Honda's Smart Home System - The Future's Future

Wow.  Honda and renewable energy FTW.  Honda is testing out their Smart Home System (HSMS) that controls in-house energy while utilizing energy from solar and water power. It's got a "Smart e-Mix Manager" that reduces CO2 emissions and circulates energy through the home multiple times.  After reading the article, I still don't really understand how it will work but I think the gist here is:

This home is more efficient than your home is, can or will ever be in your lifetime.

This, peeps, is the future of the future..

If they can do THIS then a HSMS house should be a breeze, right? (I know you will agree just to finish this article and get this horrible image out of your retinal memory).

So go!  Read the article!  And be happy and environmental!

Boy am I proud to be a Honda owner. Not only is my car cool-looking, functional, reliable (so far) and cheap, now I can know that the company as a whole views protecting the environment as more than just a revenue-generating tactic (Civic Hybrid, Accord Hybrid, Insight, Civic CND). Ten of Honda's 14 plants in North America have gone to Zero Waste! Though, I didn't realize this initiative had been going on for so long but I really only started looking into this stuff in the past few years. :)

Olivia "Livy" Honda - A 2008 Honda Element and MY car! :)

Article below:

Ten Honda Manufacturing Facilities in North America Achieve Zero Waste Sent to Landfill

TORRANCE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Honda announced today that it has achieved one of the most important targets in the company’s longstanding “Green Factory” initiative in North America: zero-waste-to-landfill. Ten of 14 Honda manufacturing plants in North America are now operating with zero waste to landfill, while the remaining four plants are functioning with “virtually zero” waste to landfill.

“There are hundreds of stories of associate innovation and challenging spirit that add up to this significant advancement in our commitment to more environmentally responsible manufacturing”

Honda Manufacturing of Alabama, in Lincoln, Ala., became the first zero-waste-to-landfill auto plant in North America at the outset of production in 2001, setting off an industry-leading trend within the company. Honda Manufacturing of Indiana, in Greensburg, Ind., also started production as a zero-waste-to-landfill plant in 2008.

Waste sent to landfills has been dramatically reduced at Honda auto plants throughout North America—from 62.8 pounds of industrial waste to landfills for every automobile produced in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2001(FY2001), to an estimated 1.8 pounds per automobile in the current fiscal year 2012. Among all of its 14 plants in North America, Honda now sends less than one-half of 1 percent of all operating waste to landfills. Remaining waste product is either recycled or used for energy recovery.

Read More...

The plant in Lincoln, AL. Kinda boring, but Honda has never really been known for its sick-looking designs. HAHA!

How the HECK do I recycle THAT?

Hiya!

With the holidays having come and gone, new-year cleaning/reorganizing has begun and with that I have come up with a lot of things made from plastic or toxic materials that I REAAAAALLY don't want to put in the landfill. So I have taken it upon myself to find out if there is any hope for keeping these things in the society and out of the earth. So...here is a list of some hard to recycle items and their (possible) solutions. And this is only a partial list b/c calling all these companies takes FOR-EV-ER!

I will be distinguishing between "recycle" and "reuse" here because they are very different in nature.  Recycling does take some resources but it also turns useless things like old computers into useful things like new computers. Reusing takes little to no earthly resources (fuel, electricity etc) and keeps the products in the world they way they are. However, there's only so many hanger-mobiles or CD-scarecrows you can have before you need to recycle THOSE too!

Recycle: literally "to cause to pass through a cycle again" according to dictionary.com. But it also means "to alter or adapt for new use without changing the essential form or nature of".

So, can you recycle...?

• CDs/DVDs? YES! I used to work for the CU Engineering Center doing distance learning and I remember scratching CD after CD then putting them in a box to be shipped off to some big CD recycling place somewhere. So I was thinking...are those places still around? Because just this morning I noticed my gigantor CD binder filled w/ burned CDs many of which I'll probably never listen to again (thank you, Apple...) and thought "Gee...those guys are going to just sit in my house till I get tired of them but THEN where will they go?" The CD Recycling Center is just one place online I found that you can ship your CDs and cases to. Of course, this does cost money, in both the shipping costs as well as the $2.00 donation per shipment they ask to help keep their services free. But hey, $2 is better than $5 or $10 or $20 or $100 right?  So I still think it's a win! There's also a new program in which some bigger Best Buy stores are accepting CDs and DVDs w/o cases to recycle. I have a lot more info on this so check out my previous post: Holy Moly! It's Best Buy!

•  Computers - Best Buy!
• Metal Hangers?  - YES! My local recycling joint, Eco-Cycle, will take them in their scrap metal bin. 
• Plastic Hangers (the cheapo kind from clothing stores)? (you know, the ones that say size S on the top?) - Maybe. I've heard that some supermarkets will but I can't find any in my area that do. But you can reuse them (I gave them to my mom for her belly dance stuff)!
• VHSs - Best Buy!
• Plastic Bottle Lids - If you read one of my earlier posts plastic lids, you'll find out that plastic is scary. I'm still not sure on this one, I did find Preserve Products which recycles #5 and 6 plastics and toothbrushes, but I'm not sure where lids fall on the number scale. But this company is cool b/c they make stuff back out of the plastic! Also, theoretically, Aveda used to do these, but I'm not sure of the status now, so give 'em a call to find out!

Reuse: While "recycle" means to adapt and change a product, "reuse" means "to use again" or basically "repurpose" a item without changing its form or its nature. 

Can you reuse...?

• Air-filled Packing bags - YES! My place that takes the peanuts will also take the air-filled bags.
• CDs  - YES! Coasters! But seriously...apparently they work great as "scare crows" in gardens that keep the birds away. We'll see...
• Packing Peanuts/Plastic Loose Fill? - YES! Please see my previous post: These Peanuts Don't Make Good Butter.
• Plastic hangers from clothing stores? (you know, the ones that say size S on the top?) - YES! Some thrift stores will take these like the Salvation Army but make sure to check first b/c if they don't use them, they'll just throw them away. You can also do crafts with these like baby mobiles and, if you're really talented, knitted hanger covers
• VHSs - these guys are tough to deal with. The best thing to do is find out if places near you (schools, libraries, homeless shelters etc.) are not equipped with DVD equipment and you can donate them there. Or, you can crochet things from their tape. haha!
• Plastic Bottle Lids: My cat shelter, the Rocky Mountain Siamese Rescue does take them to make cat toys out of and you can use them in all kinds of fun crafts. This probably merits its own post sometime in the future....

Here are some good resources to check out for hard to recycle items:

1. How Can I Recycle This? Note: this is UK site so some info might be different, so research first!
2. Eco-Cycle, Western Disposal, Waste Management (or your local recycling place website)
3. Freecycle "The Freecycle Network™ is made up of 4,904 groups with 8,075,584 members across the globe. It's a grassroots and entirely nonprofit movement of people who are giving (and getting) stuff for free in their own towns and thus keeping good stuff out of landfills."
4. The InterWebz - I know you're probably like...WTF? Of course I know this one, I'm reading your blog, aren't I? But that is where I got all of my info in this post. Oh yeah, and I called a f-load of stores. =)

*chokegasp* OMG....finally done! Enjoy! *shudder*

Holy Moly! It's BEST BUY!

While I was researching my "How Do You Recyle That?!" post I came across some awesome info that deserves its own post. Best Buy just started a new program called E-Cycle with the catch phrase "No matter where you bought it, we'll recycle it." Why haven't I heard of this sooner? Oh yeah...because I don't watch ANY TV and only listen to PBS kids when the kiddo's awake and I'm half-asleep.

Here's the info for Colorado.
What they take (from their website):

• Three items per household per day.
• Nearly everything electronic, including tube TVs and monitors up to 32", flat-panel TVs and monitors up to 60", peripherals, DVD players, home and car audio, cell phones, MP3 players, and cables.
• Desktop or laptop computers with the hard drive removed. See this Geek Squad video for Do-it-Yourself instructions, or they will remove it for $9.99.
• Small electrics, fans and vacuums.
• They charge $10 for televisions and monitors, but you immediately receive a $10 Best Buy gift card good toward future purchase.
• $10 fee does not apply to any Insignia®, Dynex® or VPR Matrix® products. Best Buy accepts these brands free of any charge.
• The bubbly sales-girl on the phone also told me that they take VHSs and Floppy Discs too but that wasn't on their website so check first.

What they don't take:

• Internal and External computer hard drives.
• Console TVs of any size, or tube TVs and monitors larger than 32". Use their  haul-away or pickup programs for these items.**
• Electronics containing refrigerants, such as mini refrigerators or air conditioners. Please contact your local waste disposal department.
• Appliances. Use our haul-away or pickup programs for refrigerators, freezers, dishwashers, washers and dryers, ranges and microwaves. **

This is in addition to the stuff they already took which was inkjet cartridges, rechargeable batteries, CDs/DVDs, and gift cards. How cool is that? Mega cool, I say. 

**The fact that they have haul-away and pickup programs is great to!

These Peanuts Don't Make Good Butter

It's Christmastime, you get a package in the mail. Who's it from? Grandma? You can't stand the excitement as you jam scissors into the tape. Maybe your 3 year old helps and gleefully rips the box apart. Suddenly...an EXPLOSION! Your excitement for the gift momentarily flags as you look around your littered living room.

 

OH NO! PACKING PEANUTS! 

The bane of package-openers everywhere!  Oh sure, kids and cats and static cling love them but the rest of the world, you think, would be better off without them. You resign yourself to cleaning up the mess, carefully pulling your gifts out so as not to anger the peanuts. Finally success presents itself to you and now you have a shiny new whatever from Aunt Fannie as well as a giant box of pink and green Styrofoam balls of death.  How thoughtful.... Packing peanuts- 1, you - 0.

But never fear! For there is a solution in hand! In fact, this solution has been around for almost 2 decades but it seems not many people know of it.  RECYCLE the peanuts! The Plastic Loose Fill Council has been working since 1991 to "develop, promote and implement the original use and subsequent recovery, reuse and recycling of polystyrene loose fill, commonly known as "packing peanuts."" Who knew? They arrange drop-off sites as well as operate a hotline to deal with these little buggers. So check for a location near you and maybe next time, packing peanuts won't be so scary! (Still...keep the cat away from them. If you've never had to remove packing peanuts from a cat's fur, you've lived a privileged life).

Here are some locations in the Denver-Boulder area:

CENTENNIAL CONTAINER, INC. 13105 EAST 38TH AVE, UNIT 58 NEAR 1-70 AND PEORIA STREET DENVER, CO  80239-3551 (303) 371-7700

I SOLD IT ON E BAY CO. 7506 EAST 36TH AVE, UNIT 450 SHOPPING CENTER DENVER, CO  80238-3444 (303) 539-6915

Pak Mail 2075 S. University Blvd. Denver, CO  80210-4300 (303) 744-6245

PostNet 1312 17th Street Denver, CO  80202 (303) 595-0500

PostNet 200 Quebec St. Bldg. 300, Suite 111 Denver, CO  80230 (303) 340-0998

THE UPS STORE 1685 SOUTH COLORADO BLVD, UNIT S COLORADO BLVD & MEXICO AVE DENVER, CO  80222-4040 (303) 753-0888

Pak Mail 2525 Arapahoe Ave., #E4 Boulder, CO  80302-6720 (303) 444-0831

    

AIM MAIL CENTER 2205 W. 136TH AVE, STE 106 KING SOOPERS CENTER ON 136TH & ZUNI ST BROOMFIELD, CO  80023 (303) 280-6245

THE UPS STORE 1685 SOUTH COLORADO BLVD, UNIT S COLORADO BLVD & MEXICO AVE DENVER, CO  80222-4040 (303) 753-0888

Green Car Report

In the market for a new car? Here's a site that tells you all about eco-friendly cars. The Green Car Report talks about specific cars that are better for the environment and all the components of driving more green!

Here's a sample article:

Ding-Ding-Ding! Electric Cars Likely To Be Made Noisier By Law

December 20th, 2010

In one particularly hilarious scene in the TV show Weeds, Mary-Louise Parker’s soccer mom/drug dealer character inspires a scary drug lord to buy several Toyota Priuses after he successfully carries out a drive-by shooting while riding in hers.  The selling point? The quietness of the hybrid. “Good for sneaking up on mother******s,” he cackles. 

That might no longer be the case with a piece of legislation that recently passed the Senate and looks to be cleared for approval in the House. The Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act would require electric cars and hybrids to make noise, and would fund the Department of Transportation to create a set of rules for automakers, who would be allowed some leeway in how they carry out the guidelines. Green cars like the Prius don’t make noise when running off their batteries. Whether you have an armed drug dealer as an enemy or (more likely) happen to cross the street without looking, hybrids are more likely to hit you than regular cars, especially when operating at low speeds when gas engines aren’t engaged, according to a study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. All-electric vehicles like the 2011 Nissan Leaf could be even more of a threat. Of particular concern was the potential danger to blind pedestrians. But researchers and writers have also challenged that study, saying the methodology was flawed. Read More....

 

So...Many...Catalogs...

OMfreakingG...Why does Macy's have to send SO many catalogs out? Seriously they send like 3 per week sometimes - clothes, casuals and home. Each one of these is like a novel in size and none of it is really anything I want to buy. Hell, I don't even look at them anymore because it's totally boring. Thus they go straight into the recycle. And when you combine Macy's with REI and Black&White and other random crap that I've never even bought from...that's a lot of waste. Ok yes, it does get recycled but that still takes resources and energy and creates some waste.

Today I discovered a site called Catalog Choice where you give your info and the info of the catalogs you no longer want and they'll make sure you stop getting them. Now will it work? I don't know yet, I plan to sign up for it tonight. If it does, however, I'll be the happiest girl in the world because it's near-impossible to contact the corporation/company and make it clear that you want no more catalogs...bastards....

Anyway, I'm thinking that all companies need to just switch to email ads and catalogs anyway. Those are great b/c i just label them and archive them so when I do want to check out sales/coupons I can just go into my folder and find what I need. Doesn't waste my time, nor does it waste paper or energy etc. Wave of the future, people, c'moN!! =)

The other option is for Macy's to get famous movie stars on their covers. For example, if this were Drew Barrymore I'd hang it on my wall and admire it always. (Ok, slight sarcasm, but it may work for some...).

Green Holiday Tips

IT'S CHRISTMASTIME! Ok, well, at least I'm trying to psyche myself up for the Holidays even though I'm guessing this year I'll probably get coal (getting older is a bitch) and only a couple people have RSVP'd to my White Elephant Gift party =(. However, what I'm still psyched about is being green and luckily, green is one of the colors of Christmas! So here are some tips courtesy of the Denver Zoo and modified by me. Did you know that the Zoo is doing it's part to be green this year by using all LED lights in their Zoo Lights display? LED lights use 1% of the energy of traditional lights and 10% of the energy of little lights.  Also, if you guys are local, definitely check this out...it's going to be AWESOME!

Denver Zoo Lights!

Go green this year for Christmas
Your Christmas Tree

• After the holidays, don’t just throw your tree away- Recycle it! Denver Recycles offers free pick up of your Christmas tree.  Visit their website, www.recycleyourchristmastree.com, for specific rules and regulations regarding when and how to have your tree picked up.  They list tree pick up by county to make it easy for anyone in Colorado to recycle their tree. (out-of-staters check for something like this in your area!)
• Instead of purchasing new ornaments this year for trimming your tree, try edible or compostable items like popcorn or cranberries on a string, gingerbread cookies or items made from recycled objects around your home.
• Or...get a fake tree! Reuseable every year!

Your Holiday Decor Purchase holiday lights made with energy-saving, light-emitting diodes, or LEDs. LEDs use only a fraction of the energy of conventional bulbs and are much better for the environment. LEDs use only about one percent of the power of standard (C7) holiday lights, and about 10 percent of the power in mini-lights. Try www.environmentallights.com.  Get outdoor light strands that are wired in parallel. These have separate circuitry so that if one bulb blows out the rest will keep shining; all you have to do is replace the bulb rather than the entire strand of lights. Strands sold with series wiring stand or fall together, making it almost impossible to find and replace a single blown-out bulb. Sending Your Holiday Cards Send E-Cards and you will not waste a single tree. Send cards made of 100 percent recycled paper or tree-free cards made by environmental organizations. In addition to "tree free" cards, you can get cards made of old subway maps, cards made of recycled junk mail, and cards that you can plant which are imbedded with a seed mixture that will grow in the spring. Glue pictures from old cards onto homemade or store-bought recycled paper to create new cards.Yay crafty! Glue pretty paper on the inside of old cards to cover previous writing--and send them again. Avoid cards with glossy, shiny or gold foil coatings since these cannot be recycled. Look for the PCF label on cards (Processed Chlorine Free) -- they're printed on unbleached paper.   What to Buy During Your Holiday Shopping Try making something for those that you love.  People love to get homemade cookies, fudge, bread, or jam Other gifts that will create little to no waste include things like concert or movie tickets, a gift certificate for dinner, or an IOU for services such as a massage, cooking a meal, or baby sitting. Planting a tree is great because you can do it together. Make it a contest for your kids to see how many old toys they can come up with to donate to a local charity; and then the one who collects the most wins a prize. Give someone a gift that keeps on giving, such as a live plant or a donation to Denver Zoo or other local charity to support worldwide conservation projects or the construction of the Asian Tropics exhibit for endangered Asian elephants.  Gifts that don’t require batteries are a great alternative and don’t create as much waste when having to dispose of and replace these batteries.  Try also to look for gifts that are made from recycled materials. Best of all, adopt an animal at Denver Zoo or give a Denver Zoo Membership (or your local zoo)  in someone's name.  Your friends and family will think of you every time they visit! Also, shop on Ebay. There's a lower chance of the toys and stuff being "new in box" which will cut down on all the plastic waste that cannot be recycled. Wrapping Your Gift Try using colorful pages torn from magazines or last year's calendar pictures to wrap small gifts, and old maps, posters or the Sunday comics for larger boxes. Use crayons or sponge paint to decorate brown grocery bags and wrap with natural raffia ribbon. Reusable cloth ribbons can be used in place of plastic bows or you can save bows and reuse year after year. I swear, my mom has bows from when I was like 5!! Avoid using paper entirely by using reusable decorative tins, baskets or boxes, fabric bags (canvas grocery bags are great!)or give a gift in a gift. Un-wrap gifts carefully and save wrappings for reuse next year. Use old scraps of wrapping paper or cut up old cards to make gift tags. If you do buy wrapping paper, look for ones made of recycled paper. Avoid conventional wrapping paper with metallic colors. Such paper is often produced in an environmentally unfriendly manner. If you have wrapping paper left over from last year and want to have different paper for this year’s presents exchange it with a friend, co-worker or family member’s paper from last year and you will both have “new” paper.<-- I like this idea a lot b/c I get bored of things easily! Gift mailing You can re-use packing peanuts. Call the peanut hotline at (800) 828-2214, for locations of mailing centers that reuse the packing peanuts or go to www.loosefillpackaging.com. If there is no location in your community, check with local gift or craft shops, artists galleries or elementary school art programs for reuse opportunities.Great idea! I didn't know this but will try for the future. Use corrugated boxes. More than 70% of corrugated cardboard is recovered and recycled into new boxes and paper products. The fibers from one corrugated box can have up to seven or eight lives. Breakdown and flatten your boxes for easier transporting before taking them to your local recycling center. If you do not have a center available, check with a local grocer or department store to see if they will bale your cardboard in their in-house recycling program. Shred your old catalogs to make great packing material when mailing gift packages.  Reuse tissue paper from clothing store purchases as packing material or gift paper. Holiday Parties Use "real" dishes, cups, and utensils that you can wash and reuse year after year. Switch to cloth napkins. Make it easy for your guests to recycle bottles and cans. If you must use disposables, buy napkins and plates made from recycled material. Try www.biodegradablestore.com.  Get corn-made cups and utensils which can be composted afterward. And if you don't have compost, at least if you throw them away, they'll break down faster than plastic! Serve sustainable seafood and fish.  Check out Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch page, www.mbayaq.org/cr/seafoodwatch.asp, for consumer guides and more. Serving local organic food at your parties will help to protect the environment because organic products don’t require pesticides and local food doesn’t have to travel far, creating more carbon emissions, to get to your table. You can make a difference just by being aware of the ingredients you are using in preparing holiday foods.  For instance, palm oil or palmitate is included in many of the foods that we eat and the harvesting of palm oil in Indonesia contributes to the destruction of critical habitat for endangered orangutans and Asian elephants.

I Can Has Beer Can AND Sustainability?

My PBR and RoRo drinkin' boyfriend will be happy to hear this one. Apparently aluminum cans are easier to recycle than bottles. This is due to the fact that even though aluminum is harder to mine and process, it uses a lot less material and is more easily recycled. Glass-makers are more likely to use virgin sand than recycle glass because it's easier/more convenient.

Also, glass is heavier making the overall product more effortful to transport, thus producing more carbon emissions.  

And cans are better to transport to the pool on those wonderful and fleeting summer days! Beer snobs need not worry, either, more quality breweries are getting into the swing of cans like New Belgium, Oskar Blues, Maui Brewing Company and a few others I haven't heard of. So even if you're not hip and indy like My Dearest Man, you can still work toward a greener future! Who knew?

Read the full article here.

Sun Chips Bag Update

 

Sun Chips' non-compostable bag and MY favorite flavor - IN FRENCH!

Ok, I figured I'd just make a new post about this since people barely read my blog as it is, I'm guessing that no one is going to go back to read posts if they've already read them.

First off, you might be wondering, "Lyndsie, why do you care so much about a stupid chip bag? I know you don't even eat chips that often..." Well, I am excited because this is evidence of a big corporation getting on board with the eco-friendly stuffs. Even if it's only a drop in the bucket as far as big companies go, every drop still counts! This is the same reason why I care that Big Red made a Big Deal about their paper wrappers.

For the original post, go here.


So, I discovered this weekend that it seemed like Sun Chips had run away like a scared little girl from all the "bag's-too-loud whiners". Now the only bag that's compostable (according to their Garden Salsa and Harvest Cheddar bags) is the Original "blue" flavor. Which is still good but way inferior to the other two. However, according to Sun Chips' website they are actually working on a new, quieter compostable bag. In their words, they're "putting the finishing" touches on this product which makes me think that it's going to come out soonish. I really hope that's the case. And hey, quieter would be good but I'd be happy with the old crackley bag.
Interesting side note, Sun Chips' website also has links for following them in their journey for the best bag, how-tos for composting and their "mission statement" for their compostable bag. So that's pretty cool.

Frito-Lay makes a variety of tasty products. (I don't believe in their "Natural" Ruffles tho b/c most potato chips only have 3 ingredients anyway - potatoes, oil, salt).

Now time for a tiny rant. Sun Chips is owned by Frito-Lay so why didn't Frito-Lay make all their bags compostable? I can see that maybe they were just testing it out w/ Sun Chips, but I have never heard anything about F-L considering going 100% compostable. So this whole composting thing that is making people (me) so excited is, in some ways, just a bs marketing scheme or "green washing" as they say. *sigh* At least is aa start...I guess. Let's hope that the quite compostable bag is a success and then the company decides to switch all of its brands, sizes and products to this same bag. Is that too optimistic? I'm tryin' really hard!