How "green" are you?

[Racerbvd]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

Not very, but some. I recycle my newspapers & magazines & aluminum. I drive cars that were made in the 80s.

I never ever litter at all.

Same here, it takes no more effert for me to put papers cans in a recycle bin than a garbage can, been doing it for years, I also use those funky light bulbs..

Cars, I'm old school, and catch hell from local PCA cause I won't buy a newer Porsche and get rid of my older cars, but I like my old cars, so I won't. I am trying to thin down on my cars & stuff, but not looking to replace them..

I have Haggerty bags for going to the store
The way I see it, if I spend more money upfront on insulation & attic cooling, it cost less down the road & my AC doesn't have to work as hard (something people seem to not think about..

[pwd72s]

Originally Posted by peppy

I have stopped dumping used oil on the ground.

Me too...but I do save some for starting a brush pile burn...

[Tim Hancock]

I despise the word green. (that said, I like the idea of geothermal for my house which I may convert to someday if the cap/trade BS goes through as my house is electric heat)

I grew up burning trash in a barrel and hauling glass/tin cans to a dump.

I will only buy an energy efficient appliance if it will pencil out as a cost savings short term (new appliances do not last long enough to consider long term) or if the old one breaks and I can't fix it.

I think buying a present day hybrid or electric car is a waste of money and is anything but green as they typically run on electricity mainly provided by coal. They are nothing more than a way for folks to say "hey look at me... I am green".

I think large scale PV solar is a waste of my tax dollars as it will never be a cost efficient large scale producer of electricity.

I despise govt mandated ethanol which will never be a cost efficient large scale form of energy.

I think the only real solution to our long term energy problem is nuclear (at which time electric cars will start to make sense).

[sammyg2]

Originally Posted by cbush

I remember from the early 60s folks would drive their cars with two wheels on the curb over a storm drain. Would elevate the car so they could crawl under and drain the oil. They still dump it on the ground in much of the world

Yea, things are better now--but we can always do more.

Finding a use for recycled materials is still a challenge.It is interesting how they have taken old tires, and made them into a valuable commodity. So that is an example of progress in recycling.

LOL, progress? ROFLMAO!

The largest use for "recycled" tires is to burn them for fuel.

Iffn you are concerned with the environment, burning tires probably isn't high on your list of good things.

They can be chopped up to use as a playground material, but that's crazy expensive for what you get because of the steel in the rubber.

There's only one reasonable use for old tires that i know of:

[RWebb]

the main reason for most recycling is to conserve landfill space; landfills are expensive to operate

I put in hydronic heat last year and it looks like I saved about 30% on my heating bill. I was also keeping the house warmer and the floor heat is way more comfy.

Geothermal works great - it's very cost effective if you have your own backhoe and enuff space to lay the pipes.

Ethanol made from genetically engineered algae in vats will eventually be a VERY cost efficient large scale form of energy. That's in the future.

BTW, just noticed that Philips EnduraLED bulbs are out now - nice warm light and an 80% energy savings. I may put some in hard to reach areas, while waiting for them to get cheap enuff to make sense for use elsewhere.

[RWebb]

sammy, some streets are paved with recycled tires

[Tim Hancock]

Originally Posted by RWebb

Ethanol made from genetically engineered algae in vats will eventually be a VERY cost efficient large scale form of energy. That's in the future.

I dont know anything about algae vat produced ethanol, but the corn based stuff presently being made is NOT finacially viable large scale, so the govt should quit supporting it.... same goes for the current production of PV. I do not mind govt lending some support to R&D for "new" technology, but subsidies for existing PV solar is just plain wrong.

[red-beard]

Originally Posted by RWebb

the main reason for most recycling is to conserve landfill space; landfills are expensive to operate

Not really. They are expensive because of what we require of them these days. Not that I'm opposed to preventing pollution from them, within reason.

Originally Posted by RWebb

I put in hydronic heat last year and it looks like I saved about 30% on my heating bill. I was also keeping the house warmer and the floor heat is way more comfy.

That is nothing more than a form of forced hot water heating, which has been around for years.

Originally Posted by RWebb

Geothermal works great - it's very cost effective if you have your own backhoe and enuff space to lay the pipes.

I wouldn't call that geothermal. Geothermal is earth-heating and is usually related to hotsprings, etc. If you've got a hotspring for heating, you are in very good shape, except when the volcano comes.

The system you describe is a geo-heatpump, where instead of heat rejection/absorbtion from air you are doing it from a large ground, usually ground water, area. It is not cheap to install, but it is cheap to run. Unless you have a leak. Then you have to dig and find the leak...

Originally Posted by RWebb

Ethanol made from genetically engineered algae in vats will eventually be a VERY cost efficient large scale form of energy. That's in the future.

It is the future, like electric cars and other things. There needs to be a revolution to make it work. And algae is nothing more than a form of solar energy.

Originally Posted by RWebb

BTW, just noticed that Philips EnduraLED bulbs are out now - nice warm light and an 80% energy savings. I may put some in hard to reach areas, while waiting for them to get cheap enuff to make sense for use elsewhere.

I priced these up for a job and the energy saving was 80% over florescence tubes. I ran the numbers and even in the $40 per bulb, over the life of the bulb they save enough energy to pay for themselves several times. If you include the cost of changing the bulbs in a commercial environment, they are even more cost effective.

I did try using the LEDs in a replacement for a house incandecent bulb and it didn't work. The replacement was much too weak.

Originally Posted by RWebb

sammy, some streets are paved with recycled tires

See his comment. The cost to chop up steel belted tires is expensive. Tire buring power plants have had this problem for years. GE build a plant in Modesto, CA to burn who tires. The problems with the plant mostly had to do with getting the tires to the boiler, compensating for different tire sizes, emissions and serious conveyor belt problems. No one has built another plant since.

[Wintermute]

Originally Posted by Racerbvd

Cars, I'm old school, and catch hell from local PCA cause I won't buy a newer Porsche and get rid of my older cars, but I like my old cars, so I won't.

Seriously?

I planted hundreds of trees when I was a teenager on 16 acres of property. So I figure I pre-paid for my Carbon Credits.

[sammyg2]

Originally Posted by RWebb

sammy, some streets are paved with recycled tires

They're paved with asphalt, but they mix in shredded rubber to try to make the ashalt last longer and prevent cracking.
It's more expensive to do it that way and there is debate if the additional cost is justified. They've been using it in California for 30 years and every few years they try a different mix or blend or binder.

If you talk to the folks that get paid to make it, it's the best thing since sliced bread. but others are not so sure.
And they still have to remove all the steel belting and bead wires, that's expensive and a PITA.

If somone could invent a tire that ran on 100 psi pressure and still handled good and still gave a decent ride, that'd be huge in fuel savings.
Lots of smart folks are working on it but so far no magic wand.

[red-beard]

I run 120 psi in my tires.

...on my bicycle...

[azasadny]

Originally Posted by Henry Schmidt

I live on a property with 400 trees.
Walk to work.
Recycle religiously
Offer a sanctuary for wild life
Recycle/ treat my own sewage and water the trees with gray water produced by showers, laundry and sinks.
Solar heat our water.
Offer housing for a least 2 bee colonies.
I restore old cars that when put back into use reflect a very small carbon foot print as compared to the production of a new car. Every new car produced potentialy has a huge carbon footprint perhaps more than it will produce it's lifetime. Imagine the pollution you get from plastics factory, tanneries, steel mills. foundries and paint production just to name a few.
Green?
I also believe that the eco-nasis that terrorize small children with fabricated fantasies about Global Warming and the evils of human existence do more harm than good.
We all want fresh air, clean water and a symbiotic relationship with nature but that should be the goal not an obsession.. Lifestyle choices foisted upon entire populations by unelected bureaucrats with the sole purpose of controlling the masses is tyranny by fear.

Rant over, move along.

Amen to that!!

[RWebb]

I agree about tires - it is a headache -- worse, old tires are a huge breeding ground for mosquitos (which now carry West Nile Virus).

James - I did not mean to imply that hydronic heat was new or was = geothermal, just that it worked surprisingly well.

[teenerted1]

well i do drive a 40yr old car...since its not in a landfill i figure thats pretty "GREEN"

i wish they would go back to the paper bags at the store though...i stock pile the plastic ones and bring them to the store every few months though.

recycling is a no brainer here....they pick up recycling every two weeks and it is always full, (90gal can). they now take tons of stuff in our yard waste now, things like pizza boxes, paper towels and even animal bones. that (also 90gal.)gets full every three weeks or so even with a weekend of lawn clippings. it does get filled every week if my neighbor borrows it for her lawn clippings though.

the garbage can would proably take a month to even get close to filling the 30gal can i have.

[1990C4S]

Originally Posted by RWebb

BTW, just noticed that Philips EnduraLED bulbs are out now - nice warm light and an 80% energy savings. I may put some in hard to reach areas, while waiting for them to get cheap enuff to make sense for use elsewhere.

Depends on your location, the further north you go, the less you save.

[stealthn]

Apparently we saved 20 tons of CO2

The following shows your cumulative emission/waste footprint reductions to date.

Cumulative kWh to date: 27,965.952

CO2 (tonnes) NO (kg) S02 (kg) High-level radioactive (g)
Footprint reductions 20.4 51.4 96.9 0.0

[Jagshund]

Carried a plastic cup around a doctor's office for two+ hours today because they didn't have a bin.

[patssle]

I'm putting a metal building on my land which is located in the middle of a national forest north of Houston. Instead of paying $4k for electricity hookup, I plan on putting some solar panels on a rail system to move with the sun through the trees (yes, in a forest). Instead of paying a grand or two for a well, I plan on putting a couple hundred gallon water tank in the building and install a water collection system for rain water.

Total off grid. Not living there, just a weekend getaway.

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by sammyg2

Looks like you've picked up a couple of nails already.....