Programmable Thermostats

The new generation of programmable thermostats can save you upto $150 a year by regulating heat temperatures. When more heat is needed it will supply it and also maintain the temperature at the lower level when required.

A Five Plus Two Day model allows you to program for heat in the mornings, down during the day and then back up again as people start to arrive during the weekdays with the weekends being more relaxed.

There are also programmable thermostats that work like motion sensor lighting where heat is only provided when it senses people are in the home.

Insulation

One of the most efficient ways of keeping you family warm and your energy costs down is to make sure your insulation is upto par. If you can go in your crawlspace, take a wander to make sure the insulation is still in place and the plastic on the ground is still sealed. If you notice any pipes, make sure they are wrapped in insulation as well.

Inspect your windows and doors with an incense stick to check for drafts. Use caulking and weather stripping to close the gaps. If your windows and glass doors are inefficient, use shrink-film by following the proper directions. Close your drapes at night to add another layer of insulation.

Check pipes, air ducts and vents and close gaps with caulking or insulation. Install foam insulators behind outlet plates if you don't have insulated electrical plugs. Since heat rises, ensure that the attic is well covered to contain the warmth.

Source: Articles from LiveSmartBC

If each one of us makes a commitment to make a change to help the environment, collectively, it will amount to alot.

If we recall a statistic from before, if every American home replaced just one light bulb with an Energy Star bulb, we would save enough energy to power more that 3 million homes for a whole year and save $600 million in annual energy costs. Not only that, we would also prevent greenhouse gas emissions accounting to more than 800,000 cars.

Another simple thing to do is to use cold water to wash your clothes. Hotter water does not mean cleaner clothes; in fact the only difference that can be seen is in your utility bill. Did you know that 90% of washing machine energy consumption is in the heating of water.

Canadian families do an average of 416 wash loads per year which amounts to 1,281 lbs to 2,407 lbs of CO2 in the atmosphere. If we switch to cold water, not only will be prevent that CO2 from entering the atmosphere, but we will also save an average of $61 per year on our utility bill.

Isn't it a good time to save money and at the same time help the environment?

Source: Article by Maggie Calloway in the column "Smart Choices for Our Future"

The New Year's resolution of Okanagan newlyweds, Darrell and Lindsay Eason, transformed into a year long commitment to sustainable living. Follow their journey as they transform from a green couple to a sustainable couple over the next year. And, get ideas and tips that can inspire you as well. 

January 13, 2009

It has been quite a week of exploring our options and allowing ourselves to express our creativity through food. I actually baked a perfect loaf of bread in the bread maker, thanks to the addition of an egg and bread flour. The difference (I think) is higher gluten content, allowing the bread to rise instead of making a hard little puck that I had come to accept. Thanks to the inspiration of my friend Karalyn, I made two batches of wonderful organic spelt crackers with poppy seeds and organic seasoning. If I had realized how easy it was to make my own crackers, I would have started years ago. All you need is a cup of flour, 2 tbsp of butter, 4 tbsp of water, salt plus any seasonings and seeds you want to add. Just roll out the dough 1/8 inch thin and bake for 10 min on a greased pan at 400 degrees. Simpler than pie! I cut the second batch with a pizza cutter before putting it in the oven which made perfectly baked strips. I pair the crackers with Carmelis chevre and organic jalapeno and apple jelly or with home made humus. Yum!

Darrell has also been experimenting with cooking, not baking. He used some organic ground beef from Nature’s Fare and made a huge batch of bolognaise sauce to freeze. He asked the owner of Cook’s Quality Meats why it's hard to find organic beef, and he said many cattle farmers have to use antibiotics to treat infections in their herd, otherwise half of their herd would die when they were young. It takes one year for antibiotics to leave a cows system, and then it can become certified organic.

Outside of the kitchen we always look to the organic or eco-friendly option for products, but we are now starting to find ways to reduce the amount of stuff we purchase or continually purchase. I now have a toothbrush from Natural Rezources that has a disposable head, so the whole toothbrush doesn’t need to be thrown out. And our lotion, shampoo, dish soap and detergent containers are all refilled at Samson's Soap Shop.

I recommend to all those who like big box stores to try shopping for one or two items a small natural food store, artisan shop or soap shop. It actually becomes an enjoyable experience, instead of rushing around hundreds of people, standing in line, getting claustrophobic and anxious just to get everything you need in one store. The small shops help calm us down, create an enjoyable experience and make for a fun day of going to the bakers for bread, the butchers for meat, the health food store for vitamins and the Farmer's Market for veggies. The people working at these places are connected to their products, making them passionate about what they do. Do you think the cashier at Walmart gives a crap about local vs. imported products? Maybe, but her personal values definitely are not reflected in her job.

The moral of the story (or rant, if you like) is that we all need to find out what makes our conscience feel good. What is your philosophy to living happier and healthier? Do you want to make a difference in this world? Because if this is not what you are striving for, then why are you doing what you are doing?

Glenmore Cycling Route
Kelowna Mayor Sharon Shepherd was able to convince enough councillors to consider a new Glenmore cycling route connecting Kelowna to Lake Country.

Some councillers were skeptical because the project may take away from other projects within the city. While other councillors backed the idea of at least studying the project.

Green Transportation
Canada's Transportation Minister, John, Baird, announced that the Government of Canada is investing in 11 projects across the country that supports green transportation. The projects will receive upto $421,000 under the Moving on Sustainable Transport (MOST) program. The program is intended to support community groups and non-governmental organizations in their initiatives.

House boats not causing pollution
Houseboats in Gellatly Bay didn't show any signs of environmental pollution via leakage from septic systems or fuel systems so they won't be forced out by the provincial environmental ministry.

Water Issues
Kelowna councillors will be discussing water conservation measures for the city. They will look at the efforts made so far to develop a Water Sustainability Action Plan and look at initiatives outlined to reduce water consumption within the Kelowna utility by another 15% by 2012.

Waste Reduction
Volunteers are being invited to participate in the rollout of the automated curbside waste collection program. The new garbage carts are an easier, cleaner and greener method of waste collection. Residents will receive 3 bins - one each for garbage, recycling and yard waste. Large bins encourage more recycling and yard waste will be picked up on the opposide biweekly schedule. Check out the 2009 Calendar for more information.

The New Year's resolution of Okanagan newlyweds, Darrell and Lindsay Eason,transformed into a year long committment to sustainable living. Follow their journey as they transform from a green couple to a sustainable couple over the next year. And, get ideas and tips that can inspire you as well.

It was a slow start but we are finally getting the hang of focusing on purchasing only local and organic food. We've already been receiving Urban Harvest Organic Delivery for nearly two years at our current address. Urban Harvest is a local organic produce delivery service that delivers certified organic goods in reusable containers to your door. Urban Harvest offers many local and BC options, but also includes organic produce from the USA and Mexico. To find out what produce is in season in which province, visit the Canadian Local Eating website to get an idea of the type of produce you can eat if you want to eat local and seasonal. This week, we made sure we ordered only BC produce from Urban Harvest, and will stick with 100% BC produce for the entire year.

We've been using up our left over food over the past week, and finally went shopping to start our year off properly. Because Nature's Fair was closed, we ended up at Save On Foods, where we questioned and read the labels on absolutely everything we bought. We spent about two hours in the grocery store deciding what was acceptable in our program and what wasn't. At least for the produce, Save On labels where it came from, so we could choose only BC goods. Many of the packaged products trick you, because they could be packaged for a company in BC, but actually made in the USA or overseas. Spices and grains are hard, because many of them are not grown in BC or Canada. We stocked up on as many organic choices as possible, and will use them sparingly.

We have also been making more of our own food, such as casseroles, perogies, bread, soup and chutney, and freezing or canning them to eat throughout the week. This way, we don't spend money eating out during the week, and won't make impulse choices of where and what we eat. Plus, we know exactly where the food is coming from. For some great recipes, visit Urban Harvest.

Our next step is to research local restaurants to see which ones carry the most local food and have sustainability policies already in place. For suggestions, please email dazandlindz@shaw.ca.

With the cold weather, it's a good time save money and energy with an Energy Star natural gas heating system.

If you upgrade your furnace or boiler to an Energy Star system, you can save upto $950 in bill credits and rebates. Terasen Gas will provide you with a bill credit of $250 when you upgrade before Dec 31st 2009 and manufacturers will provide $700 in rebates when you upgrade before Jan 31st 2009.

A furnace or boiler that is more than 13 years old is probably a low efficiency model, running at 60 to 70% AFUE (Annual Fuel utilization Efficiency). An Energy Star natural gas furnace can run at 97% while an Energy Star boiler can perform at 85%.

Heating your home accounts for a large portion of your home energy costs so you should have your furnace checked by a licensed natural gas contractor so it is operating efficiently. They do specialized tests on gas pipes as well.

Here are some simple ideas that can help you save energy, the environment and money.

• Turning your thermostat down to 20°C during the day and 17°C at night can save as much as 15 per cent on your heating costs. Afraid you’ll forget? Consider installing a programmable thermostat.
• Keep warm air inside and cold air outside. Caulk or weatherstrip the cracks, gaps and leaks around walls, windows and doors.
• To help keep your furnace at peak efficiency, clean or change the furnace filters regularly

As you walk down the grocery store cleaning aisle, you will notice the many cleaning solutions offered. We spend billions of dollars each year in cleaning supplies and trillions of litres of chemicals are flushed down the drains.

Listed below are a few healthy alternatives that avoid harmful chemicals from being released into the environment:

• Instead of using an air freshner, use a cup of vinegar or charcoal which absorbs odours in the room.
• An all-purpose cleaner can be mixed together with a cup of vinegar and baking soda in 2 litres of water.
• To prevent mold, vinegar or lemon juice can be used or you can make a mixture of one part hydrogen peroxide and two parts water.
• To clean wooden floors, you can mix together two teaspoons of washing soda and two litres of hot water.
• To clean pots and pans in the kitchen, you can use salt as the abrasive agent and lemon to scrub with.
• Painted surfaces can be cleaned with baking soda and a sponge.
• Lime deposits in kettles can be cleaned by boiling a half cup of vinegar with two cups of water for five minutes.
• To clean your drains, pour one cup of baking soda and one cup of vinegar down the drain, wait five minutes then pour down boiling water.
• Use microfiber cloths for dusting as they attract dust without the need for additional chemicals.

Source: Article by Maggie Calloway in the column "Smart Choices for Our Future"