We spend a good portion of our lives at home, even more for the growing legion of freelancers and telecommuters. There needs to be a serious reconsideration of every aspect of the typical home before a serious stab can be taken at reducing carbon emissions and reducing environmental pollutants.

Green Energy In The Kitchen

The kitchen itself uses a great deal of power to keep food cold. Relocating the refrigerator to a location as far away from the stove as possible decreases the amount of work it needs to do. Getting a relatively new refrigerator that has a high efficiency rating will also help a great deal.

When appliances break down, unless they are too old to be made efficient, repair and retrofit of old appliances also saves a great deal of carbon. If it must be retired, make sure it is sent somewhere to be parted out and recycled. Nearly every part of an old appliance can either be recycled or needs to be handled by professional hazardous waste handlers.

Green Energy In Bathroom

Water saving devices in the bathroom is just one step. Lights can be replaced with fluorescent bulbs or the ultra-efficient LED composite lamps. We can also choose to use bathroom materials that are made from sustainably grown and harvested renewable crops such as organic cotton and bamboo.

Green Energy In Bedroom

We spend a third of our life in the bedroom. The health and carbon cost of our bedroom has a lot to do with eliminating toxins for our better health and redecorating using as little carbon as possible.

Choose linens, curtains and floor coverings that are made from natural, renewable resources. In addition to organic cotton and bamboo, wool, hemp and silk are all healthful options that have unique properties that makes each useful for a given need. Silk, for instance, has the ability to wick moisture away from the skin, besides feeling lovely. The discarded pupae also provide an important source of protein for fish farming.

Mattresses and furniture contribute a lot to the carbon footprint and toxin load of our bedroom. Some sensitive people chose natural rubber mattresses. Pillows made of seeds or seed hulls can provide a uniquely relaxing sleep experience.

Green Energy In Back Porch

For many, a porch is the entire yard they’ll have or even need. Grey water reclamation systems are a great choice for keeping a back porch garden. We can also collect runoff water from the roof into a rain barrel and irrigate a significant portion of a family’s more expensive fruit and vegetable purchases.

It’s very handy to have a covered and secure place on the porch to chain up our bicycle. In a future where garages may be converted into living spaces, it’s prudent to make plans to keep from having to haul our bicycle inside every day.

Green Energy In The Yard

If we’re lucky enough to have a yard and garden, we are hereby given permission to rip it up and plant a garden. Urban and suburban agriculture has the potential to skim about 20% off the current grocery bills. Most cities have enough workable nooks and crannies to supply their own produce needs as the cost of transport makes such purchases difficult.

By digging up the lawn we reduce the use and eventual flushing of pesticides and herbicides into the water system. We also free ourselves from the tedious chore of mowing our pasture. The use of the mostly 2-stroke cycle engines for mowing releases more particulate matter into the atmosphere in a few mows than a typical car emits in a whole year. Eliminating their use is a great way to remove that bother and cost from wer life and get something far better in return.

Green Energy In The Garden

Organic growing pretty much requires that we have a compost pile in the yard to digest leaf debris and kitchen scraps. Some people even keep urban chickens in their yard to assist with pest control and “recycle” scraps. Their litter is also very goof fertilizer when decomposed. There is a lot of literature about how to do it right, but if we avoid putting weed seeds or diseased plant material in the pile, there is little if any management to do other than to try and keep a balance of “brown and green” items going in.

Native plants that don’t require unseasonal watering (as long as the weather remains seasonal, which it may very well not) allow a landscape to use far less irrigation water, once established. There are native fruiting plants in most areas, but don’t expect farm-like yields.

Green Energy Design Concepts

New Urbanism promotes neighborhoods with a town center that is close enough for the residents to walk to within five minutes, with a variety of dwelling types, with narrow streets to slow traffic, along with parking lots and garages located at the back of the buildings. Condominiums are usually designed with residential on top and retail space below. Very often parking spots are not part of the standard design as the goal of such centralized areas is to encourage people to stay at home and use their legs to get around as much as possible.

These condos, which were once limited to city centers and financial districts, are now found throughout urban areas. They are very often seen as an anchor in developing neighborhoods that can encourage a higher-end type of development, which caters to a middle-class that is affluent enough to consider issues of sustainability to be important.

Green Energy Communities

New Urbanism communities are designed with all of the aspects of eco-friendliness: shared resources, smart auto strategy, reduce waste, energy efficiency and water conservation. Parking streets are separated from pedestrian streets and bike lanes. Roads are constructed narrower with the conscious intention of encouraging walking and biking rather than driving.

Building smaller houses is another new idea for green energy communities. Houses are radically smaller than the national average for people who prefer smaller home to live together in a community of green supporters. Many households with 2 or 3 people find the 700-800 square foot house perfectly adequate for them. These houses not only reduce the amount of land needed for development, they also reduce the volume of resources needed for construction. In addition to all that material saved, the smaller houses also need fewer resources to keep them heated and cooled.

Biofuel And World Food Shortages

Opponents of biofuels believe that biofuels contribute significantly to world food shortages in short term. Increasingly this is proven true and is detrimental to the interests of the world’s poor. Across many developing countries, new policies and procedures incentivize the production of crops that will be used for fuel, further compounding the problem of food shortages.

From 2000 to 2007, the production of biofuels from crops that could have been used for food increased by over 200%. This has contributed to the rise in the cost of food of as much as 50% and a significant increase of the population suffering from hunger worldwide.

Environmental Impact Of Biofuel

Another strong argument by environmentalist is the increasing cases of forest lands being put into new cultivation to grow biofuels. As more poor farmers convert forests into fields to grow crops for biofuels, the negative environmental and social effects of deforestation overshadow the appeal of developing cleaner energy alternatives and the long term benefits of creating new revenue for farmers.

Some energy experts also cast doubts on whether biofuels is worth consideration as green energy. Most biofuels have little impact on curbing the production of greenhouse gases, with some actually worse than burning petrochemical oil. For example, sugar cane from Brazil emits very little carbon while that from Florida is at near parity with its petrochemical cousins.

The Need To Review Biofuel Policy

Current policies must be reviewed in order to preserve both the goals of sustainable farming and sustainable energy. Protection on poor farmers, promotion of broad-based rural development and ensure environmental sustainability are all equally important for the consideration of biofuels as alternative energy.

International Laws Dealing With Climate Change

The call for international laws to deal with climate change and sustainable energy is urgent. If carbon emissions are going to be capped at levels that will do some good and prevent further climate calamity, it will put a real cramp in the style of international trade.

The laws on migration issues and aid assistance are urgent for environmental refuges. Sustainable development hopes to take precautionary steps so fewer people are displaced by unusual weather events and rising seas. It also seeks to develop global energy usage patterns.

Carbon-Free International Trade

Climate change clearly needs action on a global scale, yet many countries have been reluctant to adopt strict targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and other climate change policies due to national concerns on global competitiveness of their products and services.

However, many who live in low consumption countries that are disproportionately affected by climate change are demanding strong global action against greenhouse gas emissions. The potential for conflict is clear and is a danger that threatens human life as well as any wildlife or habitat that gets in the way of warring parties.

A call on ‘carbon equalization measures’ to level the playing field is just one of example to impose particularly trade restrictions on imports from countries. that did not participate in the Kyoto Protocol. Such trade-related initiatives promoting carbon-free international trade draws clear carbon border for taxes and other trade measures.

Climate Change Events Are At Our Doorstep

People all over the world are now experiencing the kind of extreme weather that was once experienced as events that only occurred every few centuries. Five hundred-year floods, for instance, have occurred in the Mississippi River Valley twice in the last twenty years.

Fire frequency threatens live, property and wildlife in the arid western part of North America at rates not seen in recorded history. Crop failures are up and pathogens are on the move. The price of food has skyrocketed and still the weather continues to just be strange all over the world. Perhaps most dramatic were the climate change events of Hurricane Katrina that saw a major US city nearly destroyed by a single storm.

Learning From Past Mistakes

How would we like to turn back the clock to a time before the polar ice caps started to melt? What about before there was a hole in the ozone layer? There are a lot of people who can think of many catastrophic environmental disasters that they’d like to avoid by getting into a time machine and altering poor decisions on climate change.

While it’s not possible to go back and make changes, we do have the power to change our future. Our destiny looks a bit bleak at the moment with the state of the world as it is. Climate change, pollution, climbing oil prices and food shortages are frightening. We have the power to buy better products, be better consumers, better parents and better citizens of the earth. We can get knowledgeable about the state of the earth and about what needs to change.

Geothermal Energy For Eco-Friendly Home

The idea of geothermal heating is quite old. Hot spring water was used to heat bathhouses back in ancient Rome. Over the last two decades, great improvement was made on geothermal technology and the market for geothermal heat pumps was rapidly expanding.

Compared to conventional air conditioning system, geothermal heat pump is able to attain very high energy efficiency when heating and cooling a building. In most home installation, the geothermal heat pump draws its power from a renewable energy source, such as solar power source. For this reason, geothermal heat pumps have superior environmental performance in virtually all locations.

The geothermal-solar combination of green energy installation typically costs much higher on initial cost but much lower on maintenance and energy costs. They are probably the best way to eliminate the need for natural gas heating in the winter while at the same time slashing peak demand in the summer. They also require less floor space than conventional heating and cooling systems because the exterior system is underground. They are very quiet and long-lasting.

Installing Geothermal For Home

A geothermal heat pump moves heat into or out of the earth to heat or cool the home through a ground and water loop system. In heating mode, the loop system of polyethylene pipes extract heat from soil beneath the frost line. In cooling mode, the pipes return heat to the earth. Ground loop can be installed either as horizontal or vertical closed loop whereas water loop can either be well-to-well open loop or lake/pond closed loop configurations.

The heat pump furnace unit and distribution system are located inside the house. Heat is transferred from the ground loop system to the furnace unit and the heat is moved to the distribution system to heat the house. The system operates in reverse to cool the house. Homeowners simply set the temperature with an electronic thermostat. The system will heat or cool to achieve the temperature.

Conservation As Sustainable Energy Lifestyle

Conservation involves changing energy usage behaviors from wasteful, inefficient habits to energy-saving. This is a conscious choice while we are still using non-sustainable energy fixtures. By making a conscious effort to minimize energy consumption, we are better prepared for a sustainable energy lifestyle with the purpose of keeping our living environment sustainable. Energy conservation lifestyle such as switching off all electricity when leaving a room is in itself a part of sustainable development.

Efficiency As Sustainable Energy Lifestyle

Efficiency is reducing energy consumption more of a “technical fix” for a sustainable lifestyle. For example, by swapping out incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescents (CFs), we are achieving energy efficiency by using efficient appliances. The energy reduction can be as high as halving the energy consumption.

Conservation And Efficiency Is Mandatory

Both conservation and efficiency work hand in hand and are mandatory for sustainable energy lifestyle. Before installing solar PVs on the roof, changing CFs in light fixtures gives us better idea of the energy requirements in our house unit. Energy conservation and efficiency lifestyle helps us understand sustainable energy better to move us forward with solar electricity or hot water systems. By reducing our energy demand, we will also greatly reduce the installation and equipment cost of our sustainable energy system. For every dollar we save on conservation and efficiency measures, we will save the corresponding of $3 to $5 on the sustainable energy system.