The Green Home Lady - Sensible Sustainability

Cool House Insulation Retrofit

noreply@blogger.com (Green Home Lady) — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 16:14:00 +0000

Bye Larry, thanks for the cool attic.

Larry is our new friend who may have changed our lives in summer forever. His brightly colored trailer pulled into our drive this week looking like the circus had arrived. A ladder emerged extending 25 feet up to the balcony, and a guy carried a thick hose up the ladder, over the railing, through the bedroom, into the closet and up into the attic. Larry and team had come to install spray foam insulation in our fifteen year old house.

Summer heat is coming. Probably next week, Maybe tomorrow. We’re bracing for five months of daily temperatures in the high 90’s. Back in February when so many folks in Florida were hopping like wallabies after seeing their January electric bills, we were cool. Our bill was low. I can get by wearing layers and layers to save energy. But, the summer heat in our cupola bedroom is beastly, and one can only peel off so much. Several visiting hurricanes had bullied the pink fiberglass batt insulation into rumpled heaps all over the attic. We hired Larry to retrofit our house with six inches of foam under the roof.

Of course we wanted to take advantage of rebates, tax credits and any other incentive available so our first step was to ask FPL, our utility provider, to inspect to see if we qualified for the utility company rebate. The maximum rebate is $300 and we qualified due to the numerous areas where insulation had fallen and left bare areas in the attic. He wrote a voucher which we were to present to the installer upon completion as part of the payment.

One issue to understand is whether to get open cell or closed sell insulation. For interior use, open cell is the answer. It allows moisture to escape and for the house to breathe. Closed cell is for use externally and forms a hard crust. Open cell, which costs less, retains a softer character.

Because the master bedroom is literally built into the roof of our Old Florida style house, we technically have two attics - - one over the master and one that goes around the master. For Larry and his men, it was a contortionist work-out to crawl amidst the trusses, no taller than 60” at the max, gathering the old batt and preparing to seal the vented attic. (Spray foam requires an unvented attic.) They also built a wall to close off those parts of the eves extending over the exterior porches. Finally, Larry, dressed in a sheer white fiber hazmat suit crouching, stretching and contorting, sprayed and sprayed and sprayed.

The entire process took two and a half days. The workmen were very respectful of our home, spreading plastic for their walking paths, and cleaning up each day before they left. A couple of mishaps occurred. One venetian blind was broken and two recessed lights popped out of the ceiling below. The cat is wearing some tiny dots of overspray, but he’s nosey and brought that on himself. We left the attic access open for two days to allow VOCs to escape. Two days was not enough, but we had to close it off again to get back to normal living.

With the rebate from FPL, cash discount and federal tax credit (30% of cost up to $1500) we reduced the bill by about $2100. If you are considering retrofitting with spray foam here are the steps we took:

1. Find out your utility company offers a rebate. It’s probably on their website. If you can’t find it, call or email customer service.

2. If they do, make an appointment for an inspection to see if you qualify.

3. Obtain several estimates. Ask about the VOCs in the product they supply.

4. Prepare to move your personal items out of the way.

5. Wait cheerfully for summer, knowing this one will be better.

Mexico City Who would have thought?

noreply@blogger.com (Green Home Lady) — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 14:30:00 +0000

Mexico City? Really? I had to follow the headline because it was so unexpected. “Mexico City Bans Stores From Distributing Plastic Shopping Bags.” It’s the kind of news one might expect to hear from our other continental neighbor. No surprise if an environmentally-savvy Canadian city like Vancouver, banned plastic bags to help the environment (but they haven't). In the U.S., San Francisco passed such a law in 2007. The bags are second only to cigarette butts as litter. Well, the things we don’t know about our neighbors are bound to surprise. So high-five Mexico City! That’s one solution.

I’m disappointed in the rest of us though, but not because we don’t have more bag laws. Rather, I’m feeling piqued because individually, we are the cause of so many bags still blowing around. Who’s doing that littering with the butts and bags? Not to name names, but we can pretty much point at smokers for tossing the butts along the roadsides, not the cigarette manufacturers.

Ah. Now I get it. Like the gun debate, it’s not the gun manufacturers that kill; it’s the gun buyers who shoot. In the case of butts, it’s the smokers. With plastic bags, it’s the shoppers that are the littering perps. True, while it’s unlikely that a cigarette drops unnoticed from the smoker’s mouth, bag litters are usually oblivious. Well that makes us all suspects in the line-up.

Now for the interrogation:

Do you accept plastic bags for your purchases?
What did you do with the bag after you brought it home?
Did you ever use it again?
Did anyone see it blow off the table at the picnic?
Which child did you ask to retrieve it?
Did he?
What did he do with it?
Did he throw it into the trash?
Are you sure it didn’t blow out of the trash can when the truck emptied it?

Something that seemed so insignificant at the time, like what you did with the bag at the picnic, can become a life and death issue. Bags choke marine and bird wild life. They fly up off the road to block the radiator grills of cars causing engines to overheat. They can blow onto a motorcycle helmet. Seriously, bags have a deadly side. They also make the neighborhood and roadside look crummy and leach chemicals into soil.

I’m just saying, you still have freedom to carry a plastic bag, so know that if you’re going to tote one, it’s safer when loaded. Don’t let it go off accidentally.

3 Seconds of Fame on a Hybrid Bus

noreply@blogger.com (Green Home Lady) — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 13:08:00 +0000

I was on TV news this week. For about 3 seconds. I spotted myself riding next to the window on a hybrid bus, taking a four mile trip around a big block from the Edison State campus past Kmart and back.

The Florida DOT is sponsoring “Hybrid Ride” a 31’ hybrid bus touring Florida counties on trial as a fuel efficiency model for para transit service. This week and next the bus is in Collier County where it will run the regular route from Naples to Immokolee as fuel mileage is monitored, then it will move on to show its stuff in another county.

Our tour guide asked if we riders could tell the change in the engine whine as the it switched from electric to diesel. No. I could not. I could not hear any whine, or maybe all I heard was whine. No matter, it sounded like a bus. The real point is that Hybrid Ride can improve fuel economy 25% to 60% and has reduced NOx emissions by 60% and 90% reduction in particulates.

After touring the state, Hybrid Ride will take its position in the Tallahassee fleet which is already recognized as a Florida Green Government by the Florida Green Building Coalition. Palm Beach County has purchased three hybrid buses, whether Collier will make that decision is still on trial. I'll be following the decision process. Glad I was able to catch a ride and thankful I'd chosen my green shirt for my 3 second TV appearance.

Para transit buses provide services for disadvantaged and special needs riders. Hybrid Ride had an elevator lift in the rear.

Hybrid Ride is a product of International Chassis and Eaton Electric Parallel Drive Hybrid System wth Lithium Ion Battery Pack.

Smart Car Tickles My Street

noreply@blogger.com (Green Home Lady) — Sun, 10 May 2009 14:08:00 +0000

Today our cul de sac experienced its first Smart Car zipping down to the end circle and back. If the pavement were skin, surely the little red car tickled the surface like a fly. From my vantage on the porch, it did look like a remote controlled toy except a pretty large fellow was behind the wheel.

I’m thrilled. Our neighborhood is the perfect venue. Within my two-mile radius of suburban sprawl, one can get to - - grocery, bank, bookstore, doctor, insurance, cleaners, gas station, restaurants, fast food, library, movie theater and anything else one needs - - without driving on a main traffic artery.

I called the local Smart Car dealer several months ago when I saw the little cutie on display outside of Whole Foods Market. Interestingly, the Smart Car dealer is also the luxury- superfast-prestige car dealer. I mean Lamborghini and Ferrari-level cars dealer. For a business model, I guess that fits because all such cars are special ordered one at a time. From a reducing GHG emissions business, it’s not really a conversation. Clearly, it's a prestige car business model.

It would be fun driving a Smart Car with its 1-liter engine for local errand running off the main highway. If everyone in the neighborhood had one, all the more fun. As for driving on a big highway, I will if you will.

Here is a link to the online Smart Car community website.
http://www.smartcarofamerica.com/

Getting to Know Daryl Hannah in Midair

noreply@blogger.com (Green Home Lady) — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 02:36:00 +0000

From five miles above the earth, southern Georgia looks like a jigsaw puzzle. Compared to Florida’s more formal grid of square and rectangle shaped property boundaries, it was easy to spot a change from 36,000 feet up as the plane flew over into Georgia. The aligned angles of Florida fields melded into curves and loops with ruffled riparian edges in Georgia. I like Georgia, especially from up here. It means I’m on my annual spring trek to Nebraska.

I’ve relied on the latest issue of Sky, Delta’s in-flight magazine, to pass the first hour of flight. April’s issue has the annual Earth Day article, this time featuring the actress/environmental spokesperson Daryl Hannah with some of her thoughts on the hard work of saving the planet. She says:

“. . .sometimes keeping my spirits up can be a challenge, but I’m constantly refueled by absolute rabid love for this planet and the beauty I see when I find it.”

(I sometime have trouble finding the planet also, so I definitely understand. Not so sure about feeling rabid; I have a strong commitment, but maybe I just don’t know the symptoms.) I’m teasing, Daryl, you’re a passionate advocate, if not articulate spokesperson for the environment, and I do know what you mean about the fight to keep your spirits up. Discouragement is the side affect of working so hard to make a difference and not seeing results.

But there are results. The gentleman in the seat next to me on this flight was embarrassed when he confessed that he’s not very good about recycling. See? There was a time when he wouldn’t have known enough to be embarrassed.

Climate Action Conversations - Fish or Cut Bait

noreply@blogger.com (Green Home Lady) — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 12:13:00 +0000

Our city is joining the National Conversation on Climate Action on Earth Day, April 22. I’m certainly up for the occasion, and I have fingers crossed for success. The goal is to have dialogue about practical steps our region can take to stave off rising sea levels that may result. It’s pretty important here, you see, because it’s predicted our town will disappear under water.

I serve on the steering committee that organized the local event. As one might expect, the organizers are a group of committed individuals who are passionate. Passion can shake the status quo toward change. However, there is the pitfall to passion that can destroy the common purpose. That pitfall occurs when partisan political barbs catapult into a meeting.

Early on our group laid a ground rule against sending up political lobs during our discussions. For the most part, we’ve kept to it. Occasionally a zinger spews, maybe someone has a zinger habit. When it occurs in our small group, we immediately remind each other what we all have agreed: No party lobs. No party zingers. No political jokes.

The national discussions on Earth Day are about climate change and our communities. If you have the opportunity to participate in one of these discussions, please do. As a word of caution, watch out for the red herring, that darting political zinger. Don’t let the splat of a political affront distract you from the mission. Likewise, take care you don't chum the waters with baited comments yourself. The zinger is bait. Baitfish are small. We have bigger fish to fry.

Bang for the Buck with Plant Tray

noreply@blogger.com (Green Home Lady) — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 14:56:00 +0000

This morning in honor of my countdown to Earth Day, I harvested a bucket of gorgeous black crumbled dirt from my compost, scooping it from the bottom with my hands. Totally earthy. I’ll add it to the soil when setting out the 18 vinca plants that have cheered me in the kitchen for the past week. The tray of plants, with blossoms of amazing magenta with white centers, has moved around the house. It has been a dinner table centerpiece, a coffee table decoration, a window sill box and overall my kitchen’s ode to spring.

While I love bringing home a perfect bouquet of cut flowers from the market, the budget these days won’t let me do it often. For $9.95, a tray of 18 blooming plants provided as much cheer and bang for the buck, plus they’ll keep on contributing through the season with cut flowers later. Just a thought that you might enjoy doing the same thing.

Edison GreenFest-Collier Campus-Student Day

noreply@blogger.com (Green Home Lady) — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 04:57:00 +0000

Gusseted Bags in Stores Near You

noreply@blogger.com (Green Home Lady) — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 15:37:00 +0000

Bags that stand up on a shelf are what consumers want in exchange for giving up box packaging. I didn’t know this about myself so it was good to find out. Such news about the consumer comes from the Sustainability in Packaging Conference in Orlando this week. According to a market study done by Zip-Pak, a manufacturer of zippers for resealable bags, consumers will choose a box rather than a bag, unless the bag is sturdy and can stand up on its own. Most bags don’t behave on a shelf; they slide, flop and annoy. Boxes are tidy, and consumers believe they keep the product better.

A new generation of bags is on the way. You will see stronger recyclable bags with a gusseted flat bottom replacing many boxes. According to packaging efficiency experts, a well designed resealable bag keeps product safe and fresh longer, takes up less space, therefore more can be shipped in one truck requiring fewer trucks and less fuel to transport.

Waste from packaging is often a topic of sustainability, and having been in the building industry for years, I can attest to dumpsters full of nothing but the wrapping from fixtures and appliances put into a new house. It all looked like waste to me, the environmental officer, but there is the other side, and that is waste resulting from product being damaged in route to the consumer. Whether the product is mushy strawberries or a scratched door knob, it’s no good. It will go into the waste stream somehow and all the materials, labor, fuel and energy that went into producing the product is wasted.

How best to package a product is driven by three things:

Product safety and freshness.
Consumer convenience.
Shipping costs.

My cynical side is usually suspicious that brand managers and advertisers are out to get my emotions through packaging, and efficiency experts are practicing sleight-of-hand with sizes and textures while shrinking the product. Maybe sometimes that’s true, but the goal might simply be more durable lighter weight packaging. One thing remains true: convenience drives many consumer choices for packaged brand and for the majority of people that won’t change. Stand up bags might be a great answer. All I am saying is . . . give bags a chance.

Kitty Litter, Sam's Club and My Handy Phone

noreply@blogger.com (Green Home Lady) — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 01:43:00 +0000

Call me crazy, but I was relieved my phone could take a picture of kitty litter at Sam’s Club. I don’t take a purse to Sam’s; just the card wallet in one pocket, keys and phone in the other pocket of my jeans. Yesterday I was on a mission for kitty litter when a great looking pallet of stacked litter buckets caught my eye. It was a picture I wanted, but no camera. Finally I used my phone for one of its “features.”

The point about the litter stack was the packaging. On March 2, I’ll be at the “Sustainability in Packaging Conference” in Orlando, where representatives from large global corporations will share the latest talk and technology on packaging for reducing green house gas emissions, landfill waste and fuel consumption.

Last year companies attending had the most interest in learning about how the newly released Wal-Mart Scorecard would change their business. Back in 2006, Wal-Mart launched its commitment to reduce by 5% the amount of packaging passing through the retail behemoth’s global chain. The scorecard would become the tool the company used to initiate change. The metrics in the scorecard evolved from a list known as the “7 R’s of Packaging”: Remove, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Renew, Revenue, and Read.

In February of 2007, Wal-Mart distributed the scorecard to more than 60,000 of its suppliers worldwide. Last year in February 2008, they began using the packaging scorecard to determine which suppliers would continue in its supply chain. Determination was based upon a company’s ability to use less packaging, use more effective materials in packaging, and obtain these materials more efficiently.

How is it graded?
· 15% will be based on Green House Gas / CO2 per ton of Production
· 15% will be based on Material Value
· 15% will be based on Product / Package Ratio
· 15% will be based on Cube Utilization
· 10% will be based on Transportation
· 10% will be based on Recycled Content
· 10% will be based on Recovery Value
· 5% will be based on Renewable Energy
· 5% will be based on Innovation

What does the score mean?
Like a student’s score on a standard achievement test, suppliers will receive a score in each category that is measured against other suppliers' performance. For example, a supplier may find it is in the 50th percentile for effectively using space in pallets and shipping containers, but that same supplier may only be in the 20th percentile in Recycled Content. This model gives suppliers the opportunity to focus on specific changes that ultimately drive constant change and improvement in the supply chain.

How did my purchase score?
The litter “cube” on the pallet in my store looked concisely packed to me, although I’d like to see the scorecard percentile rating. Is this in the 30 or 80 percentile when ranked with other kitty litter suppliers?

Large containers of litter are not uncommon, but for other products, the topic of bulk-sized container is a new aspect. How big can a jug of liquid laundry detergent grow and still be usable? One container for a larger amount is better than 4 smaller containers that require more natural resources to create and more fuel to ship because the container itself adds weight to the shipment.

On closer look, the recycle number for the litter bucket is #5, which is Polypropylene. Many recycling centers will not take #5. Hmm. How’d they rate on Recovery Value?

Thanks to my phone I can share the photo. As for the kitty litter - - I bought some. I rate it with one thumb up for being chemical free, herbal scented, made of natural clay, and having convenient bulk packaging. The thumb that’s not up is with the rest of my fingers covering my nose while I cough from the dust.

Sustainability in Packaging Conference

Other Wal-Mart Sustainability News

Meeting Mr. Helbig

noreply@blogger.com (Green Home Lady) — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 14:12:00 +0000

This morning I went to meet my new neighbor, Mr. Helbig, the dry cleaner. He has a big sign across the window of his storefront “We’re 100% Organic.” The temperature was perfect for walking, so I clipped on my pedometer, grabbed my canvas shopping bag and a pair of pants that needed cleaning, and headed out on foot to Diamond Cleaners.

Don’t think I always go into a mystic trance and head for anything that posts “100% Organic”. Except for a certain peanut butter, the organic products at our house I debated thoroughly before buying. I’m like most people who shop for what we can afford; usually “organic” spikes the budget. Whatever it is, the benefit must be worth the extra cost.

The organic cleaner got my attention because, you may recall, I wrote a few months ago about visiting an eco friendly dry cleaner in Miami. When a commercial cleaning process eliminates the use of perchloretheline (perc) there is an environmental benefit. Perc is used in traditional dry cleaning systems and is a recognized carcinogen that permeates the environment. I was curious which method is used here in my neighborhood making it 100 % organic therefore seeming very earth friendly.

Mr. Helbig uses steam and detergent. I know - - steam is water and water isn’t dry. But, no dry cleaning method is dry. The traditional method swishes your clothes in solvents, something like dipping them in gasoline.

Surrounded by windows at Diamond Cleaners are Mr. Helbig’s German-made Miele “wet cleaning” machines, the world’s best known H2O cleaning method. Then Sebastian, Mr. Helbig's son, demonstrated the finishing process. Steam and air are shot in alternating bursts through the fabric while clothing is held in shape on special forms. No toxic chemicals involved.

Considering that a Google map shows there are ten dry cleaners within 2 miles of my property, I’m impressed that Mr. Helbig is one of only 1500 cleaners worldwide using this method. I entrusted my favorite silk pants into their care and walked home again. For the record, 7450 steps round trip.

THE SEVEN "WHYS" OF WET CLEANING

1. Gentler than handwashing
2. Fresh, clean scent
3. Soft to the touch
4. Kind to sensitive skin
5. Safe for your clothing
6. Perfect for removing stains
7. Gentle on the environment

Read more about wet cleaning.

As I was saying . . . reducing is ripping recycling

noreply@blogger.com (Green Home Lady) — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 17:04:00 +0000

In my January 3 post, I wrote about the effect the economy is having on the recycling industry. Today a great article on just that subject in "Packaging Digest".

I became a subscriber to this source last year after discovering the "Sustainability in Packaging" conference. What an eye opener that was! For me, it was like crashing a party with a theme - - a box, bubble and bio-degrade theme.

I'm going again this year to Orlando March 2 - 4 to learn more. Click here for more info. (I also have the link under my favorite links).

So how are those 3 R’s working out for you?

noreply@blogger.com (Green Home Lady) — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 15:12:00 +0000

I read that China isn’t buying as much of the recyclable materials from the U.S. waste stream these days. They don’t need it to make products because we aren’t buying products. The result is that recyclable waste is backing up at the U.S. recycle broker locations. If this keeps up, when they run out of space and reserves, waste brokers will likely send into the landfill everything we’ve been striving to recycle.

So how’s that 3 R’s Reduce, Reuse, Recycle message working out for us? Out of economic pinching we reduced, now recycle is in trouble.

There always seems to be a short leg on the three-legged stool we call Sustainability. The three legs, of course, are environment, economy and social equity. I tread carefully here because I’m not an economist or sociologist, but it’s becoming easier to see what happens when the economy’s carousel rhythm of producing, selling, buying and discarding goods grinds down.

When the economy was in a white-hot rage, the environment often suffered, but when the economy stalls, social equity gets even more skewed. Getting three legs of the stool to be equal is hard, especially if we’re only focusing on one leg at a time.

In 2009, I can see us focusing more on social equity as each of us becomes more aware of what skewed social equity feels like. Merchandisers report consumers are buying what they need rather than what they want. Lately I’ve heard the voice of Common Sense calling from the far side of WWII. “Hey! How many of those do you need anyway? Eh? You just bought one last year and the year before. Give one to somebody who needs it.”

I’m suggesting adding another R for 2009. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle - - Relate to those in need. Open up to the idea that while you could keep it, someone else might actually need it. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Relate. It just might be what we need.

Suggestions for the 4^th R:

Place items by the curb for a day or two with a “Free” sign,
Post items on www.freecycle.org or Greenopolis' Free n Exchange
Call your church or any church to ask if someone needs your item
Tune your ears; you may actually hear someone, even a stranger, say they need such an item as yours
Donate to charity

New Wine in New Wineskins

noreply@blogger.com (Green Home Lady) — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 14:32:00 +0000

I prefer the term “pouch” to describe a bag that contains wine, rather than a “bladder,” don’t you? I mean, if you say, “wine bladder”. . . who knows what you’re talking about? I don’t even want to go there with wine bladder. I’m sticking with pouch, or more likely wine-bag in a box.

I'm following up on wine bags, pouches, bladders like I told you I would. Some feel it is the next trend in sustainable packaging. Wine is in a plastic bag with a spigot, and the bag is in the box. Why does this bring sustainability credentials for packaging, you may wonder. The box and bag are lightweight, and lightweight is good because heavy shipping causes more energy to be consumed in transport and therefore more emissions. Owing that most U.S. wineries are on the west coast, and the majority of our wine is consumed east of the Mississippi, wine shipping can cause a notable carbon footprint. As an industry, wine producers are now beginning to address reducing their carbon footprint.

They say the idea for packaging beverages in bags came out of Australia in the 1960’s. We know, don’t we, that wine and other liquids were packaged in goatskin bags centuries before that. But, putting a spigot on a bag and putting the bag into an easily stackable box, that innovation did hit the streets in the 1960’s coming from down under.

I do remember buying milk in a box for a time in the ‘60s. It fit conveniently into our small refrigerator, but the invention had a short run in the U.S. In Europe, however, it gained momentum. This I learned at the 2007 Sustainability in Packaging Conference last spring. It appears that beverage pouches may be the future.

Here are some factoids I gathered while looking into wine-in-a-box:

For dinner wines that are intended to be consumed within a year, aging in a bottle isn’t a major factor.
Boxed wine can be kept longer after opening, up to four weeks, compared to a day or two for bottled wine.
The US is poised to become the world’s largest wine market
A standard wine bottle holds 750 milliliters of wine and generates about 5.2 pounds of carbon-dioxide emissions when it travels from a vineyard in California to a store in New York. A 3-liter box generates about half the emissions per 750 milliliters.

Here is a tidy and fun You Tube video of a couple of guys who call themselves Lab Dads evaluating a few boxed wines.

Info on the next Sustainability in Packaging Conference can be found at:

http://www.sustainability-in-packaging.com

New Wineskins

noreply@blogger.com (Green Home Lady) — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 14:16:00 +0000

I’ve been talking for a week about glass bottles, and I never mentioned wine bottles. Here’s what I have to say about that. Recycle them.

I got side tracked on wine. I became intrigued learning about the possibilities for alternative wine containers, something along the lines of a wineskin. Although I’m not familiar with wineskins, the exception being the reference from the New Testament:

“ Neither do men put new wine into old wine-skins. . .”

Wine.skin: “a bag traditionally made from the skin of a goat.”

A bag for wine, a pouch is an evolving trend for wine packaging. Eeewww. Why?

I’m working on it. I'll get back to you.

Old Glass Mountain Coming Down

noreply@blogger.com (Green Home Lady) — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 10:42:00 +0000

Part 5 in a series – The Value of Glass

Here it is! “Recycle Glass Day!” Can you feel the excitement?

My adventures in glass recycling started in Atlanta and I’m returning to that visit to forecast the future.

The Mount McKinley of all glass piles that lay in the back lot when I visited Strategic Materials (SMI) had a more seedy appearance than the cullet piles, not quite so sparkly. According to Hazel Mobley, glass specialist and our tour guide, this pile of old bottles of every color has been accumulating for years in anticipation of the day when technology would arrive to sort the muddled array of colored glass where all colors of glass end up in the same curbside recycle bin.

Until now the barrier to co-mingling all color bottles has been the labor of separating glass by color to be recycled back into new products of the same color. The future is upon us and particularly at SMI as they prepare to implement a new single-stream operation where all colors of glass coming from one humongous heap will be sorted by machine.

Now you wonder, how does a machine sort a mountain of dirty old glass of all different colors?

By dropping it.

First the glass, primarily from bottles, is broken, washed and placed on a conveyor where it’s vibrated into a single layer moving along. At the end, it drops off the conveyor into free fall. As glass pieces are falling, they pass in front of scanners capturing the images at a rate of 10,000 pieces per second. The scan is identifying a selected color (e.g. looking for green, looking for clear, looking for amber, etc.).

At the same time color is being scanned, a metal detector identifies metal pieces and separates them out. The glass of the determined color is selected and separated by a blast of compressed air. Other color pieces continue on to be scanned and singled out by color in another drop.

My description is quite simplified, but what I’m trying to tell is that technology has arrived to make possible rapid glass recycling from a single stream of multi color glass.

We have an ancient commodity that is endlessly recyclable, trustworthy for health safety, and beautiful enough to wear as jewels, and we’re throwing it away. How silly we are.

The Glass Packaging Institute announces the winner of the student YouTube Competition. University students enrolled in packaging science fields participated. The submissions are terrific! The winner is almost a tear jerker. You can watch it at http://www.gpi.org/recycleglassday/youtube/.

For a more in-depth explanation of the Morgensen glass sorting technology

Gentleman Jack

noreply@blogger.com (Green Home Lady) — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 12:42:00 +0000

Part 4 in a series- The Value of Glass

The rolling hill country just outside of Lynchburg, Tennessee, a stone building with broad front porch plus a guide in overalls - -the atmosphere at the Jack Daniel Distillery was a combination of mountain moonshine and southern hospitality. And here I was on a quest for recycled glass.

The story: In the later 1800’s when he was just 13, Jack Daniel of Moore County, Tennessee, helped a local preacher run a whiskey still. The preacher ran the still, but while helping him, Jack learned the recipe. Now when the preacher finally made his choice to go entirely for God and give up his still, the recipe fell to Jack.

That’s pretty much how our tour of Jack Daniel Distillery started as we followed our tale-telling guide, Roger, pouring out history in authentic Tennessee twang. “Here’s the site where it all started. This here was Jack’s office and this safe right here is what broke Jack’s toe and caused him to get gangrene and die, leaving the recipe and the business to his nephew Lem.”

If Roger-in-overalls made the tour interesting and fun, he made another point more emphatically - - every step in the Jack Daniel whiskey process is exceedingly quality-controlled.

Recipe:
Corn from Illinois and Indiana = 80%
Barley from Minnesota = 12%
Rye from Wyoming = 8%
Limestone filtered spring water
Ferment in 40,000 gallon vats

Charcoal: To make white lightning sour mash into whiskey, it drips through vats 10 feet deep in charcoal. The only way to be certain the charcoal is pure of chemicals is to make it yourself from hard sugar maple wood. Jack’s charcoal is made right here.

Spring water: Roger-in-overalls took us to the mouth of a cave on the property from where the limestone filtered spring water flows. He told the importance of water with no iron and the value of Jack knowing the whereabouts of the water for the preacher’s whiskey. Jack bought the spring. The distillery now owns 900 acres all around the spring to ensure that no farming with chemicals can occur to affect the purity of the water.

Barrels: Aging in the barrels gives the whiskey its unique flavor and color. A Jack Daniel cooper makes the whiskey barrels out of American white oak, caramelizing the inside of the barrel with fire. The amber color of whiskey comes from the wood of the barrel where it sits for 7 years, the barrels expanding and contracting with the seasons.

Bottles: We’d arrived too late to see the bottling process. As you recall, we’d spent the morning sifting through glass pebbles with Hazel Mobley at Strategic Materials in Atlanta. But it wasn’t the whiskey pouring that interested me; I wanted to know about the square bottles. I made my way to the front of the tour group to ask Roger, “Do you make your own bottles too?” “No ma’am. The bottles are manufactured by Owens-Illinois.” I recalled that Owens-Illinois was on Hazel’s list of glass manufactures that buy cullet.

I think that’s the picture Hazel wanted me to see when she suggested this visit. For all the hyper detail to perfection and control in whiskey making, at Jack Daniel they trust the glass to be what it always is - - safe, inert and consistent with Jack’s whiskey, molded to Jack’s own bottle style, 100% recyclable forever.

Really . . . Jack Daniels in plastic? If you find it that way, don’t drink it. It ain’t real.

Girlie Plastic Beer Bottles Not Hanging at the Bar

noreply@blogger.com (Green Home Lady) — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 05:53:00 +0000

(Part 3 in a series - The Value of Glass)

Beer, wine and whiskey in plastic bottles? Not so much. Alcohol trumps plastic in the glass-plastic-alcohol game. Oxygen and chemicals tend to leach into alcoholic liquid when it’s in plastic resulting in shorter shelf life and ruined products, a factor that is not an issue with glass containers.

“Glass is inert,” reminds Joe Cattaneo, President of the Glass Packaging Institute. “Glass doesn’t react to chemicals. Glass presents the true flavor of the product, preserves its purity and quality, and increases shelf life.”

Not that PET beer bottles are non-existent. MillerCoors started bottling in PET in 1998 for use in stadiums and other outdoor sport events. In October they reported use of plastic bottles is now at 10 percent. On the issue of health and PET alcohol containers, the New York Times reported on November 28 that PET bottles were safe as containers for alcohol according to conclusions by Food and Drug Administration.

Let’s try it again

Between 1969 and 1973, some alcoholic beverages were packaged in polyvinyl chloride (PVC) bottles, but that gig came to an end as PVC was strongly suspected as a carcinogen while in the company of alcohol. PET, on the other hand, although it has also been charged as a possible health threat, has recently been acquitted and given the green light as alcohol containers.

Nevertheless, PET alone is not sufficient to protect the product from oxygen ruin, altering the taste and quality. An additional barrier must be added to the container by lining the inside to prevent deterioration of the contents. The consequence is that the multi-layer design interferes with normal PET recycling process.

Glass still looks best as an entirely recyclable commodity with no health issues. Now when I asked Hazel Mobley the glass specialist in Atlanta about the manufacturers that buy cullet, she mentioned several large well know glass companies then she skipped to another thought.

“Didn’t you say you’re headed north through Tennessee?” Indeed, yes. “You know, you ought to take the tour of Jack Daniel’s distillery in Lynchburg. Now that’s one retailer I know that’s really particular.”

Well, aw-raaat! I don’t drink whiskey, but I’m up for checking on Jack Daniel, where apparently everything matters, including glass. I’ll tell you about it tomorrow.

Link: Australian bars use bottle crusher machine

Factoid: North Carolina law requires bars to recycle.

Day #2 -Sad Soda Bottles

noreply@blogger.com (Green Home Lady) — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 12:45:00 +0000

(Part 2 in a series -The Value of Glass)

Hearing that most recycled glass bottles aren’t reused was sad news to my husband. For such a techie guy, it’s ironic he prefers the idea of returning glass pop bottles to the store, like in the old days, to be trucked to the bottling plant for cleaning and refilling. Crushing glass bottles into pieces called cullet then sending it back to manufacturers doesn’t feel right to him. It’s a nostalgia thing I guess, but there is an argument to be made on that point.

Cleaning and refilling bottles takes much less energy than remanufacturing bottles.

On the other hand transporting these bottles back to the plant takes a lot of energy. Bottling plants aren’t local anymore. What was once a local bottler is now only a distributor and bottling has been consolidated regionally making bottling centers farther apart. That’s how plastic containers got a big foot in the door, by saving on transportation and processing.

The 1960’s began the age of plastic and Nat Wyeth, engineer brother of artist Andrew Wyeth, was working for DuPont Chemical. Hearing that attempts to use plastic bottles for carbonated soda beverages had failed, Wyeth asked why. The answer was that plastic bottles couldn’t handle the expanding carbonation. Wyeth tested for himself. He filled a liquid detergent bottle with soda and placed it in the refrigerator. Yep, it blew up just like they said it would.

Working at DuPont, it took Wyeth ten years and more than 10,000 attempts to find the solution: polyethylene terephthalate-PET. He created the plastic bottle that would contain the expanding carbon dioxide and also pass the two-meter drop test. Once the industry was onto lightweight throwaway plastic bottles, glass soda bottles were left behind.

Today there remain only a few soft drinks committed to glass bottles, mainly for brand recognition. IBC Root Beer is one such beverage.

But real beer - - for decades real beer took a stand against those girlie plastic bottles. Why’s that? Coming up next - the beer bottle and bar report.

Did you know? The IBC in IBC Root Beer stand for Independent Breweries Company of St. Louis. IBC root beer was introduced in 1919 during prohibition as an alternative to alcohol.

Factoids:

Glass is made from sand, soda ash, and lime heated to 2500° F
The first discovered glass was caused by intense heat from erupting volcanoes
Earliest glass was made into jewelry beads
Around 14 AD containers were made by blowing molten glass on a tube
Before 1903 all glass bottles in the U.S. were hand blown.
The 1920 census reported that 5000 glass bottles existed in the U.S.

Link to Glass Packaging Institute

When Driving on Glass is a Good Thing

noreply@blogger.com (Green Home Lady) — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 13:30:00 +0000

(Part 1 in a series on The Value of Glass)

It was my own doing that I awoke worrying about having a flat tire on Interstate 75. This would be the consequence of a furtive drive down a lane sparkling with chunks of glass. Furtive because instead of waiting until my appointment to visit the Southeast’s largest glass recycle processing company the next day, I convinced my husband that we should scout our way to the site so we’d know how to find it in the morning.

Our feminine voiced GPS sometimes messes with us by smugly announcing, “Des-ti-nation” at the wrong address, usually about a hundred feet too soon. When she declared we had arrived at the glass recycling plant on Atlanta’s south side, we found ourselves staring at an overpass next to railroad tracks. We thought she’d fooled us again, but a glance to the side confirmed we were at the right place. A bedazzling heap of colored glass the size of a circus tent lay just beyond the tracks.

We headed over the track to investigate, committing our vehicle onto a one-way glass splattered lane.

I needn’t have sweated. During our legitimate visit the next day, Hazel Mobley, glass consultant for Strategic Materials Inc. (SMI) the largest glass processor in North America, scooped with her bare hand a fistful of glass pieces like those we had driven over and sifted it through her fingers.

“Honey, this glass won’t hurt you,” she said, and I believed her. After more than 32 years in the business, Hazel knows glass. “This is cullet. It’s processed recycled glass. Manufacturers make this into new bottles. Pretty, isn’t it?”

Indeed it was an enchanting sparkling mound, as were other piles of blue, green and brown cullet on the lot. Piles of glass destined for rebirth as new containers.

Glass is one commodity that can be recycled again and again, saving as much as 75% energy when cullet is used. The glass process is a closed-loop sustainable business. There is no limit to the number of times glass containers can be reprocessed into new glass containers.

Did you know that December 10 is Glass Recycling Day? I didn’t think so. That’s why for the next few days I’m going to be filling you in about glass. You can thank me when Glass Recycling Day gets here next Wednesday, and you won’t be lost out back when the parade starts. University students are in a contest for the best glass recycling promotion. Winners will appear on You Tube on the big day.

Stats from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Glass from food and beverage containers is infinitely recyclable. The quality does not diminish.
90 percent of recycled glass is used to make new containers
Other uses for recycled glass are kitchen tiles, counter tops, and fiberglass wall insulation and pavement
Americans generated 13.6 million tons of glass in the waste stream in 2007
About 24 percent of the glass going through the waste stream was captured for recycling

On a national scale about one fourth of glass in the waste stream gets recycled and most of it from drink bottles. Next I'll tell you about what happened to glass - - when plastic soda bottles blew up.

Tips from The Great Depression

noreply@blogger.com (Green Home Lady) — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 13:22:00 +0000

My mother-in-law didn’t realize that she was a missionary for reuse. She simply carried on practices she’d started during the Depression. Some of her frugal habits struck me as a bit strange back when I was a newlywed, but now I find myself following her path, not only for frugality, but because it’s time for lifestyle adjustments. I often thank her in my thoughts. I thank her for not discarding the attitude she learned during the hard times. Here are a few observations I noted when I married her son.

Before Select-a-Size paper towels came to the market, she tore a regular size paper towel in half and used one half at a time (Be on the lookout for how you might cut your consumption in half with any product. Manufacturers design ways to encourage excessive use of their products.)

If a napkin were only slightly used, she would set it by her plate and use it again (Why not? It’s your business if you choose to use your napkin again. Fold it with the fresh side out.)

Glass jars became containers for leftovers (Easy to see what’s inside and air tight)

Tissue paper in gift boxes was folded and sometimes ironed for reuse (ironing really does make it almost new – though, this practice consumes energy)

Her creative thinking seemed over the top to me years ago when I met her, and so did her non-disruptive lifestyle. I once told my young husband, “Your mother lives like she doesn’t want to stir the air on the earth.” Now I view that characteristic as an amazing legacy.

She wasn’t an environmentalist so much as she was a person of common sense and conviction that waste is wrong and hard times may come again.

I wish she were still here to give me more tips on how I could use the very tough air-tight bags inside of cereal boxes.

In our newlywed days when we drove back to Florida State after a visit, she would use the bag from a cereal box as the wrapper for turkey sandwiches, line the bottom of a shoe box with a paper towel torn into 2 halves, place a little jelly jar of carrot sticks in water in the corner and tie the box shut with a ribbon saved from Christmas. The oatmeal cookies were stored in the round oatmeal box.

If you have a mentor from the Great Depression in your life, you’re blessed. We could use some more advice and inspiration.

Here's a link to one such memoir in Fortune Magazine.

Not the Last Straw

noreply@blogger.com (Green Home Lady) — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 21:07:00 +0000

Today is my birthday and my husband invited me out for lunch. I picked P.F. Chang’s Chinese Bistro because it’s around the corner and on the route for errands we'd be running. Never having been there before, I had no particular expectations other than being pretty sure there would be rice, vegetables, and chopsticks.

The passion fruit tea smelled really good. I brought it up to my lips and whiffed it a couple of times, almost taking a swig . . . but . . . I just couldn’t do it.

“Do you have straws?” I implored of Jana, our waitress from Maine.

“We do,” she smiled, pausing a moment before explaining, “In order to reduce the amount of plastic in the waste stream we only supply straws when customers ask for them.”

Color my face Chinese red. Didn’t I myself write on July 3 that we should watch for plastic straws and sleeves blowing around on the beach? I did. So, I’m a straw poser in some ways. I like using a straw, sipping is slower, no gulping. But I do save, wash and reuse them. Straws made of biodegradable PLA are on the market, and paper straws still exist. My straw collection tells you where I've been doing my drinking.

Another thing - - although I’m a failure with chopsticks, I always try. The chopsticks at the restaurant were not wooden disposables; they were washable and reusable so I wasn't wasting.

I enjoyed my lunch. Whatever else goes on in the kitchen at the Chinese bistro in my neighborhood I don't know, but they do seem to be responsible with straws and chopsticks. Kudos. Plus, my lemon dessert was free on my birthday. I’ve learned so much this past year.

Maybe not the dwelling you want, but the dry cleaner you need

noreply@blogger.com (Green Home Lady) — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 12:50:00 +0000

Last week my friend, a young urbanist who has been apartment hunting in downtown Miami, emailed asking me for an opinion. Sure. I’m here for you buddy. How can I help? He asked me about the dry cleaner in his future neighborhood.

“It appears to be very green,” he said, “but I’d like to hear what you think.” Then he told me he thought I’d want to see it. It would be a “dry cleaner experience” unlike any I’d ever had. Actually, I can’t remember anything about my previous dry cleaner experience. It was classic I’m sure. To prove I’m no fair weather friend, and I am in fact a curious writer, I went to see my pal’s dry cleaning discovery.

You are aware no doubt that over 90% of dry cleaning businesses use a solvent that is toxic and under heavy government regulation. The typical dry cleaning process is not dry at all but akin to swishing your clothes in gasoline.

The chemical solvent most often used to lift soil from fabric is called perchloroethylene, also known as perc, one of 188 pollutants EPA regulates as air toxics. Studies point to fertility problems and miscarriages among women who work around perc. Groundwater is at risk of pollution and so are we. As customers we take home complimentary bags of perc over our clothes to continue off gassing in our closets.

That’s why my friend contacted me. He knew I’d be interested in a dry cleaner with no perc. But couldn’t he have simply told me that? Not really. Beyond the perc-less dry cleaning was another concept that words couldn’t convey. He had to show me.

The Experience

Never before have I entered a dry cleaning shop to be encircled by a blue sky-white cloud horizon. I’ve never noticed music playing or an oceanscape at my cleaner’s, and I definitely had never watched Planet Earth while I waited. Techno-Eco-mood indeed.

So this was ecolav®, the dry cleaning business that has just opened its flagship store on Miami Avenue. It is the first in a collection of eco-friendlier dry cleaning shops envisioned by Miami businessman David Greenberg.

Mr. Greenberg has seen the future and it is perc-less dry cleaning - -already California is set to ban perc by 2023. In his shop, a silicone-based solvent replaces petro-based perc as the cleaning solvent. The odorless replacement is known industrially as D5 and is trademarked as Green Earth® dry cleaning system.

From that eco-friendlier foundation, ecolav® expands dry cleaning into eco education, ergo the Planet Earth video. Natural health and grooming products exude a kind of spa-ness to the lobby. I’ve seen shelves of beautiful nature products before, but the premium Vermont goat’s milk or lemongrass soap that comes in a box you can plant because it’s embedded with seeds were a novelty.

For out-of-the-box concepts, I appreciated that a dry cleaner features a small library of books about sustainability for customers, but then I wondered if this business model was approaching eco-obsession. I’m a dry cleaner novice, I admit, but isn’t it unusual to have a clean room air-lock door separating the lobby from the processing plant in the back? As we passed through the door system for my tour I asked Mr. Greenberg, what is it that he is he is keeping in or out with the air lock door. “Dust,” he told me.

There is only so much a retail tenant can do when housed on the first floor of a high rise building, but to my point about Mr. Greenberg and details, the ecolav® business sign in front of the store is solar powered. Clothing goes home on bamboo hangers (a readily renewable resource). Hanger covers are made of recycled paper, and biodegradable bags protect garments for the trip home. It’s all there.

When I last spoke to my friend, he hadn’t yet settled on a dwelling. That’s sometimes a downer but I told him, “Don’t overlook the obvious, ol’ buddy. Serendipity, you know, to be seeking one thing and discover another thing of great value by accident. You found a super dry cleaner.”

Ecolav® is located at 1451 South Miami Avenue, Miami, Florida. www.ecolav.net

Right: Air lock door +
David Greenberg+
clean shirt+GHL+
bamboo hangers
Below: Henry Rojas explain perc-less dry cleaning to GHL

Why silt fence makes me crazy

noreply@blogger.com (Green Home Lady) — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 13:52:00 +0000

Generally people are not provoked over silt fences. I am. I can work myself right into a funk over a silt fence while others don’t even notice its existence. Last weekend I spent 30 minutes in the North Carolina woods overlooking a washout where three guys were putting up such a fence. I studied how they pulled and staked black fabric to make a wall along the creek. I noticed the fabric was already distorted out of shape and ragged on one side.

“Are you re-installing this fence?” I, a hiker from the flat Florida suburbs who has never herself installed such a fence, asked the North Carolina mountain man going back to his truck for another sledgehammer.

“Yes ma’am. Happens whenever we git a big rain.”

That’s what makes me crazy about these fences - -they are so often lying down. Washed out by rain. Pushed over by heavy construction equipment. Dilapidated due to poor installation. With those results, why bother!

I learned of silt fence years ago in meetings with developers as they worked out construction details for a new neighborhood. On the outside chance that you happened to have missed any silt fence discussions yourself, I’ll just briefly mention that it is a temporary fence used to control stormwater runoff and prevent erosion. It protects wetlands, streams and creeks from sediment pollution during the digging and grading processes of construction.

You’ll see it along roadsides, around new home sites or development areas. It’s typically black, a synthetic fabric stretched between stakes. (You’re part of a special demographic if you converse about it.)

Why bother?

Federal law through the Clean Water Act requires that a construction site larger than one acre protect downstream waters from sediment runoff from the site. Various methods are used to prevent soil from leaving the site. A barrier of straw bales was common, though swift storm runoff often breached the barricade. Geotextile fencing (a.k.a. silt fence) is the current norm.

Who cares when the fence falls down?!

That’s my usual rant to anyone in the vicinity when I see a flopping fence. The owner is in charge but if no one calls him/her/them to task on the violation, the owner may not actually care. Then too, it costs money in labor to maintain something that keeps falling down. I called my friend the professor-in-the-woods to clarify for me who is watching the fence.

“The mandate is federal and overseen by EPA,” he advised, “but enforcement and monitoring are handled by local government.”

Monitoring means owners must conduct inspections of fence every seven days. The owner must keep a documented log of inspections and provide the log when asked by authorities. Often the owner hires a consultant to inspect the fence and maintain the log of conditions.

That’s nice. But when do the authorities ask to see the log? I asked the professor-in-the-woods. “Well, you never know,” he said. “They show up whenever.”

Who ya gonna call?

Tired of flopping fences? Perhaps we should help.

Legally, owners have seven days to repair the fence. If after two weeks the fence is still bad, we can call the local enforcement office in charge of stormwater and report the lazy lowdown fence. The local government wherein the property the fence is located is responsible for keeping an eye on the owner. If the property is within a city, then notify the city stormwater department. If it’s in a rural area, contact the county.

To be fair to the mountain men repairing the oft-falling silt fence on the hillside, as the professor-in-the-woods pointed out, “At least they were out there working on it. That’s a good thing.” Yeah, too bad they’ll have to do it again next time they get a big rain.

I just missed T. Boone Pickens

noreply@blogger.com (Green Home Lady) — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 14:44:00 +0000

This time last week I was in Lincoln NE removing plants from their wrong locations (my professor friend cautioned I shouldn't call it weeding). Had I stayed on, I'd be in line this morning to hear T. Boone Pickens explain his plan at a town hall meeting at the Lancaster Events Center at 10:30.

You've no doubt seen Mr. Pickens' tv ads promoting a national shift to wind power and natural gas. I'm trying to look at it as rationally as I can with all the information I can find.

Right now, I'm a walking dichotomy. At night one side of my brain reads Bill Bryson's "A Walk in the Woods" (for the third time) his witty tale of living in nature while hiking the Appalachian Trail. While I try to stifle belly laughs into chuckles, the mattress convulsions wake up my husband. I'm still learning from Bryson the origins of how this trove of national treasure was set aside.

By day, the other side of me is conjuring the wind tunnel corridor through the American Heartland. The two ideas wrestle. Many land owners are at odds with how the serenity of the Heartland and their lives will be destroyed. I'm sensitive to that.

Here's the URL to T. Boone Pickens website. Your thoughts?