Your Questions About Green Living

The Expert answers:

Core
Greenscape
Earthscape
Geoscape? (lol i’m stuck on scapes)

The Expert answers:

One of the keys to green living is supporting the local economy while doing what you can to protect the environment. That said if you buy a painting that is made using milk paint or non toxic oils such as linseed but on a canvas made in the UK it is a safe bet that you doing more for the environment than if its shipped around the world. As far as what releases more pollutants the one shipped around the world does… When you consider the emissions from the shipping vehicles, the emissions from the manufacture of the vehicles, the emissions from the production of the fuels ores and energy needed to create the products,shipping vehicles and place that the art work was created…

General rule of thumb… Buy all natural/organic, if you can’t buy all natural buy local made, if you can’t buy local consider if you can do without.

The Expert answers:

For the greatest Eco-friendliness, you want to select products that require the least energy and raw material to produce, systems that require the least energy to use and products and materials that preserve the air and water quality of the space.

Re-purposed materials are prime candidates for eco-building materials. For insulation, options include recycled cotton such as Ultra-touch http://www.ecohaus.com/C-121/ultra+touch. It is basically shredded blue jeans. Another option that is gaining in popularity is straw bale house construction. Straw bales are set onto wall foundations and are framed. Then the bales are covered with stucco or cement. The result is a structure made of renewable materials that has very good insulating properties. Here’s an informational site about straw-bale construction: http://www.strawbale.com/

For framing and walling, alternatives such as Wheatsheet is an eco-friendly alternative to virgin wood products. Wheatsheet is made of recycled wheat chaff instead of tree wood. It also does not off-gas (produce fumes) like some glued and treated wood construction materials, helping maintain clean indoor air.
Http://www.ecoproducts.com/top/price%20sheets/wheatsheet.pdf

For decking, recycled composite products such as ChoiceDek are eco-friendly because they use recycled plastics and wood fiber instead of virgin tree wood and they last longer than most wood products. Http://www.choicedek.com/

For floor-covering, hard surface floors are usually preferred to carpet because they are easier to clean and do not trap allergens and contaminants. Bamboo flooring is an eco-friendly option because bamboo is a fast-growing and renewable wood source. Other options are cork flooring, recycled rubber flooring, natural linoleum and recycled glass tile. If you do decide on carpeting, use carpet made of recycled PET (pop bottles) or wool–they are renewable products and do not off-gas as much as new, conventional carpeting.

There are several alternative adhesives, paints and finishes, including solvent-free Titebond adhesives, Timbertek wood finishes, Osmo Color wood sealer.

Most of this information came from Eco-products. I have a binder of theirs. Although most of the material on their website is about plates and cups, you might be able to find construction-alternatives in their site or register in the “training” section. Www.ecoproducts.com.

Also, try to make use of passive solar energy in your design. It is the simplest and least-resource intensive method of building. Strategies include using south-facing windows to heat rooms using the sun, brick or cement walls on the south side to absorb heat during the day and radiate it at night (called a Trombe wall) and properly-placed windows and skylights to provide natural lighting to every room of the house. Planting deciduous (leafy) trees around the house provides shade in the summer to keep the house cool but allows sunshine through in the winter when the leaves fall to help warm the house. The National Renewable Energy Lab has many strategies and suggestions for green building. Their visitors center employs many eco-friendly strategies: http://www.nrel.gov/visitors_center/eed_model.html

There is so much more to green building but hopefully that’s a helpful introduction. Have fun with the project!

The Expert answers:

Hi There,

Organic and Eco friendly products don’t always cost more, understanding what lies behind the terms ‘Organic’ and ‘Eco friendly’ is often the key issue and being prepared to become a greener shopper by degrees.

First principals to follow are not about the labelling at all,

1. Avoid over packaged goods and buy loose goods wherever possible, this way you cut down the carbon emissions and waste related to the goods you’ve purchased and made them more eco-friendly.
2. Try to buy goods grown or manufactured as locally as possible. For example buying organic asparagus from Peru will probably devalue the “organic” status of the product simply due to the air miles and pollution involved in getting it onto your plate if you live Manchester. Many local authorities support local farmers markets etc so you can get good produce locally, plus look to see where your food and other goods come from.
3. Join Freecycle, look in the charity shops and news papers for second hand goods, you are saving them from landfill at little or no cost to you and great gain to the environment.
4. Join an allotment association and grow your own, that way you can guarantee that at least a portion of what you eat is organic, plus you can use the allotment to help you compost your kitchen waste and grow some wildflowers to help support your local nature.

These principals are called the “New or Green three R’s” and are basically about thinking about reducing waste, and increasing recycling and re-use from the point we go out to shop.

Next regarding whether costs will go down, the answer is yes. We as consumers have the power to say no to environmental damage and to lobby our shops and governments to do better. If the market demand for green goods increases then people will need to produce these at competitive prices if we reject non green goods then the producers will either have to change their practices or go out of business.

Already many “Fair Trade”, “FSC Certified Wooden” items environmentally friendly cleaning products and products made from recycled materials cost only as much as or sometimes less than their less green equivalents. Its definetly worth getting to understand the many different eco labels and doing some price comparison.

At 40 years old I’ve had time to see this welcome change begin to happen and the likes of you and me and everyone else out there actively encouraging it may mean the world we live on has a future.

Happy Eco Shopping,
Ruth ;0)

The Expert answers:

Since you seem new to it, here are a few links. One is a book to read up on the subject and get more in depth ideas ….
The other is a website for purchasing Green items.

http://www.greenpeople.org/