Snappy Green » Green living

Fun at Fairfield Earth Day

ctgreenrealtor — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 16:27:17 +0000

If the thought of having a very pleasant day and mingling with genuinely nice people peaks your interest, would you be even more interested if at the same time, you could pick up tips on how to save money and live a healthier life? You can do all this at Fairfield Earth Day coming to Fairfield Warde next Saturday April 28^th. Now in its 14^th year, this is a celebration of our town and earth that draws well over 1000 people each year

Eating delicious organic food, seeing the infamous Trashy Fashion Show, listening to live music and seeing an electric car are a few of the fun things you can do. Mingle with one of the 60 or so Exhibitors and pick up valuable green tips. Don’t know what to get for Mom for her upcoming day? Here you can find reasonably priced and health inspired gifts for purchase. Want to get educated on how local townsfolk are contributing our community’s green movement and the latest green trends? Listen to presentations and participate in round table discussions. There is something here for everyone!

Years ago I left Earth Day with a recycled blue jean pencil with two kids with big smiles on their faces. Today I am on the committee and an Exhibitor with a green orientation to an otherwise traditional business. Fairfield Earth Day has been a good learning ground for me and even as someone who works the event I still look forward to it as one of the most relaxing and enjoyable days of my year. I hope you will join us at Fairfield Earth Day and don’t forget to stop by and introduce yourself to Snappy Green! David and I are both going to be there and we are looking forward to meeting you.

wendy@ctgreenrealestate.com William Raveis Real Estate

WSJ ~ American’s Need to Pay Attention to Their Trash.

DavidPopoff — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 13:42:58 +0000

Wall Street Journal, Grappling With a Garbage Glut, April 14^th, 2012.

New York City carts out 12,000 tons of trash a day.

Los Angeles has constructed a garbage mountain 500 feet high.

The average American tosses out 4.4 pounds of trash per day. USA population 313,000,000+ and counting.

American communities on average spend more money on waste management than on fire protection, parks and recreation, libraries or schoolbooks, according to U.S. Census data on municipal budgets.

In Austria, the Netherlands, Sweden, Belgium and Denmark all send less than 4% of their trash to landfills. Recycling rates are two to three times higher than America’s along with community base utilities that burn trash to provide electricity.

To be more aware of your trash outlay take a count next week on your trash output. Last week I counted my trash, 7 bags total with:-

1 bag going to compost
2 bags bottles and can recycle
1 bag paper recycle
3 bags garbage.

We have 3 small garbage cans in the kitchen, one for garbage, a bin for bottles and cans, one for paper recycling along with a counter container for composting.

By David Popoff, Lower Fairfield County Realtor ~ Green, Darien, Ct.

New Build Homes Should REALLY Consider “How to Reduce Utility Usage First”.

DavidPopoff — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 18:59:38 +0000

By David Popoff.

When considering building a new home one should look at how to reduce the need for heat and cooling loads first. One of the easiest ways is to consider a better thermal envelope or if you like blanket around the whole of the house.

In general the insulation cost of a new build is under or around 1% of the total cost of construction. It would not take much more to improve your insulation barrier and thus reduce your heating and cooling loads a considerable amount. Once you reduce your heating and cooling loads this would also require smaller mechanical, HVAC system, and thus lower you construction costs a little as well.

The second major culprit in heat and cooling loss is due to air leakage or also known as air infiltration. Sealing all holes is very important. Some of the biggest culprits of this are the rim joist, sill plates and top plates in new construction along with doors, windows and holes cut for various pipes, wires and mechanicals.

The PassivHaus, Passive House, requirements are an advanced; some say extreme build design but they achieve great results. Depending on what Passive House website you go to you will find different insulation values but in general they suggest:

Walls R-60
Roof R-80
Floor Slab R 60

I was recently at a Passive House seminar and they used the Rideau Residence in Ottawa, Ontario as an example. This is the first certified Passive House in Canada (and as well is a LEED Platinum Home) which cost about 10% more to build per square foot than a similar home but uses 90 per cent less energy than the typical Canadian home.

The total construction cost for this 3300 square foot duplex ran approximately $250 per square foot compared to the average custom home in Ottawa will cost about $225 a square foot.

At the seminar they said that total utility cost for the year are about $400 and compared to a typical similar Canadian home would save $30,000 over 10 years. The super thick insulation added to this home cost an estimated $20,000. Insulation is just one of the many components that go into building a sustainable green home but is a great example of how today’s building science is evolving.

Remember to first look at how you can reduce your usage of natural resources, this is the key to sustainable living, and then adds to that reuse, recycle and renewable sources to make a complete circle of responsibility to achieve a green healthy lifestyle.

William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty in Darien

Find Out How GREEN You Really Are With The Practically Green Score Card.

DavidPopoff — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 12:30:36 +0000

By David Popoff.

See how green your home and lifestyle is compared to others with the Practically Green Quiz and Score Card website. But this website is not just about getting a score but is here to educate you on more ways to become sustainable responsible. Each Green Action comes with three parts:

Learn Why ~ explains the benefits of the green action
Learn How ~ provides information on how to achieve the green action
Products ~ provides links to help achieve green action

Practically Green is also interactive where you can:

Suggest a green Action ~ the other great part of this website is it is always growing, if you see something missing “Suggest an Action”. There are hundreds of green actions at Practically Green but with your participation there will be more, already I have suggested a dozen new green actions, you should too.
Earn Green Badges ~ a fun way to keep track on how you are doing.
Create Green Goals ~ will set a green action on your calendar.

Go now to the Practically Green community and see how well you are doing with you sustainable healthy lifestyle.

David Popoff is a Realtor ~ Green designee in lower Fairfield County, Connecticut.

Energy Efficiency Does Save Money

ctgreenrealtor — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 14:39:20 +0000

A rising trend of super-efficient, solar-powered new homes allows homeowners to combat rising energy costs by giving back to the power grid. Some owners are even realizing a small profit from their home’s power-generating capacity. Intelligent house layout and design, and home features such as dual-pane windows, air-tight ductwork and high-caliber wall and attic insulation, are curbing energy consumption. And when coupled with solar energy, captured through photovoltaic panels, these homes are becoming their own mini power plants that feed electricity to the grid.

In 2009, U.S. homeowners paid an average $2,200 for energy use in their homes, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. A growing number of homeowners have the opportunity to erase that cost. Read the full article.