SanJoseGreenHome.com

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It’s been official for months now – California again is facing water crisis. Unusually dry and hot weather had eroded our priceless Sierra snowpack, the supply of much of our water.  Our local reservoirs have been low for years now. In addition, water demand in beautiful state is growing each year and our sources of water are drying up.

Climate change models demonstrate that California will become a much drier place in our lifetimes.  Not only precipitation will likely decrease, but our precious Sierra snowpack is expected to shrink and leave of only with 10% of its current capacity.

Even more interesting, according to the California Energy Commission, 20% of our state’s electricity is used for the treatment and pumping of water.  Groundwater pumping has greatly shrunk our underground aquifers.  Parts of the San Joaquin Valley has now seen soil level drop 50’ from the removal of groundwater. Every single river in California has been dammed, wiping out fish populations, including endangered Chinook salmon. Two out of five most endangered rivers in the U.S. are in California. 

Let’s face it; this is not our grandkid’s head ache. Very soon water will become a treasured commodity.  Sadly, you’d never know it by the way we are dumping it down the drain. A traditional home has potable water piped in from a local water supplier. Amazingly, one half of this water is used for irrigation, where potable water is absolutely unnecessary. Almost all the remainder is used for non-potable water needs in the house, where it is then flushed down the drain to our local sewage treatment plant.

Now that sewage plant spends an enormous amount of time, money and energy treating this so called “greywater” like raw sewage.  This makes no sense, does it?

Here are two ways to re-use water already available to us (more…)

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So you’ve heard the benefits of CFLs.  When it comes to energy savings, CFLs or Compact Fluorescent Lamps simply blow the regular incandescent light bulbs out of the water.  According to the Energy Savers Website, CFLs last 10 times longer and can save up to $105 over the life of lamp use.  Now that alone should launch every eco and budget conscious home dweller to the store to stack up on these and start saving. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately though, too many still get stuck on that initial price tag.  A single CFL can cost up to 6 times more than a regular light bulb.  Ouch, a hefty price tag indeed.  Much too often we’ll shut down our common sense down in order to avoid that initial price pain.  The photo below was taken at a local Rite Aid Store.  Five buks for a light bulb!  Hang on though, I am about to tell you how to buy these for pennies on the dollar.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now here’s a small secret with big savings.  If you go to any of the Asian stores, you may find a pleasant suprise.  Some stores sell the CFLs for (more…)

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You must have heard by now the term – Carbon Footprint.  Many folks, including myself, for years had no clue what it truly meant and what to eat it with.  It could be that the word “carbon” confuses most people so personally I like the term – environmental footprint.   It’s more obvious and easier to relate to isn’t it?  Plus, most folks relate carbon to green house gas only but we sure have a much wider effect on the environment than merely passing gas into the atmosphere.  

Carbon Footprint Defined

Basically, our life on the planet generates its own set of environmental footprints by virtue of our use of natural resources.  Almost everything we touch, eat and throw away has an effect on the environment.  This is the footprint we leave behind after we interact with nature.  This has been going on ever since humans inhabited the planet and this caused no problem because nature could cope with our existence.  The footprints left behind were quickly replaced by green grass and a new animal was born to replace the one freshly barbecued over a bonfire.

As time went on, population grew (watch this video) and tools were introduced into society, ostensibly to make life easier on humans, and humanity’s carbon footprint increased proportionately.  Eventually we started multiplying and consuming natural and non-renewable resources at a speed that is now putting a humongous strain on the planet.  Our environmental footprint became bigger than the ground it can stand on.  Thus, we now experience troubling events like (more…)

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You’ve seen it on TV, you’ve heard it on the radio, you’ve read it in the papers – PG&E wants you to conserve energy and save the planet.  They’ll even send you rather substantial rebates in the mail if you are willing to upgrade some systems in your home or purchase new appliances.  

Now all of this is enormously helpful and commendable but I couldn’t rid myself of that nagging question…  How does all this make financial sense for our friends at PG&E?    Never before had I seen in our capitalistic society a company encouraging its customer to consume less of its product.  Can you imagine McDonalds saying – “Eat less hamburgers!  There are no happy meals here… they will all make you fat!”  

So what’s going on with PG&E?  Is this truly enlightened business that wants to save the environment or does it all in some convoluted way actually make business sense?  I set out to find the answers at the last West Coast Green Show in San Francisco where I interviewed lovely Katie Romans, an Environmental Communications representative from PG&E.  (The video is about 3 minutes.) 

 

So now you know.  The answer is “Decoupling”  – a novel approach towards utility pricing that separates a utility’s ability to make money from the amount of electricity that it sells.  So while PG&S forest conservation and methane capture efforts appear genuine, it was nothing but a California Decoupling law, enacted in 1982, that effectively disincentivized PG&E to sell more energy for profit.  

No need to worry about them though; they have other ways to make the bank.  In fact, last year the utility filed for, and received shareholder earnings based upon energy savings they delivered to customers, and the program costs were already recovered in their rates.  Besides that, the utility company also benefits from increased customer satisfaction, a boost in its “environmental” image and gets a lot of community and political support.  

You have got to love the business model.  The company is required to sell less of its product and help its customers save money.  And in return, it makes more and appears as an environmental hero.  Not bad at all, is it?  Go PG&E, or to be more accurate – go California!

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All the TV shows, all the magazines and all the advice from our environmentally conscious friends about green living can really make our heads spin.  Is your floor off-gassing VOCs, do your cleaning supplies have endocrine disruptors, what’s the carbon footprint of your German Sheppard… Oh my goodness, some of this can sound like a brand new language!

One of the reasons this blog was started is to help you simplify things and take the burden of interpreting all the “green” jargon out there today.  I’ll take the joys of staying on top of all this and you, my green partner, enjoy and implement some of these concepts when you can… deal?

You’ve heard the term “Green Home” by now; probably many times if you’ve visited this blog or browsed the internet on the subject before.  Have you ever asked yourself what that really means?  Chances are you have. 

Essentially, living green implies being aware of the environment around us.  Not just locally, but also globally.  We do our best to consider results of our actions when it comes to our bodies, health and nature around us.  Green homes are no different.  An environmentally friendly home is a home that—compared with a standard home—uses less energy, water, and natural resources; creates less waste; and is healthier for its inhabitants. These homes can either be built green from the start, or they can undergo some eco-conscious alterations or remodels later down the road. 

5 KEY COMPONENTS

Nearly all eco friendly homes will consider the following key principals essential to green building and (more…)

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