Last post, I mentioned the number of great articles on Cleantechnica, showing how to save money and act more sustainably. Here’s a review of some of the top points that were made. I hope to post a weekly re-cap of the top sustainable articles that I come across, starting with this week.
Sustainable, money-saving home tips
Top 4 DIY Energy Efficiency Upgrades
The comments on this article were lit up on switching to LED’s. When we built our new house, I asked the builder to install LED’s on all fixtures. They added them for all major rooms, except closets, the garage, and the pantry. There was a cost associated with the upgrade. It was worth it in my opinion. You save electricity in two ways, it takes less electricity to power LED’s, and because they produce less heat, it takes less AC to cool the house. The impact is cumulative.
The idea of upgrading faucets and shower heads to save water and energy are great tips. I learned that an advanced power strip can turn off other plugged in items, eliminating vampire drain. We have a few in our house, but I don’t think we are using them properly. They are a good idea to save your electronics from electrical surges and save electricity.
Don’t Buy Tesla Solar Until You Read This Article — Solar Buying Guide
Paul has great tips if you should wait to buy solar or purchase now, to buy from Tesla or another company, and how big your system should. Tesla has industry leading costs for solar of $1.49/kW across the US. Tesla is able to achieve these costs by reducing a lot of the soft costs related to installation.
Some of the best tips Paul had were installing more installation and weather stripping, replacing your old pool pump with a more efficient unit, and using a hybrid heat pump unit instead of a hot water heater. We have an on demand, gas powered hot water heater. This was before I was aware of how a hybrid heat pump water heater worked. We will be looking to switch to one when we upgrade next time.
Top 5 Habits You Can Get Into That Improve Your Home’s Efficiency
Scott has a wealth of information on green tips. He’s a serial green entrepreneur and was an adjunct professor of Sustainability. What tips does Scott share with us here?
These are easy tips to implement. So easy, we have implemented three within this week. We have switched to cold water for the washing machine, turned off the heated dry setting on the dishwasher, and slightly reduced the temperature on our heating units. I haven’t noticed any difference in the cleaning power of the washing machine or dishwasher, and the family is fine with the slightly lower temps.
Downsize Your House & Cut Your Costs In Half. We Did It!
Paul made the switch to a smaller house after his kids moved out, and details how much you save he saved, and the impact towards sustainability. After reading his piece, we definitely want to downsize our next house and make it more sustainable.
Making the globe fully renewable
Electrify everything and save tons of money
This post includes a short, 3 min video of how electrifying everything can save us money. We save money because electric motors are 3 to 4 times more efficient than gasoline engines, electric stoves and hot water heaters save a lot of energy too, and solar and wind are the cheapest form of energy for new power. By electrifying everything, we can have cleaner air, cleaner water, save money, and have an improved user experience. The video is really well done. Here’s a Moneywise post on the benefits of switching to EV’s on your wallet, and the cost of air pollution in terms of ill health.
We have the solutions to leave our kids, future generations, and society in a better place. We need to have the backbone to move to the future rather than living in the past.
The High-Performance All-Electric Home
Joe talks about four key technologies of the all-electric home. These include heat pump water heaters, heat pump furnace and AC, induction range and cooktop, and an electric fireplace insert.
The movement is serious enough that Tesla is looking into taking the tech it has pioneered for its vehicles and seeing how they can translate that technology into the home.
Renewables: A Decade of Progress Toward a Clean Energy Future
Carolyn talks about the relentless march made by renewable energy over the last decade. Tremendous progress has been made and will continue, regardless of who wins the election in the US.
I expect these trends to accelerate, as many countries move to ban fossil fuel vehicles and switch to net zero emissions for their whole economy.
What steps are you taking to become more sustainable? We’d love to hear your thoughts!
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Thanks for reading!
Warmest regards,
smilingdad
smilingdad 