A paint called Boysen KNOxOUT is able to filter out nitrogen oxides from the air. The chemical within the paint reacts with sunlight and water vapor making it absorb NOx at a rate of about 20 percent. KNOxOUT contains CristalActiv photocatalytic technology that absorbs energy from light and transforms ordinary water vapor into free radicals, which then break down noxious air pollutants, such as nitrogen oxides (NOx), that come into contact with the surface. Boysen KNOxOUT also has a self-cleaning feature that keeps painted surfaces looking fresh while other surfaces turn grey from air pollution.
The scientists that developed the paint say that one square foot of the paint absorbs the same amount of pollution as a full-grown tree. The city is painting 11,000 square feet of murals, which means the city will see the same air quality benefits as if they planted 11,000 trees. Cities in the U.S., especially somewhere like Los Angeles and New York that suffers from its own heavy share of smog and air pollution, could benefit from a little of this paint as well.
Rapidly accelerating and hard braking can lower your gas mileage by up to 37 percent,according to Edmunds. Look at the road ahead for that red light or traffic congestion and easy off the gas pedal. Using your brake and gas pedals as little as possible will greatly help your gas mileage.
Slow down!
Sratying at or close to the speed limit, instead of 15 mph over it will increase fuel efficiency by a whopping 14 percent, according to Edmunds. The U.S. Department of Energy adds: “Mileage usually decreases rapidly at speeds above 60 mph” and suggests that higher speeds can cost as much as 23 percent. Consumer Reports found dropping from 75 to 55 in an SUV saved 33 percent.
No Idling Please!
When you’re sitting still, you get zero mph. Edmunds realized that turning off an engine, even for as little as 30 seconds, rather than idling could increase overall fuel efficiency up to 19 percent. To prove this, Edmunds drove a 10-mile route, stopping 10 times for two minutes each, then compared turning off the car to letting it idle. Consumer Reports came to a similar conclusion as well
Use Cruise Control
Edmunds found this saves up to 14 percent on flat terrain, but warns not to use it in a continuous hilly terrain area since your car will use extra gas trying to maintain a set speed join up and down hills. You can also easily adjust your speed to stay at the speed limit to save gas as explained above.
AC Usage?
Consumer Reports suggested running the AC could cost as much as 1 mpg which may not be enough savings to justify doing on a long road trip on a hot summer day.
Junk in the Trunk
Junk in the trunk also hurts your fuel efficiency and FuelEconomy.gov estimates you can save about to 2 percent per 100 pounds. So stop making your trunk a storage area and shed the pounds… BTW losing some personal pounds also has the same effect!
Leaving your glass clippings on your lawn, allowing them to decompose and fertilize your lawn has many benefits. It reduces waste that goes into landfill, the clippings create a natural fertilizer for a healthier lawn and there is less costs due to elimination of disposal and collection not to mention the time savings form not having to bag it!
All you have to do is basically do not cut any more than 1/3 of the length of the grass blade at one time. The grass should be dry when you mow. Mower blades should be sharp. In the fast–growing season you may have to cut every 7 days-but in the slower growing season you might only need to cut your lawn every 1-2 weeks. A great book to read to learn more about mulching even more then grass is Mulch It!
Allow Grass to Grow Taller
Adjust your mower to raise cutting height and remove collection bag. The old rule stated that said you should never cut more than one third of a grass’ blades height was based on the USDA reccomendation in the 1950′s. Today most grasses can survive 50% or more removed. There are also special recycling mowers available on the market that leave this mulch finely chopped up on your lawn. More mulch leads to less fertilizer needed which means more money saved.
Most lawns in need about 1 inch of water every 5 to 7 days during the growing season. Watering your lawn a lot less also makes for slower growing grass (read less mowing). When you do water make it in the early morning to lessen evaporation loss and to help prevent disease development. Also watering deeper more infrequently helps produce a more extensive root system which is more drought tolerant.
The most green Eco-friendly mower is the classic push mower. No gas, no fumes to worry about. Push the mower and burn 540 calories an hour using it! So get on the grass today!
Toilets are by far the main source of water use in the home, accounting for nearly 30 percent of an average home’s indoor water consumption. Older, inefficient toilets also happen to be a major source of wasted water in many homes. Replacing these toilets with WaterSense labeled toilets could save nearly 2 billion gallons per day across the country—that’s nearly 11 gallons per toilet in your home every day! By retrofitting your entire bathroom with WaterSense labeled fixtures, you can save even more.
What Are WaterSense Labeled Toilets?
Recent advancements have allowed toilets to use 20 percent less water than the current federal standard, while still providing equal or superior performance. The WaterSense label is used on toilets that are certified by independent laboratory testing to meet rigorous criteria for both performance and efficiency. Only toilets that complete the third-party certification process can earn the WaterSense label.
How Much Can WaterSense Labeled Toilets Save?
Over the course of your lifetime, you will likely flush the toilet nearly 140,000 times. If you replace older, existing toilets with WaterSense labeled models, you can save 4,000 gallons per year with this simpler, greener choice.
And Price?
WaterSense labeled toilets are available at a wide variety of price points and a broad range of styles. The EPA estimates that a family of four that replaces its home’s older toilets with WaterSense labeled models will, on average, save more than $90 per year in reduced water utility bills, and $2,000 over the lifetime of the toilets. Additionally, in many areas, utilities offer rebates and vouchers that can lower the price of a WaterSense labeled toilet.
Look for the WaterSense Label!
Whether remodeling a bathroom, starting construction of a new home, or simply replacing an old, leaky toilet that is wasting money and water, installing a WaterSense labeled toilet is a high-performance, water-efficient option worth considering. If every American home with older, inefficient toilets replaced them with new WaterSense labeled toilets, we would save nearly 640 billion gallons of water per year, equal to more than two weeks of flow over Niagara Falls!
Together with a utility company called, Eneco, the concept of NRGspot was developed (no relation to this blog). The NRGspot system is part of a public ultra fast charging infrastructure for electric vehicles enabling clean transportation in cities across Europe. NRG spot can be used to fast charge electric vehicles ranging from delivery scooters, and electric bicycles to electric cars, buses and delivery trucks. The infrastructure consists of a broad range of different types of charging stations which act together as an overall infrastructure.
The system can be used by subscribers and is accessed through a intelligent interface. After a quick log-in the system can be used to charge the electric vehicle of the user usually within 15-30 minutes. The fast charging functionality is compatible with a whole range of electric vehicles with special lithium-ion battery technology, a list will be made available by the company soon. The systems will be placed initially in large cities at strategic places near shopping malls. The NRGspot can be used by fleet owners such as delivery services, taxi services as well as individual consumers.
Consider using green practices when it comes to constructing a new building or when remodeling your kitchen, bathroom or home. Follow the trend of using salvaged or reclaimed items helps cut down on resource utilization. Below are some useful resources for you to learn how or where to get some.
Build It Green has some very good guidelines and checklists for Green Construction, remodeling and building new homes. They have extensive lists of building material recommendations and sources. Advanced house framing techniques for new homes, show techniques on how to use half the wood of current building practices. Build it Green in NYC has information on low cost salvage and surplus building materials. Also Vintage Timber has many reclaimed wood structures which can be incorporated into your home.
There are many more just like these and many more green building tips to be found by typing “Green Building Tips” into your favorite search engine.
Rather than plant a tree for Earth Day, Recycle the stuff you do not want. It has a bigger impact sooner then just planting a tree, shrub or flowers. Below are some resources for redirecting it to people in need who can use the items thus saving them from going to the land fill.
One Mans’ Trash is Another Mans’ Treasure
Craigslist is a good place to place free stuff ad to give away things.
Freecycle is site that helps connect donors with recipients.
PUP Pick Up Please will come to your house if you have many items.
All are some of many the great causes or ways to recycle your unwanted items. You can also use your favorite search engine to find a local organization that will accept donations.
OTHER WAYS TO CELEBRATE
Walk or bike to work today (and other days as well).
Replace an incandescent light in your home or office with an LED or CFL one.
Buy and use a re-useable water bottle instead of buying bottled water.
Americans are alarmingly overweight compared to other cultures. Why we live in the land of plenty… plenty of food that is!
If we all ate 500 less calories per day, each of us would lose about 1 lb per week…. that is 52 lbs of lost weight per person in a years’ time.
Now many of us can’t afford to lose that much weight, but sadly there are way too many of us that need to. Even if you can not eat 500 less calories per day and could only cut out 200 calories per day,which is about one less latte or soda a day, you could lose 20 lbs in a years time. This is not hard to do at all. You can easily do this by just adding light exercise per day by walking 2-3 miles even without reducing your food consumption. If you do both you will lose even more weight faster.
Reducing your food consumption also has many additional benefits. It will help offset higher food and fuel costs you may be incurring. It saves energy as less food will need to be transported to you. Of course buying local produce and food products also helps conserve energy.
Americans eat way too much food and high calorie beverages and we need to consume less. Less is more… start today!
Below is a video on how the Port of Seattle is leading the way to green practices within its organization. The below video is how at its Airports it has its coffee barristers recycle their coffee grinds. It save a tremendous amount of waste from going into the local landfill. Recycling coffee grounds can be done by everyone very easily by just sprinkling them among your garden plants or adding them to you compost bin. Enjoy the video below and begin recycling them today. If you are interested in adding coffee grounds to your compost pile or garden Starbuck’s has a “Grounds for Gardens Campaign” where they will happily let you pick them up from your local one. Read more at Port of Seattle.
A paint called Boysen KNOxOUT is able to filter out nitrogen oxides from the air. The chemical within the paint reacts with sunlight and water vapor making it absorb NOx at a rate of about 20 percent. KNOxOUT contains CristalActiv photocatalytic technology that absorbs energy from light and transforms ordinary water vapor into free radicals, which then break down noxious air pollutants, such as nitrogen oxides (NOx), that come into contact with the surface. Boysen KNOxOUT also has a self-cleaning feature that keeps painted surfaces looking fresh while other surfaces turn grey from air pollution.
