Earth Day: Simple Green

Who says SCV can't be green?

In two weeks, the City is holding its “Earth/Arbor Day” celebration at Newhall Park.

I look at Earth Day as a time to reflect on my own conservation habits, and perhaps an opportunity to make a few small tweaks in my routine that reduce my footprint. Possibly even save a few bucks in the process.  In the SCV, we have a deeper obligation for conservation than many of our urban and coastal counterparts; our summers are hotter, our jobs are further away and our climate is drier.

Putting aside your beliefs on climate change – resource conservation is as much an issue for the earth as it is for your fellow human beings.  And if you’re a curmudgeon and couldn’t care less about the next guy, conservation can also save you some green with little or no investment.

Here are five simple changes we made since last Earth Day that we don’t regret for a moment.

1) Stop the junk mail

Selfishly: your name is worth 3 to 20 cents every time it is sold; tired of sifting through the junk (you listening, cash?) to get to a few precious letters; privacy
Altruistically:  save 1.5 trees per year per person in your household
Time: 10 minutes, plus occasional maintenance
Cost: Free

This is a no-brainer and it actually works.  It took about 6-10 weeks to take full effect, but the only junk mail we get now is the plethora of SCV rags that ignore the opt-out lists.  The direct mailing world is a loose network of marketers that pull their info from credit bureaus, mailing list creators, and fellow merchants.  These four directives will stop 90+% of the junk mail you receive.

How:

1. Instruct the major credit bureaus to not share your information OPTOUT PRESCREEN
2. Subscribe to the Direct Marketing Associations “Opt Out” List: DMA CHOICE
3. Inform the catalog merchants by sending a simple email EPSILON
4. If you still receive catalogs, Catalog Choice is a handy and effective way to terminate them one-by-one.  CATALOG CHOICE

2) Double check your lawn watering

Selfishly: save coin on your water bill
Altruistically: save water
Time: 30 minutes
Cost: Free

As much as I’d like to do what Quan and Angelina Ha did in Orange, CA, having a traditional lawn is unfortunately a “must do” in our association. At $7-$10 per square foot, artificial turf is more expensive than wood flooring; that’s a non-starter for us.  So we’re left with the ridiculous green lawn and the attached water requirements.  Don’t give up hope – there’s a solid chance you can conserve a bit more than you think.

Most grass in SCV is Marathon variety.  Most timers aren’t optimized for Marathon fescue.  According to the Marathon web site (emphasis theirs):

1. Water as infrequently as possible. In the cooler months, this would be once or twice a week; in the warmer months, it could be three or more times per week.
2. Water for as long as possible to deeply penetrate the soil (up to 30 minutes). Cycle irrigation may be necessary if runoff occurs within a short time; i.e., water until runoff occurs, then stop and wait for the water to penetrate the soil (usually 1 -2 hours). Repeat watering and waiting until water deeply penetrates the soil.
3. Water as early in the day as possible (first thing in the morning). Do not water lawn between 4 pm and 4 am.
4. Do not water shaded areas of lawn as frequently as areas that receive full sun.

#2 is key.  Most homeowners water nearly every day for a few minutes rather than 1-2 times a week for a longer stretch.  The theory is Marathon will develop deeper roots to absorb water that is deeper in the soil (vs. shallow roots when the grass is constantly sprayed).  We made this change following my water efficiency post in January.  I observed the amount of time it took the sprinklers to saturate the soil (~6 minutes) and set the timer for 5am.  I then set the timer to hit the lawn again 2 hours later to get a full 12 minute soaking (clay soil).  For the first few weeks, our lawn browned a bit.  Now our lawn is a rich green, yet we use much less water than the builder default (a daily cycle with tons of water runoff).  As far as I can tell, this is the only difference between our lawns, which run into one another.

Planted at the same time, mowed at the same intervals, only diff is the watering frequency. The line is drawn based on sprinkler overspray. Solar lighting doesn't hurt, either.

Different neighbor, similar results. Builder defaults timers to a daily 9 minute A.M. blast. Most runoff.

3) Energy Savings – Part I – Hidden Parasites

Selfishly: save money on your power bill
Altruistically: save energy, which reduces greenhouse gases in energy production
Time: 30 minutes
Cost: $0 – $20

This past winter, we did a bit of house sitting for a neighbor.  One afternoon, I pulled in their trash cans and noticed their energy meter was barely moving.  Curious, before we left for a long weekend I eyeballed our own energy meter and noticed it comparatively spun quite a bit faster.  It started to bug me – what were we doing that my neighbor was not?  I bought a Kill-a-Watt energy meter for $20 to find out where the energy parasites lurked in our household.  The Kill-a-Watt is a simple plug-in device that provides vital signs on the power source and the items that are consuming power from the outlet.  I traversed every room in the house, noting a few surprises and scrutinizing our appliance selection.  Conclusions:

• Our toaster oven is a giant leech and is comparatively slow at doing mundane bread toasting -> we bought a traditional toaster and cut usage 75%
• The subwoofer’s “auto-off” feature consumes exactly the same power in “off” mode as it does in “on” mode -> we turn it off when we’re gone for more than one day
• My cordless drill charger will charge forever and never, ever turn itself off -> pull the battery after a full charge
• My HTPC setup consumes less power than the U-Verse DVR -> Here’s to you, Ma Bell

Porter Cable makes great drills but terrible chargers.

There are myriad posts on how to save energy, but very few recommend actually measuring your devices.  By doing so, you can make informed choices about how and when you use those devices.  Since doing a mini-energy audit, we’re saving about 350 kWh, which (at 12¢ per kWh) is about $1 per day.  The Kill-a-Watt paid for itself within 20 days, and our meter spins at the same clip as the neighbor.

4) Energy Savings – Part II, Pick the Proper Poison

Selfishly: save money on your power bill, get superior engineered stuff
Altruistically: save energy, which reduces greenhouse gases in energy production
Time: varies
Cost: varies

Before you buy that new ____________, inquire about the device’s energy consumption.  It’s a stat rarely checked by savvy buyers and one that might offset a small initial cost difference.  Everything that has a plug is fair game – cordless phones, coffee makers, printers – especially stuff that will stay plugged in for prolonged periods of time.  For example, a thermal coffee maker only heats the water once for a few minutes vs. a traditional coffee maker, which makes up for the inefficiency of a glass carafe by heating a warming element.  That difference alone (at 30 minutes a day) equals $20 savings a year.  By now you already know about CFLs and how they’ve improved tremendously (and gotten much cheaper) in the past few years.  If you’re still skeptical about CFLs, buy a cheap one from Home Depot and see if it still takes as long as you think to fire up, is as blue-ish as you recall, and emits enough light.

When we replaced our printer, we looked for the Energy Star certification. Also helped that Costco ran a special.

5) Recycle.  More. (this is one area in which we can improve)

Selfishly: what family doesn’t need another trash can?
Altruistically: recycle more.
Time: 3 minutes
Cost: Generally free, but check with your waste disposal company

If you’re finding the blue can gets a bit more full than the rest, that’s a good problem to have – but don’t overflow to the black can.  I can vouch for Burr-tec, which will provide customers with an additional blue recycle can, free of charge (they also do up to 2 large item pickups and trash can cleanings on request).

When you’re ready to dispose of electronics or batteries, set them aside in a box (don’t worry, it won’t rot).  Next time you check out the cool stuff at Best Buy on Bouquet Canyon, bring that box with you.  Best Buy will recycle just about anything electronic, free.

What Say You?

As we look forward to Earth Day, what small but significant changes have you made that make a marked difference in resource conservation?  What are you planning to do?