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With a Few Changes, Your Home Can Produce Less Energy and Help Reduce Natural Waste and Pollution

[ Written By Lissa Poirot ]

It seems everywhere you turn these days, we are being bombarded with a “green” alternative. Organic foods and goods are increasingly found at local stores, as Whole Foods becomes the grocery store of choice for health- and earth-conscious shoppers wanting to keep harmful pesticides, chemicals and preservatives out of their body, as well as the environment. Water conservation continues to be the topic of neighborhood conversation, as brush fires and the state’s continued drought have our lawns turning an unappealing shade of desert tan. And as reported in “Trouble in the Air” on page 32, Georgia’s air quality fails national tests for cleanliness.

Protecting our environment and our health begins at home. Yes, with the foods we eat, but also with the changes we make to keep out toxins and conserve water and energy. Between 1984 and 2004, Georgia’s residential energy consumption increased by 79 percent, according to the Department of Natural Resources, and Georgians use 25 percent more residential electricity than the national average, along with 107,000 gallons of water a year.

“Just looking at the amount of energy that is wasted in a typical home is pretty amazing,” said Michael Halicki, communications director at the Clean Air Campaign. “The average household, in 2005, spent roughly $4,500 on all energy costs, gasoline, energy bills, etc. That’s $600 more than we saw in 2004, it’s a big drain on our resources.”

If you’re ready to help conserve water, clean up our air and reduce waste, Points North offers ways you can go green at home.

Start Small

It doesn’t take much to make a difference. Take time this weekend to make small changes that will reduce waste in the home.

Change lightbulbs. Compact fluorescent lightbulbs (CFLs) use only 24 percent of the energy of traditional bulbs. Although initially more expensive than a typical lightbulb, CFLs last longer and can save $20 to $50 over the life of a bulb.

Program temperatures. During the summer, set the temperature to 78 during the day and 85 at night, then lower temperatures to 68 degrees during winter days and 60 during the night. Each degree cooler or hotter at eight consecutive hours will lower energy use by one percent (and save you $40 to $100 per month), according to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). When not at home, raise or lower the temperatures to reduce power even more. If you do not have a programmable thermostat, they are easy to install and can be purchased at Home Depot or Lowe’s.

Change filters. Changing and cleaning furnace and air ­conditioning filters will help your heating and cooling systems to run more efficiently, so they don’t have to work so hard.

Turn down the water heater. Keeping the water heater at a lower temperature (120 degrees) reduces the energy required to keep the water heated. For every 10 degrees the temperature is lowered, you’ll reduce energy by 3 to 5 percent, according to the DOE. Adding a fiberglass insulation jacket around the heater and water pipes can also save energy (and money). If it’s time to get a new water heater, try a tankless heater, which is more compact and do not store water, reducing energy consumption by 20 to 30 percent compared to storage water heaters.

Wash in cold water. Heat used in laundry accounts for 90 percent of the energy process, but warm and even cold water can clean with less energy.

Check sprinklers. Make sure ­sprinklers do not face sidewalks and driveways, where water won’t be absorbed and runs into sewers.

Go chemical-free. Use cleaning products that do not contain harmful chemicals, especially when using in sinks, laundry and while washing cars, where water returns to the environment. Seventh ­Generation products, available at Harry’s Farmers Market and Whole Foods, feature non-toxic chemicals, which reduce air ­pollutants as well.

Renovations for Change

With a little more effort and pocket change, renovations to your home and garden can be a great return on investment.

Plant trees and shrubs. Not only do additional trees help convert carbon dioxide back into oxygen, they absorb noise and sunlight. Adding shade trees near the home’s west and south sides can keep direct sunlight away, reducing interior temperatures by up to 20 percent. Choose trees that lose their leaves in fall so the home gains solar heat in the winter.

Sierra-scape. Conserve water needed to keep a green lawn by sierra-scaping — using crushed rocks and shrubs in landscape design that do not need much water. Use cisterns and systems to collect rainwater for watering.

Tint windows. From tinted films that can be applied to windows to installing ­windows with built-in tinting (both available at Lowe’s and Home Depot), the reduced light will also keep direct sunlight at bay (not to mention preventing fabrics and paint to fade). Installing new double-glazed windows on an older home can also provide better insulation to keep in heat and cool air.

Replace appliances. Give your home a facelift by purchasing appliances with the “Energy Star” label, which are ­products that meet strict energy efficiency guidelines set by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and DOE. For example, an Energy Star-qualified refrigerator uses at least 15 percent less energy than required by current federal standards and 40 percent less energy than conventional models sold before 2001.

Update the roof. Darker roofs absorb heat, but reflective coatings found at Home Depot and Lowe’s can reduce energy cost by up to 35 percent, according to the Reflective Roof Coatings Institute. Or if it’s time for a new roof, consider a lighter shingle color.

Install fans. Despite what the interior decorators on “Trading Spaces” think, ceiling fans are good additions to rooms, keeping homes cooler in the summer, and circulating warm air in the winter.

From the Ground Up

When building a new home, adding additional rooms or doing a major overhaul of an existing space, using eco-friendly materials and adding big ticket items that reuse and recycle energy will keep your home more energy efficient over the course of years.

Better hardwood flooring. Love the look of hardwoods? ­Consider bamboo, a faster-growing source of wood that grows abundantly and replenishes quickly. Bamboo also requires less ­frequent refinishing and is more resilient than softer woods like pine. Finding local wood will also cut down on energy used to transport the material.

Add skylights and solar panels. Operable skylights with low emissivity glass allow for maximum light and minimum heat and reduce energy and lighting costs. (Including shade screens help prevent a build up of heat.) Using solar panels to convert the sun’s energy into home and water heating solutions can reduce energy consumption by up to 50 percent. The U.S. Energy Policy Act of 2005 includes renewable tax credits to homeowners who have solar electric or solar water heating installed.

Use passive solar building. When starting from scratch, ­passive solar building design can use windows, walls and floors to ­collect, store and distribute the sun’s heat. The DOE finds that incorporating designs, such as daylighting a home and taking advantage of natural sunlight through the well-placed ­windows and floorplans, can reduce heating bills by as much as 50 ­percent.

Use Energy Star builders. The same strict EPA and DOE codes for energy efficient appliances is put into place for homebuilders. Utilizing an Energy Star builder or purchasing an Energy Star home substantially saves on energy used for heating and cooling throughout the home’s lifetime. To find an Energy Star builder, visit www.energystar.gov. PN

Green Goes Chic

photo courtesy of ecomanor

Laura Turner Seydel didn’t plan to build the Southeast’s first LEED-certified manor. An active environmentalist who founded the Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper Fund with her husband Rutherford, co-founded Mothers & Others for Clean Air,

serves as chairman for the Captain Planet Foundation and is on the board of Earth Share Georgia, the Nature Conservancy of Georgia and more, Seydel found herself having to build from the ground up when a tree fell and destroyed her home. Wanting to be earth friendly, Seydel hooked up with EarthCraft Home’s New York-based interior designer Jillian Pritchard Cooke, and ­Atlanta architect Bill Harrison of Harrison Design Associates, ­David Hardy and Jerome Rossetti of Atlanta’s DeLany Rossetti ­Construction, and Atlanta landscape designer Ed Castro to ­create EcoManor, a home serving as a showcase of green, eco-friendly ways to live without losing any style or luxuries. EcoManor incorporates LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) building, which encourages efficiency through design, material selection, waste reduction, water conservation and reuse and energy efficiency.

Hardwood floors, vaulted ceilings, a chef’s kitchen, oversized windows, rich colors, stainless steel appliances … you’d never guess the home to be one of a serious environmentalist. But from construction to interior decorating, the home incorporates eco-friendly products and features. Wood floors are locally grown from an environmentally certified plantation, south-facing windows use Passive Solar Energy to capture winter rays to naturally heat the home, tankless water heaters provide instant hot water and save energy, solar tubes and skylights provide natural lighting throughout the house, 26 solar panels convert sun rays into electric energy, natural fibers were used on furniture and rug fabrics, organic paints and stains were used for a non-toxic environment, automated faucets were installed to lower water consumption, rain water is channeled into cisterns that supply water to the home’s toilets, landscaping utilizes drought-tolerant plants and shrubs to reduce need for water and maintenance, and dimmable compact florescent lights were installed to reduce heat and energy.

“You don’t have to build a new home from scratch to be environmentally friendly,” Seydel said. “Little changes like switching to energy-efficient fluorescent lightbulbs not only save you money by lowering your power bills, but use less energy. Saving the environment starts at home with little changes.”