Why is it that all the climate change / reduce your carbon footprint articles never mention the second best thing anyone can do? Which is: not have children.
Great article! And spot on. A few years ago, we were in the same dilemma: wanted a greener house but didn't know what actions would have the largest impact (ROI) or where to start. We needed guidance! Fortunately, we found it by having a Home Sustainability Plan done by Path To A Green Home. We completed a comprehensive survey and received a report that showed us how our lifestyle and our home measure in 5 areas (heating fuel, elec, food/food waste, product packaging/waste and water). We were given low-cost/lifestyle-change, mid- and high-investment scenarios; their costs; and, their corresponding impacts on our carbon emissions.
The knowledge we've gained has empowered us to implement changes in our home and lifestyle with confidence. So far we have made many lifestyle changes, invested in sealing up our home, and are transitioning to heat exchangers before winter. One project at a time, we are getting closer to 100% sustainability!
The suggestions here are essentially useless to make any kind of difference that could actually mitigate climate change, and that's even assuming everyone were to adopt these strategies. Living in a sprawling single-family home is just not an option anymore to keep sustainable climate goals possible. Everyone needs to move to a much much smaller space, ideally in a building with at least five units and near public transportation.
In addition, the renovations suggested here would have such a high carbon footprint, for the new materials involved, that it would take decades to recoup the emissions, so they may do more harm than good.
It's time to stop with these pie-in-the-sky suggestions and make it known that those of us living in the first world have to drastically change how we live by living much much more modestly: buying very little, not flying, driving as little as possible, not eating meat, and living in small spaces. This has to be collective, not individual. Even the only-moderately wealthy and the middle class have enormous carbon footprints.
And that demanding 100% renewables from our governments is everyone's civic duty and the only strategy that will ultimately work.
This is the responsibility of a major publication like the NYT and you are failing miserably at the most important task in front of you, to save the future of the planet.
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The carbon footprint calculator does not suit someone who rents an apartment. Most of the questions I cannot answer.
Is there another calculator option for apt dwellers? Renters specifically
Implication is single family homes here, potentially with yards. That’s a pretty carbon-intensive way to live, period (or semicolon...?). Would love to see a less superficial article with solid numbers and recommendations.
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To those with A/C is suggest strongly that you look at upgrading to a unit with a variable compressor. If you have a home audit or talk with an HVAC contractor, ask about these units.
Regular A/C runs full-on until the temperature drops to your setting and then shuts off until it climbs higher than your setting. This would be like a car that can only go full speed or stop with no in-between.
Some have 2 stages, but what is better is a variable compressor that is capable of running at many different speeds which should improve your comfort and be easier on your electric bill. These are available from many manufacturers.
To those of you running wall-shaker A/C check with a local vendor about a ductless mini-split that will give you your window back, give you better comfort and be significantly quieter. These units can be had with very high SEER ratings when installed properly which equals better energy efficiency.
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One of the things I don’t see here is switching your Energy Service Company or ESCO to a green energy supplier. There are so many options in NYC. And rather than putting up your own solar panels, sourcing from a green ESCO will also push the cause at the macro economic level. Any reason why this was left out of the discussion here?
I live in sunny California. My home's south and west facing windows totals 120 square feet. In the summer time, the sun turn them into radiant heaters of 120-140 degrees. I replaced my window screens with ones that blocks out 90% of the sun rays. They make the house a little dimmer, but because they block out the sun before it hits my windows, the windows now only heat up to 90 degrees. The cost was about $35 per window when including new frames and $15 when using old frames. They worked so well that I ended up putting fake screens for the side of sliding windows that do not have screens.
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I have stopped using the built in watering system. No matter what I did it raised by water bill to at least $200 a month even if I only used it once. Searching for a leak-and one must exist-costs many thousands. I hand water now when things look dry. I awake sometimes in quite a strong rainstorm to see my neighbors' automatic systems watering away under rainy skies. In my old, plaster walled house I generally only use the air conditioner when I go to sleep. The rest of the day, while going in and out , I try to live with summer air. If I had a newer house this would not be possible. The air temperature in those exceeds 90 very quickly on summer days. In this older house, over an insulating basement, it is often only 80 at 10 p.m. Older houses were sited to catch the breezes and often have mature trees and thicker walls. People living in row upon row of suburban development in Atlanta, Houston, Phoenix have no choice. They can actually die in their houses without air conditioning. And I live with old storm windows. They are absolutely horrible. When I can afford new double insulated windows I will welcome them.
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We are still in the early adoption phase of confronting global warming on an individual basis. Ideas are being tested out for their practicality and efficacy. As ideas prove useful, they will be more widely adopted; as ideas prove less useful they will fall by the wayside.
I am building a new house, but have learned a lot since I started, and would have done much differently if I had known what I know now and resources were available to accomplish superior designs. All of it is a give-and-take proposition. The process is not necessarily getting everything right the first time, but trying out solutions to get to an end goal, and adapting to an ever-changing situation. Do the best you can today, so that others can do better tomorrow.
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When we build our next house, we are going to go with a certified “zero energy” designer/builder.
This is all around-the-margins baloney. The only answer is a carbon tax, but people absolutely refuse to accept that they must actually pay for what they get, so instead they think showering their own dirt or changing a few bulbs or accepting subsidies from the federal government to insulate is going to make a lick of difference.
It. Wont. Work.
A carbon tax will. Focus on that, or forget it.
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@J c
Agreed. Carbon pricing such as cap and trade will force all sectors in the economy to pay attention to their carbon footprint and ramp down or go out of business.
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"Consider Ann Jacobs and Brad Brunson. The couple was living in an 1897 Victorian house in Milwaukee..."
Why do articles that try to be helpful use examples that apply to .01% of us?
Almost no where in America are people cognizant of their utility bills than Phoenix, where the temperature for this most recent 10 day period will be/has been 110-114F.
The rate setting corporation commission was bought wholesale by the state's largest power company in 2016 and utility bills for some folks increased 50-100%.
Heating is NEVER the problem. I can go the entire winter with a 15 amp space heater and nothing else.
But AC! Sweet Mother, the AC! I have 2 heat pumps (upstairs and down) The inside comfort setting is 86 degrees. WHAT!!
But here is the secret to hot weather temperature control: ceiling fans. Everywhere. All day.
I've tried everything: Double pane low "e" insulated windows; black out shades; black out curtains. New this, replace that, caulk here, caulk there.
Ceiling fans. And, as soon as night time temperatures return to the low 80s, open windows!
And ceiling fans.
I've known a few who moved here from the midwest where summers are more temperate. They set their summer thermo. to what it was "back home;" 72 or 74.
Then they get the $800 monthly bill.
Ceiling fans.
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@Paul Even where I live in far northern NY State, it can get very hot in the summer. Well, 80+... Feels hot to me. I have four ceiling fans, and they help a lot. Of course, my highest bills are for fuel oil in the winter.
But I fully agree on the ceiling fans!
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@Paul
Consider installing a whole-house fan and turning it on when you open your windows. I made a $20 version by fitting a box fan into my attic opening on my second floor ceiling
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@Shayladane
When I lived in NYC my parents' home was heated by fuel oil.
You sure do have my sympathies with that expensive source for heat, not to mention maintenance on the furnace and concerns with carbon monoxide.
I really do enjoy an all electric house.
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I had two children in the 60's. Two grandchildren in the 90's. The grand kids if they ever have kids are planning on two kids, if that. Population control is not to be sniffed at.
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@Nightwood - you are equating two unrelated things. Parents deciding to have two children is not "population control" in the standards definition.
China's a dictatorship so they were able to force population control with their one-child law, which has now been revoked. But the forced approach means a generation of only-children will be aging in a society based on generational family ties, and will be having trouble from that.
Developed nations are beginning to shrink without forced controls.
Part of it is individuals and couples deciding they do or don't want children - and access to birth control and family planning really helps with that.
Another, probably smaller, part of it is unintentional - there appears to be increasing infertility, especially among men - and that may be due to the chemical bath developed nations have been dunking us in over the most recent decades.
But if you want global populations to stabilize and then maybe decline a bit, then helping the poorer nations establish basic levels of the same industrialized, educated life others have, with reliable healthcare systems and women's access to birth control and family planning seems to be the least-forced way to go.
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"You could, for example, install a smart monitor like Flo by Moen, which detects leaks and allows you to remotely shut off the water to your house from your smartphone."
Seriously? Fight global warming by buying an app (and related equipment) to use your smart phone to shut off the water to your house? How often would anyone use that? This is the best the NYT can come up with?
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The Carbon Footprint Calculator is useless if you live in an apartment, don't buy gas, oil or electricity to heat with; don't own your own washer/dryer.
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Agree. Would love some city ideas or ideas to share with the building board and management co.
All the comments here are excellent—if you own your own home. But for those who live in apartments, there is not much we can do to lower heating and electric bills and improve building efficiency.
The building already replaced our windows with double-paned ones; replaced the roof with a more reflective and insulated one; and changed incandescent lights to LEDs.
I have replaced all my incandescent and CFL bulbs with LEDs; bought a more efficient air conditioner, for which I got a rebate from Con Edison; and replaced my old TV that used 3.5 amps of power with one that uses 95 watts. Not much more I can do.
Oh, and I use mass transit: I do not have a car.
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@Andrew Porter - I agree with another comment where you mentioned the energy calculator is hard to work into apartment life. But one thing I did to help my condo building's efficiency is I voted in favor of a major upgrade that gave us insulated windows like you'd mentioned, and also replaced a 50-year-old central heating/cooling system with a much more efficient one. The assessments hurt, but were worth it.
You mentioned an important thing people should look at - rebates from their utility for new appliances.
Another thing that's possible for people with smart meters is to get a credit on your bill if you turn things off during peak times announced by the utility. Got a text this morning from ComEd here saying they'll pay me to reduce consumption between 1 and 6pm today (heat index of 95 predicted). With my new windows, leaving the AC off during that time is a no-brainer.
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@Andrew Porter
Amps = current, watts = power. You can’t compare them directly. And how much energy was used to make and ship that new device?
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@Andrew Porter - Try using a green energy servicing company. You can sign up directly through your utility provider. I use Clearview in NJ, but there are many others. The cost per unit of energy is the same and it is 100% renewable, mainly wind and solar.
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The original wavy glass single pane windows on my 150+ year old home have been kept since I installed removable "interior" storm windows. They are commonly used in house museums and provide great energy efficiency without sacrificing historic character.
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When I moved into my apartment back in 2012, I was asked by the utility company what I was expecting to pay for electricity, and I said €40. That is what I was billed for two years until I changed to LED lighting, which reduced my bill by €5.- a month. Since then, we have had two or three price hikes and I am still paying the same amount. I have no media or other electric gadgets on standby mode except, of course for my fridge and A+++ high-efficiency freezer, only have the light on in a room when I am in it.
Otherwise, the complex is weatherized, with triple-pane windows and central heating /hot water services according to the latest norms. Ah, yes, and none of us who live here feel the need to wear summer clothing in winter...
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@CMD I've also been amazed at the energy and heating efficiency of German buildings, even older buildings - insulated walls and windows are standard. Having these standards adopted in other countries would make a huge difference. It's also great to see how many environmental initiatives are a daily standard for most people (recycling, buying regional, organic produce, not overheating or cooling spaces).
How Germany will adapt to hotter and longer Summers however remains to be seen - I hope there's a better solution than greater prevalence of electric fans and air con.
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Geothermal systems aren’t always so green. Open geothermal systems can be water hogs.
If you are considering geothermal, get a closed system.
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@Long Islander Good to know. As climate change and population growth drain water tables, water hogging becomes a more serious problem--even in regions near currently abundant fresh water sources, such as the Great Lakes states. The situation is more urgent in the limited water states in the West and Southwest. We all can use less water.
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The other side of the equation of decreasing emissions, is to decrease the CO2 already in the air. How? Photosynthesis. Plants need carbon and so they store it in the soil as humus and other stable forms. In general, the American lawn causes problems with the use of fertilizer runoff and herbicides to have what we think is beauty. A lawn is Carbon positive. If a homeowner plants trees, bushes, wild flowers, perennial plants in a border around the lawn (now smaller) the soil will improve and you will be helping to sequester carbon, that is, taking it out of the air and putting it back where it belongs. Since there is more lawn than agricultural land in the US, if this were a widespread practice, we would actually see a major decrease in greenhouse gases and that would be the miracle we need right now.
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@Virginia Richter
Even with some lawn it would help if people used fewer herbicides and fertilizers. If we had more tolerance for mixed variety lawns with some clovers, broad leaved local "weeds " etc. we could reduce chemical use which has been implicated in human cancer. If you mow it regularly it looks just fine. I do agree that trees are beneficial but they use a great deal of water during their first few years. Manufacturing, packaging and shipping of all of these chemicals is a significant issue here. And the majority of people are still very insistent on a perfect weed free lawn despite all of the evidence that it is bad for wildlife, expensive to maintain and requires, usually, heavy chemical use.
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You too can be carbon negative. Just offset your emissions with Trees.org, (for the price of a pizza) and then change your fossil fuel energy provider to a renewable one. Why wait for the government to act when you can do it much faster. The United Nations has called on all governments to have carbon tax instead of income tax. They should also have value added tax equal to carbon footprint clean up costs. Instead governments are hoping we will forget the UN announcement.
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@Andy Kadir-Buxton - Planting trees = very good. Using Less = much better.
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@Andy Kadir-Buxton A pizza cost $50? Really? (Minimum recommended donation. There's a space for "other" donation.")
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I take my showers in the bathroom just above the water heater and catch 1.5 gallons of cold water in a bucket. My showerhead has a dial that lets me choose 1.5, 1.0 or 0.5 gallons per minute flow. It took a little while, but 0.5 gpm now seems plenty. I step into a 18" X 24" X 6" plastic tub in my shower which catches my grey shower water. My 5 minutes shower typically yields 2-3 gallons. I use this gray water to flush the toilet. I add a few drops of liquid soap into the pre- shower cold water and wash my daily wear (t-shirt, shorts and underwear) which I hang-dry. I reuse this soapy water to mop my floor, then to water my plants.
I use less than 10 gallons per day and imagine that some other creature on earth is alive because of the water I didn't use. I was proud of myself for that, until I came across this NHK documentary about water shortage in Nepal in which one family of 4 four spend half of their monthly income on water and survives on 10 gallons a day. https://youtu.be/lrKGn5kstsI
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@Gr8bkset
Great work! Keep it up! There should be more people like you.
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Thanks for sharing the different links, and also for reminding people about the proper order for doing some things, like considering sealing the house before replacing the heating/cooling. I also suggest that everyone look at their local laws and rules for electricity - many places now make it possible to buy your volts from a company providing renewable power.
Shop for one with good ratings since there are scammers, but purposely choosing renewable providers sends signals where it counts - to the investors and utilities making decisions on generation sources. It also helps keep driving down the cost of power from renewables and storage systems, even faster than is already happening.
That's the power provider, then there's the utility maintaining the delivery system - if you have a smart meter, see what programs are available to save more. My utility is ComEd, and on peak demand days they pay me to cut down on using power during peak hours. They send me a text, I shut some things off and my bill shrinks.
Last - if you are looking to build a house rather than stay in one or buy one - consider passive homes. Costing only a little more to build, they then keep paying back by keeping you comfortable without lots of heating and air conditioning and resulting bills.
https://www.phius.org/what-is-passive-building
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I got new garage doors for our 50+year home and it made a huge difference. New insulated doors vs single layer wooden was amazing. Before, we had things freeze in the garage over the winter and the bedroom above was always cold. With the new doors the temp never goes below 60F and the bedroom above is significantly warmer. Not a huge investment, but a big return.
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I decided I couldn't wait for things to break or burn out. I switched all the lights to LED. The outdoor lights are motion detectors. Come on when someone approaches, go off after 30sec. Always use cold/cold on the washer and use a drying line outside weather permitting and a wooden drying rack over the heater vent in the winter. Foam sprayed the crawl space and radiant insulation in attic. The ez stuff is easy. Didn't have to tear the house down and really no impact on my lifestyle. Is it perfect? Not even close, but until we as a country and a species get serious about: lifestyle changes, revamping our throw away, more is always better, growth at any cost, consumer based economies, start building for the future, electing leaders who tell us the truth and we hear it and change, and we decide to limit the number of humans, nothing we do will matter. We are far past where a few of us recycling plastic and paper makes any difference. Do it because it makes you feel good, and you might save a few bucks. Not because it's going to change anything. It won't. Co2 is now 415 ppm, the highest in ~a million years. It's not going Anywhere but up, unless we face facts and deal with them. No one on the national scene is even talking about the issues seriously.
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@Al: Outdoor lights? Past where it will make any difference? Thanks, I'll wash certain items in hot water.
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We've washed clothes and other fabrics in cold water for over forty years. By now, if they weren't getting clean, we'd have noticed. And in that time we've owned top-loading and front-loading washers. Interestingly, the front loaders spin at higher speeds and so extract more water. That means we spend less operating the clothes dryer.
We also use our dish washer every day even though it's rarely full. It uses less water than hand washing.
Final thought . . . Tighten up the house before insulating, replacing windows, etc. Retaining energy otherwise lost through leaks is much cheaper than insulating.
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@David C. Murray question : why use a cloth dryer if trying to save energy ? Putzi flies issues ?
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Washing your clothes in cold water does not get them clean and it kills fish. Get a tankless hot water heater. Have large and heavy items delivered, shop online for items that you might have to visit several stores for, I am old and I consider every step I take, if I fall and break a hip, everything I own will go toward maintaining me in a nursing home.I have reduced my power consumption by 50 percent with LED bulbs and turning off lights. No, I don't live in the dark. Nobody needs a shower every day. I have not used dry cleaners in 12 years. All natural fibers can be washed, you just have to learn how to iron. If you stop wasting money you can afford fine wines (Mail order if you live in Georgia) and expensive perfumes. Catch a little sunshine every day and buy lots of fresh flowers that way you don't need Zoloft or whatever your doctor gives you to make you happy.
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@Karin Byars--Our front-loading washing machine washes nearly everything just fine in cold water. We have insulated our older house very well and replaced all the windows, but not all at once. We heat with wood and our electricity comes from water power. My husband has planted many trees, and they "condition" our air in the summer; it never gets to 80 in our house. We have two Priuses and are looking into an electric car. Our water is from a spring and is gravity fed and we use soaker hoses for our extensive flower beds. We don't get cell service at our home or TV.
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@Susan
I envy you. Growing flowers is much better than buying flowers. Your husband sounds like a keeper. I wish you both a long and happy life.
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@Susan: Burning wood pollutes the air and cause real problems for people with asthma. I believe that California has banned new fireplaces and wood burning stoves and has placed strict limitations on any pre-existing ones.
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Has anyone noticed how many thousands of office blocks in the cities leave their lights on all night with no one in them at all? This is a total waste of electricity and is going on night after night, ad infinitum.
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@Ksenia
In addition, at migration times, the lights attract birds which then fly into the buildings either killing them or knocking them out. Many buildings in Chicago have cooperated with bird rescue groups and either dim their lights or turn them off during migration season. Still, the rescue groups wake each morning at 4 to collect the birds, dead or alive. The dead birds go to the Field Museum, the live birds go to wildlife centers to be resuscitated and sent on their way.
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About birds and glass: I live in a glass highrise that contains 298 households—we would span blocks and blocks in the suburbs. I estimate the habitat savings more than offsets the slight increase in mortality from window strikes (although admittedly the costs and benefits are not experienced by the same species). I track the strikes because I care very much about lightening footprints (though have yet to reconcile this with the insane amount of travel we do for research). Land use is an underappreciated problem—people don’t see opportunity costs as easily as they see a dead bird on the sidewalk. Hence superficial environmentalism.
Again: Rocker switches on strips on OFF position unless you're actively watching TV; in study, unless you are on the computer; in the kitchen, unless you're using the microwave; and so on. Anything operated by remote control sucks up electricity 24/7. For safety's sake you can keep lamps on strips and turn them to OFF when not lit.
Heating: 60-63 when you're home and about, 50-55 at night when you're under covers, unless it's really frigid out. But 55 will do it even then. Sheep need shearing, and sweaters and wool blankets are good things. And no, my family is not fat. It just seems smarter to wear sweaters and save oil.
Yes, good insulation, solid windows, efficient boilers, and the like are great but require outlay of cash. My suggestions cost little and serve well.
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@B. Low temps don't work for everyone: they can exacerbate asthma.
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@B.: Back when Jimmy Carter was President and everyone was being told to lower their thermostats, it was discovered that some older folks were starting to suffer from hypothermia. Oops!
In addition, lower temperatures can cause problem for people who have sinus and similar conditions.
I imagine that they would also be problematic for people with circulatory disorders.
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Well, obviously keeping temperatures too low is silly. But three blankets and the cat(s) keep one pretty warm at night.
Spouse's sinuses cleared up after moving out of hot apartment and into cool house. Of course, the sinuses could have been from the neighbor's cigarette smoke or the roach carcasses inside the walls. Cleaning kept live roaches out of our kitchen, but you just know that generations have lived and died behind the plaster.
I wonder occasionally, what leaves a smaller "carbon footprint" in a house: electricity or illumination by burning candles and kerosene lamps? Same question for cooking on natural gas or coal and/or wood?
@Tuvw Xyz. Most candles are made from petroleum, so both that option and kerosene are burning petro chemicals (and so bad re carbon footprint). Natural gas and coal are both poor options from a carbon footprint perspective. Wood is mixed — trees are renewable, and store carbon as they grow, but it is released when burned.
Electric is transitioning more and more to renewable sources, and so is the better long term option. Check your local electric provider for how they generate, and encourage increased solar and wind and other renewables there. Evanston gets its electric from renewable sources, so that’s the best route in your community.
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Our old house has lovely double hung windows - and we never dreamed of replacing them. Instead, my husband build storm windows (we take them down in spring, and put up screens, reverse in the late fall). An energy audit showed our house as tight as one with newer windows - and it was much, much cheaper!
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@Deborah - Good quality storms should always be considered before replacing existing windows - even single panes - if they're in decent shape.
As an added bonus, south-facing double-hungs w/storms can easily be turned into individual solar heat collectors. Lower the top sash and raise the bottom sash a tad. Hang a piece of dark fabric (veggie-bed shade cloth works well) between the window and the storm window. The storm window keeps the cold air from intruding. As the fabric heats up, cooler room air is drawn in the bottom opening and the heated air pours out of the top opening back into the room. I did this on a house in the cooold, sunny Colorado mountains and the amount of heat generated was amazing. True, it blocks the view, but the dark fabric is easily removed when desired.
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