Getting the Economy Going

Heard a report yesterday that the Economy is getting better. The numbers are climbing up a little. Well, It must have been these blinds we purchase for the Laundry room. We are trying to save on energy, that is the loss of heat. Our addition has good windows but, they are not as great as the newer ones. Buying new windows for this room could be very pricey. Not to mention would have to be special ordered. For the laundry room is 9 foot by 12 foot and the windows are across that space. So, the next best thing was Insulating blinds.
Now these are remote control which is good because...the windows are behind things. Items like Cabinets, Pellet stove and a washer and dryer. Strings are not a thing I want anymore, due to the dangers to kids. As well as they are unsightly things, string hanging down and getting tangled up, not my kind of neatness. Gliders would not work because of the reaching around furniture, I would need a ladder to operate them. We visited a window treatment store and found Remote blinds. Ah... these are them, the perfect ones for our needs.

Last evening they were installed and boy do we Love them! I believe this was the greatest birthday present from hubby to me. Now I have a great Laundry room and it will be a warmer one in the winter and cooler in the summer. I can still look out at a push of the finger on a remote receiver.

You're welcome Mr President for our contribution to the up swing of our economy. The only thing is this will probably just offset the electric bill. So, it will most likely be a wash in the months to come. Oh well that's how the Numbers go...Up and Down!

Blinds opened....

Blinds closed.....

Going Green together- Solar and Green Updates.

It's been a while since I last updated our Green Journey. we have been doing well on all things. There are a few new green directions we want to go. but for now I will give my Updates.

As far as the solar goes, we are doing great. Here are the stats on our system to date.
Our Solar lifetime energy usage is;
6,989KwH (since we started with solar)

You've reduced your carbon footprint equivalent to:
*11,599 pounds of CO₂
*not driving 11,486 miles in a standard car.
*planting 129 seedlings grown for 10 years.

Our Power bill this month is under 150 dollars. I thought I would look at last years power bill for the same time period. The weather was about the same with a temp degree varying about 2 degrees.

October 2009 we used 2102 KwH with a daily usage of 65,7 KwH. Our bill was 325 dollars. We only used the power company's power source.
October 2010 we used 1010 KwH with a daily usage of 34.8 KwH. Our bill was 148 dollars. We used both our solar system and the power company's source.

This tells me that we have been able to handle about half of our power with our solar system. We have not changed our lifestyle at all. Mostly to see how the Solar system saved on our energy bills. We are coming up on our one year anniversary of the system. We started using it in November of 2009. At the One year mark we will start looking at other ways to conserve our energy. We want to get the bills down even more.

We are pleased so far with our solar system and feel it was a great decision for us.
Now to the Green Bags We are doing well, still a few plastic sneak in there. The family doesn't seem to carry their bags with them. I will have to work on that. We still use paper for some groceries. However I have really cut back on that amount. I think the store are doing better on the green bagging issue. Found that if you ask, sometimes the store does have a cloth option and sometime they do not charge! I like that part.
When we went to the Renaissance festival I did ask for the cloth bags and the merchants had them. I like that also.

I am now working on using products that are greener in packaging. A few things I can refill with product. This is great for not having to throw away Plastic bottles. This is my new Going green adventure.

So, how are you all doing with your Green things? Or are you just not there yet?

Thermal Solar Power.... Afforable?.

Enjoying the benefits from our Home Solar system we have decided to look into Thermal Solar. Now Thermal Solar is for producing Hot water. Heating your Hot water really takes a lot of Electric energy. Figure for a typical home water tank about 800.00 a year. By investing in a Thermal Solar system that figure can go as low as 100.00 a year. With the incentives both Federal, State and County for cost can be affordable.
The average cost the a Thermal Solar system can be between 6,000 and 10,000 dollars. The Federal will give a Tax credit of 30% of that cost. State of Maryland will give 30% of the installed cost up to $2,000 maximum grant. Our county will give a property tax credit of 1,500.00. So as you can see this can reduce the cost of the Thermal Solar system. On a 6,000.00 unit it would cost 4,200 dollars initially because the grant money is sent to you via check. Then at tax time your federal tax return would be 1,800 dollars more if you get a return. If you pay taxes then 1,800 dollars would be applied to your amount owed, making you have to pay less of out your pocket. The Property tax credit will be applied to your home taxes owed. The bottom line is you pay less in taxes and reap more in Home energy cost savings. So that 6,000.00 thermal solar system will cost you, less the grants and credit, 900.00 and it will pay for itself in less than 18 months. With the Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) even less time! These RECs are sold every year by you or a company you choose, to the highest bidder and then you receive the money. It can vary depending on the market. However the Market is very strong for the RECs at this time. You can lock in an amount with a company.
We will decided on which company to go with. Our install window is for Late August. One More Green energy move for us. Working toward reducing the Carbon Imprint.

Green Flooring forMy Vintage Sewing Room

We went out looking at Green flooring. There are so many incentives for making your home green. It helps to offset some of the cost. Cork and Bamboo are among the Greener choices. One has to make sure the the polyurethane used on the cork is green, with no VOC gases. We brought home some samples, one of a cork{pictured upper left} and the other of Bamboo. For years I have been seeing Bamboo and not liking it. Then yesterday I saw one online I absolutely loved.

This is the Bamboo sample we brought home

This is my choice, for the Vintage Sewing Room. I love its' character as well as you can not really tell that it is Bamboo. It is a great Natural Eco-Green Choice, so much of it growing and it replenish itself rather fast. Faster then Oak or many other woods. Wood flooring are consider green. However it takes a lot of trees to make flooring and the growing period for those tree are over a century. Bamboo is very durable and harder then Red Oak or Maple making it a great Eco-Green friendly choice. Now we shop around for a good price, Hubby loves to Bargain Hunt. So, we have several installers coming to the home these next few weeks. I just want this flooring from Teragren. This particular flooring is about 1/2 inch thick solid Bamboo. Style is called Synergy, color is Brindle I'm done looking. My Vintage Sewing Room is ready to begin progress.

The Healthy and Green Sewing Room.

It's Saturday morning, weekends are family time. I finally got the bed out of the bedroom. I have made appointments with some closet designers, a wall mural designer and need to decide if I want to change the flooring out. I am thinking of a cork flooring and green wood like bamboo. The room will became a sewing/ craft room. So carpet is not the best for it. Hubby and I had a discussion and I think I will go with a light lemon color for the walls. The paint will be Natura® Zero-VOC Paint from Benjamin Moore. I used their paint in the hallways and just love it.
Today off to the Home stores to look at flooring and paint colors. This room will be a very green and healthy working space.

Getting on the Green Train

Ed Begley is the reason I got on the Green Train. I began watching his show in 2007. After a couple years, started to rethink how I was living. Made some small changes with just a few things, like Housecleaning items and Household items. Then I started carrying my own bags for shopping. Looking at the food I was purchasing, how was it grown? Today we have a whole house solar system and a couple rain barrels. Every decision I make has a underlined question, Is it a green choice? Thought I would introduce you to Ed. This video running time is 3 minutes


Here is a link to viewing some of his "Living With ED" series.

I'm Planting Trees While Blogging.

It's Earth Day Today, what am I doing?
Well, Joining in to plant trees. Planting Trees while I'm blogging ! How cool is that?
Trees are being planted in Northern California on the Plumas National forest. With all the fires most of the trees are gone. Trees are vital to our air and life. The trees are filters for our atmosphere as well as cuts down on erosion of the land. Thousands of tree are lost due to nature lightening, Careless fires and Industrial use. We need to replace these tree so our plant can continue to survive.
The Plumas National Forest Fires destroyed over 88,000 acres of forest. You can read more about the fires at Mach's Greun.
The Arbor Day Foundation is joining in with My blog is carbon neutral (A United States foundation) to plant over 792,000 trees in the Plumas National Forest. How can you help? this is the easy part. Just a few easy steps to make it green:

1. Write a blog post about the initiative + insert your favorite button
2. E-mail the link to your post to CO2-neutral@kaufda.de
3. We plant a tree for your blog in Plumas’!

Now how green is that ! Today would be a great day to do it. Doing our part to making Our Planet Greener.

Here is the Link to How you can Join

Wednesday's Words- Window Coverings.

Earth day Tomorrow and we are going green on our Window coverings. Have a appointment this morning to look at Some Green coverings. We have been looking for some times. Last Home Show we went to, we won a window treatment. The Living room needs to be done and the Solarium as well. We will not be able to do both at this time. However we will be getting estimates on doing them. then making a decision on one. It will probably be the living room. we have triple pane windows and the room is pretty green, paint and all. Wanting to finish it this year.

Earth Day's Coming.Think Green...

Free MySpace Comments

What to do for Earth day? It will be on April 22 this year. I have been reading a lot about things folks are doing; finding out more about using solar or wind for power,Paying bills online to cut down on the carbon footprint, Planting a green Garden, and doing one thing green minded.
I think I will add some more Rain barrels. We installed one over the weekend. I received it for Valentines Day. Just now getting to install it. I must say I really think I am going to like it. It goes well with my backyard. Holds 50 gallons of rain water. I will be able to water my flowers with it. So the next thing is to plant the flowers in the Pots.

Going Green together- Floors and Closets

We have been looking to replace our kitchen and dinning room floors. In looking at what type and trying to stay green I had found that there are so many choices. We are leaning toward a type of wood grain floor. I never really thought about some of the things like, allergies and air quality. We are also redoing a couple closets. I found this Program from PBS on Green floors and closets. It has some good info on it. Even though the cost is varied, I think it has some educational information on why these are green and how to be healthier in your home.
The running time is 26 minutes. There are a couple of commercials, hey they have the pay for the video somehow.

Solar Monitoring

While on Vacation we are able to check on the solar production at home. SunPower Monitoring system allows us to go to their site and see the stats of our production. We can view it by year, month and day. It allows us to see how the Solar system is doing in real-time.
I like this part of our system because while on vacation we can keep tabs on the amount being feed back into the electrical Grid. So we are actually making money on the home energy while away.
We have harvested 2,170 KwH since November 15th, the first day of the panels hook up'. Now that the summer months are approaching us, the harvesting is get better for the month. Last month the sun harvest was 636 KwH. With the high daily amount being 34.13Kwh. It will be very interesting to see what the summer months will hold. Our unit is a 24 panel unit of the SunPower 225 solar Panels. Each panels has 72 solar cells, That's 1728 solar cells collecting the suns power.
If you are interested in seeing the project here is the link to all the solar posts.

Here are our Green Stats. All the equivalent to:

• Have reduced the carbon footprint by 3,601 pounds of Co2
• Have saved the emission of not driving of a car for 3,566 miles
• Have planted 40 seeding trees.. grown for 10 years

We are making a difference in our planet, helping to reduce the amount of pollution we are putting in the environment. Still working on becoming more self sufficient.
Looking at Geothermal next.

Solar For The Yard

Still staying with the solar frame of mind, we purchased a solar umbrella.The umbrella is for our outside table. We put it up on our stone patio in the morning. We get a lot of sun there so, the solar panel will receive a good charge. Later on at night the family sat out on the stone patio,turned on the umbrella lights and we enjoy a great time. The lights are very bright, we where able the turn off the outside lights. There was still enough light to see and talk. So my daughter said "Where's the wine" and we all laughed. I think tonight we will set out and have some Hot Tea and Crumpets.
We are still doing our part to conserve electricity. Working on Going Green for Good. One Step at a Time.

We purchase it from Home depot: This is their write up on it.
"Light up your patio party with this energy efficient solar powered umbrella. Thirty super bright white LEDs line the ribs of the 9ft. x 7ft. rectangular shade. Constructed with steel ribs to bring extra durability and strength to this stylish addition to your patio decor."

* Energy efficient solar panel included
* Includes 30 pcs of pre-installed super bright white LEDs
* Powder coated finish on pole and ribs
* Lightweight, weatherproof polyester cover
* Crank and tilt mechanism included
* MFG Model # : 50400046
* MFG Part # : 50400046

Disclaimer: this is only my opinion, have not received any compensation from Home Depot.

Greener Windows-So Let The Sun Shine!

I know you are not a Monday person. I am , you see it's the day I start to share my weekend activities on my blogs. Over the weekend Hubby the I went to a Home Show, so many vendors were there. Green living has taking over the Home Show in this area.
Lets talk windows, so many to choose from.... double pane, triple pane, coated, how they open for cleaning. Then add in the energy Star rating.With all the window to choose from how does one make that choice?

A few years back we decided to buy new windows. The windows we had were double pane and about 30 years old. The efficiency of them were not good. You could feel the heat and cold coming in, causing our utility bill to be high. We began to look around, at that time we had just had a Hurricane and so had a mindset of sturdy as well as efficiency. Triple pane had just come into our area. We were one of the first homes to install them in our region. I will tell you they did reduce our utility bill as well as help maintained the temps on all floors in the house. The second floor south side was no longer so hot you couldn't stand to sleep there in the summer months.
They open out for easy cleaning, reduced the outside sounds and reduce the heat and cold transfer from inside and outside. During the day one can not see into the home due to the reflected covering. All the windows came with a life time replacement warranty. So let the light shine in and might I say the light only!

Start Living Greener--- How?

Want to jump on the green Scene but not sure how to start living Green? I found just starting with one item will begin the process. Let's look at an easy place to start.... where you shop. Most Store are taking the green turn nowadays, you can see the be greener sign all around. Choosing one item that is greener can be a beginning. Perhaps you can replace one product with an greener version. That's all it takes to begin the greener journey.
I would like to tell you how I started. Two years ago, after my Mom died of cancer, we needed to repaint some rooms. Cancer had been a large part of my life for about 2 years prior. I never thought about the environment and cancer as being connected. After learning that Environmental things are the cause for some cancers, I got to thinking about my home environment. The products we put on the walls, are they healthy?
Searching for the answers, I learn that Paint has additives that are known to cause cancer. We spend more time in our home with our children, shouldn't it be a healthy place. We changed our regular paint brand choice with one that had none of the cancer causing additives. Yes I was skeptic at first, Will it cover the wall and be durable. Well it has been two years and the paint is still on the walls, the color has not changed and most importantly there are no cancer causing additives airborne is the home.
Now I know you want to ask how I know the color is the same. Well, a few months ago I needed to do some touch up around a new thermostat that replaced our old one. I had to buy some new paint, same color. I painted it and no one could tell I did. Hubby didn't even know the thermostat was even smaller. I had to point it out to him, he was amazed that the color blending into the whole wall. He didn't even know I painted cause there was no smell.
I started with the paint and move on to more greener products. In two year I now wash, bath, and shop with a greener view.

Collecting Natures' Water

With the Rainy season upon us here in the western hemisphere, We can collect the water for later use. There are many ways to do this, Barrels left open, a pond, an unused fountain, an underground tank and a vessel attached to your Gutters.
I have wanted for some time a Rain Barrel. Hubby got me one this year, so we will be installing it today between the rain.

For centuries people have been collecting water from nature to use. Using it for irrigation , washing clothes and items, bathing and for simple drinking use. Although I would boil before using it for drinking. Third world countries still collect water from roof tops and other vessels for all of their needs. Some companies are installing Underground tanks to store large amounts for these countries.

However here in the western hemisphere, the home owner wants to collect for outside use. To be Greener in thought, using less of the reservoir water. It not only saved on the cost of water use, It also saving on the environmental waste. Collection of water helps prevent run off and allow us to use the water during the drier months. I know here on the east coast we have had water restrictions in place for a few years now, making it hard to grow vegetables or flowers. In collecting the rain water we can still water those things and not be in violation of the restrictions.

I saw a program on Green Nation that profiled a home owner who collects water through their driveway. It was sent to a collection reservoir, by collection pipes and drains . Then process for in home use. Now how self sufficient is that?

No matter how you look at it, nature provide water in the spring season, and usually plenty of it. By collecting it we will save on conservation as well as our pockets. Any vessel can be used and the best place is from your roof. Did you know the 1 inch of rain fall on a 2,000 square foot roof will yield 1,250 gallons of water. The ground can only hold so much, so let's start collecting the access for later use. There are many different vessel out there on the market, thought I would give you a link to one, to get you started. Woodland Direct I have used them a few times and have been very pleased with them.

Disclaimer: I have not received any compensation or free products from Woodland Direct, this is just my experience with them.

Oh, Mr Sun Came Out-Solar update

Today our solar production was 32Kwh. We haven't seen numbers like that since the Blizzards. We had eight day of no productivity. It is great to be back on the grid. The panels are still receiving some however , the sunset is about to take place. I just can't wait til the summer months. The Numbers will probably be higher.
Total Lifetime energy is 1,478 Kwh. We reduced the Carbon footprint by 2,453 pounds of CO2. Saved enough emissions equivalent to driving a standard car 2,429 miles and planting 27 seeding for 10 years. Not bad for going green. Our start date was in the month of November 2009. Still going strong. Next update will be in April.

The sun is back out, Our solar is working great. We received our Power bill last Friday. With all the blizzards and snow on the roof, my thoughts was it will be high. What a surprise to see it was lower than the month before.
We did use the Pellet stove throughout both storms. Left it on low with the whole house fan on. Which must of really helped with the bill. All our news stations kept telling folks, "Your bills will be higher, due to the storms and every one home". Their thought was all the kids and workers home for days, not able to go out. The temps were in arctic numbers during the whole time.

We did not get any sun power for about four days. It took more than a week for all the snow to melt off the panels.Now that the snow is off the roof and Panels, we are receiving sun power again.
Hubby wants to also go Geothermal soon. Once we make that conversion then we will be using almost no electrical power from the Power company. With the Solar and Geothermal combined, we will be a very Green home.
Photo icon from SunPower, our solar company.

Not For My Home, Give me the old ones back!

This is the light bulb that I used to replace the old ones in my hallway chandelier. It was suppose to last five times longer than the older bulbs. Now the older bulbs last about 1 year. Two weeks after putting these in, they quit working! I just sent hubby out to get new ones....the old kind. We so want to go green on the lights, however I have not had good luck with these types. So tell me any good ones for the chandeliers.

Wednesday Words - Just because I can!

So today we had a delivery. It was to replace a dishwasher which was not broken but didn't have a feature advertised at the store. The New one was exactly like the one we had. so we did not accept it. I called the Store up and told them why we refused it. I do not think they even care. Why is it stores will not train their people to know the manufactures changes in product design. I am sure it is a manufacturers change, so ordering a new one just will not do. I like the dishwasher just wish we would not have been misled. We will probably not give them anymore of our business unless we do a lot of research first.
I have had a business for over 12 years now. Have decided to dissolve it this year. I will be selling all the merchandise off my shelves in the next few months. With the economy it has been really hard to continue and make a profit.
Going green has given me a new outlook on life and household products. We are using Melalecua products and have really notice a difference. We will now start selling the products and signing up some new clients. I believe going Green is so important since most allergies and cancers are environmentally caused. If you are interested in transforming your home into a healthier place, Give me a shout, email me or leave a message I will get back to you with the details.

• What did a learn in 2009? Let's see. I can help change the way people think about being green. It does not have to be costly or difficult to implement. Even the solar power was affordable, and I thought it would not be.
  
• Not using Plastic bags could be easy. I thought I would never be able to go into a store with my own bags. What did I know... it really isn't that hard and the more I do it the less people seem to mind.
• Using Green product do make a difference in the home. We are all healthier, less sickness, sore throats, sniffles , itchy skin and tummy aches.
  

We got rid of a car this year. First of the year we turned in our Smart buy car and walked away. That was hard because we usually got another. With two cars paid off we felt we really did not need a third one at this time. Our daughter is not driving yet!
Looking back on the year and forward to the next. I can see many things I can carry forward and many more to learn. This year I will be listening and posting what I am learning.

Upcycling- New or Old?

I keeping hearing this upcycle term. Oh yes it's making an appearance, but is it new. We have re-gifting and recyling, pack rats and just people who can't get rid of anything. You know the old saying " I might be able to use it again in some other way". Well this term Upcycle is that other way.
Coined by William McDonaugh and Michael Braungart. Upcycle is a process of converting an old material into something of similar or greater value, giving it a second life. By doing this we can reduce the amount of energy used. saving the environment from air and water pollution, and even green house gas emissions. Let's say instead of throwing away those gum wrappers, we create something to use. Remember how we use to fold and make a now named origami type chains. Then turning it into a necklace, bracelet or ring. Yes we never threw away any gum wrappers.(the beginning of the Pack Rat cycle).

How about this.....
for only 113.00 one can buy this purse. made from over 4000 candy wrappers.
Who knew the skill taught to us kids could make us Real money. This trend is getting big now. We are starting to see the Upcycle stuff in the store this season. I found this bag and many more thing on Shopzilla. So let's get started on Upcycling the items we find no longer needed. You just watch it take off. And for heaven sake don't throw out those Gum and Candy wrappers! We need to teach other children the gum wrapper art. so they can support us!
Here's a short video on how to make the Gum Wrapper Chain. Grab the kids and learn the money making art. Who know maybe the TV will be off more, saving even more energy.