Home Automation and Being Green

I was flipping through Time Magazine today (The August 26/September 2, 2013 issue). I came across a one page article in the Tech Section titled Home, Smart Home. I've had a soft spot for home automation for a decade or so now. I was among the "early adopters" when I started playing around with X-10 modules which would allow you turn on and off lights with your TV remote. I'm telling you ten years ago that was mind blowing stuff! Especially when you used it to turn on and off the Christmas lights!


It was all kind of cool, but in it early days was a bit unreliable. And while it was cool to turn on and off lights without getting up it was more parlor trick then actually useful to be honest. So after a year or so of messing around with home automation stuff I kind of forget about it.


So this article reminded me of the coolness of it all again. And apparently in the last ten years things have really improved. Especially because we all now carry little wi-fi connected computers in our pockets called smart phones. Most of the technology for controlling and tracking all these new cool devices are in our pocket all ready. This makes adopting home automation cheaper and easier to learn as we are all ready familiar with the interface known as our phone.


One cool item the author (Harry McCracken) mentioned was a new door lock which you could install on your entry door and could be operated with your phone. It works with bluetooth on your phone and automatically unlocks the door when you arrive home. You can also grant temporary access to friends who you want to access your house. It of course makes me thing of the possible security issues should you lose your phone on the subway, but that aside you can't argue with the coolness or convenience of the idea!


He also mentions the Nest thermostat which is available in stores now (I saw it on an end cap in Lowes a couple of weeks ago). Apparently this new gizmo starts to keep track of when you are home and not and figures out patterns of when to raise and lower the temperature in your home to minimize your heating/cooling energy use. Sounds pretty cool. I don't know the exact price, but I think it's hundreds though. I tend to be really conscious of my energy use, and very rarely forget to turn down the thermostat when I got to bed or leave for work. I haven't done the math, but I feel like since I tend to be good about turning it down anyway, it would take quite a while before I recouped the cost of the the Nest thermostat in energy savings. With that said it looks cool, and that is what a lot of tech is all about really. So at some point I'm really going to look into it closely, do the math, and will likely write a post here as well.


All of this got me to thinking about the tie in between home automation and energy savings. Being green and Saving Green! In fairness much of home automation is more focused on the cool of technology. Changing the color or lights in different rooms to create mood settings (cool but in practice, you'll never use it). Changing the radio station that is playing through out your house from a touch screen which is located in the kitchen, living room, and upstairs hallway. All of that is definitely cool, but likely is only going to use more electricity then you would have otherwise.

The stuff that I'm thinking about are the gizmos whose main function is to use less energy. The Nest thermostat is a great example of that. Whether or not it would pay for itself installed in my house, it's main purpose is to save you money. So sure it took ten years to pay for itself, but in the mean time you were using less fossil fuels and where there for saving the planet, even if it did come out of your pocket. I'd love to see home automation devices which would serve a similar purpose for your hot water tank. Or maybe something that would open and close your blinds depending on the time of day, amount of sun, and time of year, to help warm your house or keep it cooler. These are the kinds of items which can pay for themselves and help save the planet.

So I'll be checking out the Nest, and I'll be on the look out for other items which can be installed to save energy. Additionally I'll be checking out these items to see what the potential payoff would be. In other words home long do they have to be installed before they save you enough money in energy usage to cover their cost of purchase and installation.

Just Use Less Energy!

Just Use Less Energy, sounds simple right? So often everyone is thinking about way to cut down on their energy use, whether it be electricity, gas, oil, etc. That is great and necessary. The trick is I was thinking about this over all the other day. Most often I am always focused on new technology, or a new gizmo, or a new procedure, which will allow me to do what I always do, and use less energy in the process. For example a more fuel efficient car so I can drive the same miles and use less gas. Or a more efficient light bulb that will allow me to light the same room with less electricity.

Both of those are great examples of ways to save money and the planet, and I'm by no means saying that they aren't great ideas. The trick is I get so focused on being more efficient in that way, that I lose sight of the one more obvious option. Just plain using less. So instead of just getting a more fuel efficient car, I should try to find way to just plain drive less miles. And while getting a new LED bulb is great, but making sure to turn off that light when nobody is in the room is a win every time!

A big one that I'm a huge culprit of is the long hot shower. I'm not going to lie, I LOVE taking long hot showers! I've certainly put lots of thought over the years into the ways to get the most hot water for the least energy. And of course wrapping my hot water tank in more insulation is great. But if I would couple that with taking shorter showers then I am really onto something! And yes I love taking the long hot showers, and thinking about taking really quick showers is hard to digest at first. But when I think, "Could I take a shower that is 1 minute less?", that doesn't really sound that bad at all. So maybe for a month or two I'll shoot for that. Then I can keep whittling it down, until it's as quick as can be over time. I'll save quite a bit in the use of less water, and the energy that would have been used to heat it. Then if I can still strive to more efficient with the water I am using, I'm getting a nice double dip.

Air conditioning is a big one too. Many of us, me included, have gotten to the point where it's an expectation in our lives to have air conditioning. Both at work, at home, and in our car. It wasn't really all that long ago that air conditioning was considered a luxury. Many, many fewer homes has AC. You just toughed it out for the couple of months of hot weather. Even affluent folks in the 50's, 60's, 70's would forgo air conditioning as a waste of money. Oh how the times have changed. Every late spring I lug out the three window units that we use in our small house. One for each of the bedrooms, and one for the downstairs living area. I do try to use them as little as possible, but once they are in the windows they are all to easy to use. One quick push of the button and relief from the heat is on it's way! I guess I'll keep working on that, as we should use them less, but I'm not sure that I'm ready to give them up all together :(

The easiest way to save energy is to turn things off

So the moral of the story is that less is more when it comes to saving energy. It's more a way of thinking then anything else. I just am going to keep working on incorporating it into my thinking in my day to day decisions. Yes I'm going to continue to make things as efficient as I can around the house. But, if I can realistically just use energy less overall, that will make a nice dent in my power bills (and help the planet) as well!

Saving Hot Water - A Small Tip For Today

So there are big ideals which will save millions of tons of carbon in the atmosphere and there are smaller tips which will just put a tiny dent in the CO2 levels. However these small tips if done by everyone can really add up as well. 

The suggestion today has to do when you are doing something at the sink which you would normally use hot water for. This would including washing your hands or rinsing your toothbrush, etc. First you should think about whether you really need to use hot water at all. Like do you really need to rinse your brush with hot water? Probably not, so you can just turn the handle all the way to cold and rinse it quick. Yes you are still going to use the same amount of water, but you aren't going to use any hot water. This will save all the energy that was needed to heat up that amount of water you ran off to rinse your brush. As an energy cost the amount needed to heat the water is much more then was is required to pump it and get it to you.

If you would like to still use hot water for a task, think about how often you never get hot water because you are done with your water task before the hot water actually starts coming out. This occurs because your hot water tank is far away from you in the basement. So when you run the hot water it has to travel all the way through the pipes to your sink before you get it. So if you are waiting for hot water then you are wasting all the water that filled the pipes and has cooled down. If you have to have hot water for your task then so be it. If you are like me though I'll just wash my hands while I'm waiting and end up being done before it gets there. If that is the case then what is the point? I mean I indeed just washed my hands with cold water. But in doing so I ran the hot water out of the tank and into the pipes, just not all the way to the sink I was at. So that hot water that I didn't even use is going to sit in the pipes and get cold and it'll happen again when I wash my hands. My point in all this is if you are going to end up just using cold water then just use the cold water from the tap. Don't waste the hot water by running into the pipes and not using it.

The do make a pump that you can install near you hot water tank which will circulate the hot water though the house so that it gets to your tap right away. I had one in my old house and it worked great. I don't think it cost much more then $30-$40 and it only took a 30 mins or so to install. The downside is that the pump was electric so I was using energy to save the energy. They manufacturer has of course thought of this, so there was  a timer build into the pump. So I would set it to come on in the morning when we woke up for work, shut off for the day, and the come on again about the time we came home from work until bed time. It really worked great. I think I'm going to look into getting one for the new house. Especially for the upstairs bathroom which takes forever to get hot water!

Doing Your Dishes Green

So a few months ago I moved with my family to a different house which doesn't have a dishwasher. It's been a real adjustment since we moved in to taking the time each night (and often throughout the day to hand wash all the dishes). Yesterday my wife came back from the market with new dish sponges that were supposed to be a green product. It got me to thinking about the whole dirty dish process in our house and the environment. 

Are the sponges really "Green"?


The first question I thought about was if the sponges were really green. The problem with green products is that the word "Green" is relative. I mean the definition of green is that it is good for the environment. But really what the heck do I know about sponges anyway? So for all I know they could actually have a worse environmental impact the the regular sponges we had been using. But since they say "Green" on the label my wife and I was assuming they are better for the planet.

How much better? Who really knows?  That the other problem with Green being a relative term. So say they are just a very tiny amount better for the environment. Like so little that it really makes no impact as far as saving the planet. But I'll still pay an extra dollar for two of them because I feel like I'm doing my part. There are products out there that I know a good amount about and can make an educated decision as far as their impact but when it comes to sponges I guess I'm just counting on the label. I wish there was some kind of standard or rating system that you know know for sure how much good you are doing.

Hand washing dishes vs. a Dishwasher


The next thing I got thinking about is what impact am I having on the planet by hand washing my dishes now compared to a dishwater? I mean there is the electrical and water cost to running a dishwasher. But when I do them by hand I'm going to guess that I'm really using more water then what a new modern dishwasher would use. I'm also thinking that any electricity used by the dishwasher would be compensated for buy the efficiency of the dishwasher over hand washing.

Now like all appliances not all dishwashers are made the same. You need to look for the Energy Star label and then look for the best Energy Start appliance you can afford. But assuming you have a really efficient model I'm thinking I'm using more energy (not even including my own) but hand washing. And a dishwasher is going to really wash them better and remove more germs in it's process.

So I guess that's it. I need to get out dishwasher shopping and start saving money and time (and not to mention my feet and back!). Good thing my wife bought those Green sponges!

Dual Flush Toilets - Save Water - Save the Planet

One major area I talk about here on Saving Green is water conservation. There are many area that water conservation touches. Part of it has to do with global warming because newer weather patterns are taking the rain to un-populated areas and leaving populations in drought. Also there is the energy needed to pump the water to your house for use (remember that energy is required even if you have town water, you just aren't directly paying on your bill, but 's built in!). Another area is over population because more and more people are in new homes that are drawing more and more water for a reservoir that is holding less and less water.

Dual Flush Toilets


I found a really cool item that can help when it come to home water conservation and ease the issues with all of the above areas. I've actually heard about these for a little while now but when I saw a conversion kit at the end of the isle at Home Depot this weekend for $20, I knew it was just time!

So the basic concept is that you need much less water to flush urine and a small amount of toilet paper then you do solid waste. I know it sounds gross but when you get over the factor of using bathroom words, it comes down to very basic water conservation. You existing toilet is going to use the same amount of water every time it flushes no matter how much water it really needs. Typically toilets that were manufactured after 1994 use 1.6 gallons per flush (before 1994 I believe it was 3.5 gallons - Yikes!). For solid waste 1.6 gallons is appropriate, but for urine much less will do the trick.

Dual Flush Installation


So I bought the kit for twenty bucks. It claimed that I could install it in 10 mins with no tools. Well I won't say that is really true but it was very basic. I ended up using a screwdriver and a pair of pliers (I also used a battery powered sawzaw but that was just because I didn't want to waste time carefully taking out the old handle and I knew my kids would think it was really cool :).

You just take out the old flapper and handle. Follow a few basic steps and pop in the new mechanism and flush button. Read the directions and do a few basic and quick adjustments to make sure it's flushing how you'd like. Wa La!

There is one round button split into two. The top is for a "quick flush" and the bottom is for a "full flush". Simple as that. In the short run I probably used more water because my kids kept testing/playing with the new flusher. But starting tomorrow we are going to really save some solid gallons.

How Much Will I Save?


They don't give specific stats as to how much the quick flush uses vs the full flush. Although like I say a regular toilet uses 1.6 gallons so I would guess the full flush is the same. I would also ballpark that the quick flush is about half that. Which means every time someone in my family uses that bottom compared to the old flusher we are saving about .8 gallons. Think about how many times you toilet gets flushed in a day. That savings is going to add up!

I have a drilled well so for me the big money savings is the savings on my electric bill because my well pump will kick on less often. But also from a planetary standpoint that is quite a bit less water I'm going to be pumping out of the ground each year.

The box claims that the average family of four will save 15,000 gallons per year if they install this on their most used toilet in their house. They also say that is enough water to be equal to stacking water bottles 45 miles high!

New Dual Flush Toilets


This technology is really catching on. Recently I stayed at a Marriott in Baltimore, MD and noticed they toilet was a dual flush. You can also pretty commonly now buy new toilets with dual flush technology as well.  If you are going to by buying a new toilet anyway then you should pull the trigger on the new technology. Your water/electric bill will be lower and you'll be doing your part to save the planet.

Water, Water, No Where!

I hear about it all the time these days, both on the news and in documentaries warning about the future. We are running out of drinking usable water! While it would be nice and simple if there was just one reason for this, there really are multiple reasons. 

Global Warming and Drought


Intuitively you might think that the one thing that global warming is good for is reduction of drought. I mean the polar caps are melting so that has to create more water and less drought right? Well that's not actually the case. Yes the polar caps are melting and the ocean is going to rise. But we don't drink salt water unfortunately which is where that water is going. The oceans rising isn't going to increase the level of water from the sources where humans get their water. Inland lakes and streams aren't going to rise because the oceans do.

What Global warming is really doing is shift around where the water is because it is changing water patterns. There are literally areas where lakes and rivers were counting on for decades (and longer) for drinking water that are just drying up. Just look at the drought in Texas this year. It's wasn't just a week with no rain. It affected them this whole summer and continues to do so. They are having to sell cattle at a loss because they can't afford to provide them with drinking water. It's either sell them early or let them die!

Increasing Population


You might have heard on the news recently, as a planet we just hit 7 billion (yes that's with a B!) human population level. This means that while global warming is reducing the amount of water available for drinking, we are doubling the amount of water we use over the last few decades. That is a formula for disaster!

When it comes right down to it, yes it's partially the way that we all live, but really all the environmental problems have a lot to do with the fact that we all live! There are just way too many of us to be comfortably sustained by this planet. We need to find smarter ways of using the resources we have left so that we can get as much bang for our buck as possible while there are so many of us. We also as a planet should really be putting some thought into how we might want to reduce our population over generations too!

What Can We Do to Solve the Water Shortage?


The good news is that while the water supply situation isn't good right now there are some things we can do to reduce it's severity. There was a great article in Time a few weeks back talking about this very issue (Droughtbusters). They list a few great ideas for how to help reduce the water shortage. First was expanding the use of water treatments plants that convert sewage back to usable drinking water. It sounds horribly gross but I've heard of this before and apparently we do indeed have the science to make it happen and end up with completely drinkable water with no trace of it's former life as sewage. My only concern here is that I've heard recently that many if not all sewage treatment plants don't have the capability to remove some items that weren't even considered decades ago when they where conceived and built. Mainly these are the pharmaceuticals that we are all taking. Some of them are expelled in out waste and would end up back in the drinking water having who knows what kind of affect on us! I'm sure if the treatments plants are planned to filter these items as well it wouldn't be an issue in the future though. So as long as that little hitch can be handled then I'm all for it.

The next way they talk about reducing the water shortage is seawater desalination. This is a great idea in theory the trick is that it tends to be very expensive to do and is really only feasible for those cities that lie close to oceans. Even if a city in the mid-west was willing to pay for a desalination plant the cost of piping that water from one of the coasts would make it unfeasible. Apparently the cost of desalination is coming down because of new technologies though so it will likely be a more and more feasible piece of the puzzle moving forward. And I suppose if the coastal city lean hard on desalination as a solution then that's more water for the inland cities from traditional sources.

Rainwater harvesting is another great option that they suggest. Many folks like to water their lawn and flowers to keep them looking nice. That is great but as the world water shortage because a real daily hardship on the population as a whole it'll become evident that having your front lawn look nice should be a much lower priority then being able to bath and drink water. This is something I'll definitely be looking into this summer. It can be as simple as a rain barrel that sits at the bottom of your downspout from your roof gutters. Then you use that to water your plants and lawn. I do remember reading online that there are roofing materials that should be used that are non-toxic if you are going to try to consume the water your collect from your roof. Depending on rainfall in your area this can really save significant water usage.

Incentivizing conservation is another suggestion. If a municipality has the resources to offer this it can make a real difference. Whether it's giving a rebate for installing appliances that are water efficient, or rain collection set ups, or even removing the grass lawns all together, it really will reduce the amount of water needed. Of course this is going to be offset by the increased demand because of population growth, but every little bit is going to help!

So yes the over all population and population growth is a major drain on all resources of this planet and water is no exception. In lieu of actually reducing the population over generations though, we need to find a way to both increase the water we have access to (desalination and rain collection) and reduce the amount we use (conservation though more efficiency and simply reducing the assumption of how much water we need - like taking a shorter shower or having smaller lawns).