the NEGG

A New York Times article just published today is talking about carbon offsets for airlines. I’m a little upset with myself that I did not know about this and it has been going on for a few years, but then again, I do not fly all that often. I agree with the NYT on this one, this program cannot possible be too effective. You give the airline company more money (because we all just love doing that!) and they will do some small act to offset the carbon emitted from your flight. What I want to know is: Why can’t the airlines just use the extra 30 bucks they get per bag and plan a tree with that? Why on Earth would we give them more money! Insane! I would be more on board about this (pun intended) if the airlines told me they would use that extra money to research how to make their planes more efficient. Do yourself a favor if you want to go green whilst you travel, turn your computer at home since no one will be around to use it. I just see this offset business as a way for airlines to make themselves look good while at the same time make money and do nothing.

View the article here

I would have to say that the sleep button is the most underused function on the computer. You may be able to justify this by telling yourself that your computer takes to long to boot up so you leave it on. But does it really make sense to leave your computer on for 6-8 hours while you sleep just so that you will not have to wait an extra two minutes? Not only does leaving the computer on for all those hours waste money and increase your electric bill, but it puts unnecessary wear and tear on your computer. Would you leave your car running all night just so that you don’t have to go into a cold car in the morning? Do you leave your oven on all day just so you do not have to wait for it to preheat? And unless you enjoy having your car stolen, you would not leave it running while you are in the store. So why does one feel the need to leave the computer running all day long?

A solution to this is to get a faster computer…..or, the simple solution is to just use the sleep button. The computer uses very little energy in sleep mode, and when you “wake” it up, it turns on instantly and saves all of the windows and programs you had open. The hard part is what to do with those extra two minutes you just gained. You can also set your computer to go to sleep after a certain amount of time so you won’t have to worry about forgetting about leaving your computer on.

Desktops generally use 100 – 250 watts when on and use only 1 – 6 watts when they are in sleep mode. Screen savers do not save you any money because the computer is still running (fans and drives are all still spinning) and that nifty bouncing ball may even use more energy since the computer needs to process those graphics. True, if the computer is just sitting around it will use less energy than if you were doing some intense gaming, but that is why I gave you a range: 100 watts for checking your Facebook and 250 watts for playing the Sims.

Here is an article from the New York Times about an 1,800 square foot modular home. In fact, this is actually the owner’s second home and although I think a green second home is some sort of a paradox, at least it is a move in the right direction. It comes complete with salvaged pieces from old buildings and solar panels. The company New World Home is making such a big splash because they are showing that modular homes can certainly be economically viable and aesthetically pleasing.

View the article here

Composting your yard waste is a great way ensure you are not needlessly filling up landfills. The problem with putting leaves in a plastic bag is that the since the plastic bag does not decompose, the leaves inside cannot decompose.

The simplest method is to just use the mulch function (no bag) on your lawn mower. The grass clippings will provide a great free fertilizer for your lawn. What could possibly be simpler than doing nothing extra at all? However, if the going gets tough, you will have to use the bag. Rather than filling up a giant lawn bag half-way (or half empty), dump and spread the clippings over your flower bed to prevent weeds from growing around your plants. If there are toxic fertilizers present on the grass, I wouldn’t sprinkle this around the edible plants in your garden.

Of course, if your town picks up your yard waste to be brought to a composting facility, then you should do so. But, if you have room and feel ambitions, you can make your own compost pile of yard waste. Dig a large shallow hole and fill it with some leaves. Lightly cover it with dirt and place some more leaves over that, and sprinkle that with some more dirt. You will be amazed at how many leaves you can fit into such a small hole. If you followed my recommendation of waiting to rake up the leaves, then they should be that much lighter and crumbled. Be sure to mix up the pile every other week or so to ensure there is plenty of oxygen to take place. A year or more later, you should have the finest top soil money can buy.

If you don’t have enough room in your yard (or don’t want to look at the pile of rotting leaves soon to be beautiful, nutrient rich potting soil) but you are uneasy about the fact that you are preventing purely organic matter from returning to the earth, I suppose you could purchase the biodegradable bags instead.