In April, home improvement retailer Home Depot launched its Eco-Options program in the United States. Designed to help customers identify products that have less of an impact on the environment than their counterparts, Eco Options has received both praise and criticism around the blogosphere. Last week, I had a chance to talk with Ron Jarvis, the company’s Vice President of Pro Business, Tool Rental, and Eco Innovation (pictured on the right), about the program.

While charges of greenwashing and opportunism have been among the responses to the program’s roll-out, Jarvis told me that Eco-Options is the end result of seventeen years of work and planning by the company. "This isn’t a marketing ploy," he said. "We’ve been studying these issues, and leading the industry during this period." Jarvis described the program as "merchant-driven," and noted that Home Depot has gone to its vendors with specific requests for more environmentally-friendly products. He told me "A lot of the changes you’re seeing are driven by us." The results of this effort have included a eco-friendly green cleaning product from Terracycle, low-VOC paints from Glidden, and plantable pots for live plants, among others.

Jarvis also noted that the company has worked to reduce the environmental footprint of its stores, which led to $20 million in energy savings in 2006; the company has also built four LEED-certified stores, and four more that used LEED standards as guidelines for building.

Of course, the true test of any green retail program is its ability to help consumers make better choices for their homes and families. So, in addition to talking with us, Jarvis and the Environmental Innovation team put together the following five home improvement tips for saving energy — and money.

1. Don’t Wait to Insulate

According to the Department of Energy, up to 45 percent of a home’s energy loss is through the attic.

Upgrading insulation to a higher R-value can drastically lower energy costs. Start with insulating the attic and unheated crawl spaces with PINK Fiberglass Insulation from Owens Corning and GreenFiber Cocoon Blow-In Cellulose Insulation. It fills in gaps and voids in a home, creating a thermal blanket of protection, and the insulation reduces noise, airflow and energy loss.

Here are some tips from The Home Depot on installing insulation in the attic:

• Start at the outer edges of the attic and work toward the center.
• When adding a second layer of insulation, always use unfaced insulation, because faced insulation will add a second vapor barrier and create moisture problems.
• If the joist cavity is not full, add a second layer of insulation on top of the first to fill it up.
• Use continuous rolls in attics and floors because of longer joist spans.
• If you have to cut insulation, do so in a well-ventilated area to keep the amount of fiberglass dust raised to a minimum.
• Blown-in cellulose insulation is an alternative to fiberglass insulation, but it requires a machine to fluff the insulation and feed it through the installation hose.

2. Fill the Cracks

Air leaks raise a home’s energy bill and make a house drafty and uncomfortable in cold weather. The biggest leaks are almost always hidden in the attic or basement.

To find leaks in the attic, follow these steps:

• Look for holes along the top of a wall that leads down into the house, including those for wiring and plumbing.
• Check for insulation that is dirty around the edges, which indicates that air has passed through.
• Feel for drafts around gaps and cracks.

There are numerous places in the home where air can leak. Check all of these areas:

• Along the top of the basement wall or crawl space where the cement comes in contact with the frame
• Plumbing and dryer vents
• Recessed can lights
• Furnace flue or duct chase ways
• Indoor and outdoor electrical wires
• Window and door frames

In many cases, the best way to block air leaks is by filling the gap with caulk, expandable foam or weather stripping. Expanding spray foam like Great Stuff™ Home Sealant is ideal for sealing gaps in the attic. Spray foam should not be used next to chimneys or flues that get very hot.

3. Program Your Temperature

An Energy Star® qualified programmable thermostat, like the RiteTemp™ Seven-Day Programmable Thermostat, keeps your home comfortable and saves energy costs by automatically adjusting temperature settings while you are asleep or away.

The Home Depot suggests the following tips for installing a new thermostat:

• Turn off the power to the heating and air-conditioning system, and remove the old thermostat cover plate.
• Unscrew the thermostat mounting screws and remove the thermostat body.
• Label the low-voltage wires to identify their screw-terminal locations using masking tape. Disconnect the wires.
• Remove the old thermostat base by loosening the mounting screws. Tape the wires to the wall to prevent them from slipping into the wall cavity.
• Thread the low-voltage wires through the base of the new thermostat. Use a small level to verify accurate mounting.
• Connect the low-voltage wires to the appropriate screw terminals on the base. Follow the diagram in the new thermostat owner’s manual.
• Locate the low-voltage transformer that powers the thermostat. Tighten any loose wire connections.
• Install batteries in the thermostat body, and attach the body to the base. Restore power and program the thermostat as desired.

4. Enhance Your View

Your home’s windows may keep the outdoors from coming in, but they may not be keeping all of the air inside your house. Heat can escape from windows (such as single-pane windows) that aren’t energy efficient. Depending on where you live, you can save between $110 - $400 a year in energy costs by installing Energy Star®-qualified windows.

5. Branch Out

Plant a tree for an all-around environmental boost. When properly sited, trees and other landscaping can save up to 30 percent in home cooling and heating costs.

The Piaggio Group USA, a US subsidiary of the famed Italian maker of Vespa scooters, is giving Vespa riders and enthusiasts a chance to express their passions with the launch of its "Go Green Vespa Video Challenge."

Launched on August 20th, potential entrants have until October 15th to make a video (15 seconds - 2 minutes in length) that highlights "Vespanomics," or the facts about scooters’ contributions to reducing gas consumption, carbon emissions and traffic congestion. A few claims made by Vespa:

• Did you know that if Americans were to switch just 10% of their total mileage to scooters, they would save roughly $42 million on gas and consume 14 million gallons less fuel PER DAY (based on $3/gal average).
• If Americans were to switch just 10% of their total mileage to
  scooters, carbon dioxide emissions could also be reduced by 324 million
  pounds per day.
• By shifting the daytime vehicle mix to 80 percent cars / 20 percent
  scooters in the Manhattan (New York City) Central Business District
  (stretching from 60th Street to the lower tip of Manhattan), there
  would be a total decrease in delay of more than 4.6 million hours per
  year - which translates to time savings of nearly 100 working hours per
  person annually.

The prizes for winners are, as you might guess, Vespa scooters. The grand prize winner takes home a GTS, second place scores an LX150, and third place a LX50. Official contest rules are available here.

Apparently, Vespa also has hybrid scooters in the prototype stage… we’ll keep an eye on this.

In this week’s content swap with Naturalpath, we’ve added another article to the Green Life Guide: "Low Energy Light Bulbs: What’s the Deal?" The Naturalpath team has put together an informative Q&A on the issues surrounding compact fluorescent light bulbs that includes answers on the fixtures in which they can be used, the amount of energy you can save with these bulbs, the mercury question, and their strange shape. If you’re not using CFLs in your home lighting fixtures, you’re missing out on an easy, inexpensive and, yes, harmless way to cut your electric bill.

As always, we’re grateful to Naturalpath for sharing their content with us. Don’t forget to look and see which of our blogs posts the NP team has chosen to feature on their site.

And, if you were looking for the second part of NP interview with the authors of Skinny Bitch, you can find it here.

MakeMeSustainable.com

Editor's note: As many of you know, we often do a Weekend Web Review, but decided we'd wait one day to introduce you to MakeMeSustainable.com, which launched today.

So, you've installed CFLs, started walking instead of driving on those walkable trips, and set your hot water heater at the recommended 120 degrees. You're doing your part to help fight climate change, and that's great. But, do you ever wonder how much impact you're creating with these actions? Or, do you want to know how your actions compare to others? The newly-launched MakeMeSustainable.com provides a set of tools that will help you do just that.

The site is the brainchild of CEO Benjamin N.S. Brown, COO David Delcourt, and Chief Creative Officer Adam Schrader-Brown. I got the chance to talk to Ben and David just over a week ago as they walked me through the site, and told me a little bit about their mission. One word really sums it up: empowerment. The team at MMS want to empower users with the tools and knowledge that will help them actively reduce their carbon emissions, and connect with others who want to do the same.

MMS gives users a number of ways to set and meet goals for reducing their climate impact. When a user registers with the site (which is free), s/he provides information on his/her home and car. That creates a baseline carbon footprint — the system tells you how much carbon you emit in a year from home energy use and driving. You then have the opportunity to choose from a predetermined set of actions that can lower that footprint. For instance, on setting up my own profile and choosing actions I'd already taken, I figured out that I'd installed CFLs in nine light fixtures around my home. I plugged that information into the designated fields, and then told the system that I'd completed that action. It, in turn, told me what kind of reduction this created in my overall carbon footprint. And, after you've taken the actions that are relevant and affordable for you, MMS also offers the opportunity to purchase Native Energy carbon credits to further reduce your load.

Numbers are nice, but MMS goes a further step by providing a user with a graph that shows the difference between the baseline and the reduced carbon footprint. Each time a user completes an action, his/her impact is reflected accordingly.

My profile… : with evidence that I have work to do!

MMS doesn't just stop with showing individuals the difference they can make, though: it also provides a range of social networking tools that allow them to connect with other users in groups, to create a group themselves (so, a company or organization, for instance, could track all of its employees' or members' carbon footprints individually and collectively), and to patronize local businesses that are also working to lower their footprints. Maps can be created within a user's profile to find nearby businesses; if there aren't any listed, you can even invite businesses that are doing good by the planet to join.

For a site in public beta, MakeMeSustainable is awfully impressive. There are certain limitations at this point: you can only figure your carbon footprint for home energy use and transportation — of course, that's the lion's share of it for most of us! There are a couple of other action choices I'd like to see available in addition to those the site has included — I can't get credit for using my reel mower, for instance. These are minor things, though… overall, the site provides a robust set of features for measuring the impact of what we do… or even what we don't. And the MMS team has more in store, so keep checking back… or, better yet, create a profile and start taking advantage of these tools.

Editor's note: We're happy to be entering into a partnership with LighterFootstep.com, a site much like our that is geared towards helping people live greener lives. Next week, we'll start swapping posts with LF, but we decided (with permission of their editor, Chris Baskind) to jump in and publish this piece from yesterday.

It seems that a lot of what is written about lighter living is targeted to homeowners.

How else would you install a solar electrical system? Or replace that rusty old gas water heater with efficient on-demand models? These are all great ideas, but not necessarily within reach of someone living in an apartment or under the terms of a leasing agreement.

Fortunately, there's a lot that can still be done to reduce your environmental footstep and create a healthier, more efficient living space — even if you're paying rent. Here are some ideas to get you started.

Go with CFLs

Even though they contain trace amounts of mercury and should be disposed-of properly, CFLs seem to be at the top of everyone's "green-up" list these days. Since light bulb replacement is usually the responsibility of the tenant, CFLs can be at the top of your list, too. Environmental bonus points if you leave the CFLs behind the next time you move. Check our Guide to Living with CFLs before you shop.

Weatherstrip doors and windows

You'll probably need clearance from your leasing agent to add or repair weatherstripping, but such requests are usually granted. $50 USD should take care of most apartments or small houses. The U.S. Department of Energy has a few tips here.

Indoor composting

Not having access to a yard doesn't mean you can't compost. Indoor composting machines use a small amount of power — about 10 watts — to rapidly turn everything from kitchen scraps to laundry lint into beautiful compost. NatureMill's automatic composter is a good example of a low-odor, high efficiency unit which will happily process up to five pounds of organic material a day. It yields every two weeks, leaving you high-quality compost for friends or your own projects.

Detoxify your living space

Apartments and rental homes are usually designed with costs, not toxins, in mind. Offgassing is a significant issue in homes with synthetic carpets, vinyl flooring, and and paints which contain volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Replace area rugs with wool or natural fiber equivalents. Consider a spray on sealer, such as the products made by AFM on wall-to-wall carpeting. Most renting agents will allow tenants to repaint. Recover your walls with a low-VOC paint such as safecoat. There are also low-VOC alternatives at most mainline paint stores. If you live in an area with lots of airborne dusts or molds, an air purification system might pay big health benefits.

Indoor houseplants also help clear the air and restore natural balance. Many renters do well with porch gardens or window boxes. A baker's rack makes a wonderful kitchen garden to grow and store herbs. Be creative!

Get organized

Talk to your landlord about the financial benefits of greening rental property. In many states, there are tax incentives for the addition of solar power or high-efficiency water heaters. Do your home work. If you happen to live in an apartment complex, knock on some doors and enlist neighborhood support. Greening your rental property is a win-win proposition for owner and tenant.

Another guest post by Mike Taylor, publisher of Solar Kismet.

Electricity, or how I saved over $500 this winter

You may recall in Part 1 on Natural Gas, I outlined how I saved $166 on my natural gas bills over a two month period versus the previous homeowner (standardized against winter temperature differences) with little to no effort and less than $100 in supplies. That number has now increased to over $400 in savings from September 2006 through March 2007…

Now I'm happy to report that I got the electricity data on the previous owner as well, and frankly I'm not sure how she used so much electricity in our little house - she used as much in one month as we expect to use in a whole year. But the data doesn't lie and over the same 6 month winter time period, i.e. no air conditioners or dehumidifiers to skew the data, we have saved an astonishing $516 over her previous bills in the same 6 months the year before…Our monthly bills are $25-$35 in the DC metropolitan area (we're paying 13 cents/kWh on average). It's incredible how easy it is to save electricity, money, and pollution.

As before, your first thought must be that I'm sitting in the dark or bought all new appliances. Nope. The porch light greets us when we come home, we hang out in various rooms in the evening without much thought to turning the lights off, and we haven't replaced any major appliances (same refrigerator, dishwasher, laundry, etc).

Here are my secrets, not exactly rocket science, which cost less than $100 and only a little effort:

• Replaced all lights with CFLs - Every one. The light is the same. They hardly burn out. Friends can't tell the difference. The trick? Don't buy the $2 cheapie and expect it to put out the save amount of light. Pay $3 for the one with the most lumens, i.e. the 100 watt replacement (use these where the bulb won't be visible), and/or the ones with the fancy cover so it looks like a regular bulb (use these where the bulb is visible). You can get really small ones and specialty ones for vanity lights that work great. Some may take 5 seconds to warm up and reach full brightness but is that too much to ask? Prioritize the lights that are on the most (not the ones in the closet) if you don't want to replace them all.
• Light sensor on the front porch - I don't like to come home to a dark porch. So I paid $10 for a light sensing socket and screwed it into the old socket on the porch. Sun goes down, light comes on, and it has a timer to turn itself off after 2, 4, 6 hours (or the next morning).
• Phantom Loads - There are a lot of things that are "on" even when "off" - anything with a remote control, a fat box for a plug (a transformer that converts AC to DC), a clock, cell phone chargers, printers, monitors, etc. We have 2 or 3 power strips that allow me to shut off 3-4 things at once where it's convenient, or we unplug them. But it's not practical to do everything - I don't like to reprogram the VCR, TV, microwave clock, etc so I don't bother. I do unplug the clock radio in the guest room when no one's there (that thing uses $24/yr alone) and the chargers that don't get used everyday. Get a Kill-a-Watt and use it to go around the house and test different appliances (or better yet, buy one with some friends and pass it around to share costs). You will be surprised how many of these you have…

That's about it…surprisingly simple. Other things you can do:

• Switch to natural gas appliances - As you replace your old appliances (if they break or you remodel), switch to natural gas. It's cheaper and cleaner for the most part (even with the higher natural gas prices recently) - stove, dryer, and water heater. After all, electricity production is about 30% efficient and mostly comes from coal. I found a free natural gas dryer on Craig's List a few years ago at my old house. An electric water heater alone probably costs over $500/yr to operate - that's more than it costs to buy it.
• Buy Energy Star appliances - As you replace your old appliances, pay a little bit more for ones with the "Energy Star" label. They are more efficient and save more money in the run. Don't necessarily replace the appliances if they still work (although a new refrigerator over one that is 10 years or older could easily save over $100/yr). The "big four" users are refrigerator, dehumidifier, central air conditioner, and electric water heater.
• Buy a window air conditioner - We haven't gone through a DC summer yet, but we plan on using the air conditioner at some times…but there's no reason to cool the whole house at night, so we'll use a window air conditioner for our room and shut the central air off. Use a fan at night if it cools down - even 4-5 use less than the air conditioner.
• Refrigerator details - Turn off the ice maker. We don't use much ice and don't feel the need to have 2 gallons of it available at all times, so I turn it off once it's filled (and it usually stays off for 2-3 months actually). And if you buy a new refrigerator, the top/bottom door styles are more efficient than the side-by-side doors. Refrigerators can easily use less than 500 kWh/yr now versus 1500+ a few years ago (hurray for federal efficiency standards).
• Don’t replace the windows for energy reasons - As before, do it for aesthetics. Do it for comfort. Don’t do it expecting to save oodles of money and run from anyone who says otherwise.

Mike Taylor is the publisher of Solar Kismet, where he orginally published this post.

Natural Gas , or how I saved $200 this winter (Part 1 of 2)

We moved to the DC area last September and in the first bill from Washington Gas, it had a table of the previous owner’s natural gas use for the last year. A perfect opportunity for a little data analysis…

Using data from the National Weather Service, I was able to make sure that the numbers were comparable. If last January was colder than this January, it wouldn’t be apples to apples, but for months with similar “heating degree days,” they had the same average temperature and any differences in natural gas use would be a good assessment.

December 2006 (us) and January 2006 (old owner) had similar temperatures (639 and 672 HDD respectively). The old owner used 142 therms and we used 63 therms, which based on this year’s prices, saved us $90.

January 2007 (us) and February 2006 (old owner) were also very similar (746 and 733 HDD respectively). The old owner used 156 therms and we used 88 therms, which saved us $76.

That’s $166 in only two months!

So your first thought is that I must be freezing all the time. Nope. The thermostat is set at 70 F right now. Spent a lot of money? Nope. We have the same house, furnace, water heater, stove, etc.

Here are my secrets, which cost less than $100 and only a little effort:

• Bought, installed, and programmed a programable thermostat - We set it at 68-70 in the morning and evening, 55 at night, and 50 when we’re at work in the day. And no it doesn’t take more energy to heat the house back up.
• “Hold” the thermostat when gone - If we’re leaving for the evening, not coming back from work until late, or going away for the weekend or a week, we set the thermostat at 55 F. The cats don’t mind.
• Closed off the guest room - I shut the vent and we keep the room closed (unless a guest is visiting of course). No one’s going to notice. We do the same for a three-season office with poor insulation.
• Covered up the holes - We have a whole house fan in the second floor ceiling, which I assume will be great in the summer, but is basically a hole in the ceiling in the winter. I cut out some cardboard and taped it up. I also put weatherstripping around the attic “hatch” in the ceiling.
• Shut the basement door - It’s gross down there anyway.

Other things I’ve done since, i.e. they aren’t included in the above numbers:

• Seal the “attic bypasses” - You have hundreds of holes in your wall, which basically create a highway for warm air to escape through the walls and out the attic. I bought outlet gaskets, basically foam inserts, to put behind the light and electric outlets. For some, I put a little sealant foam around the outside if the gasket didn’t cover it enough. There are other things to do…for more information on these secret heat losses click here (PDF) - insulation without address the bypasses is almost useless. The better solution, if you have access, is to seal the tops of the wall cavities from the attic (but think about whether you’re going to insulate the walls in the process).
• Covered up more holes - I’ve since covered the kitchen fan and the office vent.

Other things you can do:

• Put up plastic on the windows - It’s not fun, glamorous, or good looking, but it works. I did it in Minnesota but we have better windows here in Maryland.
• Wrap the water heater - Trendy these days but not as necessarily if you’re water heater is newer and uses foam insulation (vs. fiberglass).
• Wrap the pipes - Buy the foam piping insulation and wrap the first few feet of the hot AND cold water pipes going into and out of the water heater. Go nuts and wrap the rest of the hot water pipes if you want to. Do the same if you have a boiler.
• Caulk - Caulk your attic bypasses. Caulk the window edges. Caulk it all.
• Put in a low-flow showerhead - They work well.
• Insulation - If you’ve addressed the attic bypasses, then insulation makes sense. Go with the ceiling and then perhaps the walls, but this isn’t necessarily a cheap option.

Things not to do unless money is no object - if you run the numbers, they aren’t your best investments:

• Don’t replace the windows for energy reasons - Do it for aesthetics. Do it for comfort. Don’t do it expecting to save oodles of money and run from anyone who says otherwise.
• Don’t replace your furnace for energy reasons - Do it for safety. Do it for a remodel. Do it if it’s broken. Have the old one checked out for safety and efficiency, but if it’s working fine, let it keep working.
• Don’t replace your washer or dryer for energy reasons - Do it if it breaks. Do it for a remodel. And when you do, get a front-loading washer and a gas dryer with a moisture sensor.

Next time: Electricity, or how I have a $30 electric bill (Part 2 of 2)