I currently live in a unique situation. My housing is provided with my job. I have been in this situation for almost a decade and live for the day that I can buy my first house. Making that house as green as possible is something that I am dedicated to do. This is the first (hopefully among many) entries that I will write to help me categorize the green home emprovement tips.
Strangely the article that sparked this entry came from the November, 2008 issue of Cooking Light (the only magazine that we subscribe to). The article was on Flooring Fundamentals. I have been interested in how to floor my house for a few years now. I have read many articles about the high amounts of toxins found in traditional carpeting. I have also been turned off from carpets made of carpet (because any environmentalist worth their weight tries to eliminate as much plastic from our lives as possible). For the same reasons vinyl (made of PVC's) is out of the question. That leaves my with tile and hardwood.
Tile has a few drawbacks. One it is expensive. Two it is relatively breakable. The natural stone tiles are beautiful and non-toxic, but they are not a renewable resource. The ceramic tiles are cheaper and more renewable but who knows what the glazes are made of. Recently on the market are glass tiles, often made from found/recycled glass. These are very pretty and durable but can be costly and should be used more for walls and backsplashes (you need less material and so the cost isn't as prohibitive).
Wood floors are popular, renewable, durable, pretty... and expensive. But some of the hardwood is made from virgin wood (whether from the rain-forest or deciduous forests). I don't want to cut down a forest just so my house can be trendy... The easiest and best solution that I have found is Bamboo. It is the safe-haven of home flooring. It is cheap, beautiful, and renewable. Bamboo grows fast and rejuvenates itself. Easy on the environment and non-toxic for indoor air quality. Also good are cork and Eucalptus (though they are both a bit more costly. On the extreme high end of cost is the reclaimed wood movement. This is an increbily interesting idea. When wood structures are condemned, people will come in and remove the wood from siding to floors and old beams. The resulting product is wood flooring with extreme amounts of character, but the cost is prohibitive for most.
But wait there is last minute entry for best flooring option. It is one that has been used in the states since the 50's. It has received a bad rap for the crazy patterns and dated looks that it can give homes. But linoleum is not a bad choice. I found out that it is made from a renewalbe natural product (linseed oil). It is CHEAP, VERY CHEAP. I would caution for more research into what the glue and sealers used in production are made of. In addition, it can be fairly unsightly and look fairly cheap. But in the end it isn't to be ruled out for a flooring option in my house.
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We have been unplugging things in our house for the past year or so, I can't tell you if it has cut down on our electric bill or not. However, at the school where I teach we have been unplugging all plugins for the past five years over any break. We also are not allowed to leave anything turned over night. We actually have an energy czar that goes around at night and checks the schools looking for items left on or lights not turned off. We have joked about this for awhile now. But yesterday we had to eat crow! We were informed that our school district has hit the 1/2 million mark on savings to their electric bill. Imagine, just by turning off lights and other electric items we helped save $500,000.
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