Being Green in the Kitchen
Greening Up Your Kitchen Routine
Cooking you own food at home is not only cheaper than going out, it is also relaxing and allows you to choose all your own ingredients. It is also a great activity to do with kids. According to Stephanie Gallagher, who created the Cooking for Kids Guide for About.com, teaching children to cook has a number of benefits, like increased self-esteem as well as the chance to put reading, math and even chemistry skills to practical use. Cooking with natural and organic ingredients also teaches kids about making healthy food choices. Here are a few tips to be a greener chef in the kitchen:
Buy Local and Organic
When you buy locally it not only helps out the economy in your community, it also reduces the transportation involved with importing products, saving money and energy. When you buy fruits and vegetables in season, it can also bring your costs down. Choosing organic foods, which are produced without pesticides and other harmful chemicals, is best for you and the environment. Farmer’s markets can be a great resource for organic produce and can be cheaper than grocery stores.
Save Energy While You Bake
If you love to bake, here a couple of hints to minimize energy use. First, when using the stove to melt ingredients such as chocolate, sugar or butter, use the smallest burner you can. A lot of energy is wasted by using a burner that is bigger than your saucepan. Second, when you are baking delicious treats in the oven, resist the urge to peek! Every time you open the oven door, the oven temperature is lowered by about 25 degrees, making your oven work overtime while adding to your electricity costs. You can also skip the muffin and cupcake liners, which are made out of paper and aluminum foil that need to be disposed of, if you use a natural canola oil spray instead.
Reduce Waste When Cleaning Up
Use cloth kitchen towels to clean up your kitchen counters and appliances that can be thrown in the wash, instead of using and throwing away paper towels. I also like to tear my old, ratty towels into strips to make rags that can be used again and again. There are also several new mops on the market with removable, washable tops. This is a greener alternative to mops and brooms that use disposable cloths that need to be thrown away. Don’t forget to use non-toxic disinfecting sprays and cleaners in the kitchen, too, that are better for the air you breathe as well as for the environment. Many grocery chains now offer generic alternatives to name-brand green cleaning products, which are cheaper too.
2010 CES Green Tech Recap
The 2010 Consumer Electronics Show went well this year with some of the latest technologies ranging from wireless devices, computers and most importantly green technology. This is the first year of the show that green technology became more than just a small part of the show.
So many neat tech devices were displayed at this years show that could make a lives a little more green. Solve Climate has a list of some of the top green devices that could make their way into the mainstream this upcoming year. Also be sure to check out CNet’s section on the green technologies at CES to get a peak at even more of the great devices.
It seems that two major things came out of CES: many companies are trying to push green and most green devices are not as eco-friendly as they seem. From most of the reports I read, many of the companies are trying their best to show that their devices are energy efficient. This is a step in the right direction, but the major problem with the idea of buying the latest and greatest technologies is where do the old ones go? It’s great to save some energy on the new devices, but how about just keeping that older cell phone, computer or television and just using it less.
I do like the idea that companies are at least realizes that they have to take the energy consumption of their devices into consideration. Hopefully the entire show itself can help introduce people to ways that they can go more green and open people up to using more energy efficient and green devices.
This is Green iPhone App
This Is Green just lanched its new iPhone app that could help make your life a lot more green. The app provides a variety of tips that could help save on your energy bill and live a more healthy and sustainable lifestyle.
ThisisGreen focuses in on providing you with basic green tips that can help you make you home more green. This tool was developed by two green professionals who worked together over the past 2 years to development this interactive and helpful application.
Map Feature
This tool allows you to go into any room of a house and provides tips on how to make this room more eco-friendly. A user friendly map is provided that easily zooms in and out to navigate through various parts of a typical home including our bedrooms, office and even our garage. Tips range from recycling ideas to water saving techniques all the way to environmentally friendly office supplies.
Categories
I have mentioned that research should be done before purchasing products to make sure that they are truly as green as they say. This app can allow you to bring all that research to the store with you. All this information is broken up into six categories that can make it easier to find what you need. Whether it involves saving energy or water tor the right building materials, the category feature can provide help.
Check Lists
The check lists feature has to be my favorite part of this part of this application. I always find ingredients and chemicals on products I am buying that I have no idea what they actually are and whether they are dangerous for us or the environment. This is especially import for beauty products, toys for our kids and electronics. Just as with the categories feature, this can allow you to take all this information to the store.
There even is a provided forum in which it makes it easy to receive and provide information with other uses.
Overall, This is Green seems like a great application to get if you own an iPhone. It only costs $.99 to help make it easy to get started with a more green lifestyle.
If you already have the This is Green iPhone app, please share your thoughts.
2010 CES Electronics Show Going Green
The 2010 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is running from January 7th – 10th. The show is taking steps to make sure almost every part is as eco-friendly as possible.
Some of the main highlights of how they are going green include:
- Green Exhibits and Conference: CES will be feature a huge exhibit of green products called Sustainable Planet.
- Environmental Investments: Investing more than $100,000 to local environmental groups within Las Vegas.
- Carbon Neutral Air Travel: They are using EarthEra to offset all air travel to the conference.
- Eco-friendly Booths: The show is offering an eco-friendly package to participants that features recycled and environmentally friendly materials for the display.
- Recycling: Making recycling available throughout the conference, using recycled products where available and making sure to recycle over 50% of all waste generated from the show.
There are many more things the show is doing to be eco-friendly and it’s a step that more shows and conferences should be taking to lessen their environmental impact.
Every year CNet does a ‘Best of’ awards in several categories including Green Tech. I will keep everybody updated with the results.
Turn Down The Thermostat
This winter has been one of the coldest in recent history with temperatures well below their normal averages. to kee
Dress Warm
There is no reason to maintain the same dress attire in our homes from the summer. An easy way to make it easy to turn down the thermostat is to dress as warmly as possible. All those clothes you wear outside during these times of cold can be worn while you are sitting around the house. That ranges from sweaters to warm socks and even long johns. You will probably hear complaining from the kids, but there is no reason to keep the thermostat up just so they don’t have to wear more clothes.
Programmable Thermostat
The best way to maximize your savings on your energy bill is to use a programmable thermostat. By putting it on a schedule, the thermostat can take all the effort out of having to make sure the thermostat stays low and is not running while nobody is in the home. If you are the type that likes a warmer house, it can allow you to keep you home slightly warmer than you normally would and still save on your energy bill.
Room Heaters
A great way to still keep warm while keeping your thermostat low is to use portable space heaters. These types of heaters can provide the same level of comfort, but only are required to heat a single room. The recommendation is to buy a heater that is appropriate for the room it is to heat. Also be careful about how long you let them run as they can use large amounts of energy even though they are small devices. If you are unsure of how long, try using my kwh calculator to see how much energy and the cost to run a portable space heater.
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Please share you ways to keep the thermostat low this winter.
Auto Shutdown Manager
Did you ever realize how much energy corporation and schools waste by leaving computer running or idle while not being attended? A software product called Auto Shutdown Manager (ASDM) created by EnviProt has helped many organizations already to drastically reduce their energy consumption.
Computer Energy Waste
We are all culprits of allowing our computers to run or go into idle, while still sucking up energy . It is estimated that 40% of all computers are not shut down properly or at all during nights and weekends. I detailed in my previous computer energy savings article that a single desktop computer can cost over $100 to run per year just off of electricity alone. Imagine the cost to universities and corporate settings who allow their computers to run idle instead of being shutdown or put into standby?
Auto Shutdown Manager
This is where Auto Shutdown Manager comes into play. Though a useful software tool for anybody to own, it is especially helpful to larger organizations where it is hard to ensure that every computer owned is being shutdown or put into standby when not in use. Unlike the built in Windows Power Management, this tool makes it easier for computers in networked environments to be better managed because of common enterprise tasks such as backups and updates.
To get an idea of the success of ASDM in a real life setting, University of Berkeley began using it to drastically reduce the energy consumption in one of their major buildings. The project is called Green Windows in which the school has estimated to save over 40,000 kWh by just using ASDM. That’s an over 80% reduction in energy consumption just by using this particular software tool. They tried using similar products, but found this tool to be the easiest to use, yet still powerful enough to get such a large energy savings. The hope with this project is to show how much money and energy can be saved by using this tool is smaller settings and then expanding it throughout campus.
Determine Your Savings
If you are part of an organization in which you know of computers being left on needlessly, try recommending Auto Shutdown Manager. Not only will you be helping reduce business energy waste, but also possibly be saving them some money. Check out their ROI Calculator to see how much you could be saving by switching to this tool.
For a household setting, this tool is free and can be used in your home or you can use Window’s Power Management tool. Check out their site for download information. For a academic and non-profit organizations, EnviProt is offering a lifetime license of their product for $499. They also offer licenses for corporate settings as well.
Top Cutting-Edge Green Homes of 2009
Jetson Green is offering a look into 62 of the most innovative green homes of 2009. All of these homes have some form of LEED certification, many receiving the top Platinum certification. The main goal of these homes are to produce no waste of resources and emit nothing into the environment. Let’s hope that homes in America become as green as these homes have.
