Five Ways to Fight Global Warming At Home
by Laurie Husted
As Environmental Resources Auditor at Bard College, I am constantly seeking ways to promote environmentally sustainable practices around campus. From the transportation of our students to the trash we generate, and from the electricity and fuel oil we burn to what we buy and how we build, many of our activities inevitably contribute to greenhouse gas production. We at Bard strive to be responsible citizens, while always stretching our dollars to give our students the best education we can. Some of our efforts toward sustainability are large-scale capital improvements that lower our energy use and will save tens of thousands of dollars — a recent project, for example, will use solar thermal panels instead of fuel oil to provide heat for the Stevenson Gymnasium. While most private citizens won't be able to undertake this kind of project at home, many of our campus initiatives can actually be applied to our home lives as well. If you've been thinking about ways to make your home and lifestyle more environmentally friendly without breaking the bank — you might find some of these ideas useful.
1) Choose compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) . About one quarter of a home's electric bill is from lighting. If you use old-fashioned incandescent light bulbs you are also generating heat that makes it harder to keep your house cool. This summer we replaced a number of high-use lights in a family home. The top choices for the retrofit were lights that we left on more than four hours in a day and were not on dimmer switches. The new compact bulbs fit in the old sockets, and our lampshades fit over the tops. We lowered our watts from 60 watt bulbs to 13 watts, and got the same amount of light. The ten bulbs that we changed could save us up to $150 each year. To find out more, go to: www.energystar.gov.
2) Idling gets you nowhere. About half the GHG emitted from the average home comes from driving the family cars. An easy way to reduce their impact is to stop unnecessary idling. Idling wastes gas and degrades local air quality. If you will be stopped for more than ten seconds, whether at the drive-through, bank, or while chatting, it is better to turn off the engine. Another period of idling you can eliminate is during the "morning warm-up." On a cold winter day, you can warm up the engine up to 30 seconds to circulate the oil, but driving a car is the best way to warm up the other moving parts. The Car Talk guys agree — your car doesn't care whether you drive it with the engine warm or cold. Useful website: www.oee.nrcan.gc.ca.
3) Choosing "Local" Food. It was a particular surprise to walk into a supermarket in New York and find apples imported from Washington State. About five percent of the GHG created by the average family comes from the transport of our food — produce travels an average of 1,500 miles to reach us. You can support local farms by buying a share of a farm's production through Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). Over the winter, you commit to a farm by buying a share of the farm's produce for the upcoming summer. When the lettuce starts to grow, you collect your weekly "payment" in vegetables. Your dollars spread the farmer's risk; good summer weather will yield a bounty that all will benefit from. Two area CSA's are www.sistershillfarm.org and www.heartyroots.com.
Other ways to reduce GHG emissions include buying organic, choosing food with reduced packaging, buying fresh food over frozen items, and shopping from local farmstands.
4) Buy green energy. You can now make a choice to support green energy in New York. Contact Central Hudson to choose an energy supplier with a green offering. Central Hudson will remain your delivery company. While your home or business will not directly receive electricity generated from a renewable resource, you will be paying for green energy generated elsewhere, and your action will help drive the market for renewable power generation in New York. You will help diversify New York's energy supply and improve its reliability and price stability. By choosing a green power source, you will be reducing air pollutants (which, after all, do cross county lines). Less than one percent of NY's current energy mix is generated from wind, solar energy or biomass; the remaining 17 percent of renewable energy comes from hydropower. Go to: www.centralhudson.com.
5) Take advantage of the Red Hook Recycling Center. The garbage we generate emits GHGs twice — first when the trucks come to collect our refuse and again as it decomposes at the landfill or is burned in the incinerator. Options for both re-use and recycling are available in many local communities. At Red Hook's Recycling Center, there is a "Take It or Leave It" that accepts many items for redistribution to other community members. Web-based www.freecycle.org opens this process to a larger area — you can post items that you would like to donate to another family; over 1,500 people participate in Dutchess County Freecycle. Review the recycling rules, fee structure and hours of operation at this website: www.redhook.org/town_departments/recycling.htm.
Besides being Bard's Environmental Resources Auditor, Laurie Husted is a member of the Town of Red Hook's Conservation Advisory Council.
