Consumer Reports looked into the matter and found that in order to cut costs using an electric space heater, you’ll need to lower the heat in the other rooms in your house. Small space heaters are often less expensive to run when you’re heating one room or supplementing heat in one room, according to the Department of Energy. But advocacy group Alliance to Save Energy points out that using space heaters to heat more than one room is not as efficient as a running your central heating system.

What you pay for electricity will, of course, also affect the cost of using a space heater. Electricity rates vary across the country.

The publication tested numerous 1,500-watt space heaters and discovered that it would cost $2.82 a day to use a space heater for 16 hours a day, based on the national average electricity rate.

Consumer Reports cautioned that you should never use a space heater while sleeping, in case of fires, no matter what there safety rating or what safety features they have (such as automatic shutoff if tipped or after a period of time.)

Coming out of our hot water heater are metal pipes that send heated water to our sinks, bathtub, and shower throughout the house. Down in our basement, these pipes are exposed (not surrounded by drywall or any type of insulation.) This means that they are losing, or transferring, some of the heat from the water to the pipe and out into the room. This means that it’s not as efficient.

The pipe insulators come in the correct size for your pipes and usually have a cut down the middle to allow for easy installation around your pipe. Usually you have to cut it to length to make sure it fits around connectors and junctions. I also bought metallic tape, specific to insulation, to seal up the split down the middle of the insulation and to make sure it stays in place.

Total spend was about $25 to cover all the exposed piping in my basement. And I’ve already seen a change in our electric bill. But it’s hard to determine exactly how much because we’re using less heat now that it’s no longer winter and the heater is not coming on as much. But year-over-year, there was a 5% dip in our electric bill.

It’s probably not worth it if the water pipes are already behind drywall and not accessible to be wrapped. But if they are exposed, it’s a great idea.

Also, look for pipes that are not sending hot water out but may be the water source pipe sending water to your heater. You don’t need to wrap these because they contain no heated water. You can feel the pipe to see if it’s warm or cold.

It’s cheap, easy to install, and it saves you money. And it’s permanent - once the wraps are up there, they’ll be there forever. They’re made of a thick foam that should last a lifetime. When added to a water heater blanket, you’ll make your hot water much more efficient!

Anyway, they promise to plant a tree to off-set the blog and I’m all for that. They even gave me a little badge to put on the sidebar to show the blog is carbon neutral. Every little bit helps, I say!

Gardening Tip:

By Sara Snow; Green Lifestyle Expert, TV Host and Author of Sara Snow’s Fresh Living

Summertime is the time to be outdoors and gardening is a perfect activity to relax a busy mom’s mind and entertain small children.

Even if you don’t have a big yard for a garden, you can use a small patch or containers to grow some edible plants with your kids.  What you plant is completely up to you, but I recommend starting with foods that you’ll actually eat because those will be the things you’ll most happily tend to.  Basil, oregano, chives, parsley, and rosemary are good starter herbs.  And cucumbers, tomatoes, pole beans and lettuce are great easy vegetables to grow.

Here’s a simple idea: grow a salad bowl.  Take a large container, about three feet across, and plant a variety of lettuces (arugula, romaine, endive, and red leaf will make a colorful and nutritious salad mix), as well as some chives and other herbs for dressing, and a dwarf cherry tomato plant.  Harvest and enjoy!

With a few strategically placed pest-repelling plants, you can make your garden a more restful place, so you can relax outdoors without the temptation of spraying chemical laden repellants.  Studies have shown catnip to be ten times more effective at repelling mosquitoes than the common bug spray ingredient DEET.  Catnip, geraniums, lemon thyme, marigolds and rosemary are just a few mosquito-repelling plants that you can easily grow.

It’s a good thing I did, but I should have done it much sooner. I started by inspecting all the ducts near my furnance. Ducts work by taking the warmed (or cooled) air and sending them to the rest of the house. More ducts are used to return the cooler (or warmer) air back to the furnace or heat pump. I wanted to look my ductwork over and make sure there were no gaps, holes, or problems.

I noticed one big problem right away. About 20 feet away from my furnace, one duct had completely come off the main line. This duct was serving warm air up to our living room and our daughter’s room. This explained why her room was always a bit cooler than the rest. But the living room is where our programmable thermostat is. This meant that the heater might be staying on and running longer than it should because the room with the main temperature readings wasn’t getting enough direct heat.

With some duct tape and duct sealant, I re-attached the duct. I also found a few other minor problems and sealed those ducts up as well. To really prevent leaks of warmed or cooled air, you can use duct tape (not the gray “regular” duct tape - but only the silver tape approved for ductwork) and/or a duct sealant. The sealant can be applied using a trowel, a brush, or even your finger. I used both to make sure I got a great seal.

Next, I insulated all my exposed ductwork down in our basement. At all home improvement stores, there is insulation designed specifically for your ducts. All you do it open it up and wrap it around the ducts. You use tape to tape up the seam where the two sides of the insulation meet. It’s that easy.

All the insulation means there will be much less heat-loss while the warm air is being sent to the rooms in your house. The rooms will warm up quicker and the heater will turn off faster and stop using as much energy. Which saves you money.

I did find up problem up in my crawl space. Apparently, at some point, the previous homeowners had cable installed. The cable installers were too lazy to do their jobs, so they pulled open my air duct return and shoved their cables up through my heating system. I was so beyond mad. I was furious that someone would compromise the heating ducts like that.

I cut the cables, screwed the opening shut, and sealed up the ducts again. The change in the heat throughout our house was amazing in February and March. The air coming out of our registers was so much warmer and the house warmed up that much faster.

I highly recommend sealing and insulating your ducts, either from in your basement or under your house in the crawlspace underneath. It’s very easy to do and very inexpensive - and it will save you a lot of money.

If you don’t want to try to do it yourself, you can always contact a heating contractor to come inspect your ducts, to seal things up, and to insulate for you. Find a heating contractor for free at ConstructionDeal.com.

“The world is facing an increasing risk of ‘irreversible’ climate shifts because worst-case scenarios warned of two years ago are being realized, an international panel of scientists has warned.”

“Temperatures, sea levels, acid levels in oceans and ice sheets were already moving ‘beyond the patterns of natural variability within which our society and economy have developed and thrived,’ scientists said in a report released Thursday.”

This is the sort of thing that has me worried. Are we too late? Does it matter that I’m spending time and money to make my house more of a “green” and sustainable home?

Of course, none of this means I’m going to stop what I’m doing. I’ll continue to do what I can. Sure, weather conditions can worsen, drought can cause problems in my area, and prices can skyrocket on us due to all the changes in the climate…  It may all be for nothing, but I can say I tried.

My concern is that people, businesses and governments might continue to hear news like this and completely give up trying. If they feel it’s too late, it’s going to be impossible to recruit more people to do the right thing.

Fingers are crossed.

Last week, when the garbage truck came to pick up our trash, it only had two small bags lining the bottom. But it got me thinking about all the stuff I’m taking to the recycling bins and so I did some research. It turns out I may have been doing more harm than good.

I hate to put this type of information out there, because so many people already think it’s a big hassle to have to recycle anything. But if you are putting paper and cardboard products into recycling bins with food on them, you could be ruining the batch of recycled materials.

For example, the recycling dumpsters in our neighborhood say that we can put all paper and cardboard products in - including cereal boxes and, yes, pizza boxes. What they don’t tell you is that the food contaminates the process. A pizza leaves grease and oil residue on the bottom and/or top of your pizza box. When that oil gets mixes with the water used to break down the cardboard, the paper recycling batch gets spoiled.

While it can be a big enough pain to separate all your trash and recycling, it’s important that you add another step to the process. Otherwise, don’t bother with any paper products. Don’t recycle any cardboard or paper that has food on it. Don’t bother with napkins, paper towels, tissues, pizza boxes or paper plates if they’ve had food on them. Throw them away (or better yet - don’t use them at all…)

However, you can cut away the ruined portions of these items. Yes, it’s a pain to do, but it’s got to happen to be effective.

This really only happens with the paper products. Water is used to break down the paper into a slurry material that can be recycled into new products. But metal, glass and plastic use heat to break down the raw materials to make new products. Heat isn’t affected by the oil or grease in food.

I do recommend that you rinse the food out of the metal, plastic or glass containers, though. You wouldn’t want your recycling center to get too stinky

ConstructionDeal.com reviewed the stimulus package and had some information on how this stimulus package can help you renovate with green products and save cash.

There are tax credits and incentives for energy efficiency improvements completed on your house for products that are installed between now and the end of the year.

These tax credits can be worth as much as $1,500 for the installation of Energy Efficient items, such as:

• Replacement Windows & Skylights
• Insulation
• Energy Star Appliances
• Solar Water Heating Systems
• Exterior Doors
• Metal & Asphalt Shingle Roofs
• Central Air Conditioning,  Heat Pumps, Furnaces & Boilers
• Water Heaters
• Wind Turbines
• Solar Photovoltaic Panels

These new incentives and tax breaks make buying new products for your home more affordable. Their contractors are already putting together systems that qualify for the tax credits.

To talk to a qualified installer, click on the links above and submit your request on the ConstructionDeal.com site. It’s a fast and free way to find quality contractors.

But, a great way to go green and save money - no matter how old your water heater - is to wrap it up. A water heater constantly heats up water to make sure you have what you need… when you need it. All day long. This is very wasteful.

Today, they make insulation for your water heater. This works just like your house insulation works - it’s a barrier than keeps the heat inside the water heater. If the heat stays, it won’t need to turn on and heat up quite as often. That saves you money.

I installed a water heater insulation blanket today and I’ll start seeing savings very soon - probably on my next electricity bill. The kit only cost $20. It should pay for itself in a few months. And I put it on in less than 20 minutes.

HOW TO INSTALL WATER HEATER INSULATION

You can pick up the kit at any home improvement store. They’re in the water heater section. There are several types and several R-values. The higher the R-value, the more protection (and thickness) you’ll get. I picked up an insulation kit that has an R-11 value.

My heater is an electric model with a 50 gallon capacity. The kit comes with the insulation blanket and tape to seal it up. I laid the blanket on the floor to inspect it and find the tab. There is a section of vinyl at the top that creates a tab. The tab will then be taped down to the top of the water heater.

Next, I wrapped the blanket around the heater to make sure it fit and to find the spots where I need to cut out sections that expose controls, valves, etc. Make sure you read the insulation kit instructions for your type of water heater and follow those. There are more restrictions for gas heaters, according to my kit.

I cut out some tape sections and used them to hold the blanket on the heater. All my cuts worked well and the water heater controls were properly in view. I used a long section of tape from top to bottom to create a tight seal. And next I taped the tab down to the top of the heater.

And that’s it. With insulation on my heater, I hope to cut my water heating bill by 5% to 10%. Not much, but it’s all part of the green renovation. Adding everything together and the money will add up.

Dreaming of a Green Christmas?

With all the shopping, holiday parties, and traveling around many people forget about going green this time of the year.

There are a few things that I can think of to help make it a more sustainable and Earth-friendly holiday season:

• If you still have time, try making only one or a few shopping trips to one location instead of driving all over town. It saves you gas money and reduces your carbon emissions.
• Ordering online and having it delivered might not be the best green choice, because you’re still creating a big carbon footprint by having large trucks, airplanes, and small trucks ship your packages all over the country.
• Buy local - deliver local. If you can find a local company to buy gifts from, you’ll be making a big impact. And, if you can, order a gift for someone from a company local to your friend or family member and have it delivered.
• Be creative with your wrapping of presents. Do you need to buy up a lot of wrapping paper, tape and boxes to cover up your presents? Re-use, recycle and pre-cycle! We try to re-use a lot of gift bags so that we’re not buying more or wasting paper. You could also make a “present box” that is covered with old holiday paper but that is easily opened. It can be used again next season!
• Put your holiday lights on a timer. Set the timer to only run during evening but shut off by 11pm or midnight. There’s no need to leave the lights on all night long while most people are sleeping… and I’m sure your neighbors would love you more without the bright lights shining in all night.

And, my favorite method of being green during the holidays! Re-gifting! Get something you don’t like this Christmas? Save it for the next birthday or holiday season and give it away again! You don’t need to go shopping, you don’t need to spend any money, and you’ve already got a few gift bags left over from this year’s celebrations!

The perfect solution!

Have you got any more ways to be green during the holidays?

Photo courtesy of Phillyburbs.com