Eco Friendly Living

Information and Tips for Creating Green Home and Work Environments

Here are some very timely and helpful tips from successful Realtor Nancy Somberg on turning your home into a more “green”, environmentally healthful space:

"My clients ask me, more and more, for ideas about how to turn their homes into more eco-friendly, "green" environments. I continue to research this critically important subject and pass on what I learn. Homeowners are often intimidated by the thought of where to begin. It is actually quite easy if we are committed to doing our part to put less impact on our environment by our everyday living. By turning our new or existing homes into more healthful spaces, and by using products which have less critical environmental impact, we are taking a conscious step in keeping our planet alive and healthy for generations to come.

Changes in Air Quality Call for Eco-Friendly Home Improvements
As our homes and apartments have become more energy efficient and airtight, “humidity levels from cooking and breathing tend to increase, causing mold and mildew.” Harmful chemicals, he says, from construction materials, insulation, furniture, carpeting, padding, paints, solvents and household cleaners, drawn by this moist atmosphere, combine to contaminate the indoor air which then stays trapped inside.

Eco-Friendly Home Improvements: Start by Testing Indoor Air
The first step in remedying this problem is to test your indoor air. Pure Air and Envirologix, among others, sell inexpensive and easy-to-use indoor-air quality testing kits. Once you get an idea of the contaminants floating around your home, you can get to work replacing the offending sources accordingly. Green superstores such as the Environmental Home Center, Green Building Supply and Oikos offer a wealth of greener and healthier building supplies and materials. Also, BuildingGreen.com offers a free online "GreenSpec" database with detailed listings for over 2,000 environmentally preferable building products.

Natural Products Can Help with Eco-Friendly Home Improvements
Materials outside the home can also contribute to health problems. One example is pressure-treated lumber, which contains a form of cyanide to keep pests away. Kids who play on backyard jungle gyms and decks made of such material can develop rashes and skin infections. Cedar wood is a naturally pest-resistant alternative that, while more expensive, is a kinder, gentler option that will stand the test of time.

Simple Eco-Friendly Home Improvements Anyone Can Do
Other ways to green-up the home include replacing traditional incandescent light bulbs with more energy-efficient compact fluorescents, as well as switching out conventional hot water heaters in favor of solar hot water heaters or on-demand tankless versions. And for saving on water, replacing traditional showerheads and toilets with pressurized low-flow alternatives can save gallons per day while generating cost savings on utility bills. Likewise, capturing rainwater and shower “gray-water” to irrigate the garden is another smart move.

Do-It-Yourself Resources for Eco-Friendly Home Improvements
Do-it-yourselfers can find hundreds of websites offering tips on green building and repair. Glenn Haege’s MasterHandyman.com and NaturalHandyMan.com both offer a plethora of articles and links and are good resources if you're looking to improve your own handy skills while staying true to your green ideals. Two helpful books are: Green Remodeling, by David Johnston and Kim Master; and Green Building Materials: A Guide to Product Selection and Specification, by Ross Spiegel and Dru Meadows. For less handy homeowners, finding a handyman well versed in green building issues might be a better way to go. The Natural Handyman Network offers a free online search tool that should offer some promising leads.

Eco-Friendly Resources:

1. Low-Impact Living Initiative (LILI)

Low-Impact Living Initiative (LILI) is a non-profit organization whose mission is to help people reduce their impact on the environment, improve their quality of life, gain new skills, live in a healthier and more satisfying way, have fun and save money

Check out this interesting and informative website whose focus is to teach people how to live a more healthful, natural lifestyle. There are countless articles on materials that are made from sustainable materials, craft ideas and even online classes.

http://www.lowimpact.org/index.htm

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Low Impact, Eco Paints

What Are They?

Natural, or 'eco-' paints are household paints, manufactured for interior and exterior uses, and also for floors and furniture. All paints contain pigment (color), binder (carrier and a 'glue' for the color), and solvent and / or additives (aids application, after which solvent evaporates); in eco-paints these tend to be natural rather than synthetic. Synthetic ingredients tend to be by-products of the petrochemical industry. Defining a natural paint is very difficult; manufacturers generally try to minimize the overall environmental impact of their products. When checking the can for ingredients, there is a range of environmental criteria to consider (see below) and a few pitfalls to avoid; for example, 'organic' often doesn't mean that ingredients are from plants grown without chemicals – just that they contain carbon; this is true of natural or synthetic paints and is not necessarily 'eco'. Also, natural doesn’t necessarily mean non-toxic; arsenic and lead have been used widely in paint manufacture. The common paint ingredient titanium dioxide is a naturally-occurring mineral, but there are huge environmental costs involved in its mining and energy-intensive purification process.

What Are The Benefits?

Manufacturers of natural paints try to reduce the environmental impact of their products in the following ways:

biodegradable ingredients
renewable sources of ingredients
non-toxic ingredients
low-energy use in production
minimization of waste products
biodegradable / recyclable waste products
minimization of environmentally-damaging mining or production processes

All solvents, whether natural or synthetic, contain VOCs (volatile organic compounds), which are given off when the solvent evaporates. VOCs are bad for human health when inhaled - they can be toxic and even carcinogenic; eco-paints tend to be low-VOC. Natural paints also tend to contain a lower proportion of solvent; conventional gloss paint can be up to two-thirds solvent! In combination with timber, stone, straw, lime, linseed oil putty and other natural materials, they form the basis of a 'natural house' - whose materials are local, natural, recyclable, breathable and not harmful to human health.

What Can I Do?

There are now plenty of different brands of natural paints on sale or you can make your own. Coming to a decision about the environmental costs and benefits of your paint is quite complicated; a range of factors have to be taken into consideration. Different manufacturers do better in some areas than others; for example, waste from the production of Aglaia and Auro paints is totally compostable. Natural paints are a bit more expensive per gallon, but they go much further, and save time and money on maintenance in the long run; and what price would you put on your family’s health and a clean environment?

Natural paints usually have to be applied to bare wood, and so windows and doors have to be stripped back; this is a one-off though-just a light sanding is needed when re-painting in future. Waterproof paints cause problems when they inevitably crack or flake-water gets behind the paint and can’t escape, so your wood begins to rot; eco-paints laminate to the wood, so can't crack, and are breathable so any moisture can escape. Natural paints are also available for walls, and even for kitchens and bathrooms - waterproofing is provided by natural ingredients such as linseed oil. Go natural-don't go for PVC windows and doors. Apart from the fact that the manufacture of plastics is an environmental horror story, PVC will eventually become pitted and discolored in sunlight; well-maintained wooden doors and windows will last many times longer, and can be repaired easily. You can also purchase eco-wood waxes, varnishes, wood preservatives, and paint strippers (from LILI).

For additional information, please go to: http://www.lowimpact.org/factsheet natural_paints.htm