How much water do you use? When you think of that question, you probably think of things like drinking water and showers. But there’s so much more to think about when it comes to your total water usage.

To help you out, The Green Guide from National Geographic provides a handy water usage calculator. It starts with the basics, like how many people live in your house and when it was built, and moves on to more personal questions like the number of showers you take and if flush the toilet after every usage.

And there’s a lot in the way of food that goes into water: specifically the amount of water that animals drink (if you are a vegetarian, you may well get a lower total water usage). Beyond that there’s appliances and shopping. Whew! It’s a lot to make you think, and by the end, you’ll be able to figure out your main water usage areas. If you’re ready to take the next step, The Green Guide will help you pledge to lower your water usage.

Knowledge is power, so go to the Water Footprint Calculator and learn!

Photo courtesy of Tanya Puntti on Flickr.

Our friends at re-nest have posted a very useful life cycle assessor. Looking at it, you realize that there’s a lot to think about when acquiring a new item. When you purchase a widget, it’s helpful to think about it all the way from the raw materials to its disposal. And there are other questions to consider too! Re-nest lists an extensive list, including:

• Are employees treated fairly?
• What is the typical lifespan?
• Is it recyclable?

Do you think this is a realistic tool? Or do you ask these questions for larger purchases, or maybe only for certain categories, such as electronics?

Image courtesy of re-nest.

Two recent articles from Twin Cities-based news site MinnPost have focused on the future of the urban landscape — on the suburban one, too.

The first viewpoint comes from Richard Florida, author of the book “The Great Reset: How New Ways of Living and Working Drive Post-Crash Prosperity.” In a nutshell, he believes that when the economy recovers, it “will demand cleaner, more efficient ways of living, traveling, working and arranging our communities if we hope to climb out of our hole and catch the next wave of prosperity.”

Smaller homes and better, more efficient public transportation seem to be two of his main viewpoints. And this idea of transforming the way we live is important and valid and may come to pass.

But MinnPost also featured the viewpoint of author Joel Kotkin (“The Next Hundred Million: America in 2050″). His view is that the new green urbanism is a bit of a pipe dream. Partly this has to do with psychology: a large number of Americans will always prefer single family suburban homes to multi-family urban living.

But isn’t the problem of urban sprawl something cities are racing to fix? Kotkin believes that cities will decline in importance. Jobs and services will keep moving outwards to where people live, hopefully cutting down on time spent in the car.

What do you think? Which vision will take hold after the recovery? Will you find yourself living in urban mixed-used developments or suburban homes with picket fences? Or will some third building trend drive the recovery? Do you think stages of life affect people’s housing choices?

We’ve covered smaller living spaces before, but it’s worth another look.

By now we’re over a year into the current recession. Despite some green shoots of recovery, the future is far from certain. Combine that with a new interest in sustainability, and the footprints of new homes have been shrinking.

Inhabitat’s recent post on small house living features some interesting statistics, such as that home square footage has been steadily decreasing since 2007 and that census statistics indicate that newly constructed homes now have less bedrooms.

Obviously people are heeding the call of the recession and living in less space. However, that does not necessarily mean less money is being spent. As designers like Sarah Susanka have pointed out, quality over quantity can be very valuable when building or remodeling a home. For those that are building less house and putting on smaller additions for the sake of money though, the question is if this new-found aesthetic will last when better times are here.

Or we may continue to see smaller houses as people continue to want to live in certain areas. There’s only so much land, as Japanese builders have known for a long time. We featured this narrow house in a post a while back, but it’s getting some attention from NPR. Who knows? These ultra-small, super-innovative homes might become the wave of the future here!

What do you think of small houses? A necessity or a virtue? Or both?

There’s been a lot of ink spilled lately about alternative energy on a macroeconomic scale. But what about ways you can use these new forms personally?

It seems like every other cornfield now has been given over to wind energy. No doubt these massive structures can provide great benefit to companies and cities. If you wanted to experiment however, it was a little difficult. But now there are some options.

Looking similar, though on a smaller scale than the average wind turbine, the Proven Energy 2.5 kW 300 V Wind Turbine Grid Tie can be used for personal energy usage. As Luxury Housing Trends points out, it’s not cheap, but the company’s promise of their product powering a three-bedroom house (minus heat) might make it worthwhile over the long run.

For an wind energy option that provides less power but is small enough to go on the roof of your house, check out our recent profile of the WindTronics wind turbine, which was on display at this year’s International Builders Show.

Also via Luxury Housing Trends, we have a new option for solar power. It’s an easy, low-maintenance kit. According to the site, the Sunforce 39626 160-Watt High-Efficiency Polycrystalline Solar Power Kit has “weatherproof solar cells…made with an aluminum frame and tempered glass coverings to ensure that they’re durable enough to withstand the elements. This kit comes with two 80-watt polycrystalline solar panels, a 200-watt power inverts, a 30-amp digital charge controller, a voltage tester and a wiring kit with mount accessories included.”

Have you thought of using wind energy, solar power or other forms of alternative energy in your home?

Photo courtesy of nualabugeye on Flickr

Re-use, reduce and recycle. Lately, the fourth “r” in that series could be “reclaim.” Using reclaimed materials in your home can not only be green, but it can provide a stellar conversation piece and the chance to own something truly unique.

One of the most popular uses of reclaiming is reclaimed wood. Where does this wood come from? Almost anywhere. We’ve heard of wood being reclaimed from the bottom of a river, as well as the more usual practice of reclaiming from an older home.

And the reclamation craze goes beyond wood! For period-appropriate pieces and fixtures, there’s nothing better than an original in need of a new home.

Re-Nest recently featured a kitchen that has lovely cabinets made from reclaimed Douglas fir. Most of the glass used in the cabinet doors is also reclaimed. The builder and owner, George Ramos, made a conscious effort to use green materials, such as a sustainably sourced mahogany countertop, even when reclaimed ones weren’t available.

Please check out Re-Nest’s post to learn more!

Images courtesy of Re-Nest

A recent piece from AOL’s DIY Life blog shares news of three “game-changing” green technology products. Among the most interesting are a set of smart grid-enabled appliances that give users all sorts of details about energy consumption and some ways to control and reduce energy use — and, therefore, the amount spent to run those appliances.

The basic idea is that electricity costs more when increased demand — from, say, loads of air conditioner use on a steamy afternoon — puts more strain on the electrical grid. Smart grid-enabled appliances can help reduce peak-time use, reduce environmental impact and save you money. For example, “The smart-grid refrigerator delays the defrost cycle from occurring during peak hours, when it goes into energy saving mode. According to GE, one participant’s energy-efficiency efforts with refrigerator usage over 10 weekdays showed over a 20% reduction of energy used during peak hours.”

Meanwhile, CNet.com’s Green Tech blog says many of these smart-grid gizmos are starting to become more consumer-friendly — which you’d think would have been the idea from the get-go. The photo at right shows just one of these applications, a cell phone running the Web-based PowerMeter application from Google (yes, the search company).

Have you seen any interesting advancements in green tech lately? Have you had any first-hand experiences with smart-grid technology? Let us know in the comments.

Today’s article is a guest post by Barbara Young, who writes on RV solar panels in her personal hobby site 12voltsolarpanels.net. Her work is devoted to helping people save energy using solar power to lower CO2 emissions and energy dependency.

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People have harnessed solar power for centuries. As early as the 7th century B.C., people used simple magnifying glasses to concentrate the light of the sun into beams so hot they’d cause wood to catch fire. More than a century ago in France, a scientist used heat from a solar collector to produce steam to drive a steam engine. In the beginning of this century, scientists and engineers began researching ways to use solar power in earnest. One important development was a remarkably efficient solar boiler introduced by Charles Greeley Abbott, an American astrophysicist, in 1936.

The solar water heater became popular at this time in Florida, California, and the Southwest. The industry started in the early 1920s and was in full swing just before The second World War. This growth lasted until before mid-1950s, when low-cost propane had become the primary fuel for heating American homes.

The public and world governments remained largely indifferent to the possibilities of solar energy until the oil shortages of the1970s. Today, people use solar power to heat buildings and water and to generate electricity.

How do we use solar energy today?

Solar energy is used in a number of different ways, of course. There are two standard kinds of solar power:

• Solar thermal energy collects the sun’s warmth through water or an anti-freeze (glycol) mixture
• Solar photovoltaic energy converts the sun’s radiation to usable electricity

Here are the five most practical and popular ways solar power is employed:

1. Small portable solar photovoltaic systems. We see these used everywhere, from calculators to solar garden tools. Portable units can be used for things like RV appliances, while single-panel systems can be used traffic signs and remote-monitoring stations.
2. Solar pool heating. Running water in direct-circulation systems through a solar collector is an extremely practical way to heat water for your pool or hot tub.
3. Thermal glycol energy to heat water. In this method (indirect circulation), glycol is heated by sunshine and the heat is then transferred to water in a warm water tank. This process of collecting the sun’s energy is more practical now than ever before. In areas as far north as Edmonton, Alberta, solar thermal to heat water is economically sound. It can pay for itself in 36 months or less.
4. Integrating solar photovoltaic energy into your home or office power. In lots of parts of the world, solar photovoltaics are an economically feasible approach to supplement the power of your property. In Japan, photovoltaics are competitive with other kinds of power. In the United States, new incentive programs make this form of solar power ever more viable in many states. A frequent and practical method of integrating solar energy into the power of your home or business is through the usage of building integrated solar photovoltaics.
5. Large independent photovoltaic systems. For those who have enough sun power at your site, you might be able to go off grid. You may also integrate or hybridize your solar power system with wind power or other kinds of sustainable energy to stay “off the grid.”

What are the advantages and disadvantages of solar energy?

In favor of solar energy:

• Heating our homes with oil or propane or using electricity from power plants running with fossil fuels is a reason for climate change and climate disruption. Solar power, on the contrary, is clean and environmentally-friendly.
• Solar hot-water heaters require little maintenance, and their initial investment could be recovered within a relatively small amount of time.
• Solar hot-water heaters can work in almost any climate, even very cold ones. Simply choose the right system for your climate: drainback, thermosyphon, batch-ICS, etc.
• Maintenance costs of solar powered systems are minimal and also the warranties large.
• Financial incentives (United States, Canada, European states…) can help to eliminate the cost of the first investment in solar technologies. The U.S. government, as an example, offers tax credits for solar systems certified by by the SRCC (Solar Rating and Certification Corporation), which amount to 30 percent of the investment (2009-2016 period).

On the other hand:

• The first investment in solar water heaters or in photovoltaic electric systems is greater than that required by conventional electric and gas heaters systems.
• The payback period of solar PV-electric systems is high, as well as those of solar space heating or solar cooling (only the solar domestic hot-water heating payback is short or relatively short).
• Solar water heating does not support a direct combination with radiators (including baseboard ones).
• Some air cooling (solar space heating and the solar cooling systems) are very pricey and rather untested technologies: Solar AC hasn’t been a truly economical option, though it’s changing.
• The efficiency of solar powered systems is rather influenced by sunlight resources. It’s in colder climates, where heating or electricity needs are higher, that the efficiency is smaller.

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As “going green” becomes more popular, it’s opponents have also become more vocal. One frequent criticism levied is that going green is just too expensive. And in this economic climate, who has the luxury of spending more money just to feel good about helping the earth? Jennifer over at Growing A Green Family offers an excellent rebuttal. She points point out that going green is actually not an expensive proposition, and it’s mostly all in the attitude.

• It’s not about what you buy. If you choose to go green through consumption, it will always be more expensive.
• Learn to budget! When you know what things really cost, you can make wiser green choices.
• Avoid greenwashing and educate yourself about what is truly green and not.
• Decide what is important to you. Growing A Green Family offers up the example of people claiming they can’t afford organic food, but then go on a costly vacation. Life is all about choices, and if living a green lifestyle is important to you, it can be done, though perhaps not without some sacrifice.

Please check out the post for more information. And tell us in the comments–what’s important to you when it comes to green living?

Photo courtesy of thinkpanama on Flickr

True, there is always a lot of hype around Earth Day, and we are reminded of how as a society we are not the best stewards for Mother Earth.  But we are getting better, and more important, we are getting more comfortable with the idea of innovation that will make us more green and ultimately save some green, too.  Here are some thoughts and things to consider for your home, whether you are building a new one or remodeling the one you have.

Wind power:

There is now a residential wind turbine that is 6 feet in diameter and can supply 20 percent of the energy your home needs and installed it costs less than $10,000.  Yes it will look like you put a pinwheel on your house, but trust me: This is going to be the next hot green item coming to a neighborhood near you.

Solar power:

Innovations in solar roofing tiles that convert more energy from the sun and double as your actual shingle are already available.  But the cost keeps coming down and aesthetically it is getting harder and harder to tell the difference from a typical roofing material.  The cost to install a system like this on average, about $25,000, but the tax credits on both wind and solar can be up to 50 percent depending on where you live.

On-demand water heaters:

Once brushed off by tank water-heater makers as unproven technology for the U.S. (now all of them have one), the acceptance of these products is growing every single day.  With unlimited hot water, zero energy wasted for stand-by storage, and tax credits to boot.  This is your next heater and potentially your last one, as well.

CFLs, sure — but LED is where it is going:

Just as we got comfortable with CFLs and the makers produced similar looking bulbs to standard incandescent, the LED bulbs are poised to take over lighting our homes. They are not there yet — they’re mostly directional, limited products that dim, and the light color, though better, is not perfect.  They will be the dominant light source in the next ten years.

With so many options and manufacturers all you need to do is some research and commit to doing something green for your home. It’s all up to you.

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