Mr Sustainable

Mr Sustainable, Dante DiPirro of Hopewell NJ, will speak on Earth Day, April 22, 2015 at 7:30 pm about his off-grid, solar home and how to live sustainably using solar power and sustainable building materials. He will show pictures and discuss passive solar design, solar energy, and the need to think and live sustainably.  He’ll also discuss how he charges his electric car — with free, non-polluting electricity– by plugging it into his solar house!

The event will take place at Flemington DIY, A Community Art Space at 90 Main St., Flemington, New Jersey. Flemington DIY (Do It Yourself) is an organization whose mission is to inspire social change by fostering and cultivating projects that connect the local community with musicians and artists.  Flemington DIY hosts civic-minded and community events throughout the year.

So you want to reduce the amount of electricity you’re using with your household appliances… how to do you do it?

First, take stock of the appliances you have.  If you have an older refrigerator or freezer, it’s quite likely that you’re using much more electricity than you have to.  Improvements in technology have made today’s refrigerators and freezers orders of magnitude more efficient.  For example, you can now purchase a refrigerator that is up to 4 times more efficient than a traditional one.  This will save you money too: according to energystar.gov replacing your refrigerator with an energy star certified one can save you up to $1,100 on energy costs over its lifetime.  Also, if you have a secondary refrigerator or freezer in your basement, ask yourself if you truly need it – it’s typically the oldest and least efficient unit in the house and phasing it out may result in a noticeable reduction in your monthly electric bill.

Second, avoid phantom loads.  A phantom load is electricity that an appliance uses even when it is switched off.  For example, a TV or stereo with a sensor that allows you to turn it on with a remote control continues to operate, and continues to consume electricity, even when it’s off.  Your microwave, food processor, toaster or other countertop appliance may all have clocks or other functions that stay on 24/7 – to power these functions, you are using electricity. I tested a compact stereo recently in the off position and discovered that the device – because of clock and flashing message functions – used almost as much energy (2/3) of the total amount it used when it was on!  That’s a lot of phantom load.  And with all the modern devices in our homes today, and with all of the phantom loads built in to them at the factory, the electric usage and electric bills can really add up. Image how phantom loads continue to use electricity while you’re asleep!  You can eliminate phantom loads by putting your appliance on a power strip that has an on-off button.  Just flip the power strip switch to the off position and all appliances connected will not be able to draw power when they are off. When you want use the device, just flick on the button on the power strip first.

Third, use an appliance energy tester to determine exactly how much energy a particular device uses.  For example, I bought a Kill-A-Watt meter for about twenty dollars.  You just plug it into a wall socket then plug the household device into the front of the meter.  Power flows from the outlet through the meter and into the electric device, allowing the meter to display aspects of the power.  Pushing one of the buttons on the front of the meter allows you to see the volts, amps, watts and watt/hours associated with the device.  I used my kill-a-watt meter at an electronics store to test a fancy new LED flat screen TV I wanted to buy, and when I determined that the TV used less than 60 watts (equivalent to a single traditional light bulb)– fantastic! So I bought it! 

 By using these simple techniques, you an easily reduce your household appliance consumption of energy, and thereby save money, and get the satisfaction of knowing that you’ve done something good for health, the environment and the planet.

Mr Sustainable will speak at 2:45 pm about his off-grid, solar home and how to build using solar power and sustainable building materials.  He will show pictures and discuss passive solar design and materials.

Sustainability will be the order of the entire day at the Expo.

Sustainable Lawrence is a large group of residents, businesses, congregations, and other organizations dedicated to creating a sustainable community in Lawrence Township, NJ.

Its mission is to encourage the people and institutions of Lawrence Township to cooperatively adopt fundamental principles of sustainability and to develop policies and practices that fulfill those principles.

Its policies and policies include:

• Reduce our community’s fossil fuel dependence and wasteful use of scarce metals and minerals;
• Reduce our community’s dependence on harmful chemicals and wasteful use of synthetic substances;
• Minimize our community’s encroachment upon nature (e.g., land, water, wildlife, forests, soil, ecosystems);
• Meet human needs fairly and efficiently.

The Expo is an event open to the public in which residents, non-profits, businesses, community leaders, government leaders, and experts get together to share information.

This year’s Expo will include numerous speakers, displays of electric and hybrid cards, and booths with sustainable items and information.

Previous year’s Expos were attended by hundreds of people and this year’s event is sure to please!

Open to the public.  Held at Lawrenceville High School 2525 Lawrence Road, Lawrence NJ.  Hours: Noon to 4pm.

Mr Sustainable, Dante DiPirro, will be speaking on sustainable energy & building 3/15/13 at 7 pm at 203 Hopewell Wertsville Road, Hopewell, NJ.  The talk will include principles of passive solar design, solar power, and sustainable building materials, using information from the off-grid, solar home that he designed and built.  The event is open to the public.

When we rebuild residences and businesses after Hurricane Sandy, let’s use sustainable energy and building materials as much as possible.

Energy efficient and energy-saving materials pay for themselves in just a few short years, and provide tremendous cost benefits over the long-term.  Since we’re going to be rebuilding anyway, and since what we build is going not be around for decades, let’s do it now and let’s do it right!

Good ideas for sustainable building materials to use include:

• insulation with high R values (good “green” non-toxic products are available on the market)
• efficient windows (well-sealed to prevent heat loss)
• no or low VOC interior paint (good non-toxic products are available on the market)
• tankless hot water heaters (you only heat water as you use it)
• energy star appliances (save on electricity)
• energy and water efficient washing machines, dishwashers etc. (not only save on electricity but on water usage).

While we’re planning, let’s not forget about sustainable energy.  Adding solar panels or a solar hot water system can easily be made part of the overall construction project.  Even though NJ state incentives are not what they used to be, a solar system can still be paid off in a few years and the system will last for 25-30 years.  And if you don’t want to put down money up front on construction of a solar system, you can opt for an arrangement where you lease the roof space to a third-party, who installs and owns the system, and you get a reduction in your electric bills.

Any way you look at it, sustainable energy and building materials can give you cost-savings, a comfortable living or working space, and satisfaction from living in a healthy and sustainable way.

Governments should support the effort too, providing fast tracking for construction that is sustainable, and special incentives to promote disaster relief that uses sustainable building materials.

This would be an excellent way to help those affected by the storm, and it would also reduce energy costs, save energy, and promote our economy and local jobs.

Let’s not miss this opportunity!