Carbon Slim – Keeping it cool

I don’t know where you are, but it’s hot where I am. Really hot. So hot, this environmentalist can’t say enough about central air conditioning. I love it! I shudder when I think of the time I worked in a funky arts building that scored high marks on funkiness, but an ‘F’ on comfort during blistering humid days. By the afternooon, I was done. I couldn’t even function.

As thrilled I am with air conditioning, I’m not going crazy. The thermostat is set at 26 degrees Celsius until the temperature dips down, which it’s forecast to do in a few days. At that point, we’ll turn off the air conditioning, open the windows and let the ceiling fans do the work.

If it’s hot where you are, please set the air conditioning at about 25 degrees. Keep in mind that in places like Toronto, the vast majority are using their air conditioning. In order to keep up with demand, the utility will be tapping into its backup, which in Toronto means coal fire plants. Those smoggy humid days are only going to get smoggier.

If you live in Ontario, be sure to sign up for peaksaver. When you do, a signal will be sent during peak load times to reduce the electricity demand of your central air conditioning system. To learn more and sign up, visit www.peaksaver.com. It’s super easy and your utility will likely give you an added incentive.

For more tips on keeping cool while helping the planet stay cool, click here.

Finally! Eco-Friendly Sunscreen that Doesn’t Make Me Look like a Robot

I finally found an eco-friendly sunscreen that doesn’t make me look like the robot from Metropolis. Most sunscreens have chemicals to help your skin soak in the lotion. The problem is that these same chemicals also alter the sex of some fish and can cause cancer over time.

Safe active ingredients include Titanium Dioxide and Zinc Oxide, but they tend to leave an odd metallic sheen on the skin.

I stumbled across Mexitan SPF 30 at Toronto’s Carrot Common. It leaves a barely noticeable sheen and works very well. It’s also water resistant. I’m currently vacationing in Grand Bend on Lake Huron and haven’t had to reapply after dipping in the lake.

For more on eco-friendly sunscreens, click here.

In the News

Low carbon way 'to reshape lives'

A Forewarned Future: As 'Climate Security' Forecast Darkens, Is Canada Ready?

Keeping Cool with the Planet

What a weekend, eh? Here in Toronto we’re recovering from a mind melting heat wave. While 2008 is an El Nina year, with promises of a cooler than normal summer, it’s still predicted to be one of the hottest due to the current trend. The last ten years have been the warmest on record. The challenge then is how to stay cool without heating things up.

Staying Cool while Staying Green
The air conditioner beacons. Believe me I know. Air conditioners not only demand a lot of energy from non renewable sources, they heat the air to boot. Here are alternatives:

Immediate

• Shut all blinds of south facing windows during the day. Remember, light colours reflect light while dark colours absorb it.
• Open all window for a cross draft.
• Fans demand electricity but are not energy hogs like air conditioners, which use up to 1/6th of electricity in the United States and can consume up to 43% of US peak power. Ceiling fans are a big help. Just make sure blades are spinning in the right direction so you feel air blowing downward. Run a large fan in the basement to draw up the cool air to the rest of the house.
• Install compact florescent lights. The energy produced by incandescent bulbs is 95% heat.
• Prepare lunches and dinners that require no cooking.
• Spend quality time in the basement – if it’s finished. If unfinished, spend non quality time in the basement.
• Bring a picnic and good book to a heavily wooded park. Trees cool things down by 5°C.
• Reconnecting with nature is always a swell idea anyway.
• If you must turn on the air conditioner, avoid turning your home into a refrigerator. Keep it up to about 25°C.
• Popsicles!!

Some Planning

• Invest in ceiling fans if you don’t have any.
• Install a programmable thermostat.
• Have a home energy audit. Caulk air leaks and install insulation if recommended for your home.
• Get a solar oven and barbecue.
• For south facing homes, plant a deciduous tree in the front lawn. The leafy tree will shield your home from the sun and naturally cool things down. In the winter with the branches bare, the sun will hit the home when it needs it the most. Also consider planting vines along the side of the house that gets the most sun. According to the EPA, “shaded walls may be 9 to 36°F (5° to 20°C) cooler than the peak surface temperatures of unshaded surfaces.” Please check with your utility before digging a hole to plant a tree. You don’t want to be hitting any gas or sewage pipes.
• Refinish the basement with a place for sleeping during the hottest days of the year.
• Invest in a geothermal system which will keep things cool in the summer without the need of a traditional air conditioner.
• If building a home, look into Passive Houses and other energy efficient options. If done properly you will drastically reduce your carbon footprint and save a bundle. Really, all houses and buildings should be legislated to be energy efficient and energy producers.

For more tips on keeping cool, visit Earth Easy

In the News

Hypermiling: Tricks squeeze every drop from the tank
Great tips to improve your fuel efficiency. Hypermiling is now getting to be all the rage. But really the best hypermiling is walking and cycling.

Another Failure on Climate Change
The US senate did not pass the climate change bill.

After cheap oil
MacLean’s Magazine takes on peak oil.

Rural U.S. Takes Worst Hit as Gas Tops $4 Average

Cool the Kilowatts While Keeping Cool

If you live in the Great Lakes Region, you are no doubt recovering from the inaugural hit of +40 humidity that descended upon us last week.

During the last of those sticky days, I boasted to a friend that Jane and I are eschewing central air conditioning, relying on fans and drawn drapes to keep our place…less hot. After making this boast, I came home to a house in full-air conditioned blast. Poor Jane succumbed.

And really, can you blame her? It was reaching a point when you could slow cook food in our upstairs bedrooms.

Air conditioners keep the edge off but they are a devil when it comes to energy. In fact, during the time I made my boast of resisting the a/c, I was celebrating my current Toronto Hydro bill. Jane and I expended less than 400 kilowatts from April to June. I’ve been told that the average Ontarian expends 1000 kilowatts per month (the average New Yorker, 600). The average air conditioner user gobbles about 1,400 kilowatts per month.

I wrote about air conditioning in one of my installments a year ago. Not a bad idea to cover it again. Here are a few tips to help keep your place comfy while keeping your kilowatts to a dull roar.

· Use you’re a/c only when you feel like you’re about to expire. Otherwise, use fans and cover south facing windows during the day and open them at night to let the air circulate.
· You don’t need to recreate artic conditions in your home. After all, why live in winter when it’s summer? When the a/c is on, set it for 25 degrees Celsius.
· Please ensure that your air conditioner is running efficiently. Clean the air filter once a season and have it inspected from time to time. Also, make sure your windows are sealed properly.
· If you are shopping for an a/c, absolutely ensure that it is Energy Star certified. Never buy used when it comes to air conditioners as they are less efficient than newer models.
· If you visit at shop or restaurant that’s blasting it’s a/c, yet its door is propped open, please ask the clerk or manager to close the door. If you live in Ontario, let them know about Doors Closed, a program run by the Conservation Council of Ontario.
· If you live in a house that’s south facing, plant a deciduous tree in the front yard. It will keep your home cool in the summer. In the winter when the leaves are gone there will be no barrier to ensuring that the sun warms your south facing room.

In the News

6,000-year-old Arctic ponds drying out
Another canary in the mine. Why care about disappearing ponds in the artic? The life in those ponds play a vital role in fragile artic ecosystems. Now they are on the threshold of collapse.

7/7/7
It may not be Woodstock, but where will you be when Al Gore rocks out (and more importantly what will you be wearing – hemp, bamboo or organic cotton)?

Other News

Green Bloggers

Ecoshock Radio

Grist Magazine

Tree Hugger

Zerofootprint Blog

StopGlobalWarming.org

BBC – The Greenroom

New York Times – Environment

Repelling Insect Vampires

How’s that for a compelling title? Of course I’m referring to the dastardly mosquito, put on the planet for the sole purpose of tormenting us poor human beings. Do you know that public service announcements in the 1950s portrayed ‘pests’ (insects that went about their business to eat) as communists (the red horde!) and that the only way to stop them was through pesticides (originally developed during the wars to kill people).

Alrighty then…

TO Do This Week

DEET is our friend. Many people believe this to be true. DEET projects us from the mosquitoes that carry the West Nile virus….

What’s the Big Deal? DEET is a pesticide. It absorbs into your skin and can find its way into your blood stream. High concentrations of it can affect your nervous system, including muscle strength and coordination. We know this because of DEET’s use by the US military during the Gulf War. God only knows what was going on. Was the military experimenting on its own soldiers? That of course is another story. We also know of DEET’s affect on the body due to tests on rats. Now rats are not humans. Rats or any other animal shouldn’t even be tested. That’s another story as well. Normal human application of DEET seriously affects animals and the environment.

For more information visit Duke Medical News and Canada’s Environmental Health

Alternatives
Jane and I are taking off for the weekend! Thank goodness! We’re going to my sister and brother-in-laws’ idyllic cottage by a river. Mosquitoes love it there too! That’s why we're bringing our trusted citronella with us. These alternatives will not last as long as DEET. No harm in reapplying.

Other healthier repellent alternatives, visit Ideal Bites’ Itchy and Scratchy show.

Also remember to

- Remove pools of water from around your home such as gutters, wheel barrels and anything else that collects water.

- Repair or install screens on your windows and patio doors.

- Cover your arms with long sleeve shirts, wear pants and socks during evenings.

Join the March!!
Over 452,873 to date have signed up to stop global warming. Join us!
http://www.stopglobalwarming.org/

In the News
Green Bloggers

Grist Magazine

Tree Hugger

StopGlobalWarming.org

Green Sun Worshippers

One in two men will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime. One in three women will be diagnosed as well. Either you or someone you care about has battled cancer and/or will be diagnosed sometime in the future.

Why is this statistic so high? Part of the reason is an aging population and unhealthy lifestyles. Another reason is the chemicals we ingest, inhale and put on our bodies.

My blog focuses on global warming but also on sustainability. How will we function in a world that we continue to poison?

It’s summer!! Time for the sunscreen. You probably know where this one’s heading….

TO Do This Week

Choose chemical-free sunscreens! Any health food store should carry it. You’re probably wondering if they will actually do the job. Isn’t it interesting how much faith we have in man-made chemicals?

Jane and I use Soleil, a natural sunblock by derma, which works wonderfully well.

What’s the Big Deal – Sunscreen is supposed to protect the skin from the sun’s UV-A, which cause free radicals. Free radicals disrupt living cells and lead to nasty diseases and conditions, including cancer. A burn and tan are signs of damaged skin, or free radicals at work.

However, the chemicals in some sunscreens create free radicals when applied over time.

Not only are the chemicals in sunscreen bad for our bodies, they are bad for soil and water and creatures that live in them. Scientists have discovered that male hornyhead turbot and English sole off the Californian coast are being feminized thanks to oxybenzone, a chemical found in sunscreens.

For more information and a recommended list of sunscreens, visit Ideal Bite on Sunscreen

Not too sure about your favourite product? Visit Skin Deep to find out how it rates in terms of safety.

Join the March!!
Over 436,000 to date have signed up to stop global warming. Join us!
http://www.stopglobalwarming.org/

Go Green and Win things.
A contest to lure Ontarians to do their bit.

In the News

Green Bloggers

Grist Magazine

Treehugger

StopGlobalWarming.org

Taming your Air Conditioner!

This week, we look at the mighty air conditioner. Also – in the news: Ontario’s Coal-Fire Phase Out may be in jeopardy. And Elizabeth May runs for leadership of the Green Party of Canada.

TO Do This Week

Taming Your Air Conditioner
Well, it’s not that hot out yet, but soon the muggy sweaty days will descend upon us and the air conditioner will be all too tempting.

What’s the Big Deal? The irony of air conditioners is that they actually heat the outside air. Bit a vicious circle that. We also know that air conditioners really tax the electrical grid, and they contribute to GHG emissions.

There’s plenty that you can do to help the grid and the environment.

If you live in Toronto, Toronto Hydro has introduced PeakSAVER, a groovy conservation program where Hydro will pay you $25 to install a switch to control your air conditioner’s electricity during peak hours. You won’t notice a difference and you’ll be $25 richer, but you have to sign up pronto. If you don’t live in Toronto, ask your energy provider about doing something similar.


Tips from Earth Easy:

• Install a ceiling fan in the largest room of your house. This will allow you to lower the setting on your air conditioner 3 to 6 degrees, which will save up to 25% of energy costs of home cooling.
• Clean filter screen once a month. This will reduce fan usage and save electricity.
• When turning on your air conditioner, avoid using the coldest setting. Let the air conditioner warm up for a while before lowering the temperature setting. The room will cool just as fast.
• If buying a new air conditioner, choose a model with an Energy Efficiency Ratio (EER) of 10.0 or higher.

More tips:
• Draw your curtains during the day to stop the sun’s heat from getting in.
• Use fans if the heat is not unbearable.
• At night, open windows to allow cross ventilation.
• Don’t refrigerate your house. Keep it bearable.
• If you have a roof that’s flat, paint it white to reflect the sun’s rays.

Join the March!!
Over 300,000 to date have signed up to stop global warming. Join us!
http://www.stopglobalwarming.org/

Sources
Earth Easy

Elizabeth May
Great environmental mover and shaker, Elizabeth May steps down after 17 years at the helm of the Sierra Club of Canada to run for leader of the Green Party of Canada. Interested in finding out more about the party? Please check the website. Want to be a member or are already one? Elizabeth May needs your nomination. Visit http://www.elizabethmay.ca/ for details.

In the News
Just a heads up – we in Ontario have been pleased as punch that the province plans to phase out heavy-polluting, GHG-spewing coal-fired plants by 2009. This is possible due to a federal promise to shell out $538 million dollars. That federal promise was a Liberal promise, and now the Tories are sending mixed messages about whether the promise is as kaput as the Martin government. Read on
Toronto Star – May 9, 2006
Toronto Star editorial – May 9, 2006

Grist Magazine

StopGlobalWarming.org
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