Greening Neighborhoods encourages everyone to exchange traditional incandescent light bulbs for compact fluorescent lamps or LED’s because of the savings in the amount of electricity they use.  The one drawback in using fluorescent lamps is that the phosphorus lamp coating contains traces of mercury.  The amount of mercury is small, about 1/100 of that contained in the old mercury thermometers we used to have.  Still, indoor air quality is threatened if the lamps break and proper cleanup procedures aren’t followed.  The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommends the following:

Before Cleanup

• Have people and pets leave the room.
• Air out the room for 5-10 minutes by opening a window or door to the outdoor environment.
• Shut off the central forced air heating/air-conditioning system, if you have one.
• Collect materials needed to clean up broken bulb (Don’t vacuum):
• stiff paper or cardboard;
• sticky tape;
• damp paper towels or disposable wet wipes (for hard surfaces); and
• a glass jar with a metal lid or a sealable plastic bag.

During Cleanup

• Be thorough in collecting broken glass and visible powder.
• Place cleanup materials in a sealable container.

After Cleanup

• Promptly place all bulb debris and cleanup materials outdoors in a trash container or protected area until materials can be disposed of properly. Avoid leaving any bulb fragments or cleanup materials indoors.
• If practical, continue to air out the room where the bulb was broken and leave the heating/air conditioning system shut off for several hours.

Getting Rid of Burned out Bulbs

Burned out lamps that are not broken should be taken to a recycling center.  Home Depot and Lowes have disposal bins for the old lamps.

Learn more about CFL’s and indoor air quality: http://www.epa.gov/cfl/cflhg.html  and http://greeningneighborhoods.com/category/save-money/indoor-air-quality/

George

Other notorious examples include the popular disinfecting spray which contains phenol. Even small amounts can cause circulatory collapse, convulsions, coma and cardiac arrest.  It also contains dioxin, the deadly ingredient used in Agent Orange that can cause genetic mutation, birth defects and cancer (Environmental Health Newsletter, Spring 1991). It’s also highly flammable. It is nearly impossible to extinguish a fire where it has settled in the carpet, the drapes and furniture.

Mold and mildew cleaners contain phenol and kerosene. These products can also contain formaldehyde, suspected of causing cancer, and a strong irritant to eyes, throat, skin and lungs.   Germ killing disinfectants contain cresol, a chemical absorbed through the skin and respiratory tract.   These can damage liver, kidneys, lungs, pancreas and spleen and can affect the central nervous system, resulting in depression and hyperactivity.

When looking for environmentally safe cleaners, read the label. Any cleaner containing one or more of these ingredients is not safe – there is no FDA control for the label “green.” See the National Institutes on Health fact sheet, Household Products Database, or the EPA’s list on indoor air pollution.  Also see Greening Neighborhoods Indoor Air Quality tips

Likewise, “green” cleaners should not cost an arm and a leg. Chemicals are cheap, but safe is cheaper. One environmentally safe germicide recommended by a physician on Oprah makes 64 gallons of solution – a huge savings over that can-with-propellant spray. A general purpose cleaner – an official Earth Day product – discussed on Oprah makes 190 gallons of powerful cleaner, or 6,900 22oz. bottles of the well-known window cleaner. It’s been around since 1960, and it’s never needed a child-proof cap. Consult the fact sheet and save your money – and your health.

Howard

The Kitchen:

• Vacuum refrigerator coils and grill
• Wipe inside of the freezer

Living Room:

• Rotate heavy curtains, rugs and throws for lightweight ones

Bedrooms:

• Replace cool-weather bedding with warm-weater bedding
• Launder or dry clean blankets

Bathrooms:

• Discard expired cosmetics, beauty products and medications

Home Office:

• Clean out files (for secure shredding and recyling contact a group like Eco Shredding)
• Review and update insurance policies, contracts and household inventories.  If you don’t have a household imventory, now is a good time to start one.  In a few minutes can record your belongings with a digital camera.

Closets:

• Reorganize closets, giving away unwanted items
• Replace cool-weather clothing for warm-weather clothing

Utility Spaces:

• Remove lint from the hose attached to the back of the clothes dryer (this will also reduce your energy consumption, cut down on energy bills and reduce the risk of fire)
• Clean out attics and basements, donating anything unwanted.
• Old latex paint and electronics can be desposed of at recyling depots.  See Greening Neighborhoods “Save Money” pull down above and http://livethrive.org/about-us/news/

Outdoor Spaces:

• Scrub porch decks, walls, ceilings, patios, patio furniture, driveways and walkways.
• Wash outdoor light fixtures
• Clean gutters.

By Vanessa Tanner, Welcome Home Maids  http://www.welcomehomemaids.com

Carolyn Newman added foam insulation and sealed holes to the outside.  Her savings in therms went from 377 in February, 2010 to 134 in February, 2011 – that’s a 64% reduction.

Jane Brann added fiberglass insulation to her attic floor.  Her gas consumption was 122 therms in February, 2010 compared to 78 therms this February.

Dave Goldin added foam insulation and sealed around doors and windows. His savings went from 123 therms to 77 for the same period.

Furthermore Dave and Carolyn took advantage of Atlanta’s SHINE program of stacked rebates and saved between 50 and 60% on installation and material costs.

2)  More likely, if you have central air conditioning, your filter will be located in your furnace where the supply air leaves the unit.  In this case watch this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JgIlCJltr0&feature=related

Clean your Air Conditioner
The next task is to clean the fins on your air cooling unit.  The critical step here is to shut off the electric power to the unit.  Then the fins can be cleaned with a garden hose.  For details watch this Tim Gibson video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_kLEFrYdeU&NR=1

These simple cleaning steps will make your units run more efficently and will lower your heating and cooling costs.  Just as important, your indoor air quality will be improved by filtering out pollutants in the air you breathe.

George

While smaller green companies like Seventh Generation have done this for years, this is the first time a mainstream commercial manufacturer like Clorox has revealed the individual chemicals included in its cleaning products. Clorox’s Green Works line of household cleaners, the largest selling brand of green cleaning products, had previously released its own list of chemicals, and the positive reaction to that may have influenced Clorox to extend the disclosures to all of its products.

Household cleaners are often cited as an unsuspected source of many household air contaminants. Advocates for healthier homes are happy that Clorox has taken this step and are pushing other manufacturers to do the same.

Try the Green Glass Cleaner Recipe

It’s time to start believing in natural cleaning ingredients like baking soda and lemon juice, versus the harmful, cancer causing ones found in commercial products that line the aisles of supermarkets. Green cleaning isn’t just a fad. It’s here to stay thanks to the popularity of effective cleaning products now on the market from responsible companies like Seventh Generation and Better Life. If you’d like to save money AND be greener when you clean, you can make your own products. Here are just a few of my favorites:
All Purpose Cleaner
1 tsp borax
1 T castile soap
1/8 cup distilled white vinegar
2 cups hot water
5 to 10 drops of essential oil*
Mix all the ingredients and pour into a 16-ounce spray bottle
Window Cleaner
¼ t liquid soap
3 T vinegar
2 c water
Put all the ingredients into a spray bottle, shake it up a bit, and use as you would a commercial brand. The soap in this recipe is important. It cuts the wax residue from the commercial brands you may have been using before.
Furniture Polish
1/2 teaspoon oil, such as olive (or jojoba, a liquid wax)
1/4 cup vinegar or fresh lemon juice
Mix the ingredients in a glass jar. Dab a soft rag into the solution and wipe onto wood surfaces.
*Tea Tree oil is great for bathroom cleaners because it is a natural mold killer. I like lemon or orange oil for the kitchen and i also like lavender or eucalyptus.

Written by:Vanessa Tanner of  Welcome Home Maids,  http://www.welcomehomemaids.com/

Steps to Improve Indoor Air Quality

Unfortunately, many conventional homes, office spaces, and all sorts of everyday indoor environments are making us sick, resulting in asthma, allergies, and other illnesses, all due to poor indoor air quality. Synthetic building materials, carpeting, paints, cleaning products, mattresses — dozens of seemingly innocuous substances and objects can emit formaldehyde, trichloroethylene (TCE), benzene, and a range of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) over their lifespan. Considering we spend 90% of our time indoors, this is a scary reality.
The easiest way to reduce your risk is to keep things out of your living space that causes air pollution, including:
• Cigarette smoke: Never allow indoor smoking in your home!
• Excess moisture: Rain and high humidity can cause mold and mildew resulting in asthma symptoms.
• Chemicals: Seek out natural alternatives to everyday products (choose low or no VOC paint, for example).
In cases where you simply can’t revamp your indoor space (say, for instance, your work office), a simple houseplant will do the trick. It’s true: many houseplants have the ability to detoxify polluted indoor spaces!

Written by Vanessa Tanner, Welcome Home Maids  http://www.welcomehomemaids.com/

Cox discusses the obvious and not-so-obvious consequences of our love of cool, comfortable rooms.  In the U.S., home air conditioning accounts for almost 20% of residential energy costs.  That doesn’t sound so bad until you realize that’s as much electricity as is used in the whole of Africa.  Air conditioning has allowed us to build large and expanding cities in locations with fragile ecosystems (think southern Florida, or Arizona).  It encourages us to remain indoors rather than moving around outside — isolating us from other people and reducing our physical activity.  It’s changed the way we sleep, travel, work, and play.  Neighborhoods that once rang with the sounds of kids playing outside during the summer months are now silent apart from the ceaseless whir of AC units.

Our dependence on air conditioning has also made us less resilient and less tolerant of heat, physically but especially mentally and emotionally.  We feel more miserable in the summer because we never fully adapt.  When we do go outside, the exposure to heat actually stresses our bodies more.  And air conditioning creates closed environments that trap and amplify the effects of many allergies and illnesses — to say nothing of the mold and bacteria that may be growing in the cooling unit.

Cox is not all doom and gloom, thankfully.  He also discusses ways you can reduce your dependence on air conditioning by using fans, creating cooler roofs, and using vegetation to shield your house from the sun.  His suggestions are all the more welcome because Cox believes there will almost certainly be restrictions placed on our electrical use in the future by limits to our generating capacity.

It’s just more evidence that we should be looking for ways to get out from under our AC units before we really lose our cool.

Links To Check Out

• Losing Our Cool web site: http://www.losingourcool.com/
• Stan Cox Losing Our Cool blog: http://losingourcool.wordpress.com/
• Read the first chapter of Losing Our Cool on ColdType (PDF)
• Listen to a one-hour interview with Stan Cox from the NPR program On Point from WBUR, Boston
• Listen to Stan Cox talk with Kai Ryssdal on Marketplace from American Public Media — along with some tips for living without AC

President Richard Nixon signing the Clean Air Act into law in 1970.

This week marks the 40th anniversary of the enactment of the Clean Air Act, the signature piece of legislation that controls industrial and agricultural emissions.  This was the culmination of a long and arduous process (check out this timeline).  We here at Greening Neighborhoods wanted to raise our glasses in congratulations.

The Clean Air Act has been praised and vilified since it was enacted, of course.  But Lisa Jackson, the current EPA Administrator, says that the law saves thousands of lives each year and returns $40 in health and environmental benefits for every $1 in enforcement costs.  In fact, the EPA claims that cars today are as much as 95% cleaner than they were in 1970 and that the Act has prevented:

• 205,000 premature deaths
  
• 672,000 cases of chronic bronchitis
  
• 21,000 cases of heart disease
  
• 843,000 asthma attacks
  
• 10.4 million lost I.Q. points in children – mostly from reducing lead in gasoline
  
• 18 million child respiratory illnesses

And that was just in the first 20 years…

Here’s looking at you, kid.