30 Minute Shower

Company: A.O. Smith
Price: $2,000 to $3,000 installed
When available: Now

Tankless hot water systems are efficient but don’t store water. Tank systems store water but are less efficient.

Enter A.O. Smith’s Next Hybrid. The system hits 90% efficiency by recycling hot gases back into the system. It also has a small storage tank so owners can take a 30-minute shower, if they desire, without running out of hot water.

“It has the advantages of tankless technology and the benefits of storage technology,” said company spokesman David Chisolm.

The Next Hybrid is marketed through plumbing contractors so the cost will vary with the installation and location.

Payback time is hard to determine; it will depend on the system being replaced, utility costs and the habits of residents. It will pay for itself faster for families who use lots of hot water.

Chisolm said it’s about 90% efficient, meaning that 90 cents of every dollar spent on fuel costs goes to actually heat water with only 10 cents worth of fuel wasted in excess heat.

Recycled Deck

Company: Trex
Price: About $6.23 a square foot
When available: Now

It’s not just that no wood is used to manufacture this decking material, it’s green in other ways as well. For one thing, 95% of its content is recycled plastic that could otherwise clog landfills.

The company recycles 1.5 million plastic grocery bags a year — 70% of all the entire nation’s recycled output. A 500-square-foot Trex deck contains an amazing 140,000 bags.

The plastic is heated and combined with pulverized wood chips and pushed through an extruder to form the plastic deck planks, according to company spokesman Adam Zambanini.

The resulting product is scratch-, fade- and stain-resistant. There’s almost no maintenance and it won’t rot out on you in 10 years and have to be replaced.

It’s a little more expensive than wood decking but it comes with a 25-year warranty.

“You’d go through two wood decks in that time,” said Zambanini.

Railings for the decking are made from reclaimed wood, and the company recovers about 600 million pounds of plastic and wood fragments from landfills each year.

Serious Windows

Company: Serious Materials
Price: About 20% more than conventional high-efficiency windows.
When available: Now

Professional home heating audits reveal that windows produce some of the greatest amounts of heat loss. Combating that is a host of new high-efficiency windows that cut down dramatically on energy loss, saving homeowners on heating and cooling bills.

Serious Materials, which makes various energy efficient products, produces a line of foam-insulated, fiberglass-frame windows that exceed government energy efficiency guidelines by 300%.

The company says that fiberglass frames are not only green, they’re three times stronger than aluminum, nearly maintenance free and 500 times less conductive.

But the, well, Serious savings come from its quad-chambered design, according to spokeswoman Valerie Jenkins. Normally, to achieve heightened efficiency, window makers add a pane of glass to form two air pockets. That, however, adds lots of cost and weight.

“Instead of adding another layer of glass, we add films with special wave lengths that create the multiple chambers,” she said.

The company also uses different films so that builders or window installers can choose the one right for a specific application. For example, in most of the nation north-facing windows allow morning sunlight to penetrate, warming the home quickly. But other windows should cut back on sun to prevent overheating in summer. The company calls it “tuning the glass of the house.”

All told, homeowners can expect to cut their energy consumption by as much as 40%.

Low-Water Laundering

Company: Xeros
Price: N/A
When available: 2011

A British textile and color chemist has developed a way to clean clothes using just 10% of the water conventional laundering requires.

Instead of detergent, a string of special nylon beads is added to slightly wet laundry. In medium heat and high humidity “the beads open up like a one-way trap-door and absorb stains and dirt and they don’t come out again,” said Tim Maxwell, president of GreenEarth Cleaning, which is partnering with Xeros, the British developer of the process, on the venture.

The beads will require a special machine to work — you won’t be able to use your current Maytag — and that won’t be available until sometime next year.

The beads themselves can be reused hundreds of times. After a while, when their molecular structure can’t hold any more of the dirt, consumers can send them back to be recycled.

Even though cold water can’t be used, the system will still save energy, about 30% to 40% less than conventional laundering. That’s because so little water is necessary that it’s not a big strain on heating costs and the laundry comes out only slightly damp, which decreases dry time and saves power.

The Double Flush

Company: Brondel
Price: $79
When available: Now

Don’t want to spend the money purchasing and installing a whole new Stealth? This device turns any toilet into a double flusher, cutting water use as much as 50%. The lower-volume flush alternative can be used on about 80% of toilet visits, according to Brondel spokeswoman Sara Kimball.

She said the system has been available, mostly online, for less than a year. It fits 90% of residential toilet models.

“There’s a water savings calculator on our web site,” she said. “The savings are based on the tank size and flush characteristics of your toilet and the number of residents using it.”

The device should pay for itself in lower water bills in less than a year. The average consumer will save about $100, according to the company.

Power Roofs

Company: Dow Chemical
Price: $25,000 for a typical installation before any rebates
When available: 2011

Dow Chemical’s new photovoltaic shingles mimic the appearance of conventional asphalt shingles and their installation is nearly as simple — but they’ll be able to produce between 40% and 80% of a home’s electric needs, according to Jane Palmieri, general manager of Dow Solar Solutions.

“They’ll offset a sizable portion of the owner’s energy use,” she said.

The shingles will produce most of their power when there’s no one home to use it, during the day. That’s also when power is most in demand to light and cool office buildings and run machinery. Homeowners will be able to sell the power back into the utility grid and get “paid at peak rates,” said Palmieri.

One of the myths about solar is that the photovoltaic cells have to be in sunny places to work well. That is not true. Germany, for example, where cloudless days are few, is a leader in using solar technology.

“It’s viable wherever the cost of electricity is high,” said Palmieri.

The company is estimating that the “pay-back” time will be five to 10 years. The shingles will last 20 years or more so they’ll produce profits for the homeowners at least half their life.

Stealth Toilet

Company: Niagara Conservation
Price: About $300
When available: Now

This commode uses just eight-tenths of a gallon per flush and doesn’t make the loud swooshing sounds other low-flow toilets do. Plus, it has a the kind of wide “water spot” that’s popular with consumers because it cuts down on, well, skid marks.

It’s particularly timely given that California water suppliers are under a mandate to cut per capita water use by 20% by 2020, according to Manucher Alemi, the Water Use Efficiency Program Director for the state’s Department of Water Resources.

“In 2011, suppliers have to start to report what they plan to do to reach that goal,” he said.

The state wants to limit water use to less than 1.3 gallons per flush, according to Bill Cutler, president of Niagara Conservation, which makes the Stealth. His company is more than ready to hit that standard, using 50% less than that.

Cutler claims that it will render dual-flush toilets obsolete. Those give people the choice of a low-flow (about .9 gallon) or a high-flow (1.6 gallon) flush.

“The savings are voluntary,” he said, “and most people flush the big flush all the time.”

Homeowners can order the Stealth directly through Niagara and, shortly, at HomeDepot.com and Lowes.com.

Run your home on an iPad – Air Conditioning

Air condition via iPad

Get an app for your iPad and control your energy use from afar.

Company: Control4
Price: Free application and $99 licensing fee. plus an iPad
When available: Now

Control your energy use with an app that connects your home’s electric grid to a smart phone or iPad. You can turn off lights, air or appliances when they’re not in use, even program them to turn on and off at certain times.

No more leaving the air on all day just so your house is cool when you walk through the door. You can simply turn it on, or program it to turn on, 10 minutes before you’re due home.

You can even learn what changes other family members make, according to Jim Gist, a vice president at Control4.

“If your teenage kids are home alone and they turn down the air to 62 degrees, your iPad or iPhone will alert you and you can change it,” he said.

If you already have the home control module and an iPad, you can download the app from iTunes for free, although you have to pay a one-time licensing fee of $99.
You should be able to make that back in energy savings. Gist said reports are it can cut lighting use 10% to 30% and air conditioning costs between 20% and 40%.

A Great Green Website…

The Green Connoisseur

http://www.thegreenconnoisseur.com/

From their site:

“The Green Connoisseur was born of the philosophy that we don’t have to sacrifice our lifestyle to save our world. Embracing the culture of socially responsible luxury purchasing, rather than the idea of over-consumption, is the platform on which this website was founded. We have carefully and conscientiously delineated a criteria for all brands that are reviewed and discussed at The Green Connoisseur. In that way, you can feel confident that everything you see on our pages falls within discernable guidelines for sustainability and with eco-consideration in mind. A dramatic and exciting change is taking place in our consumer marketplace. Never before have we had such eco-conscious products and services available in the luxury sector. As more and more luxury brands embrace the concept of sustainability, The Green Connoisseur will be here to help you navigate your growing options.”

Creating Effective Household Sustainability

Greenwashing

It is no question that the new chic thing in the technology driven American marketplace is fashionable environmentalism. This is not to suggest that environmental attitudes are new by any respect, but more that the corporate scene of investigative marketers have seen the consciousness about the issues have gone from a miniscule group of dreadlock wearing hippies to a larger group of young suburbanites with money to spend. This started an entire market dedicated to “going green.” Now we have ready to eat “organic” frozen food, environmentally friendly cleaning products, and terms like “free trade” and “cruelty free” being brandished on every plastic package. One of the new hype words being utilized during this coporate “green wash” is sustainability. Though it is overused by companies that care more about exploiting consumer’s social conscience than ecological salvation, it is still an increasingly valid and crucial way at looking at our own consumption.

Practical Sustainability

Sustainabillity is an easy concept to grasp on an individual level when it is addressed very simply. What this means is that your consumption is designed to be forever sustainable. That is that the effect on the outside world, and its resources, is done so minorly that you could constantly consume and never run out of the resources you depend on or leave a continually greater destructive effect on the planet. Within this concept we have recycling, reduction of energy uses, composting, and a host of other ideas. What makes this concept great, and the reason it is most likely used out of context by conglomerates fighting over your paycheck, is that this is an easy thing for the individual person to strive for because there are numbers of practical ways they can achieve this.

Recycle

First, we all know that recycling is important, but a few simple steps can create an infrastructure for it that can make it easy and beneficial. Most cities, and apartment complexes, allow for joint recycling in one single recepticle. Often glass will have to be seperated on its own, so two bins are optimum. The kitchen is the largest area of conumptive waste, so a small area of a closet or corner that can be dedicated to two extra waste recepticles will make it that much easier to simply toss cardboard or plastics into these bins. Just leave them out with your garbage, or toss them into the recycling at your lodging.

Composting

Likewise, composting is a simple way that you can reduce your deposits into the growing landfill environment. Simply get a recepticle and place all decomposable food items into it. Then either use it in your garden, give it to a friend for theirs, or find out if your city has a community compost pick-up program. This is the definition of sustainability becuase it uses our waste as a catalyst for producing more plants and food. It helps foster a natural cycle that we have been away from with our trash based culture.

Responsibility

These are simple things, but there are many more that can empower any person to make the concept of sustainability real and practical for their lives. It is everyones responsibility to begin reversing the harm our species has had on the natural world, but that does not have to be an alienating idea at all. Every person can take simple measures to live an ethical lifestyle where their imprint will be less than the generations before them.

The Green Home
Practical techniques for adding sustainability to the home.
1. Creating Effective Household Sustainability
2. All-Natural Home Cleaning
3. Alternatives to Butter and Cheese
4. Treating Your Yard With Home Remedies
5. Natural Home First Aid
6. Using Vinegar in Your Laundry
7. Alternative to Conventional Luxury Products
8. Luxury Bathing the Green Way
9. Natural Foot Care
10. All-Natural Hygiene
11. All-Natural Dental Care
12. All-Natural Hair Treatments
13. Organic Infant Care
14. Organic Flea and Bug Remedies
15. Knowing What Contains Animal Products

Article by Shane Burley at brighthub.com