Guest post by John Tarantino

Who would have ever guessed that a person could go green in so many different aspects of our lives? If the recent recession has taught us anything, it taught us that we can be green and save money by consuming less and becoming more efficient with what we have. This rule of thumb definitely applies to our plumbing systems in our homes. Conserving water not only saves on water bills, but also reduces the impacts of major environmental issues such as protection of drinking water resources and protection of aquatic life. Conserving water also simultaneously reduces the need for energy in pumping, heating and treating of water.

Like many other sustainable strategies, green plumbing is the most effective way to reduce energy consumption. Green plumbing aims to achieve energy efficiency while conserving water. Since cold water does not lose or waste energy, hot water plumbing systems are the main focus when it comes to energy efficiency.

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Smart grid technology is all the rage.  As utilities and governments invest in systems to monitor home energy use in real time, products are coming to market that interface with the grid.

This is one entry for GE’s Ecomagination Challenge.  It reminds people of that image of a polar bear swimming with no ice to rest on because of global warming.  It changes color depending on the energy being consumed by the home.  Research shows that when people are shown the real time cost of energy going into the home, they are more likely to reduce their consumption.

As one person described to me recently, when there is a meter in your house that shows how much your energy consumption is costing you right now, even your kids will run around turning off lights.

The bear changes it’s glow from green to pink when your home energy use goes above a pre-determined level.

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I never even knew this technology existed until now, but apparently you can transmit internet signals via visual signals.  A city in Minnesota has installed light fixtures that both save energy and reduce wifi over-burdening.

The LED lights flicker at a rate undetectable by the human eye, transmitting signals back and forth.  (Think binary: off=0, on=1)  This saves 70-80% on electricity consumption, which more than covers the costs of the internet service.  The flickering light is picked up by a special modem on the computer while requests to the network are transmitted in the same way upward.  My question is, does the speed and reliability decrease when it’s sunny out?

This is a great solution for businesses and office parks to both save money and distribute internet service around the complex.  The technology was installed by a company called LVX.  The current limitations of the technology suggest it could be used in smaller scales, not as a total replacement for wifi as the top transer limit is around 3 Mbps, or the equivalent of a residential DSL line.

I would gladly take 3 Mbps since I found out the peak of Mt. Everest has high speed internet while I am still without reliable internet in a developed country.

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It’s that time of year.  The temperature is dropping and I woke up to snow flying through the air.  Although Halloween isn’t typically thought of as a winter prep day, I am taking some steps to tighten up my home right before carving some pumpkins.

These tips are from various sources and will help almost any homeowner save on utility bills and carbon emissions this winter.

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EarthTalk® is a weekly environmental column made available to our readers from the editors of E/The Environmental Magazine

Dear EarthTalk: Which woods are OK to purchase, and which are not, in the interest of preserving forests and not harming those who depend upon them? – Jon Steiner, Boise, ID

Deforestation continues to be one of the world’s biggest environmental problems, especially in fast developing regions like South America, Southeast Asia and Africa. Cutting down large numbers of trees erodes land and silts waterways, displaces native people and wildlife, and releases tons of carbon dioxide (which is stored in living wood fiber) into the atmosphere, contributing to global warming.

Of course, wood products are essential to modern life. Without wood we wouldn’t have the buildings, furniture, paper and other essentials we make use of every day. That’s why protecting sources of wood has become a leading concern among not just environmentalists but everyone else as well.

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Ever notice LED’s (Light Emitting Diodes) are always round?  They emit light in all directions which has been somewhat of a hindrance for some advanced applications.  As we’ve discussed before, LED’s are a major component of the energy conserving consumer plan.

Interestingly, most light sources we have create round light.  Go ahead, look around you and notice the shape.  This is handy for illuminating entire rooms or large spaces.  However as noted by the folks at Green Tech Media, many elements of life are, in fact, square or straight.  Read: desks, roads, paper, etc.

The value in a new product coming from a startup in Austin, TX is that their LED light source creates a square light which will work from a practical and design perspective in more applications.

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During travel and leisure time, many people let their environmental ideals slip a bit. Is it possible balance our desires to see new places, try new foods, and have a good time with our desire to remain responsible for our environmental impact? Travel doesn’t have to be about boundless consumption. Here are some ideas, both big and small, to begin greening your next trip.-Cut down on flying. Plane trips are the biggest slice of many people’s carbon footprint. Try exploring a place closer to home or get the most out of your flight by planning a longer trip where you can see more things in a region at once. You can also plan a cycling, back packing, or walking excursion. These “slow” trips cut down on fossil fuel usage, save money, and put us more in touch with a sense of distance and the world around us.

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Biochar is an old technology with new implications for environmental benefit.  Made from carbon-based materials super-heated to over 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit  in the absence of oxygen, biochar is a charcoal look-alike.  However, it’s not nearly as messy and offers some amazing cleansing and carbon sequestration properties.

Biochar is being researched across the world as a potential (and partial) solution to the climate crisis and environmental protection issues.  Although still in it’s infancy in terms of modern-day applications, Biochar is an incredibly promising innovation.

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By D.E. Putnam

“If in any country a forest was destroyed I do not believe nearly so many species of animals would perish as would here from the destruction of the kelp.”
–Charles Darwin 1834

One can only imagine the abundance of creatures Darwin saw at the Galapagos Islands to suggest kelp beds were home to far more animals than the forest of any country in the world. The naturalist captures in one sentence the essential role kelp plays in the marine environment. In California, the undersea forests formed by giant kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera) provide critical habitat and food for over 800 species of organisms. They hold one of the greatest concentrations of biodiversity in all the world’s oceans. The remarkable number of creatures whose existence depends on the giant brown algae makes it an irreplaceable feature of the marine ecosystem.

Kelp forests support one quarter of native marine life in California waters. If the kelp is lost so too are those species. Raising the specter of such a loss is the drastic decline of giant kelp along the Golden State’s shores. Over the last century eighty percent of it has vanished. The potential consequences of this wide spread loss of essential habitat are devastating and have spurred restoration efforts to reestablish the kelp.

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