Responsible Fundraising

It is officially HOT in Dallas! Most days this week have a high in the 100’s and unfortunately, it isn’t going to cool down any time soon.

Step outside most anywhere and you will hear the hum of air conditioning units chugging away. Most of these units are running less than efficiently because of either being outdated or they are working to cool a house that is poorly insulated, air is being blown through leaky ducts, or other parts of the house or building are harboring heat. In our previous post entitled “Passive Solar,” we covered ways to reduce your energy usage and increase your energy efficiency in your home. There are also other ways to help cut your energy bills and reduce your energy consumption. Some of these involve insulating your house better, removing heat from your attic, and making sure A/C is making it through your ducts.

Improving your insulation is a no-brainer, especially in older homes that may not have had much in the first place. An important thing to look for and consider is the R-Value. The higher this value, the better a material insulates.

Also, as much as 20 percent of air that is pumped through ducts is lost through leaks. DIY duct sealing is possible with mastic or metal tape. Contractors can also easily handle the job for you.

And to keep your system from working harder than it needs to, work on dropping the temperature in your attic. Removing a large pocket of sometimes greater than 120 degree air will allow your insulation and a/c to do their jobs better. Installing more soffit vents, making sure the ones you have are clear of debris, installing solar attic vent fans, radiant barriers and ridge vents can all make a huge difference.

Cnet’s green tech blog sent one of it’s writers on a mission to live a greener life for a year. It is probably safe to say that everyone on staff at an eco-blog makes efforts to be more green all the time, regardless of assignment, but what made this different is that he participated in the Energy Smackdown. This competition is a “Community Outreach Program to Reduce Carbon Emissions.” While participating, Martin LaMonica learned just how much running an extra fridge in the house can cost ($50 a month), what a blower door is, and just how much of a difference you can make just by using a caulk gun.

Read his account here: http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-10221933-54.html?tag=rtcol;inTheNewsNow

Lately, a new trend has surfaced in computer design. Green Computing has taken the spotlight as the next big thing in business and consumer computing.

“Green” or “Eco” computing can describe a few different things. The main ideas behind eco/green-computing are making the actual computer out of environmentally friendly materials, designing the computer so that energy use is minimal, and using a green energy source.

Computer companies’ role in this is obviously going to be in the first two area, building a computer out of earth friendly materials (friendly during the build and at end of the computer’s life), and designing the computer so that it uses minimal electricity. Several companies have jumped into the fray by offering a wide range of computers that try to meet one or both of these criteria. Everex (cloudbook, gPC), Asus (eee PC), and OLPC (XO) have all released low power laptops and/or desktops. Dell recently debuted a concept computer that uses 70 percent less power and is built with a bamboo case. It will begin production later this year.