Category — green living

Whether we’re talking about fuel-efficient vehicles or recycling glass and plastic containers, it seems that everyone everywhere is more conscious than ever before of leaving a smaller carbon footprint on the earth. Building products, furnishings and home decor industries are large part of this movement as well and the goal is to build and renovate homes so that they are more environmentally friendly than thought possible just a few short years ago. If a new countertop is in your future you may need to know which materials are ‘green’ and earth-friendly.

Granite, Soapstone and Marble

While granite is one of the most in-demand materials for countertops and it imparts a very high-end look, it is not very eco-friendly. It is a natural stone and once it is removed from the earth, it cannot be replaced. If you won’t be satisfied with anything other than granite, you can reduce your carbon footprint by seeking out remnant slabs and looking for a nearby source to reduce the costs of transportation. Also use a low-VOC sealant to reduce noxious gases in the home.
Also among the least eco-friendly are soapstone and marble countertops because they are harvested from the earth and cannot be replaced. The harvesting of soapstone also has a detrimental effect to tiger populations in India. For these reasons, recycled soapstone or marble is the best option.

Engineered Stone

These products are made from quartz particles and sold under the names of Silestone™ and Cambria Quartz™. They do not require the annual application of a sealant, as with granite, so are more eco-friendly to maintain. However, the mining of quartz, a natural stone that cannot be replenished, has a detrimental effect on the environment.

Solid Surface Countertops

These are man-made countertops made from synthetic materials; brands include Corian™, Swanstone™ and Avonite™. They do not contain VOCs and are not made of elements that are mined from the earth, but they are not certified as earth-friendly.

Ceramic Tile

One of the most inexpensive options, ceramic tile is durable, easy to install and comes in a limitless array of colors, patterns, styles and sizes. Made from clay, it is more eco-friendly than harvested stone products. Also, some ceramic tile is made from recycled materials such as ground up bottles, porcelain and light bulbs and these varieties are certainly great ‘green’ choices.

Laminate

Sold under well-known brand names such as Formica™ and Wilsonart™, laminate countertops are inexpensive and offer a vast selection is style, pattern and color. Look for brands and products that are labeled free of urea formaldehyde; those made from recycled plastic are great for the environment.

Butcher Block and Wood

Wood countertops bring a warm, rich element to any kitchen. They are often made of hardwood like maple and oak. Choose wood countertops that are FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) Certified. A product with an FSC label can be traced back to a certified source so you know that the wood used in the product was harvested responsibly. Also look for water-based finishes and low-VOC finishes.

Stainless Steel

One of the most durable countertops and one that brings and edgy, contemporary look to a kitchen, stainless steel has been the product of choice for professional cooks and restaurants for decades. Choose countertops made from recycled steel to avoid the pollution related to the mining and production of new steel products.

Concrete

Concrete is also highly durable. Added pigments allow for a limitless range of color and recycled bits of glass or porcelain, for example, can be added to create a unique end product. For concrete to be considered truly ‘green’, the aggregate that is used should be recycled and the sealant should be a low-VOC variety.

Glass, Composite and Recycled Materials

The ‘greenest’ countertops of all come from glass and recycled materials, including paper. They also bring a contemporary look to your kitchen. Look for low-VOC resins and FSC certification on countertops made with paper.

Alyssa Davis writes and designs for Metal-Wall-Art.com and she is happy to share many ideas on creating stylish interiors with seahorse wall art and bathroom metal artwork.

Kitchens are very personal spaces and definitely somewhere that you can really tell how a persons mind works and what kind of cook they are. Some of my friends display ‘Sleeping with the Enemy’ characteristics (early 90’s Julia Roberts film – look it up, it’s great) by lining up the labels on the tins in their cupboards, too much spare time on their hands I say! Whilst others have blatant disregard for any kind of order or tidiness and the laptop vies for worktop space alongside the blender, the kid’s homework and a few potted plants.

One thing that everyone seems to have in common is a deep love for their integrated dishwashers. It is most definitely my favourite time saving device and is quite often referred to in our house as the ‘wet cupboard’ because some much-used items never actually get put away anywhere else. Being let off the hook from the tedious task of washing up by hand is a luxury which we quite often take for granted but take a moment next time you have a big family dinner to consider just how lucky you are. If mine ever broke down I would be beside myself!

Dishwashers haven’t actually been around that long – as I’m sure your older relatives would delight in telling you – I can actually remember my Mum and Dad getting their first one and the neighbours coming round to look! Yes, showing my age again. I even recall one old dear turning her nose up suspiciously at it and muttering something about these new fangled gadgets being no substitute for good old fashioned elbow grease. Well, quite frankly, I will keep my elbows happily grease-free and run the thing morning noon and night if it gets me out of washing up by hand – I’m sure most of you will agree.

There is so much choice available out there when it comes to widescreen televisions but you will be hard pressed to find much better around today than LED TVs. Not only is this better for your bills and carbon footprint but it’s also competitive against other types of TV for the best image.

This technology is a development on the impressive Liquid Crystal Displays or LCD TVs that have become so popular in households around the globe.

With a standard LCD model the light which creates the quality picture on your screen is emitted from cold cathode fluorescent lamps.

However an LED TV uses Light Emitting Diodes (hence the name LED) to create the backlighting.

Ultimately this gives the viewer a much brighter picture which will bring the colours to life on the screen.

Contrast is also improved greatly by using this technology, as it gives you deeper blacks and brighter whites on screen so you get one of the best viewing experiences possible in your own living room.

With an ordinary TV, blacks can appear almost dark grey and lighter colour can often appear gloomy, but this is not the case with new LED technology because of its innovative backlighting system.

Not only do you get the best picture quality but you will also be doing your bit for the environment.

LED are not cheap televisions but depending on the make and model, LED technology uses up to 40% less energy than your standard LCD TV set and can help save money on your electric bill.

This not only helps the planet by reducing your carbon footprint but will also make that scary energy bill at the end of the month seem less frightening.

By taking all these factors into account LED TV’s seem to be the future of home viewing with its stunning picture quality and more environmentally friendly technology.

So you’ve got windows that are drafty, cranky when you try to open them, and maybe even plastered with layers of paint that make it impossible to open them in the first place. Maybe you’ve got old casement windows that moan and groan when you try to crank them open, or single pane windows that rattle in their frames every time the wind blows. Sounds like replacement window time is dawning.

Window replacement costs can be–well, let’s just call them interesting. Why? Because they are all over the map. Figuring out what replacement windows cost requires multiple measurements, serious research into materials, a wide variety of choices in window styles, and even more attention paid to the energy-efficiency of those windows. It’s enough to make a homeowner cry uncle before the first pane is installed!

What Do Replacement Windows Cost?

Here are the basics of what you can expect when you go shopping for replacement windows. Keep in mind that when it comes to costs, your mileage may vary, so we’re giving you a range to work with.

If your window frames are intact and the windows you are installing are the same size as the old ones, you can expect to pay an average of $300-$700 per window. However, bells and whistles can drive the cost up to $1,000 per window, sometimes more. In a home with ten windows, you are looking at $3,000 on the low end, and at least $10,000 on the high end.

Expect to pay more for more glass. That means double-pane windows are more expensive than single pane, and triple-pane are more expensive than double-pane. Though you reap the benefits in energy efficiency over the years, the initial cost can be higher.

If you have a damaged window frame or if you are choosing windows that require a larger opening than what you currently have, that’s called new construction–and that’s expensive. Depending upon the window types, the size of the window and the complexity of the project, your costs per window could double.

Window replacement with single pane windows can hold your project to a lower bottom-line budget, The replacement windows cost can go up with high-end products, so if you choose to drop that kind of cash, make sure you are getting a good return on investment in energy efficiency and longevity.

How can brown, yellow, white, or blue be green? That sounds like a silly kid’s riddle, but the answer relates to vinyl siding colors. The virtues of vinyl siding are extolled far and wide–inexpensive to purchase, homeowners can install it themselves, great warranties, and choices of vinyl siding styles from lapboard to board-and-batten to shingles, shakes and logs. This siding is also unfriendly to woodpeckers, termites, dry rot and other woodavores.

Well, if you’re one of the tens of millions who can hardly wait for another five years to roll by so you can get out the ladders, drop cloths, wire brushes, caulking, sandpaper, gloves, and your rattiest old clothes to repaint your house, you’re going to hate vinyl siding. Not breaking your neck to clean and paint the soffits will lose you lots of sympathy and down time. Yes, it’s sadly true that vinyl siding colors are part and parcel of the siding material itself. It simply doesn’t need painting. In fact, it often voids the warranty to paint it. And today’s advanced vinyl siding keeps the colors fresh and beautiful. Horrors!

There are consolations. Part of the “greenness” of vinyl siding starts with the cost and carbon footprint of transporting the siding to your home, as it is lighter than any other home siding except a family-sized dome tent. Ditto for heavy paint cans every five years for fifty or sixty years per home. That can add up to sixty gallons of paint over a lifetime for a one-story house with 1800 square feet of surface. The paints themselves, even those with minimum volatile organic compounds are, after all, pretty chemical soups. Cleanup, runoff, and disposal of drop cloths, brushes, caulking tubes, and other memorabilia from repainting wood siding fouls your lungs, yard, wastewater, landfills and fingernails.

If you’ve looked forward to vacations so you can spend your free time painting, you’ll have to find something else to do. How about using the savings for family Red Sox tickets? Yes, the permanence of vinyl siding colors makes it green monetarily, too. Consolation prize: Getting out a ladder and hose once or twice a year to hose down your vinyl siding can serve a dual purpose as a family emergency evacuation drill. What’s not to love?

***

About the Author:

If you are interested in window replacement for your home you will run into a dizzying array of options. One option window contractors may tell you about, that might make you pause, is window gas. What are these gases–krypton, argon and xenon–and why are they sandwiched between the glass layers of replacement windows?

As ominous-sounding as these gases may be, they are actually non-toxic and inert. They reduce the overall transfer of heat and cold between the outside and inside of your home–much better than plain air.

The Window Contractors Are Not Just Full of Hot Air

Let’s take each gas one at a time:

• Argon. It doesn’t conduct heat as easily as air, so it keeps in heat during winter, and out in the summer. It’s clear, colorless and odorless, and denser than the atmosphere, therefore providing more thermal efficiency between the panes of glass. The gas will leak–about 1 percent each year. So after twenty years it will still have 80 percent gas left in it–plenty enough to do its job. Argon gas is non-toxic and inert, and it’s already in the air you breathe.
• Krypton. Ditto, except it is denser than argon and provides better insulation.
• Xenon. Ditto, except it is denser than krypton and provides even better insulation.

But are gas-filled windows worth the extra $30 to $40 per window? Yes, if you consider the added energy efficiency component to these windows, given that the gas becomes another layer of insulation against the cold and heat. These windows also typically include a low-emissivity (low-E) coating to keep the inside pane of glass closer to the interior air, reducing drafts and cold spots in the winter. Downside? It may take many years to get a return on your investment.

To get the most benefit from gas-insulated window types–and all types of replacement windows–make sure they are properly installed by reliable window contractors.

It’s not always easy to be green and now in modern times when we try to be as green as possible we have multiple things to remember about recycling and composting etc.

To stay green it doesn’t just have to be your way of that you change. Simple one time decisions on what materials and features you use around your home could make a difference and the perfect place to start is redesigning our kitchens.

A few small changes around the kitchen will make a big difference.

A slow flow tap would not only help the planet but will also lower your water bill at the end of the month. This style of tap use 30% less water and the only sacrifice you have to make is waiting a few seconds longer to fill a container but by doing this it will reduce the water you waste.

Using recycled materials around the kitchen is another way to do your bit for the planet. Recycled glass or ceramic is an excellent alternative to kitchen worktops.

Not only are they durable, easy to clean and resistant to heat, they are great for an alternative look and cheaper than your classic granite or marble worktops.

When looking at a new floor for your kitchen to be at the front of modern design and very eco friendly consider cork. It is fast becoming a favourite amongst environmentally conscious consumers for a number of reasons.

Firstly cork is a great insulator so will keep your house warm and reduce energy costs and it is also a renewable source. As cork is made from bark, harvested responsibly meaning each tree does not suffer or need to be cut down and is only harvested every 10 years or so, which gives time for new bark to grow.

Cork can also be manufactured to go with any style of kitchen cabinets you have using dies and polishing methods so it would not matter what material or colours you have used for your kitchen, cork can always be made to go with the design.

While cork a green choice, it is extremely durable and can be compressed to 40% its natural size before returning to its original form which is great for coping with heavy kitchen appliances like dishwashers and tumble dryers.

If that was not enough, it will also save you money on your energy bills as cork is a good retainer of heat.

My last kitchen remodel was, I hope, my last kitchen remodel.

A lot of money, a lot of planning, a lot of glitches. I don’t want to go through it again–especially the money part. But mostly, I’m quite happy with the results.

But not totally happy. It didn’t accommodate two basic, eco-friendly activities–composting and recycling.

Kitchen Remodeling for Recycling

Even though a dump is called a landfill, you don’t want to fill it. Most anything with the recycle triangle, no matter how hard to see, should not be trashed, so to speak.

But I didn’t accommodate for recycling. I didn’t build bins into my cabinets to hold recycling, so I have to carry each piece to a remote bin, outside under the eaves. A couple times a week I tote that bin to the monster recycling container, waiting to be hauled to the street on Monday morning for pickup.

A simple bin system under the counter would have been so easy to add to the kitchen cabinets.

At least I live in an area with group recycling–no need to separate waste into its many categories.

Composting in Your Kitchen Cabinets?

What can be greener than composting? Take those kitchen scraps and turn them into nutrient-rich, all-natural soil enhancement. No meat scraps, please. They attract rats. But take your celery, onion, apple cores, coffee grounds–mix them with grass clippings and fallen leaves and watch them perk. It’s soil-enhancement extraordinaire.

So what does composting have to do with kitchen remodeling? Storage. Unless you want to traipse outside to your compost pile several times a day, you need a storage system. An airtight canister is a common kitchen compost container, but I hate counter clutter.

In retrospect, I needed an out-of-sight storage system, maybe an under-counter bin like I should have installed for the recycling.

Better yet, I should have found a kitchen contractor to design a chute system that would let me shove the scraps into a hole leading to an outside container. Then once a week or so, I could dump the contents of the container into the compost pile.

But, alas, I’m stuck with the airtight canister and counter clutter.

Too bad it was my last kitchen remodel.

About the Author: