Many construction dumpsters are loaded with 2×4’s and 2×6’s that used to be packing crates, extra concrete block that is cheaper to throw away than to restock, glass that was cut to the wrong size and is either too small or more expensive to re-cut than to have new glass made.  In other words, perfectly good materials are headed for the recycling center or even worse, the landfill.

So how can you get your hands on all this great stuff for your energy saving home improvement project?  The best way that I have found is to develop a good relationship with a contractor.  Always keep in mind that they are doing you a favor by allowing you to take this extra material off of their hands.  It’s still easier for them just to throw it in the dumpster than to set is aside for you, so you may want to think of some way to reciprocate.

Another possible source of low cost or free materials are manufacturers.  More and more manufacturers are recycling and reusing more and more of their waste materials, but there are still some small companies that don’t generate enough waste or it varies too much to justify the cost of a recycling program.  You might have some luck contacting a company that manufactures custom millwork, or equipment.

No matter which route you take, I encourage you to help divert waste materials from the landfill and reap the extra benefit of getting cheap and/or free materials for your own DIY energy saving projects.

Dan Bossenbroek

1. Turn Off the Lights:  This is a favorite of dads everywhere.  I can still hear my dad, and now I’m repeating it to my kids:  “When you leave a room, turn off the lights.”
2. Turn Down / Up the Thermostat:  By adjusting your thermostat down a few degrees in the winter and up a few more in the summer you can make a significant cut in your heating and cooling bills.  There can be added benefits to doing this: more snuggling in the winter and less clothing in the summer.
3. Stingy Showers:  By taking shorter showers or even skipping one here and there, you can save thousands of gallons of water a year.  As an added bonus, your energy bills will go down as well, since it typically costs more to heat the water for your shower than for the water itself.
4. Wear it Once More:  Wear your blue jeans and dress shirt more than once before you wash it and save hundreds of gallons of water and cut your energy bills at the same time.
5. Power Down:  Don’t just let your computer sit there and let the screen saver run all day.  If you are going to be away from your computer for more than a half an hour, go ahead and turn it off.
6. Line Dry Your Clothes:  Hanging your clothes out to dry will not only save you energy, but your clothes will smell better (no dryer sheets required), be less wrinkled (saving you on ironing), and will last longer – effectively saving you money four ways.
7. Open the Windows:  On those wonderful days where it is in the 80’s in the afternoon, but temperatures drop to the 60’s over night, open all your windows when the temperature drops below 78° (recommended thermostat setting in the summer) at night and let that cool air in.  Then in the morning close all your windows to keep the heat of the day out.  With the help of a couple of window fans you can easily avoid turning on your air conditioner well into May or even June (depending of course on where you live).
8. Open the Drapes:  On those wonderful sunny winter days, open the drapes and let the sunshine in.  This energy from the sun will help to warm your house and help to lower your heating bills a little too.
9. Close the Drapes:  Yet, on warm summer days that very same sunshine can be an unwelcome guest in your house and a considerable burden on your air conditioner.  On those days, closing the drapes can keep the temperature in your house several degrees cooler and keep your air conditioner from running quite as much.
10. Wave it:  On of the most efficient method of cooking is with a microwave oven.  Microwaves concentrate the cooking energy on the food and avoid heating up an entire oven, stovetop or even kitchen.
11. Keep it Raw:  Better yet, eat it raw.  Avoid cooking all together and enjoy a green salad, but keep in mind that a green salad need not be limited to some lettuce and spinach, with a few baby carrots and cherry tomatoes thrown in.  Consider adding several of the following: onions, radishes, any one of a variety of nuts, broccoli, peas, cucumbers, celery, bell peppers, cheese.  Along with your salad you could enjoy a deli sandwich and some fruit.  Why heat up your food and your kitchen, especially on those how summer days?
12. Wash in Cold:  Many laundry detergents these days do a fine job of cleaning clothes in cold water.  By washing your clothes in cold water your clothes will still get clean and your hot water heater will get a break.
13. Close it Off:  Many houses built over the past ten to twenty years have a room that is called a living room on the floor plans, but it is there primarily for resale value and is seldom used.  Many of these same houses have a guest bedroom as well that may be used a few times a year.  By closing off these rooms your heating and cooling bills could be significantly reduced.
14. Up with the Sun:  “Early to bed early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.”  This may be an old idiom by Franklin, but is also good advice if you want to save some money on your lighting bills.  If you don’t stay up so late you can turn off all those lights and save a little money. 
15. Be a Water Miser:  Only turn the water on when you need it when you are brushing your teeth and shaving and you can save hundreds of gallons of water a year.

Take a few free steps to save some energy and water, along the way you will find a little extra money in your wallet as well.

Dan Bossenbroek

I woke this morning, the first day of my staycation to the sound of garbage trucks making their way down my street.  It was a great feeling to know that even though my trashcan was not out on the street I could roll over an go back to sleep instead of getting out of bed and rushing to get it out there in time.  Our trash had been collected the week before and now our trashcan was only about a quarter full.  Then a thought came into my head: if everyone on my street would have reduced their garbage production over the last couple of weeks by composting their yard and kitchen waste and brought their recycling to the nearest collection station then those garbage trucks could have skipped our street this morning and I could have been awakened a half hour later by my kids playing in my son’s room.

What, you ask has this to do with Green Jobs?  Well, if more people would compost their kitchen scraps then the demand for compost bins, compost tumblers, kitchen compost pails/crocks, worm bins, and red wigglers would go up.  Furthermore, if everyone were to recycle more, the cost of recycled goods would theoretically go down and subsequently the demand for recycled goods would most likely go up.  Thus, we could replace noisy, sleep disrupting garbage trucks and operators with jobs creating more composting products and products made of recycled materials and possibly lower our taxes at the same time.

Meanwhile the city of San Francisco decided last week to force every citizen to separate their recycling and compost from their trash.  Every week city employees will have to empty three garbage cans from each household: one for garbage, one for recycling and one for composting.  It seems to me that San Franciscans should be prepared for a tax hike, that is, if the fines levied to those that are not compliant don’t cover the added cost of collecting three bins instead of two, or even of one.  Instead, I suggest that municipalities reward those of us who manage our recycling and compost, and who only put our trash cans on the street once every three or four weeks with tax rebates, while charging extra to those that set two trash cans out every week.  In short, I suggest that it would be best for the government to encourage personal responsibility and use a carrot and not a stick to create more green jobs.

Dan Bossenbroek