Once I got around to demolishing the dilapidated fence around our back porch, I knew I had to get rid of it in a responsible way. Landfilling is about as antithetical to “responsible disposal” as I can imagine, but because of the chemicals in pressure treated wood, there aren’t many better alternatives. The real key is making informed choices about whatever replaces it.
After years of intermittent research and data collection, I’m ready to share what we already knew: we’re saving money by using less energy! But how much, and how long until we recoup the costs of the weatherization work we had done in our attic in May 2021? We’ll never know for sure, but this exercise was a fun exploration of that complex question.
I finally got my hands on our gas usage data, thanks to a very patient husband and a helpful customer service representative. With this information, I’ve been able to take a look at how much we’re saving since our attic weatherization work in May 2021. I’m looking for ways to at least reduce our use of this fossil fuel until we’re in the position to eliminate it.
How much do you know about where your plastic goes after you put it in the recycle bin? Statistically, very little of our plastic gets recycled, but that doesn’t stop us from believing that it will. This persistent perception helps keep the plastic industry growing, despite the negative environmental and health consequences related to the production and degradation of their products.
There is always a line between appreciation and exploitation when it comes to what we put on our plates, and as someone who appreciates rare and delicious foods, I try to be especially conscious of when I am stepping over that line. Ramps, much beloved throughout Appalachia, appear for just a few weeks every spring, but their growing popularity is also putting them in danger.
Our choices about transportation options while we were in Italy were influenced largely by cost, convenience, and carbon footprint. While driving added some complexity and stress (navigation, traffic, tickets…) it also enabled some off-the-beaten-path travel that represented some of our richest memories of the trip. This post examines the benefits and drawbacks of various travel modes should you find yourself in Italy.
We were not entirely sure whether we wanted to go to Venice while in Italy, mainly because it is such a touristy city: we would have to contend with throngs of tourists, but we would also be part of the problem. Ultimately we decided to go after better understanding the causes of many of the problems and how we could support the city more sustainably.
We deal with fast fashion on a regular basis in our lives, but nowhere do we see it more than at Halloween, when pop-up shops sell cheap costumes to be used a few times and thrown away. There are more sustainable alternatives that include making, thrifting, renting, or reusing costume components. Some of these options can be better for the environment, your pocketbook, or both.
Once you’ve paid for weatherization work at your house, you may be curious how effective it is in saving you energy (and money). By employing data points called “degree days,” we can get a reasonably accurate view into how much energy gets used before and after weatherization work while keeping an eye on how much heating and cooling demand existed during the period in question.
About a year ago, we finally weatherized our attic. Many people know that weatherization includes air sealing and insulation; many people do not know that those things have to be done in a very specific way in order to work… and the previous owner of our house was not one of those people. Doing the job wrong is ineffective at best and dangerous at worst.