Average Joe Goes Green - Part 2 - The Easy Stuff

We started with the easy stuff we all read about: changing over from incandescent bulbs to compact florescent (CFL), and making sure we recycle our glass, plastic and paper. Oh, by the way, although CFL bulbs can last from 6-20 times longer than incandescent bulbs, they still do need to be properly recycled when they finally do burn out as they contain trace amounts of mercury. At this time, most curbside recycling companies do not accept these for recycling, so you will need to bring these to stores such as Ikea, Home Depot, Ace Hardware and other major retailers.

The wife and kids were real into our Going Green project, and our electric bill showed a slight reduction after transitioning to the CFL’s, so I started looking further. There were many simple things we found we could do, and techniques to reduce our paper, water and energy consumption. Reducing energy usage is a no-brainer, as that can help save us money in the long run. But I had to question what was the urgency in reducing paper and water? Doesn’t everyone use paper? Why is that an issue? And what about water? That just falls from the sky, and it’s quite inexpensive. Why should we be concerned about conserving our water?

Here is what I found out about paper. As most of us know, paper is made from trees. Trees remove carbon dioxide from the air and replace it with oxygen. Carbon dioxide is a major component of greenhouse gases which is said to be the major cause of global warming. Besides losing the important filtering of our air, the processes to turn trees into paper is extremely energy intensive (which generally burns fuel to generate electricity which produces massive amounts of greenhouse gases) and uses trillions of gallons of water. Then, although some paper is recycled, much of it, especially paper colored with inks like in magazines and catalogs, ends up in landfills. There, the inks, much of them petroleum and solvent based, can eventually leach into our water supply. And what about water? Unless you own a pristine spring, the water you use in your homes must go through many complex filtering and cleaning processes before it is deemed safe. Again, these processes consume a large amount of energy: energy which creates more greenhouse gases.

Armed with this knowledge, we began to take action. We started by electing e-statements from our financial institutions; e-billing from our regular suppliers; started reducing our junk mail (it is estimated the average American receives 42 lbs of junk mail every year); changed our shower and faucets to low-flow nozzles; used a simple milk container “device” to reduce the amount of water consumption for our toilets; and went back to using a broom to clean our walkways. We actually reduced our water usage by over 20%, and saved a few bucks in the process.

We are on the road to greenness! Our family is having fun, and I see that we could also potentially use Going Green to help the family budget. In future articles, I will continue to detail our family’s experience with Going Green in the hopes of helping everyone enjoy a healthier and greener today and tomorrow.

Keith Winn is the COO of GreenProfit Solutions, Inc. which assists businesses in becoming environmentally responsible. You may view their website at www.greenprofitsolutions.com or e-mail Keith at kwinn@greenprofitsolutions.com .

Average Joe Goes Green - Part 1 - Getting Started

I am just your average Joe. Working, and raising a family. I guess I’m your typical American: making mortgage payments on my home and loan payments on our two cars. I have read the news about global climate change and even saw Al Gore’s movie: An Inconvenient Truth. People can argue about the exact cause, but it’s pretty obvious to me that someone has to do something to reverse what is happening. In addition, with the ups and downs of energy and fuel prices, and hearing talk about “alternative” and “clean” energy, I started looking into what I could do to save money, help out the environment, and create an example for my family. I decided to Go Green.

Enlisting the help of my family, we decided to see what our impact is on the environment. This is known as a Carbon Footprint. According to the Wikipedia, a carbon footprint is a measure of human activity on the environment in terms of greenhouse gases produced, in units of pounds of carbon dioxide. Just about everything we do, from washing our clothes to driving a car to lighting an office building, increases our impact or carbon footprint. The carbon each of us generates adds to the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, which adds to the planet’s heating. The major environmental goal in Going Green is to become as close to carbon neutral as possible. Using today’s technologies, we found a tool online called a Carbon Calculator. By taking a few minutes to complete the information on the major categories of Vehicles (cars), Electricity, Travel and Natural Gas, we had our estimate of our family’s impact, which was a surprising 20.91 tons of carbon produced annually. These figures do not even consider the indirect effects of our plastic, paper, water consumption, nor emissions from other fuel burning devices such as lawn equipment, motorcycles, RV’s and boats. Wow…it’s no wonder we have such an enormous environmental problem but we decided, we were going to do our part.

The company which sponsored the Carbon Calculator we used offered Carbon Offset certificates for sale as a method to offset our family’s impact. There are dozens of energy companies offering these certificates. When you purchase Carbon Offsets, your purchase is used to offset your household's emissions using the following methods: 1) Buying renewable energy credits (RECs) from solar, wind and biomass facilities around the country 2) Funding reforestation projects through the carbon offset company’s partnerships with organizations; 3) Supporting other project-based carbon offset technologies - for example, new projects to increase energy efficiency. This method has become quite popular, especially for companies who are also concerned about their carbon footprint. These certificates even make innovative gifts for friends and family. However, we decided that there were many things, we as a family could do to reduce our carbon footprint, save energy, save money and help our environment. The purchase of carbon offset certificates would be something we might consider down the road, after we had exhausted all of the carbon reducing methods available to us. But we might consider buying them as gifts, in the hopes of encouraging those close to us to also Go Green.

In future articles, I will detail the steps our family is taking and provide ideas and recommendations you might use with your family. I invite you to follow us and join us on our family’s journey towards a greener and healthier lifestyle.

Keith Winn is the COO of GreenProfit Solutions, Inc. which assists businesses in becoming environmentally responsible. You may view their website at www.greenprofitsolutions.com or e-mail Keith at kwinn@greenprofitsolutions.com .