Environmental Wish List
So, here are the things we want to do to the house to make it our complete environmental pad. Complete to our standards, because we know a heck of a lot of people that are taking things much further than us. Take No Impact Man, for example, we are not them but wish we were.
1) Solar Panels
2) Rainwater Collection System
3) Whole House Fan
4) More Attic Insulation
5) New, Energy Star Water Heater, or On Demand Hot Water System
The rest of our list is complete. We are dedicated to living a simple lifestyle on a small footprint. Here's what we've done so far to reach our goal.
1) Complete remodel of basement (instead of buying a larger home). We added a family room, playroom, 4th bedroom and bathroom.
2) Complete upgrade of all household appliances to energy star ratings (electric bill went from $90/month when we moved in to $31/month). Lots of coal-fire power plant savings there. New washer/dryer, dishwasher, refrigerator, furnace, all light bulbs are compact florescent.
3) We have one car.
4) Brooke rides his bike to work (helps cyclocross training too).
5) Organic Gardening - no watering the grass for us! Raising our own organic vegetables. Going easy on any pesticides/herbicides.
6) Composting our food waste.
7) Recycling everything that we can.
8) Never using another plastic bag at the grocery store.
9) Installed a water filtration system instead of getting plastic, bottled water.
10) We finished a course from the Northwest Earth Institute called Healthy Children/Healthy Planet
11) If we must buy stuff, we purchase from environmentally friendly and/or local businesses. No Wal Mart or big box stores for us.
12) We eat organic food.
13) We get outside every day.
14) We are not buying anything for 6 months (except food of course). Yes, this includes birthdays, anniversaries, holidays. We will get creative about our gifts this year.
15) We learned how to can our food.
16) No TV - get off the sofa and into life. Not to mention the benefits of not being bombarded by materialistic advertisements.
It's been six years in the making, but we've really done a lot when we review the list.
1) Solar Panels
2) Rainwater Collection System
3) Whole House Fan
4) More Attic Insulation
5) New, Energy Star Water Heater, or On Demand Hot Water System
The rest of our list is complete. We are dedicated to living a simple lifestyle on a small footprint. Here's what we've done so far to reach our goal.
1) Complete remodel of basement (instead of buying a larger home). We added a family room, playroom, 4th bedroom and bathroom.
2) Complete upgrade of all household appliances to energy star ratings (electric bill went from $90/month when we moved in to $31/month). Lots of coal-fire power plant savings there. New washer/dryer, dishwasher, refrigerator, furnace, all light bulbs are compact florescent.
3) We have one car.
4) Brooke rides his bike to work (helps cyclocross training too).
5) Organic Gardening - no watering the grass for us! Raising our own organic vegetables. Going easy on any pesticides/herbicides.
6) Composting our food waste.
7) Recycling everything that we can.
8) Never using another plastic bag at the grocery store.
9) Installed a water filtration system instead of getting plastic, bottled water.
10) We finished a course from the Northwest Earth Institute called Healthy Children/Healthy Planet
11) If we must buy stuff, we purchase from environmentally friendly and/or local businesses. No Wal Mart or big box stores for us.
12) We eat organic food.
13) We get outside every day.
14) We are not buying anything for 6 months (except food of course). Yes, this includes birthdays, anniversaries, holidays. We will get creative about our gifts this year.
15) We learned how to can our food.
16) No TV - get off the sofa and into life. Not to mention the benefits of not being bombarded by materialistic advertisements.
It's been six years in the making, but we've really done a lot when we review the list.
posted by Nicholette Hoyer at 7:43 PM
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