idleprocess
Flashaholic
This is in a similar vein to Darell's post How to Sell Electric Vehicle/Solar Power?
There's a persistent image of self-described "environmentalists" as ELF "commandos," tree-huggers, and far-left field leftists that advocate top-down solutions for environmental problems.
How about practical things that individuals can do without trying to change the world? There are scads of things that individual people can do without radically changing their lifestyle that make fiscal sense as well as providing whatever warm fuzzy they get from doing a good thing.
I confess to being a big fan of Natural Capitalism, so if some of these ideas sound familiar, you know the source. Some of these ideas are immedaitely practical, others have longer-term payout, and yet others might not cut it for most.
Solar / Wind Power
There are advantages to owning your own power plant - especially if you're far from the grid, experience frequent power outages, or pay absurd rates for power. Solar arrays in sunny parts of the country have been known to pay for themselves within 4-6 years and provide 20-30 years of reliable power. Supplement a solar array with a small wind turbine, and you'll likely always be generating power.
Also, "solar shingles" are becoming more widely available. These shingles cost more than conventional shingles, but are more substantially durable and relatively easy to install.
Central DC power supply
In most homes, there are a slew of small electronic appliances (answering machines, cellphone chargers, battery chargers, cordless phones, etc) that have a cheap, inefficient AC/DC power "brick." A centralized, high-efficiency DC power supply producing the most common voltages could easily power most of the small appliances in a home.
The 2.1mm center-positive barrel connector has become a standard for most low-draw DC appliances, so it's not hard to see standardized plugs at the receptacle-end for varying DC voltages.
Super-insulation
There are off-the-shelf products available that could easily reduce the energy required to heat/cool buildings by tremendous factors.
Passive heating/cooling
It's possible to design buildings that require minimal mechanical subsystems to maintain a comfortable year-round temperature. This is possible with careful analysis of regional weather patterns and taking advantage of static conditions at the site of the building (ie, one side of the building that's always in shade, etc). Usually, the only systems required are for air circulation.
These setups reduce a utility bill substantially, since heating and cooling are typically the largest energy expenditure in buildings.
Composting & recycling
All sorts of organic waste goes into landfill that just occupies volume and often fails to decompose. Compost makes good fertilizer, and it's free.
Recycling is obvious - recycle in volume and it's often worth money to individuals if you're willing to make a trip to a scrap business every now and then.
Lanscape with native plants
Native plants are already adapted to the local climate, thus they require less irrigation, fertilizer, etc than imported plants.
In semi-arrid Dallas, an amazing amount of water is expended every summer (during water shortages, no less!) keeping introduced Bermuda grass an unnatural green. Native prarie grasses can stick out the toughest drouts without irrigation.
...
There are all sorts of other things that "can be done," but they require some changes in the economy, be they through regulation, consumer pressure, or looking beyond business methods that are currently taken for granted.
Comments?
EDIT : spelling, touch-ups
There's a persistent image of self-described "environmentalists" as ELF "commandos," tree-huggers, and far-left field leftists that advocate top-down solutions for environmental problems.
How about practical things that individuals can do without trying to change the world? There are scads of things that individual people can do without radically changing their lifestyle that make fiscal sense as well as providing whatever warm fuzzy they get from doing a good thing.
I confess to being a big fan of Natural Capitalism, so if some of these ideas sound familiar, you know the source. Some of these ideas are immedaitely practical, others have longer-term payout, and yet others might not cut it for most.
Solar / Wind Power
There are advantages to owning your own power plant - especially if you're far from the grid, experience frequent power outages, or pay absurd rates for power. Solar arrays in sunny parts of the country have been known to pay for themselves within 4-6 years and provide 20-30 years of reliable power. Supplement a solar array with a small wind turbine, and you'll likely always be generating power.
Also, "solar shingles" are becoming more widely available. These shingles cost more than conventional shingles, but are more substantially durable and relatively easy to install.
Central DC power supply
In most homes, there are a slew of small electronic appliances (answering machines, cellphone chargers, battery chargers, cordless phones, etc) that have a cheap, inefficient AC/DC power "brick." A centralized, high-efficiency DC power supply producing the most common voltages could easily power most of the small appliances in a home.
The 2.1mm center-positive barrel connector has become a standard for most low-draw DC appliances, so it's not hard to see standardized plugs at the receptacle-end for varying DC voltages.
Super-insulation
There are off-the-shelf products available that could easily reduce the energy required to heat/cool buildings by tremendous factors.
Passive heating/cooling
It's possible to design buildings that require minimal mechanical subsystems to maintain a comfortable year-round temperature. This is possible with careful analysis of regional weather patterns and taking advantage of static conditions at the site of the building (ie, one side of the building that's always in shade, etc). Usually, the only systems required are for air circulation.
These setups reduce a utility bill substantially, since heating and cooling are typically the largest energy expenditure in buildings.
Composting & recycling
All sorts of organic waste goes into landfill that just occupies volume and often fails to decompose. Compost makes good fertilizer, and it's free.
Recycling is obvious - recycle in volume and it's often worth money to individuals if you're willing to make a trip to a scrap business every now and then.
Lanscape with native plants
Native plants are already adapted to the local climate, thus they require less irrigation, fertilizer, etc than imported plants.
In semi-arrid Dallas, an amazing amount of water is expended every summer (during water shortages, no less!) keeping introduced Bermuda grass an unnatural green. Native prarie grasses can stick out the toughest drouts without irrigation.
...
There are all sorts of other things that "can be done," but they require some changes in the economy, be they through regulation, consumer pressure, or looking beyond business methods that are currently taken for granted.
Comments?
EDIT : spelling, touch-ups
