Many people wonder: "How much money can an energy efficient washing machine really save you?"
It is a complicated question with a lot of answers but I will try to show you how much use energy efficient washing machines take to pay off.
You can buy a standard washing machine for $300-$650 and an efficient washing machine for $600-$1,600. If one assumes a cost of $440 for the standard machine and $1,000 for the energy saving washing machine, the energy use of a standard washing machine usually costs about $0.62 while energy efficient ones cost about $0.41 per load. There is a difference of $0.21 in those two costs. At the rate of saving $0.21 per load, you would have to do about 2,667 loads to start saving money. Although that seems like a lot of loads, the average family does about 400 washing machine loads per year. On average, it would take you six and a half years to save money which is a long time. Although it will eventually start saving you money over time, if electricity prices increase the amount of time will decrease. But the main reason that people should buy energy efficient washing machines is if they care about the environment.
There are many people around the world trying to have an impact on global warming but it is really impressive when children make a difference.
Teenager Alex Lin has been committed to helping end the e-waste problem. He has done everything from recycling 300,000 lbs of waste to helping pass a bill in Rhode Island to ban the dumping of e-waste.
When Californians Merit Leighton and Marlowe Peyton learned about the effects of plastic pollution, they began an effort to put a stop to it. They began Plastic Patrol and started to raise awareness about how every person's actions make a difference. Right now, Plastic Patrol is filming a series of videos to show simple ways of reducing plastic waste such as reusing water bottles.
Alex and the two girls are just three of the many kids around the world trying to end climate change. It goes to show that everyone has an impact on our terrestrial planet. To find more children making an impact on global warming, visit the link. http://www.earth911.com/home/family/how-kids-are-saving-the-planet/
Now that temperatures are dropping and many people are turning on the heat,it is time to reflect on what you use to fuel your heat. Did you know that instead of using propane, you can use wood chips as your fuel source? Boilers that use wood chips can save people money and have a smaller environmental footprint. Using these pellets can reduce heating bills 40-60% while being a well established system. Because the ash from the wood contains natural materials, it can conveniently be spread around outside. Using wood pellets as fuel has so many upsides that there are almost no reasons not to use it.
-Liam
Did you know that reusing clothing not only has a huge positive affect on our environment, but it's also beneficial to people who cannot afford to buy clothes? If you ever have a chance to donate clothing, you should definitely take advantage of that opportunity and help people who are less fortunate than you while helping the environment. Stores like Second Time Around sell used clothes. Since making clothing wastes a lot of materials, buying from and giving to stores like this can reduce your waste.
The Pentagon has recently issued a statement saying Global Warming poses an immediate threat to national security, and increases risks of terrorism, infectious disease, global poverty and food shortages. “The loss of glaciers will strain water supplies in several areas of our hemisphere,” Mr. Hagel said. “Destruction and devastation from hurricanes can sow the seeds for instability. Droughts and crop failures can leave millions of people without any lifeline, and trigger waves of mass migration.” The announcement also states how the military will adapt to rising sea levels, increasingly violent storms and widespread droughts. The Defense Department will start by integrating plans for climate change risks across all of its operations. The reason for the increased risk of terrorism is because they infer that if Syrian farmers have to move to cities because of droughts, the youth will be more likely to join extremist groups. The fact that the Pentagon has shifted from considering climate change to being a "future" threat - to it being a "present" threat, is a significant shift that signals how this issue can no longer be ignored. Do you agree? - Liam
Did you know that standard shower heads use 2.5 gallons of water per minute? Showering is one of the biggest ways to use water at home, adding up to almost 17 percent of residential indoor water use. For the average family that's nearly 40 gallons per day! In the United States, the total amount of water wasted in showering for a year is nearly 1.2 Trillion Gallons. Most water saving shower heads only use 2 gallons of water per minute, saving nearly 2,900 gallons of water per year for an average family. The average family could also save 370 kilowatt hours of electricity annually while using these efficient shower heads, enough to power a house for 13 days. If all these things are not good enough reasons for you to switch to water efficient shower heads, a final reason to get one is because it is great for the environment.
Recently, my family signed up to give our food scraps to a pig farmer. The pigs eat ANYTHING that you give them, even bacon. This is a great way to reduce waste. It's also much better for the environment than sending your leftovers to landfills. Join our effort to stop climate change and while doing that, help out a local farmer! - Liam
We have been hiking on the beautiful Cabot trail in Cape Breton and we have read many signs about responsible hiking. Do you know the "Leave No Trace" principles? In a nutshell, you should leave the trail like you found it and, if anything, take out more trash than you brought into nature. Or as some would say, "take only pictures home with you and leave only your footsteps behind when you leave." Not a bad rule to follow as you enjoy vacation! -Liam
Did you know that in Nova Scotia public places, they not only have separated recycling and trash, they also have a compost bin? It is estimated that as much as 30% of our waste is organic and could be saved by composting. Another benefit of composting is that it produces a natural fertilizer for our gardens and crops. Why don't you consider composting too? -Liam
For the past week, my family and I have been on a trip exploring the beautiful Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island provinces of Canada. Recently, I read some amazing facts in a magazine about Nova Scotia. Some of these include the following: Nova Scotia has Canada's highest recycling rate, it produces about 50 percent less waste than the Canadian average, and it is striving to have 40 percent of it's electricity needs met by renewable sources by 2020. All of these facts show that Nova Scotia is among the most environmentally active provinces of Canada. These bits of information do not come as much of a surprise to me, as it is very beautiful here and I can see why people would work hard to preserve their natural environment!
Not only is Germany the winner of the World Cup, it is also has one of the most clean energy supplies in the world. According to a Time Magazine poll, out of 6 large countries, Germany is the only one that considers itself to be part of the solution to global warming (60 percent of German people polled answered that way instead of saying that they are part of the problem). Germany is the most energy efficient major country in the world, setting a record of using 74% of its electricity from renewable sources this year.
Do you think that your country is part of the solution to or part of the problem of Global Warming? How would you answer that question? If you think that your country is part of the problem then think about what you can do to make a difference!
In honor of the World Cup and the controversies about Brazil hosting the World Cup, I want to bring up another thing that is happening in Brazil...deforestation. Already, 2,256 square miles of land in Brazil have been cleared of trees for grazing land for cattle. Instead of allowing the Earth's lungs (the forests) to be destroyed, let's think of some ways to stop this process. For example, we should think before we consume so much beef. Cows require an immense amount of water and grass to grow. If we each eliminate meat from our diet just a couple times a week, it would make a huge difference in terms of our environment. Why don't you join me in helping to stop the deforestation of the rain forests?
Hey guys, Liam here, I'm sorry that I haven't been posting for a while but I will try to start blogging more regularly. Anyway, scientists have evidence that global temperatures are being brought down every year! Scientists are currently trying to find out what the cause of this breakthrough is. Although there is some doubt that this is really true, it shows that our efforts to try to stop this problem may gradually be working.
This chart shows the slow but steady decline in global temperature.
P.S. Please comment with your thoughts on global warming and some ideas about slowing it down. We might feature your idea in a post and it really helps to have feedback! Thank you.
At our school, we just received new recycle bins from the Bay State Textile’s
Recycling Rebate Program. The bins can be used to recycle many textiles from stuff animals to duffel bags. Although 95% of used textiles can be recycled, 85%
of it goes to landfills. The average citizen throws away 70 lbs of clothes each year. For every ton of recycled textiles our school earns $100.
NSTAR Green: The objective of NSTAR Green is to enable NSTAR Basic Service
customers – those who buy electricity from NSTAR rather than
from a competitive supplier – to support electricity generated
from renewable sources. By participating in this program,
NSTAR customers will support the development of renewable energy
resources in the region.
Highlights
Basic Service customers can choose to have
half or all of their electricity use support wind power.
There is an
additional premium for this option. Beginning February 1, 2014, customers choosing to
have 50 percent of their electricity support wind power pay an
additional 4.240 cents per kWh, while customers choosing to
have 100 percent of their electricity support wind power pay
an additional 8.030 cents per kWh.
Wind power is generated at Maple Ridge Wind Farm in
upstate New York and Kibby Wind Power in Maine, before being
delivered into the New England
power grid.
Customers can
enroll, change options, or choose to end participation
in NSTAR Green at any time. Changes will take affect with
your following bill.
NSTAR Green has been certified by
Green-e Energy. This certification confirms NSTAR Green meets
standards of environmental quality, that relevant information has been
disclosed to potential consumers, and that the seller has acquired the
renewable energy supply it has committed to deliver to its customers. A product label for NSTAR Green is also available.
Overview: Basically you can have some of your electricity come from natural, renewable energy for only an additional 4 cents per week. It is an affordable way to immediately become more environmentally clean.
My mom went to a book signing for Emily's new cookbook this week in Boston. Emily, who is only 19 years old and a senior at Deerfield Academy, wrote this cookbook to remind people that the small things that they do on a daily basis (like the food choices they make) can make a difference in terms of climate change the future of our planet. The cookbook is filled with delicious recipes from celebrities and environmental activists, as well as Emily's tips for what we can all do to make a difference and reduce our carbon footprints. Best of all, 100% of the author's proceeds from the sale of the cookbook will be donated to non-profit organizations committed to fighting for a more sustainable planet! So check it out! Even better, go on Amazon and buy a copy! -Liam
Recently my school has started a "Green Team." It is a group of kids who sign up and do cool fundraisers like selling trees for people to plant and other helpful things such as having people get the recycling bins and "Recycling police." It is a very fun and helpful group and if you don't have something like this in your school, office or community you should organize a group of people to help start one.
Hey guys! Whats up? Dylan here. So, looks like I'm going to be posting a lot more so look out for that. So I wanted to highlight an idea that my friend had about going more green. Did you know that methane is a big part of greenhouse gases and is causing a lot of heat? Well, my friend Gray, thought about a methane collector. A way to suck the methane OUT of the atmosphere. Kind of like a...a...clean up crew kind of thing. And the best part about it, is that we can expand on it. How about a carbon dioxide cleaner? Or a nitrous oxide cleaner? I'm telling you, people it's these ideas that can save the Earth from Global Warming. By the way, you're not gong to believe what happened at school?! It was announced that the whole 7th grade was going to have a project dedicated to just...solutions for Global Warming!! Each of us are going to have a solution, create a model, and write a paper about it. It's these kind of projects that can solve Global Warming forever. So yeah, I think I'm going to highlight some of classmates ideas and we'll go from there. People, its been real, this is Dylan, signing off.
This past Saturday, I celebrated my 13th birthday. In honor of this great blog and my turning 13, I found this page of the top 13 green stories of 2013. It's a little bit old but enjoy! -Liam
Here is the link:
Hey guys! What's up? Look, I know I haven't posted in a while but that's ok. I've been caught up in a ton of stuff. Anyway, cargo ships. One single cargo ship consumes as much fuel in one year as 50 million cars. Yeah, that's right. 50 million. And that right there, is A LOT of carbon dioxide emissions. So what if we could take cargo ships, and make them completely sustainable. How? Well, early explorers could navigate the world by sail, so why can't we? These are big ideas, people, so what if? You have to keep asking that question? What if? With that question we can solve Global Warming, once and for all. That's all I have for today, so yeah, it's been real. This is Dylan, signing off.
I just visited the Aspen skiing website and I saw a cool thing that they are doing to go green.
Through its Save Snow campaign, the Aspen Skiing Co. has been bringing global awareness to climate change and its threat to snowfall in alpine regions.
It has achieved
ISO-certification as a "green" company, the first of only two ski
resorts in the country to achieve this recognition. It also made the first wind power purchase in the U.S. ski
industry (and still spends $25,000 annually on this direct wind power).
It became the first large ski resort to buy renewable wind power credits.
