Jason Pelletier, Low Impact Living, recently participated in a New York Times piece (published in the Home section today)
on green home consultants.
"After a few hours of in-home work and many more of analysis, reporting, product research and follow-up with my clients, it was somewhat ironic that the lead image for the story was a picture of me peering into the tank of a toilet!", Jason explained.
One could argue a toilet is a fitting representation of our times, after all. The economy remains in the tank, we continue to do relatively little as a society to combat climate change, and the residential green sector continues to dragged down by the horrible housing market (unless you happen to be in one of the few sectors directly benefiting from stimulus funding).
Tackle green projects in these four groups, and we guarantee that you'll soon be on a logical and profitable path to a lower impact:
Make the easy fixes that have high environmental and economic benefits first. Many first steps can be done for $0 - $100, and can cut major chunks out of your energy, water and carbon footprints.
Swap out key house systems, starting with the biggest hogs and/or systems that have multiple impacts. Once you've cut your baseline down based on #1, turn to these bigger projects.
Install sustainable systems where possible for remaining water/energy needs. By now, you've probably cut your energy, water and sewer bills by 30-50%. But there's a huge added benefit to this tiering of projects: you've also reduced the cost of major sustainble system upgrades.
Offset the rest. In most existing homes, it's nearly impossible to competely cut your outside energy use and associated carbon footprint. Buy offsets for this remaining piece.
Learn more about living greener at Low Impact Living, one of the premier sources for information for home improvements that are greener and high performance.
"After a few hours of in-home work and many more of analysis, reporting, product research and follow-up with my clients, it was somewhat ironic that the lead image for the story was a picture of me peering into the tank of a toilet!", Jason explained.
One could argue a toilet is a fitting representation of our times, after all. The economy remains in the tank, we continue to do relatively little as a society to combat climate change, and the residential green sector continues to dragged down by the horrible housing market (unless you happen to be in one of the few sectors directly benefiting from stimulus funding).
However, we still see a very bright future for the overall green
remodeling/retrofit market.
The lowest hanging fruit on the path to a
lower-carbon economy lie in our homes, from weatherization to low-flow
water fixtures to efficient appliances and lighting.
The environmental savings can be significant, and many projects will start contributing to your bank account in less than a year. Although each of our individual actions might be a drop in the bucket (as noted by some of the skeptical folks interviewed in the Times article), our collective actions will amount to significant change and send a message to both companies and our elected officials that the old way won't work anymore.
The first step is getting started, of course, and a good green consultant can help by explaining both the environmental and economic benefits of particular green projects.Tackle green projects in these four groups, and we guarantee that you'll soon be on a logical and profitable path to a lower impact:
Make the easy fixes that have high environmental and economic benefits first. Many first steps can be done for $0 - $100, and can cut major chunks out of your energy, water and carbon footprints.
Swap out key house systems, starting with the biggest hogs and/or systems that have multiple impacts. Once you've cut your baseline down based on #1, turn to these bigger projects.
Install sustainable systems where possible for remaining water/energy needs. By now, you've probably cut your energy, water and sewer bills by 30-50%. But there's a huge added benefit to this tiering of projects: you've also reduced the cost of major sustainble system upgrades.
Offset the rest. In most existing homes, it's nearly impossible to competely cut your outside energy use and associated carbon footprint. Buy offsets for this remaining piece.
Learn more about living greener at Low Impact Living, one of the premier sources for information for home improvements that are greener and high performance.