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Minnesota Green Team LLC |
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Turning You GREEN and Saving You Some! |
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Staying Warm in Minnesota Anyone who lives in a cold climate knows that the only thing that can chill you more than Old Man Winter is that energy bill in February. About eight years ago our first winter in our home was quite a learning experience; our first gas bill in February was over $350! We didn’t realize just how much it would cost to heat our home and didn’t sign up for a budget plan with our provider. In the summer our gas bills of course were very minimal and it balanced out but we still needed to do something. Over the years we did various improvements, a little here and a little there. Two years ago our budget amount for natural gas was $103 or $1236.00 per year. This was when we started on our green journey in our lives and made just small improvements around our home and last year our budget amount dropped to $64 or $768 per year. Last summer when I became a Green Irene Consultant I decided to challenge my family to bring down our energy consumption even more without breaking the bank with home improvements. So my first makeover was our own house and by just doing the simple things and modifying our own habits we were pleasantly surprised when our utility company sent us our budget amount for 09-2010 winter after evaluating the past year. We now pay only $41 per month or $492 per year! That’s over 60% savings! All this and we did NOT replace our furnace, windows, doors, or any other major gas appliances. Our house is a toasty 69 degrees when we are home and we use NO space heaters! Just goes to show that you don’t have to invest a ton of money to save money! |
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Most people don’t think twice about their water bill until they start watering their lawn in the summer. Compared to other utilities water is very inexpensive for the end consumer compared to their natural gas bill in the winter, or their electric bill in the summer due to running the air all the time. When it comes to our fresh water from the tap have you ever thought of just how much time, money and energy it takes to deliver that water to you? Just running your kitchen tap for five minutes can cause your local water treatment plant to use enough energy to light a bulb for 8 hours! Last year we decided to take a look at our water usage in our home. First stop, faucets. We noticed our faucets were running 2 gpm (gallons per minute) or higher. We swapped those out with 1½ gpm aerators. Next, the toilet. It is an older model with that runs 4 gpf (gallons per flush), but we never thought about replacing the toilet. Quite honestly, when a toilet breaks it’s usually a trip to the local hardware store and $20 later it’s fixed. Instead of replacing we decided to give some products a try. We used the Green Irene Fill Cycle Diverter and the Toilet Tank Bank. I also had an adjustable flapper that I had purchased previously but never installed. After installing these toilet items, our toilet now flushes and refills faster than I ever thought possible. We didn’t replace the showerhead at that time; we couldn’t decide what model to go with. The next month our water bill came and I couldn’t believe it. With just $20 and a commitment to ourselves to use our water smarter in our home, we reduced our consumption and waste water by an entire unit! That’s 800 gallons! This was during non-watering months so it was probably the best data we could ask for in our test. This is just an example of how all the little things add up around your home. On average, over the past year our utility bills are a combined 20% lower just by implementing some Green Irene tactics on top of what we considered already “Green.” Chris Hughes, Minneapolis, MN |
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Fast Food vs. Nature Mills Composter |
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We all should know that fast food is not the best choice when it comes to nutrition, but sometimes convenience wins out over common sense. A few weeks ago I had McDonalds for lunch, I didn't finish my fries and they went into the composter along with all the other scraps. About two weeks went by and I was checking on the mixture to see if I should dump it and I noticed there was a fry just sitting on top as if it avoided being crushed one of the 80 + times it has mixed since it was put in there. Then I started digging, there was another, and another. These french fries had not even started to break down! EW! I dumped the mixture and put the fries back in and after 4 weeks total, now they are not recognizable. I was shocked, having this composter for some time now I have seen it make short work of egg shells, pork and other meats, and even carrots. Even after this eye opener, I am sure I will find myself saying the words "Supersize me please".
Nutritional Facts French Fries: Potatoes, vegetable oil (canola oil, hydrogenated soybean oil, natural beef flavor [wheat and milk derivatives]*, citric acid [preservative]), dextrose, sodium acid pyrophosphate (maintain color), salt. Prepared in vegetable oil (Canola oil, corn oil, soybean oil, hydrogenated soybean oil with TBHQ and citric acid added to preserve freshness). Dimethylpolysiloxane added as an antifoaming agent. CONTAINS: WHEAT AND MILK *(Natural beef flavor contains hydrolyzed wheat and hydrolyzed milk as starting ingredients). Tertiary Butyl Hydroquinone (TBHQ) is the synthetic food grade antioxidant, which was developed to be used in stabilizing various vegetable oils, fats and food against oxidative deterioration, thus retarding development of rancidity in these products and extending their storage life. In perfumery, it is used as a fixative to lower the evaporation rate and improve stability. It is also added to varnishes, lacquers, resins, and oil field additives. In high doses, it has some negative health effects on lab animals, such as precursors to stomach tumors and damage to DNA.[2] A number of studies have shown that prolonged exposure to high doses of TBHQ may induce carcinogenity,[3] especially for stomach tumors.[4] Other studies, however, have shown opposite effects including inhibition against HCA-induced carcinogenesis (by depression of metabolic activation) for TBHQ and other phenol antioxidants (TBHQ was one of several, and not the most potent).[5] |