Almost Half Of Americans Would Buy Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles
According to a recent study by Pike Research, 48% of consumers would be at least very likely to purchase a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) with a 40 mile charge. The results are also interesting in that only 8% of all the peopled surveyed were completely uninterested in buying a PHEV. Check out Environmental Leader for the remainder of the results and more details of the survey.
The results of this survey are important in that it shows that people are interested in buying electric vehicles, even if they only travel on a 40 mile charge. I’m assuming this survey has to do with the Chevy Volt, which can run about 40 miles of a single charge. I would image if the charge number were higher, the results would probably favor hybrid electric vehicles much greather. I would rather have a vehicle that has a much longer charge like a few hundred miles like the Tesla or Aptera than a car that may or may not ake me to work and home in one charge.
So how would you answer this survey? Let’s find out…
Loading ...BuyGreen.com Giveaway
BuyGreen.com is offering one my readers a $50 gift certificate to use at their online store. Check out post I just wrote about BuyGreen to get all the details about this great online retailer.
Though a fairly young company, it’s run by several entrepreneurs who are passionate about living green. Beyond just selling green products, BuyGreen provides information about each of those products to help us make a better informed decision before buying. They also contribute to various environmental groups, have several green certifications and offset each purchase with wind energy. That’s why I’m proud to be offering this gift certificate to one of my readers.
How to Win
There are many opportunities to win this contest. You must leave a separate comment for each entry. Here’s all the ways to increase your chances to win:
- Comment ( 1 entry ): Visit BuyGreen.com and tell us which product(s) you would like to buy using this gift certificate.
- Subscribe to my email subscription ( up to 2 entries ): Follow my daily articles by simply subscribing to to my email subscription service and/or RSS feed. This will give you a great chance to win and give you all the latest updates to my blog. A win-win situation. You get 1 entry for each subscription.
- Spread the Word ( 2 entries ): You can get a better advantage by publicizing this giveaway on your blog. All you have to do is give a brief description of this contest and a link to it. Be sure to include a link to the post in a comment.
- Twitter ( 1 entry ): Follow me on Twitter and tweet about this contest including a brief description of this contest and a link to it. Include a link to your Twitter account in the comment.
- StumbleUpon ( 1 entry ): Stumble this contest or one of my popular tools and leave a review.
When is it over?
This giveaway will end September 22nd, 2009 at 11:59pm. I will randomly select an winner from the list of all entries and announce the winner on September 23rd, 2009. This contest is only to U.S. residents 18 years or older.
Good luck to everybody!
Make This Labor Day More Green
Most holidays including Labor Day includes spending the entire day at festivals, parades and other events. Not only can you end up more tired than if you were to spend it at work, but also many of the events and parades create tons of waste to send to our already overfilled landfills. Make this Labor Day different by making it day of rest and relaxation.
Spend Time With Nature
Most of us are locked in an office all day and our kids in classrooms. Why not take the chance to get outdoors and enjoy nature with your family and/or friends? It’s a perfect time to just get away from the house and clear your mind and get a fresh breath of air for a change. One thing I love to do is go to a local park of mine where they kayaking for a small rental fee. Check with your local parks to see what great activities they have to offer, especially the free ones. You can also have a picnic with foods you just bought at your local farmer’s market that make it much healthier than anything you could buy at a festival.
Relax
Life is already hectic enough, so why not just relax a little more. We already don’t get enough sleep as it is, so sleep in a little longer to get your full 7-8 hours. There’s nothing wrong with just sitting outside on your patio or porch and enjoying the scenery. There’s no rule that says that we have to spend the entire day fighting with crowds just to see a parade that lasts for 10 minutes and and overpriced, unhealthy food.
Exercise
Most people don’t exercise enough as it is. Try making Labor Day the first opportunity you get to get out there and exercise. Whether it’s getting out to nature and going for a job, or heading to your gym, there’s no better time to start. I find it extremely relaxing to take a class like Yoga that help relieve stress.
Whatever you decide to do on this holiday, try to make it as relaxing as possible.
Does Closing Vents Save Energy?
From when I was a child, my parents would close off several vents in our house in order to prevent cold or warm air from going to areas of our house that we weren’t occupying. Just the other day, I was recommended to close my vents to save on my energy bills. I was excited to write about this topic since it seemed like a legitimate way to save additional energy, so I did some research on if you can really save on energy on closing your vents.
After doing some research on this topic, I found so many varying opinions on this topic. On some websites, they will have you believe that closing off most of the vents in your home will continue to save you money. Others warn from closing any of the vents in your home says that most homes may actually use more energy. Logical thinking would lead you to believe that the more vents you close, more cold/warm air will go to the rooms with vents still open. It turns out that neither method is fully correct.
Various forums and sources on the topic seem to agree with a mixture of both arguments above. It’s seems ok to close a few vents in most home, but closing too many vents could actually increase you energy use and possibly cause damage to a home’s heating or air conditioning system. That’s pretty scary that you could do such damage by simply closing your home’s vents.
To answer the original question in the title…well, I’m actually not really sure how to answer the question. You should be able to save money by closing your vents if you only close off a few and be sure to be extremely careful. Something that may seem so harmless on the surface though could actually be extremely costly in the end. So before deciding to close off too many of the vents in your home, I would consult with a professional. It’s better to be safe than sorry in this situation.
If you are a heating/air conditioning expert or have talked with a professional on this topic, please share your thoughts on this topic.
BuyGreen.com: Selling Quality Green Products
BuyGreen.com is a leading online retailer that sells a wide array of green products. What differentiates BuyGreen from the other retailers that beyond selling green products, they are committed to running a sustainable business as well as providing information to consumers to make smart buying decisions.
A Little History
Green Retail and Wholesale LLC, a leader in the sales and distribution of green products, is the mastermind behind the site BuyGreen.com. The site was created in an effort to sell a wide array of products to individuals and businesses, while also providing consumers with the education they need to live a more environmentally friendly lifestyle. They believe that the individual consumer makes the difference and that the decisions we make as consumers can hopefully make more environmentally friendly products available and at a lower price.
Green Standards Rating
One important part about BuyGreen (which I think is really cool) is that they provide ratings for all of the products they sell. This rating system provides you a way to determine how “green” each of every product they sell is. The four key components to this rating system are: Source Materials, Manufacturing, Use and Disposal.
If you notice, these areas that are included in the rating go from what went in to making the product, to when it is disposed of. The score they provide for the products are on a scale from 1 to 100 (100 being the highest). Check out their site for a full description of each of the green standards used to make this rating system. Make sure to note that these ratings are for comparison of green products and even products with “lower” ratings are still good alternatives.
Green Practices
In addition to selling green products, BuyGreen goes above and beyond to make sure that their business is run sustainably. They currently provide 1% of their sales to environmental causes through the 1% For the Planet organization, Co-op America approved and support various national and local environmental organizations. Also, for every purchase you make, they will make the shipping of your product carbon netural through a partnership with Native Energy. Beyond these two great things, BuyGreen does everything it can to reduce the carbon footprint of their operations.
BuyGreen’s Products
BuyGreen carries green products to meet just about any need. Whether it’s clothing, personal care products, bags, water bottles or toys, BuyGreen has got you covered. They also have a great selection of gifts for both men and women, children or adults. Along with each product, BuyGreen provides information, reviews and videos that can help making your buying decision that much easier.
In terms of price, BuyGreen has competitive prices to other online retailers. They offer shipment rates based upon the weight of the items and a flat rate for shipments over a certain weight.
If you are in the market for a green product, be sure to check out BuyGreen.com and you won’t be disappointed.
Cash For Clunkers For Appliances?
The recently ended Cash For Clunkers program for vehicles may soon be coming for kitchen appliances called Cash for Refrigerators. This new program will possibly offer rebates of up to $200 on various energy efficient appliances throughout your kitchen. The thought behind this new program is that it will help boost struggling sales in the appliance industry, while providing people with an incentive to upgrade to more energy efficient models.
There are some major difference with Cash for Refrigerators that separates it from the original Cash for Clunkers. The current estimate as to how much money will be offered is around $300 million, much less than the Cash for Clunkers. The first is that it will be offered at the state level and in the form of rebates and require them to submit plans on how they will administer the program by October 15th. There are currently many states that offer rebate programs for appliances, so this program will either expand upon those programs or create them in states that currently don’t have them.
This program doesn’t seem as appealing as the original Cash For Clunkers though. States have already been offering incentive programs for appliances with little success. ‘Cash for Refrigerators’ has not been widely advertised and is not getting the press that Cash for Clunkers is getting. On top of all that, retail stores have been slashing the prices on appliances with little success so far. Buyers probably won’t rush to appliances stores to buy appliances just for this rebate.
There are also some concerns with the fact that many it may not be all that “green”. With Cash for Clunkers, you were required to trade in your vehicle and have it recycled. This program does not require you to trade in an appliance. A person could buy a new appliance, while still continuing to use the old energy hog of an appliance. It could also encourage people to unnecessarily buy new or larger appliances when the ones they have are just as energy efficient if not more energy efficient.
States are already starting to submit their proposals for this program and all money should be awarded by November. If you are on the edge about upgrading your old appliances that use a ton of energy, take advantage of this program when it becomes available in your state. It may not necessarily be in your best interest to upgrade your appliances just because a rebate is available though. Be sure to check out my kWh Energy Calculator to compare the energy usage and cost you could be saving by upgrading your appliances.
I will keep you updated on any changes in this program and when rebate money officially becomes available to states.
Saving More by Shopping?
For some people, no lack of money nor genuine concern for the environment can stop a love for clothes and shopping. Those some people include me. But I try to follow these tips to both save money and stay as green as possible.
First, Look for quality clothing from eco conscious companies.
If your clothes last, you will generate less waste and save more money over time. Simple.
Companies like Patagonia and L.L. Bean also offer unconditional lifetime guarantees on their products. So they guarantee that even though you spend a little more, your clothes will literally last forever or be replaced. I have personally seen this from both companies. I have returned completely disintegrated shorts to Patagonia and received replacements and have returned a completely worn out L.L. Bean backpack and received a replacement. With both companies, they will fix the products if they can and otherwise will replace them either for free or for a small fee.
Additionally, Patagonia has begun a program to recycle all their fibers, so when your clothes are completely worn out, and you return them for new ones, rather than just throw the old clothes into the landfill, they will recycle the fibers and reuse them.
Just to clarify, neither company requires any sort of ownership proof (receipts or anything) so if you haven’t worn out the clothes and simply don’t want them or they don’t fit, make sure to pass them on to friends or even a thrift store. Any person can take advantage of the guarantee. Which leads me to…
Second, Buy used clothes.
Most people know this as a way to save money, but even for people who are scared or think it is dirty, follow a few simple tricks and you will be hooked.
- Look for names you know and trust. So look for Patagonia labels, or L.L. Bean. Products that were made well will last longer and will hold up to a heavy duty hot water wash.
- Think basics and try a lot on. I often go into thrift stores looking for something really specific, like black pants. I grabbed handfuls in my size, looking for labels I know. Usually of 15 or so pairs, only one will fit correctly. Other good thrift store finds are men’s button down shirts (often barely used), tee shirts and turtle necks, and wool blazers. Don’t expect to find perfect jeans or other clothes that are hard to fit, even when new.
- Natural fibers. Stick to cottons and wools. They will hold up better over time and are usually easier to get a proper cleaning out of.
- Boil trends down to basics. When shopping for trends, you obviously won’t find the latest designer duds, so look at trends in their simplest elements. This fall, mustard yellow is everywhere, so look down the aisles for that color. A basic mustard yellow tee or turtleneck mixed into your wardrobe will update what you already have.
- Don’t stick to the women’s (or Mens!) section. I often wear men’s pants and kids shirts and blazers.
- Make sure to bring your used clothing back! Letting someone else have a chance to wear your clothes is just as eco conscious as wearing used clothes yourself. The longer the lifecycle, the less waste!
About the Author
Ali Church is a designer living and studying in Philadelphia. She is one half of the duo behind see.saw, a design and aesthetics blog. Ali is an avid gardener, runner, and shopper and hopes to one day develop a triathlon incorporating all three.
