Interested in saving energy and money by switching to compact fluorescent light bulbs, but worried about what you'd do with them when they burn out?

Home Depot just announced that they will recycle compact fluorescent light bulbs for free.  Just bring the unbroken bulbs to the returns desk at any store. 

Each swirly-headed bulb uses a fraction of the electricity of a traditional incandescent light bulb. However, they contain a small amount of mercury --- 100 times less than the amount inside an old mercury thermometer. This still presents a disposal conundrum, however. Different communities have rules about whether they should be collected with normal household trash or saved for hazardous waste collection.

Because the bulbs contain mercury, you should take precautions if one breaks, such as these steps recommended by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for cleaning up broken CFLs.

Seriously, give them a try. The bulbs will help you save on energy costs so you'll have more green to pay for all those other rising bills.

And remember you can pick up discounted CFLs at these Home Depot, Giant and Costco stores. All BG&E ratepayers are subsidizing the cost of these bulbs for other consumers, so you should take advantage!

Posted by Liz Kay at 2:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

Check out this excellent video shot by my good friend and colleague, Dynamic Doug Donovan.

Check out Randallstown resident Steve David commuting to his job downtown on a Segway (with an assist from the subway system). Check him out cruising on the road with cars with ease. Check him out on the elevator. Check out awesome David as he glides along the sidewalk, hand in pocket.

Beyond the fact that David just looks extremely cool, consider the fact that his initial investment for a Segway was $5,000.

Then add in the fact that David figures he's saving $1,200 a year on gas, not to mention the money he's saving on wear and tear on his car. Even better for environmental lovers out there, the 12-mile portion of David's Segway commute saves 8 pounds of carbon a day.

I just have two questions:

Continue reading "Gas-free Segway Commuting" »

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 11:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

What's famous local boy Edward Norton got to do with Earth Day? Norton spoke at the Green Apple Festival on April 20 in Washington, DC. The free concert, one of eight nationwide, was trying to put pressure on Congress to take action on global warming.

Check out who else is promoting the environment here, from Zach Braff to Chevy Chase. I always find it silly that marketers think actors can get people involved in issues... especially since I tend to tune most actors out when they speak up about stuff. But I guess if it works for other people, why not? If Edward Norton (yea, I am a fan. Did you see him The Painted Veil, The Illusionist or Fight Club or American History X? Good flicks, I tell you.) can get people to be better to the environment then more power to him.

I can't say I'm the greenest person around. In fact, I'm probably terrible when compared to others.

But I do try to do what I can by recycling bottles, cans and newspapers at home. I don't buy bottled water since I don't believe in spending money on water (and as a bonus, I keep that plastic out of landfills). I turn non-necessary appliances off when I'm not home and I try to turn out the lights when I leave a room. When possible, I try to buy my vegetables and fruits from local farmers markets. I wait until the last possible minute to turn my air conditioner on and when I do, I let it hover around 75 or 76 degrees. I just planted a tree in front of my house last year and if I go anywhere after work, I try to walk to a neighborhood establishment. I recycle plastic shopping bags to pick up my dog's poop.

Continue reading "Happy Earth Day" »

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 7:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

I have never been a fan of bottle water. It's not because I don't like water. I love water. I just don't love the idea of paying a buck and a quarter or almost two bucks for what I can get out of my sink.

It just seems wasteful. Also, every time I do find myself buying a bottle of water, I feel like some evil genius is giggling it up somewhere because he found a way to sell tap water to the masses and he's making a mint off of conning us.

The thing is, if you go to a nice restaurant and the server asks you if you want tap, bottled water or sparkling water and you answer, "tap," they look at you as if you just stepped in something brown and stinky. Sheesh. It's not like I asked you to dip my glass in the toilet.

Who knew that my cheapness would eventually be a good thing? Now there's a whole movement to drink tap water, college students are marching for World Water Day and restaurants are encouraging diners to sip on le tap to save money and the environment:

Continue reading "Step away from the bottle: Take back the tap" »

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 8:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)
                    

For some inexplicable reason when I think about what it must have been like living in the 50s, I conjure up images of big Studebakers (my dad had a massively old, white one that had a hole in the floor like Fred Flintstone's car), mom baking apple pie (my mom doesn't even know how to make apple pie), and milk deliveries (I don't know why since I don't even drink milk).

It's just some sweet nostalgia that's become fixated in my head.

So I was stoked to see Ace Reporter Megan Hartley's story today in The Sun about a Frederick farm making milk deliveries in the Baltimore area.

According to her story, South Mountain Creamery began the service in Baltimore late last month, and is the only dairy believed to be delivering milk to customers' doors in Maryland.

Continue reading "The comeback of the Milkman" »

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 12:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
                    

Remember when we told you compact fluorescent lights won't kill you? We're still sticking to that story, BUT ace weatherman and science writer extraordinaire Frank Roylance had a really good story today about the hazards behind these popular energy-saving bulbs.

While it's still true that CFLs contain an average of 5 milligrams of mercry -- Frank says, that's about a speck that would barely cover the tip of a pen -- disposal of the bulbs can be hazardous if they break. And if enough people, we're talking the millions who have converted to CFLs from the old incandescents, just toss them in the trash then that's a whole lot of hazardous mercury in our landfills... which could eventually seep into the earth.

When you put it that way, it does make you think twice about CFLs. Yes, they're still great energy savers. But seriously, you have to be careful with CFLs when you're getting rid of them. As Frank's story says, the country needs to come up with better disposal methods for CFLs.

Here's how to do your part to protect yourself and the environment:

Continue reading "Fluorescent lights might kill you? Part II" »

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 12:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

You never call! And marketers, that's the way we like it.

Last month, Congress approved a law extending the federal Do Not Call Registry, so you can still protect your home number from calls from telemarketers. if you have signed up in the past, that registration does not need to be renewed.

Now, a group called ForestEthics has started an online petition calling for a national Do Not Mail Registry to eliminate unwanted circulars, advertisements, coupons, credit card applications and other junk mail from landing in our mailboxes. They've also put together an online tool to get yourself off the lists of the largest mailers, as well as other ways to stop companies that send unsolicited mail.

The effort, supported by celebrities like Adrian Grenier, Darryl Hannah, Alicia Silverstone, Jackson Browne, Aaron Douglas, Ed Begley, Jr. and Paul Hawken, is motivated primarily by awareness of the amount of paper wasted each year on junk mail. But there's a strong consumer protection message as well.

Continue reading "End junk mail" »

Posted by Liz Kay at 4:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

Nothing warms my frugal heart more than marrying the twin virtues of conservation of resources as well as cash. Add some respite for my lazy legs (the ones that don't want to walk to the grocery store) and now you're talking.

For example, I recently completed a load of laundry sans one step: a trip through the dryer. Savings: $1. Plus! The time trudging several flights of stairs between my home and the appliance in question.

It seems silly to spend money and energy to artificially remove moisture from clothes when the process would happen naturally even in the most humid of Maryland summers.

Also, using a solar-powered clothes dryer, otherwise known as a clothesline or drying rack, reduces the wear on your clothes --- after all, the lint you clean off the filter comes from somewhere, right? 

So what environmentally savvy measures are you taking that help keep you in the black (and perhaps on the couch)? Maryland PIRG just issued a report detailing rebate programs and other incentives

Continue reading "Choose green, save some green" »

Posted by Liz Kay at 12:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
                    

A whopping 78 percent of Marylanders are more likely to buy produce that is identified as having been grown by a Maryland famer, according to a 2008 Policy Choices Survey by the University of Baltimore Schaefer Center for Public Policy.

Forty-four percent say they are willing to pay at least some premium for farm products that would support Maryland farmers and 97 percent believe that it is at least "somewhat important" that the state preserve land for farming. The results remained steady from last year's survey.

The telephone survey of 812 adult Marylanders also found that residents ar concerned about the environment, but did not

Continue reading "Marylanders GaGa for Local Growers" »

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 11:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

“Smalltimore” might be a fitting description for this town, but not when you're trying to get somewhere.

When I was commuting from Mount Vernon to Columbia, sometimes it took half the 30-minute trip just to get to the on-ramp for I-95 south. And my legs work perfectly well, so I feel guilty driving to, say, the Landmark Theatre in Harbor East, or the new Superfresh supermarket at Charles and Saratoga streets. Neither destination is in another zip code, but it seems a little far to carry a gallon of milk.

Kirby Fowler, the executive director of the Downtown Partnership, knows what I'm talking about.

He was walking to a meeting when I spoke to him this afternoon and often has to get together with business and civic leaders around the city. These encounters sometimes come at a cost.

"There are many times where I need to go 15 blocks and I end up paying parking twice that day --- once for my office job and once for my visits," he said.

But the Downtown Partnership, city officials and others are working on a plan for a "downtown circulator" to reduce congestion and to help residents, employees and visitors navigate the bustling neighborhoods around downtown, the boundaries of which are rapidly expanding. 

They've sketched out some tentative service areas, from the Convention Center to Penn Station and from Martin Luther King Boulevard to President Street, as well as connecting Harbor East with Johns Hopkins Hospital. They're thinking about a comfortable, attractive bus running every 10 minutes using hybrid or other "green" technology.

Continue reading "Improve your circulation" »

Posted by Liz Kay at 1:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)
                    

Ask and you shall receive.

Shortly after my previous post about Whole Foods getting rid of plastic bags to give the environment a helpful hand, Reader Neighbor Bob answered my question about whether there were biodegrable pooper scooper bags sold anywhere.

Bob e-mailed to say:

Just saw your blog post "BYOB @ Whole Foods" and wondered about the degradable plastic bag availability. We've been thinking about that too. Here's a few quick links I found FYI. Maybe you already know about them but wanted to pass along the info anyway. I'd like to see some third party testing to verify if they actually degrade as the manufacturers claim because they aren't exactly cheap. But hopefully they will become more prevalent as we get greener as a society.

You can actually get corn based bags at PetSmart. Well, at least in Arizona stores.

Also: Dirtworks.

Thanks also to Sean who pointed out that "There are various biodegrable dogg waste bags on the market. Just as an example, Petsmart sells a 100-pack for 6.99 but you can probably find them cheaper online. A lot of them seem to be made from cornstarch."

But my favorite response was from my SuperCool colleague and friend John who said: