Feature Article |
How to Go Green
By Roxanne Patel Shepelavy
9. CLEAN CLEANER. You scrub your tub to get rid of muck and germs, right? So why would you want to replace them with ammonia and chlorine and bleach? Instead, use cleaners like those from Norristown-based Sun & Earth, which produces a line of detergents for the kitchen, bath and laundry that are biodegradable; gentle to skin, air and earth; and readily available at Acme and Genuardi’s (sunandearth.com; acmemarkets.com; genuardis.com). Design consultant Lili Wright recommends environmentalist-fave Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day, made primarily of corn, sugar cane and other extracts, in geranium, lavender and lemon verbena scents (mrsmeyers.com). Find Mrs. Meyer’s at Whole Foods (wholefoods.com), Open House (107 South 13th Street; 215-922-1415) and Foster’s Urban Homeware (124 North 3rd Street; 267-671-0588).
10. DON’T CLEAN AT ALL. South Jersey’s Organic Home cleaning service does just what its name says: Cleans your home organically (856-337-0091; organichomedesign.com). Longtime environmental activist K.L. Hassen founded the company last year as a way to introduce green living into people’s lives, one dust mite at a time. For $75 an hour, Hassen will scrub with Sun & Earth products and aromatherapy oils, leaving behind a bouquet of fresh flowers from Williamstown’s organic Muth Family Farm (1639 Pitman Downer Road; 856-582-0363). For $20 more, she’ll leave a starter kit of cleaners, soaps and detergents for you to use.
11. CLEAR OUT YOUR GARAGE. Literally. Toss the car and join PhillyCarShare, the nearly five-year-old auto co-op that has taken an estimated 2,100 cars off city streets — including 330 government vehicles. It’s cheap — former car owners say they save around $4,000 a year. And it’s easy — simply pick up a car at one of 60-some “pods” in Philly and at Bryn Mawr College. On the Advantage Plan, it costs $5.90 an hour and nine cents a mile, which includes insurance. The eco benefits are huge: Around 60 percent of the PCS fleet is hybrid; members say they walk and take public transit more than they used to; and the nonprofit estimates that 440,000 gallons of gas have been saved since its inception (215-730-0988; phillycarshare.org).
12. USE A LITTLE LESS ENERGY. First, swap out your incandescents for compact fluorescent light bulbs, which cost a little more (Home Depot sells them for around $8 each, homedepot.com) but last more than 10 times longer and use 75 percent less electricity. Next, call for a free energy evaluation from the Energy Coordinating Agency, a Center City nonprofit with a mission to lower the area’s energy use through simple cost-saving measures (215-988-0929; ecasavesenergy.org). Among the ECA’s suggestions: Plug up drafty doors and windows; switch to programmable thermostats that automatically lower the temp at night; replace your old heater with a newer model that uses energy more efficiently, which can slice your electric bill by as much as 30 percent; and add white rubber-like coating to your roof, which can reduce your air-conditioning use by 22 percent for just $3 per square foot.
10. DON’T CLEAN AT ALL. South Jersey’s Organic Home cleaning service does just what its name says: Cleans your home organically (856-337-0091; organichomedesign.com). Longtime environmental activist K.L. Hassen founded the company last year as a way to introduce green living into people’s lives, one dust mite at a time. For $75 an hour, Hassen will scrub with Sun & Earth products and aromatherapy oils, leaving behind a bouquet of fresh flowers from Williamstown’s organic Muth Family Farm (1639 Pitman Downer Road; 856-582-0363). For $20 more, she’ll leave a starter kit of cleaners, soaps and detergents for you to use.
11. CLEAR OUT YOUR GARAGE. Literally. Toss the car and join PhillyCarShare, the nearly five-year-old auto co-op that has taken an estimated 2,100 cars off city streets — including 330 government vehicles. It’s cheap — former car owners say they save around $4,000 a year. And it’s easy — simply pick up a car at one of 60-some “pods” in Philly and at Bryn Mawr College. On the Advantage Plan, it costs $5.90 an hour and nine cents a mile, which includes insurance. The eco benefits are huge: Around 60 percent of the PCS fleet is hybrid; members say they walk and take public transit more than they used to; and the nonprofit estimates that 440,000 gallons of gas have been saved since its inception (215-730-0988; phillycarshare.org).
12. USE A LITTLE LESS ENERGY. First, swap out your incandescents for compact fluorescent light bulbs, which cost a little more (Home Depot sells them for around $8 each, homedepot.com) but last more than 10 times longer and use 75 percent less electricity. Next, call for a free energy evaluation from the Energy Coordinating Agency, a Center City nonprofit with a mission to lower the area’s energy use through simple cost-saving measures (215-988-0929; ecasavesenergy.org). Among the ECA’s suggestions: Plug up drafty doors and windows; switch to programmable thermostats that automatically lower the temp at night; replace your old heater with a newer model that uses energy more efficiently, which can slice your electric bill by as much as 30 percent; and add white rubber-like coating to your roof, which can reduce your air-conditioning use by 22 percent for just $3 per square foot.
 |
Change text size |
 |
Print |
 |
Email |
 |
Write a comment |
Posted by Anonymous | Jan. 2, 2008 at 1:58 PM