my A/C addiction - an addendum (new thermostat)

The delayed post can be entirely explained by the fact that my life is in complete physical chaos due to the remodel/possible move.

Since all I can think about is that, I suppose it's appropriate to talk about something green that we're doing in the remodel (in amongst many un-green things, like floor refinishing and buying plastic tubs for packing).

I'm installing a new thermostat that is programmable. It's most likely that I won't get to see the benefits of it (no heat for me!), but it is DEFINITELY green - it automates the temperature control in your house, so you can set it to be less or more depending on when you're home, and you can schedule it for specific days (like, say you are away from the house from 8am-8pm on Mondays but home by 5 on Tuesdays, you can set it to that schedule)

Not only that, but they don't contain mercury (the analog ones do), and they are supposedly more accurate (because you can set it exactly to 75 as opposed to just turning the dial close to the 75 mark).

Now, if you're really crazy, really type A, or really nerdy, you could pick yourself up one of these puppies. It's a thermostat that you can control remotely over the internet. Sounds like something my brother (who has a remote to control his ceiling fan) would LOVE. Probably those who would get the most use out of it are people who travel on a regular and impromptu basis - perfect for me, especially with the crazy who-knows-when-or-for-how-long travel to Georgia I do. If i decided to stay for a day longer or go home early, i could have the atmosphere in my house be ready for me.

Yes, it's a very high-maintenance sort of thing, but it eliminates the cost of forgetfulness, which is the biggest selling point for me.

I am a little apprehensive, though, because I am intensely slow to learn new devices (there's still stuff my cable box will do that I don't know about). Maybe I can just make my brother be in charge of it - if i got an IP one, he could just manage it remotely all the time! Man, wouldn't that be an awesome way to screw with someone - hack into their thermostat!

Ahhh, what a cool world we live in :)

Irritating news from the auto-industry

I just got wind of an article in Newsweek about Toyota and how their actions speak louder than their words when it comes to being green. (Thanks, NoImpactMan, for the link!)

Basically, Toyota is talking a big game (have you seen their Why Not? ads? - if you go here and click on the Advertising navigation link, you can see the commercial), but they aren't fully committed to lowering mpgs.

Toyota—in contrast to Honda and Nissan—sided with Detroit to try to block legislation currently before Congress to boost fuel economy for all new vehicles to 35mpg by 2020, up from 25mpg today. Toyota, in a familiar Motown refrain, says achieving such a hard target is not technologically feasible

I think that "technologically feasible" here actually means "financially feasible." They can't reach the target number for their quarterly earnings if they have to go so high on mpgs. Yet another reason I wish more companies could go "B" (here's info on B-Corporations from a previous post) - because that bottom line is most likely the reason Toyota is waffling so badly. The Prius isn't enough of a money maker (because of the gas-electric propulsion system), so Toyota is also producing vehicles like the 14 mpg Tundra pickup, which has a profit margin of $10K. The thing is, I probably would have paid $5K more for my Prius! Yes, a big reason I bought it was the mpg factor, but another BIG factor was that I wanted to support green technology! So if more money is required, LET'S DO IT! Argh!

I'm sad that my Prius purchase went to a company that is not full-on behind the green movement. I still love my prius mightily (she's getting about 55 mpg right now), but I'm disappointed that the company I thought I was supporting in their efforts is trying to undermine my efforts (which are so small compared to what they can do).

Man, maybe it's the weather, but my posts are depressing lately. I promise posts that are more optimistic soon!

Taking the bad with the good, part 3: the Prius

Hymotion will be making their Hybrid conversion packs available to individuals in early 2008!!!

So I thought that today I would tell you all the story of my Prius, dubbed Thumper by my friend Saralyn.

Back in May, things were going well for me. I was up for a "fast track" promotion and I had finally decided that not only I was ready to make the commitment of buying a car, but I also knew which car I wanted.

The Toyota Prius had been on my mind for several years (all through driving two cars that I hated, that guzzled gas and coolant), and after much thought and research, I decided that it was worth the monthly car payment, and I took the leap. I bought a Prius (hahaha - "bought" meaning "put myself into debt for")

1. Though the payment would take up the entirety of my expendable income, I would save $60 a month or more in gas (depending on how many trips I took down to Murfreesboro & Georgia to see my family), and I should be getting a tax credit for the purchase, but it remains to be seen how much (I'm crossing my fingers so hard i'm cutting off circulation!)

2. Though I would have the mental stress of a new car (worrying about every little scratch and ding, driving thoughtfully instead of balls-to-the-wall abusive like with my other cars), I would have the opportunity to add a Prius to the road, helping to "spread the word" and talk about the technology.

3. Though the eco-cost of producing a new vehicle would be large, I would be supporting the hybrid technology, putting out fewer emissions and using less gas.

It was a lesser of two evils situation, and I chose to take the leap.

The landing has also been a take-the-bad-with-the-good experience, and here's why:

I didn't get that promotion (what a lesson in putting the cart before the horse), so now I'm consuming lots of mac-and-cheese, bananas and water at home, and I'm going into debt. This is pretty bad, because I love to eat fresh and organic. I love the new Whole Foods and would gladly spend my entire paycheck there, eating salads and breads and milk. So eating like a college student really stinks.

On the good hand, though, I am IN LOVE with the Prius. She runs so smoothly that it's fun to drive, I fill her up once a month normally instead of 3 or 4 times, and I get into conversations about her all the time. She gives me an excuse to talk about why I bought her, which lets me talk about Greener Nashville, shopping locally, eating organic... all the things that I love to talk about right now because I'm so obsessed with them. I feel good when I get in the car in the morning, instead of dreading that i'll be stuck on the side of the road, the car overheating because it guzzled a gallon of DexCoolant in just a month (thanks, Pontiac...). She also has a lot of trunk space (ahhh, we have so much in common).

So, owning the Prius has been both a bad and a good thing, but I do feel that it was the right decision to make. I was even more convinced of that when I saw the news about Hymotion's conversion packs.

Hymotion's Battery Range Extender Modules (BREMs) convert Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEVs) into Plug-in Hybrid Vehicles (PHEV) with 100+mpg fuel efficiency...

Right now, they're only available to fleets, but soon they'll be available to anyone. Obviously, they're going to cost thousands of dollars, but tax credits will supposedly be offered to those buying them (the bill has only been introduced, so this isn't for sure yet).

Back when I was thinking about buying it, I was sad that there wasn't a plug-in option. Yes, the energy from an outlet in my home is coming from fossil fuel (about 60%), but in buying the BREM, I would be one step closer to being independent of fossil fuel, just like i was a step closer with the purchase of my Prius.

I do think that buying less is one of the strategies I want to use for reducing my carbon footprint, but also think that the development of technology is going to be an important way for us, collectively, to reduce our consumption. It's not realistic to think that we will all completely stop driving, stop using electricity and stop eating food from far-away places. So, if we can do both at once - reduce our consumption while funding the development of new things, maybe we can get somewhere.

I just have to keep the idea of small steps in mind, because size is relative. After all, the Prius purchase was a big step for me, but a very small drop in the bucket for the alternative fuel industry. I hope that that big step was the right step to take.

Taking the bad with the good, part 1: CFL bulbs

A happy Friday to you all! I hope that, wherever you are, you/those you love/your things are not on fire. I've been watching the news and feeling very doomy and gloomy, but I heard this morning that a very sweet quilt shop out there is doing just fine.

Anyhow, today's post will try not to be as big-picture and pseudo-philosophical as the last few.

My consumer habits are, to say the least, less than perfect. Now, I haven't gone into Wal-Mart for over a month now, which I'm very proud of. I don't want to give them any more of my money. But still, I buy pre-packaged foods (oh, frozen Kashi meals, why do you have to be so good?) and I buy non-local foods and i get my cleaning supplies & vitamins shipped USPS ground from Melaleuca.

But, there are some green-alternative choices that I've been preoccupied with lately.

I bought some CFL bulbs to replace burnt-out filament bulbs in my condo. There are a few lights that I leave on pretty much all the time - the laundry room, where the dogs' stuff is (the vet confirmed that leaving lights on for them will help, given that they both have really bad cataracts), and my closet, which has an automatic doorframe switch that drives me crazy because the door doesn't latch well and therefore constantly pops open, leaving the light on. I also put one in the shower part of the bathroom. I don't want the dogs constantly running head-first into the washer/dryer (they do enough running into things as it is), and I'm not really doing a lot of small-print-reading in the shower or closet, so I thought that some low-watt CFLs would be a good swap for those places.

A while back, my dad put CFLs in all of their out-door lights and in their closets, and I HATED them. The light emitted really messed with my eyes. German Chancellor Angela Merkel complained about them, too (in case my opinion isn't quite enough - see paragraph 4). But those places don't really require much focus for me, so I gave it a go.

Thus far, it's working out well enough. The light means that I don't run into things. And the ones that I bought aren't the same as the ones that dad used, so they're growing on me.

However, and it's a big however, right after I bought the bulbs, I read on Slate.com about Wal-Mart pushing to sell fluorescent light bulbs.

CFLs appear destined to become a consumer staple, either because hordes of people realize they're cheaper or because the alternative will be prohibited... Thus far, green goods have been pitched to the top: expensive Priuses for guilty yuppies, solar installations for rich techies. But to have real impact, energy-efficiency products need to make economic sense to those who congregate on the lower rungs of the economic ladder.

That's awesome, I thought. It's good to hear that the green thing is making its way down to us normal people. I mean, just because I want to have a solar panel doesn't mean I can afford to get it. I pretty much put all my eggs in the basket that is my Prius. Maybe Adam Werbach is slowly-but-surely making a silk purse out of a sow's ear.

But here's the kicker - those CFL bulbs shouldn't be thrown away in your normal garbage (thanks, NoImpactMan, for noting this!). The EPA isn't very helpful in explaining this to Joe Schmo on the street, but you can find info from them here. The EnergyStar website doesn't mention this until the very end of their page about the bulbs. CFLs are considered Household Hazardous Waste. Davidson County has a recycling facility off of Trinity Lane...

It seems like an awful lot of effort to exert when I thought initially that I was doing something good for the environment. I am willing to make that effort, but I wonder how many other people will also be willing? It's the same sort of thing as the beverage companies not wanting to be responsible for all of the empty plastic bottles that end up out there (see my post on Keep America Beautiful). NoImpactMan's solution is a pretty good one (see the end of his post about it), I think, but I'm skeptical and cynical enough to think that it won't happen without a fight.

All of this new technology is good, but if its side-effects are going to be polluting just as much if not more than the old technology that it replaced, we're just succeeding in fooling ourselves that we're going something good.

This all goes back to my main goal - think about what I choose to buy and do. I'd love to hear from y'all how you discipline yourself so that you do remember to be thoughtful. It's kind of and endless loop for me, so I've had to try and make it a habit, so that I don't have to consciously remember.

In my next post, I'll be talking about my Prius and it's battery - definitely another one of those, mixed-blessing, lesser-of-two-evils choices in my life.