Cut Down Your Winter Bills & Your Carbon Footprint

source image courtesy of Mother Earth News

Cutting monthly bills and reducing your environmental impact often go hand in hand. But this doesn’t mean you have to mean you have to be cold and miserable. The best of both worlds is to properly insulate your home and use energy efficient appliances and equipment. You can then take the next step by investing in renewable energy.

Buy Green Power

Boston residents can sign up to switch electricity power source to wind or solar. There are three different companies that you could go with:

•  NSTAR lets you choose between half or all of your electricity support wind power. The wind is generated in upstate New York and in Maine, and has been certified by Green-e Energy. This means that NSTAR meets standards of environmental quality and it has acquired the renewable energy supply it has committed to deliver. 

• Boston Buying Power lets local businesses to group together to buy green energy.   EPA encourages organizations to use green power, and at the moment has more than 1,400 partners voluntarily using billions of kilowatt-hours of green power annually.

So whether you’re a resident or a business owner, there’s no excuse not to consider using green power.

Make Your Own Energy

There are lots of ways to make your own energy, but the best for households is via solar power. Solar panels can be used to generate electricity, or to heat water. Solar panels have dropped in price over the past five years, making them much better value for money and increasing ROI. Though the upfront price is still a lot, some solar systems can be installed with no upfront cost for installation and ownership by a third party and they can also be leased at a rate that could be lower than your bills. If you want to own it yourself, then you can save money by shopping around for installation costs at companies like The Handy People.

Insulation

Insulation is a really effective way to cut down on your energy bills, as it stops heat escaping and makes it quicker and easier to heat your home.

Renew Boston is a program that offers free energy assessments and then eligible customers receive 75% off for insulation and air sealing. If you’re part of a duplex or an apartment building, and the whole building is buying insulation, then you could receive up to 90% off.   

Author: Tom, The Handy People

Daily Earthspiration

courtesy of Verily Magazine

Green Patriot Posters Exhibit on Display at Design Museum Boston

by Jimmy Huang

WHEN: On display from January 17, 2014 – May 31, 2014
Hours: Sat-Wed 10am-5pm, Thu-Fri 10am-9pm

WHERE: 315 on A, 315 A Street Boston, MA 02210

WHY: Head to the Fort Point District to see the Green Patriot Posters exhibition and experience the opening 315 on A, a LEED Gold Certified residential apartment building. Green Patriot Posters, inspired by World War II posters, hopes to unite us all once again – this time to combat climate change. Launched by art collective the Canary Project in 2008, Green Patriot Posters invites designers, illustrators, photographers, and artists to create poster-form artwork relating to any aspect of climate change and environmental justice. To date, Green Patriot has collected over 500 unique poster designs.

Spotlight: Harvest Power

Continuing with Boston's composting momentum, Boston Green Blog is featuring Harvest Power as the green biz of the week. Waltham-based Harvest Power helps communities better manage and beneficially re-use their organic waste. Their vision is to find the highest and best use for the 500 million tons of organic materials produced in North America each year. Harvest Power is particularly focused on building powerplants and infrastructure for using our organic waste to create biomass energy. To learn more about this, I highly recommend the TEDtalk by the Harvest Power founder, Paul Sellew:

Get to Know Your Meat-Free Protein Sources

Lentils - Not only are lentils a great source of protein, they are vegan. Lentil soup is the perfect winter-weather protein-packed meal.

Greek Yogurt - greek yogurt is delicious and versatile. It can be used to replace mayo, sour cream, heavy cream, and even oil in some recipes. This makes it super-easy to add a few extra grams of protein to every meal.

Eggs - The classic breakfast protein is regaining popularity as people are reducing the amount of meat in their diets. Breakfast-for-dinner is a great post-workout meal.

Beans - Beans are another versatile protein source. They make a great side dish for almost any meal and are also a great salad topper. Black beans are also becoming a secret weapon for gluten-free bakers.

Almonds  - Almonds have always been a dieter's best friend because they pack just enough protein and crunch to keep you full until your next meal.

Tofu - Tofu gets a bad reputation from many meat-eaters, but if cooked properly, tofu is delicious and the perfect solution to the protein problem.

For more ideas and recipes, check out these 21 Meals with Tons of Protein and No Meat.

New Perspectives: Environmentally Fences

source image courtesy of flickr

Though it might not feel like it, Spring is just around the corner (I hope)!!! Now is a good time to start thinking about yard and garden solutions for when warmer weather (finally) rolls around.

Why you might need a fence
Living without a fence in your yard is the most environmentally-friendly option, but sometimes they are needed. So, putting the right kind of fence up in the appropriate areas can help to prevent unnecessary environmental costs. Some might need a fence in their yard to keep plants in your garden safe from animals that might want to eat or destroy them. Fences are also required around pools. And some need a fence to keep pets safe. Places like Buy Fencing Direct have a large choice of fencing available for these types of applications.

Types of environmentally friendly fencing

The best type of environmentally friendly fencing is natural hedging or shrubbery fencing. However, these may not be high or thick enough to keep animals out, or it may grow too slow. Using salvaged wood can also be a good way to have an environmentally friendly fence, but it might take a while to find enough supplies.

Other considerations

Wire fencing can potentially be harmful to animals - they can get caught if the gauge size isn't quite right. Also make sure that there is little or no gap between the ground and the bottom or your fencing in case any animals decide that they will try and go underneath it to get in your garden and get stuck halfway through!

Author:  Tom of Buy Fencing Direct

What to watch on Netflix this weekend

This 2011 documentary, available for streaming on Netflix, takes an inspirational look into the brief, but landmark, presidency of President Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldives. The Maldives are the lowest lying country in the world, and may very well disappear as a result of climate change. Nasheed heads to the U.N. and to Copenhagen to face adversaries like China and India in the hopes that they can come to an agreement on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The Island President is informative, witty, and motivating - two thumbs up!