention the energy we use to commute to and from buildings – which gets to an even larger issue, that buildings themselves are part of our development patterns – neighborhoods, towns, metropolitan areas. Here we get into the purview of another EPA program, Smart Growth, which focuses on how to design and manage communities that enhance the quality of life, health and nature.

These are all important programs, and the Green Building Workgroup works to coordinate them so that they all make great green music together. Please help us stay in tune by letting us know what EPA green building resources you would find most helpful.

About the author: Amanda Sweda joined EPA’s Office of Environmental Information in 2001 and develops policy development for Web related issues and serves on the Environmental Education Web Workgroup. Amanda is a former Social Studies and Deaf Education teacher and is married to a math teacher so education is an important topic in their home.

Recently my dad and stepmom came to visit me and told me about the new house they bought. My dad told me about what they are doing to the house to get ready for moving in – painting, new appliances, and some remodeling. I asked my dad if he had bought Energy Star kitchen appliances and the blank look on his face said it all – he didn’t know. I was disappointed that I had missed an opportunity to help my parents make environmental decisions appropriate for them and potentially save a lot of money on their electricity bills, water consumption, etc. over the years.

My dad didn’t talk to me about any of these decisions probably because I don’t live at home anymore (and haven’t for a long time). This is not to say that my dad wouldn’t have appreciated the advice. I remember when they first moved to New York State over a year ago he asked my younger sister about cell phone plans. He ended up buying the phones that my sister recommended. I guess he thought my sister was more technical savvy, but this means he listens to at least one of his daughters!

My dad is not alone when it comes to asking for technical help from the kids. Turns out there is tons of research that shows parents rely on their (teenagers) kids’ advice when it comes to making purchases especially for electronics. Guess my dad doesn’t ask me because I am not a teenager anymore! It might be hard to believe, but teenagers like you have a lot of power to help your parents make all kinds of purchasing decisions.

I am sure you can’t imagine buying a washing machine or a dishwasher right now, but someday you might. Or it could be a new microwave, TV, or other electronic device. It doesn’t even have to be about electronics – there are all kinds of home improvement projects you could do with your family. Or maybe you have been dreaming about a car to drive when you can – you’ll definitely want to participate in that decision! Now’s a good time to practice making these kinds of decisions and working with your parents to figure out what works best for your family and budget.

Check out the Energy Conservation page on our Web site for some tips. What are some ways that you have already helped your family with these types of decisions?

About the Author: Bill Clugston joined EPA’s Administrative Systems Division in 1991. Later, in 1994 he moved to the Region 10 Seattle office as a Computer Specialist in the Information Resources Unit. He develops software for Region 10 and occasionally develops an EPA national application.

Before joining EPA, I resolved to do my part on climate change by reducing my production of greenhouse gases. My family made all of the obvious changes – changing from incandescent lights to compact fluorescent lights, better weatherproofing, and changing to newer Energy Star appliances, but could we do more? I was familiar with photovoltaic power generation on my backyard observatory and my recreational vehicle, but neither of those systems reduced our household CO2 footprint. At this point, I investigated a grid-tie solar power system.

While experienced with electrical circuitry, I am not a certified electrician and I am definitely not qualified to connect power-generating devices into the power grid! Therefore, I went in search of a qualified solar installer. Fortunately, the time of my decision, coincided with the Solar Homes Tour making it convenient to ask other solar power system owners their recommendation for a solar installer. After selecting a solar contractor, he came by to do a site assessment to determine the location for the panels and to discuss my requirements. We decided on a 2-kilowatt power system composed of ten 200-watt panels and ten micro-inverters. The micro-inverters are a recent innovation in the solar power industry. The micro-inverters convert the direct current from the panels to 230-volt alternating current at each panel instead of tying all of the panels together into a single inverter. The one inverter per panel allows enhanced production when parts of the array are shaded and reduces the wire size required to carry power from the array to the power grid. System decisions completed, we paid the installer 80% down to order the system.

Before ordering the system, I removed one potential obstacle, our homeowners association. Our HOA turned out to be no obstacle at all! In fact, they were supportive of the project. The lesson learned here was send detailed information to your homeowners association. In the meantime, the system finally arrived in Washington State after surviving snowstorms on the way from California. System installation required two days and after a sign-off by the electrical inspector, the system was on the power grid. In case the readers of this post question how practical solar is in rainy Seattle, since system installation in late January 2009 total production is 25kwh of electricity and 42 pounds of carbon offset — not bad power production for a city known more for its mildew than its sunshine!

About the author: Maura Cantor Beard joined EPA in 1992 and currently works with the ENERGY STAR program.

Like so many of us, I love the holiday season. Perhaps my greatest joy is the time spent with family and friends. But with relatives spread from coast to coast, it can feel like a logistical circus act trying to get everyone from here to there with a good place to stay. And I can’t help but think about how all this travel impacts the environment. But there is good news - with help from ENERGY STAR, I’ve found a new way for my family to help protect the environment while on the road this holiday season by staying in ENERGY STAR qualified hotels.

Just like the ENERGY STAR qualified TV on your holiday shopping list, you can find hotels that have earned the ENERGY STAR. These hotels use 40 percent less energy and emit 35 percent fewer greenhouse gases; all without you lifting a finger.

But once my family is checked in and our bags are unpacked, our job’s not finished. Many of the things I do to save energy at home and in my office can also be done when I’m staying at a hotel. For example, I always turn off the lights when I leave my room. When I’m in the room, I open the curtains to take advantage of natural light. I also unplug my cell phone and iPod once they are charged, since they still draw energy even if they are not charging. If I know I’m going to be gone for a while, I’ll set the thermostat to an energy-saving setting so it doesn’t heat or cool the room while I’m gone. And when my son “unpacks” by throwing his clothes on top of the air vents, I remind him that it will take as much as 25% more energy to condition the room when the vents are blocked. Remember, it’s the little actions that, when combined, can have a big impact in our fight against global climate change.

Find hotels that have earned EPA’s ENERGY STAR. If you can’t find one in your area, keep checking back with us as ENERGY STAR hotels are added every day. You could even check out internet travel search engines and search for ENERGY STAR qualified hotels along with other green travel options.

About the author: Felicia Chou is a Communications Specialist in EPA’s Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response. She recently graduated from Syracuse University with a M.S in Media Management.

This is always a crazy time of year. In my family, the holidays are all about large quantities: lots of food, lots of gifts, and lots and lots of relatives. This year, I’m going to simplify one part of the holiday experience (and help the environment at the same time) by reducing the amount of material that gets thrown out after the holidays. There are a lot of things you can do to reduce waste around the holidays – here are a few:

Find the greenest tree. You can save a tree (and reduce greenhouse gas emissions) by buying a potted tree that you can plant after the holidays instead of cutting a tree down. If you do decide to dispose of your tree, look for ways to recycle it instead of sending it to a landfill; your community solid waste department may collect the trees for mulching.

Send personal, paperless greetings. Save paper by creating your own greeting cards from scrap paper – this can be a fun family project or a way to give your cards a personal touch. You can also skip the paper altogether and e-mail an electronic card. If you do plan to buy cards, look for ones containing a high percentage of recycled content.

Reuse wrapping paper. Not every piece of wrapping paper gets ripped to shreds; some can be saved and used again next year, which saves money and trees. You can also “wrap” gifts in reusable gift bags instead of wrapping paper. And if you want to avoid wrapping paper altogether, give gifts that need little or no packaging, such as concert tickets or gift certificates.

Look for Earth-friendly electronics. Electronics are a popular gift, and some electronics purchases are more environmentally-friendly than others. For example, before you buy a new computer, ask yourself if the performance you’re looking for can be gained by upgrading your current computer, perhaps by upgrading your hard drive or RAM. If you do decide to buy a new computer, make sure you buy one that is Energy Star-qualified, which can save both energy and money. Also, an online tool called EPEAT (exit disclaimer) makes it easy to find the computer with the best environmental attributes. Finally, don’t throw away the electronics that get replaced; there are lots of opportunities to reuse or recycle old electronics.

About the author: Ashley Sims, a senior at Indiana University, is a fall intern with EPA’s Office of Children’s Health Protection and Environmental Education through the Washington Leadership Program.

“Come on and Click it, flip it, turn the handle to the right, turn off the water, twist the handle real tight” -Click it, Flip it Rap

I’ve blogged about many things we all can do to address global climate change and its effects on children’s health since we launched our campaign on October 6th. We’ve talked about issues such as water and energy efficiency, paper usage, taking public transportation, and packing a waste-free lunch. We learned that it only takes simple things, such as choosing to turn the water off while you’re brushing your teeth, to help address global climate change and its effects on children’s health. Now this brings me to this week’s topic - Turn It Off! As mentioned in the above rap, you can “Click it, flip it” to conserve energy and save the planet too.

Did you know some appliances still use a small amount of power when they’re switched off and plugged to an outlet? Most appliances that use electricity when switched off are things like VCRs, televisions, stereos, kitchen appliances, and computers. And if you’re like me, you keep your phone charger plugged in when not in use, but not anymore! According to the US Department of Energy, 75% of the electricity used to power home appliances is consumed when they are turned off. Seems like a waste to me. A way to avoid this is to simply unplug the appliances or use the switch on a power strip to cut the power off.

Another way to take action is to look for energy-saving ENERGY STAR home electronics and make sure your parents do too. These ENERGY STAR qualified products use less energy, save money, and help protect the environment and our health. Electricity generation from the combustion of fossil fuels contributes to unhealthy air quality, acid rain, and global climate change. It’s important to use less electricity to prevent harmful effects to our health.

In conclusion, make sure to switch off your electronics and lights when they are not in use. Even better, unplug them. Electronics still use a small amount of energy when they are plugged in, even when they are turned off. Plugging electronics into a surge-protector with an on/off switch is an easy way to do this. How do you use less electricity?

For more information, check out http://www1.eere.energy.gov/consumer/tips/home_office.html