Make Your Home Green

The word “Green” has taken on a new life.   This word has been used to suggest a better approach for the planet and environment.  That is great – but really “Going Green” can save you money by reducing waste and efficiency.  So rather than “Going Green” – How about we suggest some ways to keep the green in your pocket.  This post is about making your bank account turn “Green” and investing in yourself.  To live the lifestyle – We Recommend the book “Living a Less Toxic Life”.

[amazon_link asins=’1504329074′ template=’ProductAd’ store=’webdespro-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’9ed8ea64-bd18-11e7-a7b0-8565f3706c03′]

Tip 1 – Cut and Reduce the Waste  (Energy and Water)

The first action is get an energy audit done on your home. A professional can evaluate where you are wasting energy on heating and/or cooling your home, the appliances you are using, and how you are heating your water.  These inefficiency may be associated with other environmental problems, such as mold, termites, and water damage.   One book we like is the Homeowner Guide to Energy Efficiency.   A really nice kit to reduce your water usage – Save Water Kit.  If you are a DIY – this is a great home course on conducting an energy audit.  Some general tips:

a. Install a programmable thermostat.  Set in winter to 68 degrees (Yes this means socks, slips, and maybe a robe) .   Remember the King and Queen of the Castle wore a Robe – nothing wrong!   In the summer, set at 78 degrees (Honestly this does not work for me either- so add a ceiling fan).
b. Inspect your windows – caulk and seal air leaks around windows, tape the heating ducts, replace or install weather stripping, and maybe upgrade the windows.  If you can not update the windows at least add a window insulator.
c. Recycle household materials.
d. Get Rid of the Energy Vampires !  With any luck you have gotten rid of the emotional vampires – now it is time for the energy vampires.  This means putting TVs, DVRs, Cable boxes, and other similar appliances on power strips and turning off the power strips when you are not using the devices.  For the cell phone and small electronic devices – this means taking the charge out of the wall socket when the device is charged.  In PA – Host a Cell Phone Recycling Program at Work or an Event.
e. Switch to compact fluorescent light bulbs or other more efficient lighting.

Tip 2 – More on Water

[amazon_link asins=’B003TIC1KM’ template=’ProductAd’ store=’webdespro-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’e602feed-bd18-11e7-8082-2793171092ce’]

1. Fix leaks in faucets – If you are going to consider water treatment – Consider a non-sodium based water softener.
2. Do not run the water will you are brushing your teeth or shaving.
3. If you like cold water – maybe put a pitcher of water in the refrigerator to cool (No more than 2 days old please) and use a glass vessel.
4. Run full loads and maybe switch to a front load washer. 5. On the water side – do not flush medications,  do not flush wipes, and the toilet is not for kitchen waste.
5. Install low-flow shower head and maybe a low-flow toilet or a toilet bladder.
6. Rain Barrels and Water Gardens – Save the Rain and Re-Use (Rain Water Harvesting)- Also – do we really need English Lawns?
7.  Companies – Dallas, PA – Recommend Huntsville Nursery and Landscaping and Rain Water Harvesting.

 

Tip 3 – Cleaners – Maybe not so Harsh

1. Take a look at your chemical cleaners and switch to phosphate free and “detergent free” cleaners.
2. If you have red or black stains, try cleaning with a citric acid based cleaner rather and chlorine.  This is a great guide to non-toxic cleaners.

Change starts with taking just one step.  That is how we learned to walk.   If you are concerned about unknown hazards in your community.   Consider reviewing the Keystone Clean Water Team healthy community program.   We are working with a national environmental database search company to offer a report to help you understand your home’s or your future homes environmental health status within a community.  The program, Neighborhood Environmental Report™, offers a search of over 1,400 databases and millions of records of potential land and groundwater contamination within 1 mile radius of the entered address.  To learn more.

Everything we do began with an idea.

We have offered “Free” Assistance to this effort, but if you are a private well owner that needs assistance we are happy to help.

We realize your time is precious and the world is hectic. CCGG’s volunteers do only what they’re comfortable with. It can be a little or a lot.  Get YOUR WATER Tested – Discounted Screening Tests !

For more information, please go to CCGG’s About Page or contact us.  Follow us on Twitter 

Keystone Clean Water Team is a 501(c)(3) IRS approved nonprofit, volunteer organization and your donation is tax deductible to the extent allowed by law.    Unsolicited donations are appreciated (Helps us complete our mission), but we also do local educational workshops and local cellphone/small electronic recycling programs. If you would like to set up a program to help recycle cellphones at an event, business, or other organization.  Through our program we can recycle  cell phones, iPods, game systems, and small digital cameras.  If your interested, please contact us.  Our new PSAs.

Help the Organization and Get Your Water Tested or Order the Private Well Owner Guide (proceeds benefit This Organization). Water Science Basics!

Timely Article – Residential Solar and Uniform Commercial Code: A Primer on Solar-Financiers’ Rights in a Foreclosure

Source: Travis Lowder, NREL  April 24, 2015 

“U.S. residential solar PV has been growing at a breakneck pace. Annual installations have increased nearly five-fold in the past five years and, in 2014, surpassed annual commercial capacity additions for the first time in the history of PV market tracking. Additionally, nearly a third of the entire solar industry’s workforce — comprising over 174,000 employees — works in residential solar.

This article will address these questions, but will first provide some background on the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC), a critical piece of the puzzle. If you are already familiar with the workings of the UCC, then it may be best to skip to the section on “Why It Matters.

Security Interests and the UCC- Many solar financiers today offer at least the following three products: leases, power purchase agreements (PPAs), and loans.

Why It Matters: Fixtures vs. Personal Property- PMSIs will hold up if the collateral is regarded as personal property under the UCC. This may not be the case if they are regarded as “fixtures.”

What Can Be Done?”

This is a must read article if you are considering a solar or home-based renewable energy system.  Words do matter !

Read the full article.

New Program – Healthy Neighborhood Program

Everything we do began with an idea.

We have offered “Free” Assistance to this effort, but if you are a private well owner that needs assistance we are happy to help.

We realize your time is precious and the world is hectic. CCGG’s volunteers do only what they’re comfortable with. It can be a little or a lot.  Get YOUR WATER Tested – Discounted Screening Tests !

For more information, please go to CCGG’s About Page or contact us.  Follow us on Twitter 

Keystone Clean Water Team is a 501(c)(3) IRS approved nonprofit, volunteer organization and your donation is tax deductible to the extent allowed by law.    Unsolicited donations are appreciated (Helps us complete our mission), but we also do local educational workshops and local cellphone/small electronic recycling programs. If you would like to set up a program to help recycle cellphones at an event, business, or other organization.  Through our program we can recycle  cell phones, iPods, game systems, and small digital cameras.  If your interested, please contact us.  Our new PSAs.

Help the Organization and Get Your Water Tested or Order the Private Well Owner Guide (proceeds benefit This Organization). Water Science Basics!

Nationwide Program – Neighborhood Environmental Report Your Home Health Status

Nationwide Program – The Keystone Clean Water Team is in pre-launch for a new USA program to help homeowners.  The program helps you to identify the existing and historic environmental hazards in your community.   We are working with a national environmental database search company to offer a report to help you understand your home’s or your future homes environmental health status within a community.  We are doing this by taking a snapshot of the current and historic environmental concerns and hazards in the community and a review of select criminal activity.   This program has been lauched – order a Neighboorhood Hazard Reports.

The program, Neighborhood Environmental Report™, offers a search of over 1,400 databases and millions of records of potential land and groundwater contamination within 1 mile radius of the entered address.  The report  includes a search for concerns that might be dangerous to a homeowner’s family or investment such as nearby leaking underground oil tanks, leaky underground fuel tanks (LUSTs), leaky above ground tanks (LASTs),  CDC Health Assessment Database,  landfills, hazardous waste sites, DOD facilities, gas and radiological sources, National Wetland Mapping, Flooding mapping data, drug houses, and clandestine drug labs.

Healthy Communities = Healthy Kids and Families

Some of the most toxic and/or costly hazards exists outside of your home.  These contaminants can enter your home through direct human or animal contract or vapor intrusion into your home through the air, soil, or groundwater.  These hazards pose a threat to you and your family’s health and the value of your property.    Every report includes detailed information about what has been searched and identified as well as contact information for all governmental and private organizations cited in the databases.

The benefits of this report:

1. Help existing homeowners understand the hazards in their communities.
2. Aid future homeowners quickly learn about the historic hazards and concerns to conduct prior water quality, soils, or environmental testing and get the proper inspections.
3. Aid real estate professionals, investors, and appraisers evaluate the value of a home or residential property.
4. If you are selling your home, what a great way to introduce your home and surrounding community to any potential buyers, and as a home buyer, the Neighborhood Environmental Report helps provide peace of mind for you and your family.
5. For environmental groups, this is a great way to educate and inform your community about existing environmental hazards, develop local targeted sub-watershed monitoring programs, and educate children about their communities.  In some cases a larger search area is needed.
6. Home inspectors, environmental laboratories, and other may find the reports useful, but in many cases some additional review or interpretation will be needed to select the appropriate testing parameters, inspections, and monitoring.

(Example Report Dallas Pennsylvania)

We ran this report for a small business owner that was looking to purchase a residential property in Shavertown, PA.  The property was going to be purchased for cash.  We completed the search and search identified a specific potential problem with a past but active leak at a gasoline station.  This lead the buyer to ask for more information.   When the right questions were asked, it was determined that there may be some environmental hazards that could impact the value of the property.  In addition, the preliminary search suggested that the property could be located  in a floodplain.  The quote from the buyer – “The preliminary information and educational materials allowed me to better understand my risk and allow me to find a new property in a timely manner and save over $ 200,000.00” (GW, Shavertown, PA, 2015).

During the period from 2010 to 2011 – the following are the states with the most “Meth Lab” busts:  Missouri, Tennessee , Indiana , Kentucky, Oklahoma, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, North Carolina, and South Carolina.

We are in pre-launch on this service.  During pre-launch we are offering to complete compile this report for a fee of only $ 55.00.   After pre-launch and website design, we think the final cost will be $ 75 and up.  Neighboorhood Hazard Reports

2. Contact Mr. Brian Oram at the Keystone Clean Water Team (KCWT) at cleanwater@carbonwaters.org and provide the mailing address for the property, your contact information, email address, and phone number.   We can provide this service for the USA.  For some areas, we may need more information.

Terms and Conditions

1. Reports do not meet the terms and conditions of an environmental audit for real estate translations.
2. Reports can not be resold and the copyright will be maintained by the Keystone Clean Water Team.
3. Any analyses, estimates, ratings or risk codes provided in this Report are provided for illustrative purposes only, and are not intended to provide, nor should they be interpreted as providing any facts regarding, or prediction or forecast of, any environmental risk for any property. Only a Phase I Environmental Site Assessment performed by an environmental professional can provide information regarding the environmental risk for any property. This Report is not a replacement for a home inspection. This Report does not provide information pertaining to the interior of the target property such as, but not limited to: mold, asbestos, lead, radon or other issues. Additionally, the information provided in this Report is not to be construed as legal advice.
4. This report contains certain information described herein pertaining solely to the exterior of the target property, which information was obtained from a variety of public and other sources reasonably available to the database search company. The company. does not produce, maintain or verify the information contained in these sources; and assumes, without independent investigation, that the information in such sources is accurate and complete.

Everything we do began with an idea.

We have offered “Free” Assistance to this effort, but if you are a private well owner that needs assistance we are happy to help.

We realize your time is precious and the world is hectic. KCWT’s volunteers do only what they’re comfortable. It can be a little or a lot.  Get YOUR WATER Tested – Discounted Screening Tests, posting articles on social media, or assisting with a local event !

For more information, please go to KCWT’s About Page or contact us.  Follow us on Twitter 

Keystone Clean Water Team is a 501(c)(3) IRS approved nonprofit, volunteer organization and your donation is tax deductible to the extent allowed by law.    Unsolicited donations are appreciated (Helps us complete our mission), but we also do local educational workshops and local cellphone/small electronic recycling programs. If you would like to set up a program to help recycle cellphones at an event, business, or other organization.  Through our program we can recycle  cell phones, iPods, game systems, and small digital cameras.  If your interested, please contact us.  Our new PSAs.

Help the Organization and Get Your Water Tested or Order the Private Well Owner Guide (proceeds benefit This Organization). Water Science Basics!

Solar Pasteurization System Low Tech Solutions for Third World Countries, Off the Grid and Camping

In the 1880s, Mr. Louis Pasteur identified bacteria and other waterborne diseases and he learned that at many of these organisms can be killed or inactivated by boiling the water.    Other commonly used forms of disinfection includes ozone, chlorine, iodine, hydrogen peroxide, UV-Disinfection, ozone, and other chemical process.  Even though many drink pasteurized milk – many do not realize that this process can be used as a low tech way to treat drinking water.   Pasteurization occurs when the water is heated to only 160 F or 71 F.

This presentation was originally prepared as part of a a field training and education program to use low tech approaches to training young adults in developing solutions for water quality problems.  The process uses water pasteurization to inactivate or kill biological organisms.  This process provides an alternative to conventional disinfection methods for remote areas as an alternative to boiling, UV-Disinfection, Chlorination, Chemical treatment, or ozonation.

From the World Health Organization – “Diarrhea occurs world-wide and causes 4% of all deaths and 5% of health loss to disability. It is most commonly caused by gastrointestinal infections which kill around 2.2 million people globally each year, mostly children in developing countries. The use of water in hygiene is an important preventive measure but contaminated water is also an important cause of diarrhea. Cholera and dysentery cause severe, sometimes life threatening forms of diarrhea.”

Diarrhea is

1. Biochemical/ Chemical irritation of the gut.
2.  There are 1.5 billion cases of diarrhea per year.
3.  Approximately 2 million children die each year.
4. Waterborne disease can cause systematic collapse of the local or regional food web and facilitate cross-species infection.
5. Drinking contaminated water, improper sanitation practices, and improper management of wastes can facilitate disease.

Key measures to reduce the number of cases of diarrhea includes:

• Access to safe drinking water.
• Improved sanitation.
• Good personal and food hygiene.
• Health education about how infections spread.

Key measures to treat diarrhea include:

• Giving more fluids than usual, including oral rehydration salts solution, to prevent dehydration.
• Continue feeding.
• Consulting a health worker if there are signs of dehydration or other problems.

Our Presentation on Solar Pasteurization Process Water Treatment.

Educational Materials are Available  from the Keystone Clean Water Team. The Keystone Clean Water Team is a 501c3 and donations are appreciated.

Everything we do began with an idea.

We have offered “Free” Assistance to this effort, but if you are a private well owner that needs assistance we are happy to help.

We realize your time is precious and the world is hectic. CCGG’s volunteers do only what they’re comfortable with. It can be a little or a lot.  Get YOUR WATER Tested – Discounted Screening Tests !

For more information, please go to CCGG’s About Page or contact us.  Follow us on Twitter 

Keystone Clean Water Team is a 501(c)(3) IRS approved nonprofit, volunteer organization and your donation is tax deductible to the extent allowed by law.    Unsolicited donations are appreciated (Helps us complete our mission), but we also do local educational workshops and local cellphone/small electronic recycling programs. If you would like to set up a program to help recycle cellphones at an event, business, or other organization.  Through our program we can recycle  cell phones, iPods, game systems, and small digital cameras.  If your interested, please contact us.  Our new PSAs.

Help the Organization and Get Your Water Tested or Tap Score Tapwater and Well Water Testing Program, and  Order the Private Well Owner Guide (proceeds benefit This Organization). Water Science Basics!

On-going Fundraiser – Go Fund Me -Global Stream Water Monitoring Tools: A new online tool called the Water Quality Index Calculator is available from KnowYourH2O that can be used globally to provide a ‘grade’ for surface water quality as part of a watershed monitoring, surface water monitoring and assessment program, citizen science, lake monitoring, or source water assessment tool.

Groundwater Availability Analysis and Groundwater Quality Wayne County, Pennsylvania

The Wayne Tomorrow Action Committee invited the Keystone Clean Water Team to compile and develop a presentation on the general water quality, water availability, and some general recommendations related to groundwater resources in Wayne County, Pennsylvania.   The Keystone Clean Water Team had Mr. Brian Oram, a local water quality expert and professional geologist, review the information and conduct the presentation for the Keystone Clean Water Team.    During the education session, the members of the Wayne Tomorrow Action Committee and the Sustainability Committee for Wayne Tomorrow was present.   A copy of the presentation Wayne County Planning for Our Future is available.    For this training event, the following sponsors were recognized:

BF. Environmental Consultants
Water Research Center
Quantum Laboratories

Key Topics:

1. Private Wells are not regulated in Pennsylvania and there are NO minimum construction standards.
2. About 50% of private wells in Pennsylvania appear to have at least one water quality problem and causes the water to NOT meet the PADEP Drinking Water Standards.
3. Common problem is the pH of the water is low and the water is corrosive.   Corrosive water can increase the concentration of trace metals like copper/lead/zinc (plumbing and fixtures) and iron/manganese/aluminum/arsenic (aquifer).4. From the USGS Study – 97 % of private wells have radon over 300 pCi/L,  6 Percent have elevated arsenic, well water with a pH of over 7.8 may be associated with the presence of methane, arsenic, fluoride, sodium, bromide, lithium, boron, and chloride.  (Speaker note:  Well water with a pH of 8.0 or more may be influenced by naturally occurring saline water).
5. Analysis – The County could consider using the GIS System to conduct Groundwater Vulnerability Analysis, Availability Analysis, and Identify the location of historic or current hazards of concern.
6. In general, Wayne County can use a basic water budgeting analysis to evaluate project sustainability and if possible promote the use of on-site well and septic system with proper installation and maintenance.  The example demonstrated how projects could be analyzed to determine the estimated development capacity of a project based on water availability.
7. The Organization or County can not allocate water – this is the role of the Delaware River Basin Commission.
8. Wayne County is appears that 35 to 45 % of rainfall contributes to baseflow for the region.
9. Advisable to develop a County or Local Agency – Well Construction Standard.
10. Educational Materials are Available for PA from the Keystone Clean Water Team. The Keystone Clean Water Team is a 501c3 and donations are appreciated.

Everything we do began with an idea.

We have offered “Free” Assistance to this effort, but if you are a private well owner that needs assistance we are happy to help.

We realize your time is precious and the world is hectic. CCGG’s volunteers do only what they’re comfortable with. It can be a little or a lot.  Get YOUR WATER Tested – Discounted Screening Tests !

For more information, please go to CCGG’s About Page or contact us.  Follow us on Twitter 

Keystone Clean Water Team is a 501(c)(3) IRS approved nonprofit, volunteer organization and your donation is tax deductible to the extent allowed by law.    Unsolicited donations are appreciated (Helps us complete our mission), but we also do local educational workshops and local cellphone/small electronic recycling programs. If you would like to set up a program to help recycle cellphones at an event, business, or other organization.  Through our program we can recycle  cell phones, iPods, game systems, and small digital cameras.  If your interested, please contact us.  Our new PSAs.

Help the Organization and Get Your Water Tested or Order the Private Well Owner Guide (proceeds benefit This Organization). Water Science Basics!