How do you save energy around your house? Hopefully you at least turn off the lights when you leave a room and throw on a sweater instead of cranking up the heat when it’s cold outside. But what do we really know about energy consumption? Results from a study conducted by researchers at Columbia University, Ohio State University, and Carnegie Mellon University have appeared in several media outlets recently, and the data suggest that people, even green-minded people like us, may not know as much about energy conservation as we think.

Why? Well, in the study, participants were asked an open-ended question worded thusly: “In your opinion, what is the most effective thing that you could do to conserve energy in your life?” According to the results, a significant number of people responded that they turn off the lights and unplug appliances. In other words, they’d rather reduce usage than buy new bulbs or invest in energy-efficient appliances, both of which would use far less energy than continuing to use older bulbs or appliances, even if you cut down on use. In the media, these results are often framed to suggest that Americans don’t have any concept of what energy efficiency is, and clearly we’ve been misinformed about the best ways to cut down on our consumption.

I have a few issues with this study, though, the most pressing being the question itself. I have a master’s degree in communication, and in the many, many surveys I conducted while I was in grad school, I learned that the wording of the question is vital. “In your opinion, what is the most effective thing that you could do to conserve energy in your life?” How would you answer that question? I’m thrown off by the use of the word “could.” There are a lot of things I could do around my home to make it more efficient, but that doesn’t mean I will, because I can’t afford a wind turbine or a complete solar power system. But then the question includes the phrase “in your life,” which seems to implore a personal response, as in the day-to-day things I do around my home. My point is this: In my home, I turn off lights rather than running out to buy an Energy Star refrigerator. That doesn’t mean I don’t understand the energy savings that come along with said refrigerator. I believe the question is ambiguous, and since it’s open-ended, the responses probably varied wildly. It’s no wonder we appear to be confused. Read more…

I don’t know about your area, but here in the South, it’s been pretty much blazing hot for several weeks. I’m okay with sweating a little, but when temperatures hit the mid-90s, I feel okay about turning on the air conditioner. The problem is that every time I hear the unit kick on and feel the breeze blowing out of the vents, I’m glad for the cool relief, but also increasingly worried about what my power bill will look like this month. Since I’m not exactly rolling in money, this is a concern.

But we don’t have to rely on air conditioners alone to keep us cool, not even when outside temperatures are approaching three digits. Here are five ways to keep yourself cool without the use of electricity, making your power bill cheaper and your house a little greener. Read more…

While walking through our apartment complex this morning coming back from a meeting, I made a point of counting all the open windows I saw. It was easy: zero. And no, I wasn’t casing the joint, making notes about which units contained flat-screen TVs and would be easiest to break into (for which reason I’ll exclude all the bottom-floor dwellers from the following discussion.) My interest instead was a result of the perfect open-window weather, 70 and sunny. This is the time of year in this part of the country to air things out, after the pollen has fallen and before the melting heat of summer sets in. Nighttime temperatures have been in the 60s, with daytime highs in the low 80s, and there’s no better time to save some money on your utility bill, which is why it irks me a bit to hear the air conditioners rattling away as I type this. Read more…

Image credit: Herbert Proepper/AP

The Obama administration has given the green light for an offshore wind farm to be built off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Once built, 130 wind turbines will stand in the water and harness the power generated by the stiff winds coming into the coast, tapping a clean, reliable, renewable energy source.

But is this a good idea or a bad idea, environmentally speaking? Let’s take a look at the pros and cons. Read more…

The following is a guest post from Steven Matthews.  If you’d like to guest post at The Greenists, e-mail Courtney at TheGreenists dot com for more information.

Nowadays, everyone wants to go a little “green,” especially in their homes.  Not only does greening your home help the environment, but it also saves you money in the process.  “Green” homes are in demand now more than ever, so when it’s time to sell your home a more energy efficient choice is always better for buyers.

Whenever a client of mine is getting ready to sell their home, I tell them to take some simple steps to make their home more eco-friendly.  It will make the home more attractive for perspective buyers.  Alternately, when a client of mine buys a home, I give them simple tips to make their home more eco-friendly, which can save them a lot of money over the years in utility bills.

Below are a few tips that you can take to be a little more green at home: Read more…

Image credit: www.earthhour.org

What are you doing this Saturday, March 27, at 8:30 p.m.? I’ll give you a few ideas: You could read a book by candlelight, or play a board game by candlelight, or sit with a few friends and have some good, old-fashioned conversation. You can do anything that doesn’t involve electricity, because this Saturday at 8:30 p.m., your local time, is Earth Hour.

Earth Hour began in Sydney, Australia in 2007 as a way to raise awareness about climate change. Since then, it’s grown to include environmentally-minded people all over the world. Last year’s Earth Hour stretched to more than 4,000 cities in 88 countries.

So what do you have to do? It’s simple: Just turn off the lights for an hour. That’s it. If you really want to get involved, you can urge others to participate through Facebook or Twitter. You could even talk to your community leaders about getting your entire town to participate. Visit the Earth Hour website (linked above) to find out more.

And of course, don’t limit your energy consciousness to one hour per year. Be aware of your energy usage all the time, and do everything you can to minimize the amount of energy you use every day.

Photo courtesy of marie-II

Are you a New Year’s resolution maker? Yes, yes, I do realize it is March, which probably seems like a strange time to be asking about New Year’s resolutions. But judging by the thinned out crowds and significantly emptier parking lot at the gym recently, March is about the time a lot of people abandon their New Year’s resolutions. So maybe that means March is a perfect time to revisit your resolutions or, if you didn’t make any a few months ago, time to start setting some.

Read more…

Image credit: claytonihouse.com

This is, without a doubt, the coolest pre-fabricated house ever made.

What if your house could be tailor-made for maximum energy efficiency and sustainability, right from the moment it was built? Behold the i-house — a prefabricated house that’s selling for around $100,000. The i-house is popping up in several cities around the United States, including Knoxville, Tenn.; Seattle; Sacramanto; Albuquerque; and many more.

The i-house gets its name from its floorplan. The house is divided into two parts — the main part, which is about 1,000 square feet, includes a kitchen, great room, bedroom, and bathroom. The so-called “flex room” which is detached from the main part, is like the dot in the letter i. This separate flex room includes a bathroom and adds another 300 or so square feet, and it’s topped with a rooftop deck.

So how is it sustainable? The i-house includes dual-flush toilets, bamboo flooring, decking material made of recycled content, solar panels on the roof, high-efficiency appliances, a tankless water heater, and super-efficient doors and windows. The rooftop deck comes with a butterfly roof that doubles as a rainwater collection system. Construction waste from each i-house is limited to just two garbage cans or less.

The whole thing is completely customizable, and get this — the entire house can be powered for just a dollar a day. The company that came up with the i-house, Clayton Homes, will soon include a feature on its website that lets you build your own i-house. You can even visit the factory while it’s being built.

What do you think of the i-house? Would you ever consider buying one of these? Do you think it’s reasonably priced for what it is? Personally, I’d love to take a tour of one of these homes!

If you’re anything like me, you often look at solar panels, tankless water heaters, and other home greenification products with a mix of admiration and sadness. The admiration is obviously in response to the marketplace including more and more earth-friendly items all the time, but the sadness sets in when I realize I can’t afford any of that stuff. Going green is great, but it’s often expensive up front. Of course, solar panels and tankless water heaters pay for themselves over time, but the up-front cost is still prohibitive for many people.

But what if there was a way you could green up your home now and pay for it later? If you live in a community with a Property Assessed Clean Energy, there is. PACE programs allow homeowners to borrow money for efficiency upgrades, then pay it back over a span of up to 20 years. You repay the loan by adding a little extra onto your property tax bill. Read more…

It’s easy to line-dry your laundry in the summertime. If you’ve got an outdoor living space with a clothesline, and it’s sunny, warm and a little breezy outside, forget about it. Your laundry will be dry in way less time than it would take in the dryer.

But what do you do during the winter? If it’s cold and gray outside, your clothes will take forever and a day to dry. You could set up a clothesline inside, but there is another solution that is easier than stringing twine all over the place. That solution, my friends, is the drying rack. Read more…