Finding your Green Thumb

UPCYCLING: Why re-use resources?

2012-11-19T08:01:00.000-08:00

By researching ways to go green, I discovered a hip new trend called upcycling. Upcycling is the use of waste materials to provide useful products. It's taking something that you would otherwise throw away and finding a new purpose for it. Below are 3 reasons why we should upcycle more often.

1. It is a reinvestment in the environment. Upcycling helps the environment in a couple ways. First, your old items aren’t going to landfill sites, where gases like methane are released and can contribute to climate change. Also, upcycling makes use of old items, which saves you from buying new things. “This saves money in your pocket, as well as reduces need for more goods to be manufactured.” (www.greenlivingtips.com)

2. It can be fun and creative. Upcycling encourages creativity. People have made wallets out of innertubes, fishbowls out of old Macs, and even a wine rack out of chopsticks. “If you challenge yourself to find new uses for old things, you’ll discover a wealth of creativity.” (www.ecolivingexperts.com)

3. It requires less energy and resource. Recycling is great but it requires energy and resources to collect, sort and process unwanted waste. “It’s all about taking disposable things and creating something useful… usually the only energy being used is your own…” (www.upcycling.com)

-Lawrence

Old Mac computer turned into fishbowl

Grey Goose bottles into vases, or reuseable drinking glasses

Shower Tub into flower pot

Old ladder into bookshelf

Solar panels: Using natural light to power your life

2012-11-11T17:50:00.002-08:00

The sun is incredibly powerful. It generates so much power in the form of light waves and heat that there is no way it can all be used with our current technology and understanding. But that doesn’t mean we need to keep letting it go to waste!

You know that bill you get every month from the power company? Notice how it keeps increasing, even with energy efficient bulbs, windows, heater and a/c units, etc.? There are two ways to lower it; either get rid of everything electronic and use candles for light (not practical!), or invest in solar panels.

Solar panels are fairly easy to use. Simply have a certified technician install them on your roof and connect them to your main power line. After that, every once in a while, rinse them off with your hose, or better yet, some companies actually have a maintenance service that will come out and inspect them regularly and clean them as needed.

I’ve talked to people with solar panels, and heard stories about how after getting solar panels installed, they are receiving “bills” from the power company showing a credit to the account. In other words, the power company owes them money! Wouldn’t that be a welcome sight? One of my friends was telling me about their power usage. He lives on a large piece of land and own horses as well as rent out stabling space. There is the main house and the guest house, both occupied full time. He told me the power bill monthly was close to $1000, and rising. It was out of hand. He decided to get solar panels, which cost him about $100 per month is maintenance and finance fees, but now his power bill is below $200 per month, consistently! That’s about $700 in savings per month. I was shocked. And really, if he wanted even more savings, he could get panels installed on top of another one of the stables and start making money from the power company.

Incredible!

I’ve looked into solar panels for my house a bit and I’ve found that if I covered my roof with panels I could generate enough power to run my devices constantly during the day, and still have excess power trickling back into the power grid, that I would get paid for from the power company. The only thing holding me back at this point is lack of funds, and a desire to not go into debt getting them.

There is a cost to going solar, and in the long run it does get returned to me, but right now I sadly cannot justify the expense. Perhaps when I have finished my schooling and move into my career I will visit the subject again, but until then, I will continue to turn off my energy efficient lights, and open my windows at night for the cool air.

Until next time,
Tony

Gardening is good for the environment

2012-11-05T06:23:00.005-08:00

Traditionally, the ideal look for residential homes has been to have beautiful grassy lawns. But have you thought about how much water is used into maintaining your lawn? The cost adds up more than you realize, especially if you live in a warm climate like here in sunny Southern California. In actuality, there are many areas in Orange County and the Inland Empire that are already in danger of low water levels. The water companies continuously try to advise the community to conserve water anywhere possible.

Truth be told, we are all slowly running out of water as global warming continues to tweak the normal order of the world. Drastic climate changes move expected rain fall further out, animals and plant life suffer with this seasonal shift, and it’s becoming more noticeable. It’s always better advised to conserve what we already have, than use extra energy and materials to create a new process of saving energy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here are some helpful tips and reminders in saving water outside around your home. Even with saving water, you can still enjoy the beauty of nature to help accentuate your house’s appearance. J

Lush green lawns are always nice, but do you need it to have grass on all sides of your house? Cut back and only use one area for a grass lawn (if you must). This way you don’t dedicate large amounts of water to hydrate the ground for the grass.

There are many beautiful low-water-use-plants, and also cactus plants that are colorful and produce some amazing flowers. Make your own collection of favorites, and plant away!

Normal grass lawns are so yesterday...

Why not create a nice pathway on any side of your property, mixing with low-water-use-plants and rocks helps save on water immensely.

Check out this link for more garden tips to save water around your house

http://www.casasugar.com/How-Save-Water-Your-Garden-Yard-1757565

One of the easiest ways to understand what style landscaping is best for your home AND the environment, is to follow your regions climate temperatures and rainfall patterns. With this information, you can choose plants accordingly. For example, Southern California’s inland regions tend to be drier and desert like than near the coast, where there’s higher moisture and warmer nights.

It just takes some time to think through how much water you normally use on your landscape, then see which areas you can cut down the usage, and modify the area to conserve more energy and water. There are always cost efficient ways to make this happen, and don’t forget about Pinterest for DIY project ideas!

REUSING

2012-10-28T09:29:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone, it's Nhi. I'm sitting in the 4th flour of our school library, drinking a Grande mocha Frappuccino with whipped cream on top, and writing the report of my own small experiment. Recently, I've tried to save any kinds of plastic bags and boxes that I've used and think about a way to reuse them.

First, I save any plastic bags I've got from shopping in the malls, markets, grocery stores, and of course, drugstores, like Bartell. I always use those plastic bag to cover the inside part of trashcan in my room before throwing anything in there. Then, when the trashcan is filled up, I just need to wrap the plastic bag and throw it away. That's a super convenient and fast way to clean up a trashcan, right? By the way, those plastic bags can be placed in the kitchen so that everyone in your family can use it to store their food waste. Reusing plastic bags helps us to protect our environment and keep our houses clean at the same time.

I reuse not only plastic bags but also the plastic food storage box. Two weeks ago, my friend and I went to a temple to get some vegetarian foods. Actually, I’m not a vegetarian (I’m a fan of beef, pork ribs, chicken, salmon, and bacon), but I like eating vegetarian foods because they are tasty. The foods were stored in plastic boxes. When I finished my foods, I saved the boxes and used them to plant some apple seeds. I’ve never planted apple tree before, so basically, I have no experience, no plan, no research, and no guide! It’s like an experiment. So this is what I’ve got from the beginning:

I didn’t buy the apple seeds. I bought apples from the market, ate them, and saved three apple seeds after eating my apples. I dug the soil from the garden, put it in the box, placed the seeds in, and watered them everyday. I waited for about 2 days, but the apple seeds didn’t grow, so I though my experiment was a failure. Then, on Monday night, when I just came back home from school, I intended to throw them away and plant some soybeans or green beans, but then I saw a tiny little green plant in the plastic box.

So now, from one plastic box and three apple seeds from the beginning, I’ve got one little apple tree. By the way, I also started planting some soybeans around because I don’t want my little tree to be lonely :D.

I’m going to reuse more plastic boxes or water bottles to grow more seeds so that I’ll have some tree pots to decorate my bedroom. If you use the water bottles to plant trees or flowers, make sure that you don’t close the bottle caps because your plants need oxygen to be alive too J. You can throw the caps into the recycle bin or keep them and think about how you are going to reuse them. I love reusing stuffs since it helps me to save money and keep our environment cleaner; and it’s really fun too! There are lots of things that you can reuse and there are many ways to reuse them. You just need to be creative and enjoy yourself when doing a good thing to protect our earth.

Goodbye everyone,

Have a wonderful weekend.

Turn it Off!

2012-10-21T23:10:00.005-07:00

People often find themselves asking whether or not it's a good idea to keep their computers running 24/7, or shut them off. In America about 76% of the population is an owner of a desktop computer. About 60% of them leave their computers on when it is not in use or running 24/7. When asked why they leave it on, their reason is often, "I can’t wait for the slow 5 minute boot up time," or "I’m just going to be gone for a few hours". Even then, most people leave their monitor on. Leaving your computer on constantly can reduce the life span of the computer, heat up a room, and consumes unnecessary energy which can end up costing more than the computer itself.

In almost every computer there is something called a power supply unit (PSU). A PSU gives your computer enough energy to power on and run efficiently, without a PSU or a low wattage PSU, your computer will not be able to turn on or run efficiently. An average desktop computer has a 400 watt power supply. With a 400 watt PSU we can calculate that it would cost you about (400W*24hrs/1000* $0.19KWH= $1.824*365=$665.76 dollars per year). Running a computer constantly 24/7 can cost more than the computer itself. A gaming rig requires more energy, most of them contain a PSU with a power of 700+ watt, imagine the electric bill on that!

http://www.bls.gov/ro9/cpilosa_energy.htm

Not only will keeping the computer running cost you lots of money, it also reduces the life span of each part of your computer, which can be costly to replace. You can fix the long boot up time problem by getting Solid State Drive, which can be costly but worth it. With an SSD your computer will instantly turn on and load to the desktop menu in less than 30 seconds. The fan in the computer (which helps cool down the PC) is a rotating part, which accumulates dust and dries out the bearings that can make it harder for the fan to run. With a computer running constantly memory leaks will occur, which causes your computer to slow down and run inefficiently. The only way to fix this problem is to turn it off and let your computer rest.

When allowing your computer to rest and turning it off, there should not be any problems with it. This is not only good for the computer but also good for you. You will keep more money in your pocket and have a computer you can rely on that won’t shut down on you in the middle of unsaved important work!

Have a great day guys!
Andy

Looking for a free, easy, and beneficial way to recycle?

2012-10-14T15:51:00.002-07:00

In my ever constant mission to maintain a “green” lifestyle, I came across a great website that provides a free service reusing your “trash” per say, and converting it into usable products! I have been using this website for a couple months now and finally sent off my first collection of waste. This online service goes above and beyond what your local recycling stations accomplish, as local places usually limit what is accepted. The company, Terracycle, came up with an easy and effective way to help both our environment and charities across the world! Over 34 million people worldwide are currently “outsmarting waste”.

Check out the link below to understand the details behind the savings and impact you would be making by sending back waste instead of letting it go to a landfill.

http://www.terracycle.com/en-US/why-send-garbage-to-terracycle

Many people don’t typically stop to think where their trash goes, how much of waste created could be reused in another form, or how landfills impact the surrounding communities and environment. It’s that notion of, “out of sight, out of mind”, and we’re all guilty of it! That “out of sight” landfill is slowly seeping into the ground, into groundwater used by communities, and over time creates disease and harmful chemicals that pollute the air, such as methane. At the current rate of waste buildup, eventually there will be no more space to add landfills. When coastal landfills get full, it spills over into the ocean and kills the marine life that makes the oceans such a delicate balance. It’s a huge problem that is growing with the population, and more people should be aware of it so we can tackle it sooner than later.

There are many incentive programs, and you accumulate points as you send in your shipments (shipping cost covered by Terracycle) that can go towards buying up cycled products, or send it to a charity of your choosing. You can’t go wrong with this program, if you are willing to put in the work involved. There’s so many ways to get involved, whether it’s a fun project with your kids, friends, co-workers, or even schools! Terracycle even provides helpful guides to create bins out of used cardboard boxes, DIY projects, setting up a program at your child’s school, and learning lessons to teach the younger generation who will one day determine the fate of our world.

See the link below to understand how it works, and what works best for you!

http://www.terracycle.com/en-US/how-terracycle-works.html

I was surprised to see that when I asked a few co-workers to help me save their granola wrappers for one of my waste collections, they were happy to help! Not everyone likes to do the leg work, but the ones that do should definitely put the word out to family and friends in order to pull in more waste. We can only help fix the environmental issues if we combine our efforts, no matter how big or small. Happy recycling!

-Adrienn :)

iPhone5; Just a fad, or environmentally savvy?

2012-10-12T00:08:00.000-07:00

Hi there, my name is Tony. I joined Project Green Thumb because I care about the health of the world I’ll leave to my children, their children, and so on. I remember what it was like to run through the field near my house as a child. How clean it was, how fresh the air seemed, how wonderful nature really is. As I got older I started to see signs of environment damage. I found Styrofoam containers and non-biodegradable plastics lying about. It was then that I decided not to be a party to that kind of world abuse. I wasn’t sure how to go about keeping that promise until many years later. My colleagues and I have some ideas to share with you. Some you may already know, some new. Either way, feel free to comment on any post, we love feedback.

So, like millions of others I decided that I have to have the new iPhone5. I’m tired of phones that aren’t reliable, easy to use or are energy hogs (in one way or another). When I heard that the new iPhone would have better energy efficiency I had to check it out. My first order of business was to find out everything I could about the new device, including the packaging (which we all know ends up in landfills). So I turned to the internet for this information. My first search effort led me to some sites with very little information. In their defense, the phone wasn’t released yet and Apple was being very tight-lipped about the whole deal. I was not deterred. I kept searching, and searching, and searching…

Finally, release date came and all of a sudden I had information available to me. More than rumors and hearsay, I had actual numbers and information I could use and read. The first place I went for that information was Apple. Their Environmental reports are easy to find, but since I’m looking specifically at the iPhone5 that’s what I’ll provide here:

iPhone5 environmental report

Let me just say this, I am impressed with what I see. Not only does Apple provide these reports, but they actually include a lot of information in them. I’ll go on record here and state that until the last several months I have been a die-hard PC guy. I used a Mac in school, when I had to, and I almost had a breakdown installing iTunes after buying an iPod, which I bought because I wasn’t happy with the alternatives out there.

Back to the report though, the first thing you see on it is Apple’s statement and views about the environment. They are direct and seem to take a serious look at their impact on nature. Next they included a breakdown of where their products produce greenhouse gases, and the percentage of each piece. I’d include a picture, but they have their report in pdf and I am unable to grab it. Nevertheless, you can see it in the link above.

After that they cover Energy efficiency (US and foreign), Material efficiency, Packaging (U.S. retail packaging of iPhone5 is 27 percent lighter and consumes 41 percent less volume than the first-generation iPhone packaging), and then they state they comply with the European Directive on the Restriction of the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment aka, RoHS Directive. Whew, that was a mouthful! But, even complying with that strict standard isn’t enough for Apple; they went a step further and incorporated more stringent restrictions. These are:

•    Arsenic-free display glass (who wants arsenic near their face when on the phone, really?)
•    Mercury-free LED-backlit display
•    BFR-free
•    PVC-free

I could go on, but I fear I already lost some readers with my wall of text. So I’ll leave you with this: With the rumors I found I liked what I saw about the iPhone5. After release and more data and reading, I’m hooked. I can’t wait until I have one in my grubby little hands so I can join the trendy world of Apple, and not feel guilty about their products impact on the world.

Plug-In Hybrids and Electric Vehicles (EVs)

2012-10-09T13:17:00.004-07:00

Hello fellow green thumb enthusiasts. My name is Lawrence

While driving tirelessly through the parking structure at Cal State Fullerton looking for parking, I noticed the parking structure rooftop came equipped with plugging stations for both Plug-In Hybrids and Electric Vehicles (EVs) and I thought to myself, “I wonder how much these vehicles would cost?” and “Would the price of paying extra be worth what I would be saving on gas?” My curiosity has led me to blog about Plug-In Hybrids and Electric Vehicles (EVs) including their costs and advantages.

A plug-in hybrid car is similar to a conventional hybrid vehicle- both use a gasoline engine as well as an electric motor. Likewise, an electric car is purely powered by an electric motor instead of gasoline engine. The electric motor gets energy from a controller, which regulates the amount of power- based on the driver’s use of an accelerator pedal. The hybrid plug-in and the electric car (EV) both use energy stored in its rechargeable batteries, which are recharged by common household electricity.

(Below are examples of a few popular Plug-In Hybrids and Electric Vehicles (EVs) by cost)

Toyota Prius (2012) Plug-In Hybrid Vehicle: $35,000

Ford C-Max Energi (2013) Plug-In Hybrid Vehicle: estimated $33,000

Chevrolet Volt (2012) Plug-In Hybrid Vehicle: $41,000

Nissan Leaf (2012) Electric Vehicle: $32,000

Ford Focus (2012) Electric Vehicle: $39,000

Pretty hefty upfront cost right? However, further research shows an increased savings in the long run! The U.S. Department of Energy's Alternative Fuels Data Center has an interesting tool on its website for comparing the costs of fuel and ownership of nearly every motor vehicle sold in the U.S. LA Times journalist Dan Turner researched the Nissan Leaf and taking into consideration fuel cost, purchase price, registration, insurance, etc; he concluded the Leaf eventually made up for its higher upfront cost by matching its cumulative cost at year fifteen.
(http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/opinion-la/la-ol-gas-prices-electric-cars-20121005,0,5048496.story)

Solar Energy- USA gives more examples of how much money can be saved by driving an electric car (www.solarenergy-usa.com)

After researching cost of plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles, I can reasonably conclude that these vehicles definitely have their advantages. I think getting over the (higher) up-front cost would be the biggest challenge for many people, including starving students like myself.

In the meantime, I’ll continue to circle the parking structure of Cal State Fullerton in my (2006) Honda Accord while paying for increased gas prices. Maybe after I graduate and land in my ideal career I’ll be able to one day afford an electric vehicle? Until then, here’s to all current EV drivers… more power to you!

Lawrence

To Trash or not To Trash? Is that Really a Question?

2012-10-07T22:44:00.000-07:00

Hey Fellow Green Thumbers, I’m Andy part of the Green Thumb blog team. What are some of the things people do to help reduce carbon footprint? First thing that usually comes to mind is recycling. When someone thinks about recycling, it’s not just about putting cans, papers, and glass into separate bins and send them off to some factory. It’s more than that. The word recycling means to convert (waste) or something not of use into something useful/reusable. Anything around the household can be recycled. Recycled items around the household can be converted into kids arts and crafts, have multiple uses, and save the environment.

Great projects to keeps little monsters busy is arts and craft, not only is it fun but very educational and opens their mind to greater imagination. Items around the house can be recycled to be used in arts and craft without leaving a hole in your wallet. Items like a Piggy Bank can be made out of recycled materials.

http://www.inhabitots.com/diy-christmas-recycled-piggybanks/

With the right material you can make other really great things. Here is a website that will give you some ideas.

A Great way to save money and the environment is using regular everyday household items not just for the main practical use, but for other things. With multi used items it can save you from running to the store and needlessly spending money. Items like Lemon, vinegar, baking soda, salt, and aluminum foil. Aluminum foil is not just for baking and cooking food, but can act as a scrub for oven, mold for doorknobs to protect from dripping paint while painting, clean glass pans with aluminum foil to get baked on food off, and not only that, aluminum foil in some cities can be recycled. There are hundreds of ideas you can find with a common items laying around the house. But don’t just stop here, you can find more ways and items to save time, money, and the Earth you can always do research.

For more ideas and DIY projects you can visit this website.
http://voices.yahoo.com/diy-reusing-household-items-other-things-around-8914131.html?cat=6

The GreenThumb team is about bringing people together even if we have our differences. We all share one thing in common, which is this only planet that we live on. We should protect and preserve for future generations so that our kids and grandkids can live a healthy and happy life.

Green House - Green Neighborhood – Green Community

2012-09-30T23:25:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone, I’m Nhi. This is my first post on Thumb Green’s blog. The word “Green” makes me think about something that is eco-friendly. I’m an “eco-friendly” girl and I love living in a “Green House”, an eco-friendly house. I always try to find some simple and useful tips to save household energy. I’ve watched three interesting YouTube videos called “Tips to Green your Home” that show us how to reduce energy use in our house:

After watching them, I summarized what I had learned:

1) Use cold water for laundry:

When you are using your clothing washing machine, the water temperature should always be on “cold water” section. Many people think that their clothing will be cleaner if they use warm water or hot water, but in fact, cold water is good enough to wash–off all the dirt in your clothing.

2) Use insulating windows instead of the normal ones:

Clif Castleman, the owner of a “Green House” shows us the benefits he gets from using energy-saving windows:

His electrical bill is reduced by 50 dollars;
Percentage of energy saved: 20-50% in summer and 80% in winter.

The high-tech window might be more expensive than the others. However, as it was shown in the video, if you choose the insulating window, you will pay less for your monthly electrical bills since it preserves the energy inside of your house. Hence, this window is a better choice.

3) Planting Trees on your backyard:

It’s not only for decoration but also for energy-conservation: The trees give cool shade to reduce the heat of your house in summer and block the cold winds during wintertime. Hence, you can save the air-conditioning and heating costs at the same time.You can also find the right way to do the gardening and the right trees to plant from the third video.

To find more information, you can visit the main website that is linked to those videos: http://www.nwf.org/goodneighbor You can share those tips with your family, classmates, friends, and neighbors, so that we can build not one but many “Green Houses” together to create a “Green Community”.

If you have any questions, you are welcome to discuss with us by leaving some comments below. I hope that all of you had a wonderful weekend,

Nhi.

Welcome to the greener side...

2012-09-28T11:49:00.001-07:00

In this day and age, many people are coming to realize that with an exponentially growing world population, we all are facing depleting resources that can’t be replenished. Increasing research and studies are showing that the best way to save on our remaining fossil fuel resources is to conserve energy. You may have noticed that more companies are moving towards “green” products and services to help consumers find effective ways to save energy and resources that we depend on in our daily lives.

So, to help ease the pain of finding what works, and what doesn’t, a group of us decided to create this blog to provide helpful energy efficient websites, products, and tips for the home that anyone can benefit from. My name is Adrienn, and I’m always on the lookout for energy efficient ways to live by, anything that helps conserve our resources, and eliminate unnecessary waste. I’d like to also introduce you all to my teammates Tony, Andy, Nhi, and Lawrence. The five of us are thrilled to see what we can find to make conserving energy a breeze and fun! We are all focused on making this world a better place… one post at a time.