NUR Weekly - TSPLOST, Parking, Restaurants, Blocks & Mixed-Use

I keep coming up with good ideas for this weekly digest so I had to add a section.  The last part is dedicated to fun stuff and may or may not relate to what we discuss on the NUR blog.  This week, Joan Durbin at the North Fulton Neighbor was on fire with several notable stories.

What’s Up in Roswell

Holcomb Bridge/GA 400 Improvements Tied to TSPLOST - North Fulton Neighbor

Here’s the gist from city council woman Betty Price:

Whether or not T-SPLOST passes, some interim improvements will be evident in the near future. With additional funding and guided by the recommendations of this study, whole-scale improvements can be made in the future that will revitalize this inadequate intersection, bringing with it a welcoming and functional entrance to Roswell from 400.  

Pay Parking May Come to Roswell Historic District - North Fulton Neighbor

My prediction...  People are going to hate this more than they hate looking for a space.  If you’re willing to walk 200 yards, there is NO parking problem.  Key Excerpt:

The locations are the lot next to Wells Fargo on the west side of Canton Street and a lot on the east side between Ga. Hwy 9 and Canton Street that used to be the old city fire department years ago. 

Roswell’s Red Light Cameras May be Relocated - North Fulton Neighbor

This is fairly controversial to some.  Here’s my 2 cents.  These cameras tend to reduce deadly ‘perpendicular’ or ’T-Bone’ crashes at intersections but increase rear-end collisions.  Generally, anything that causes people to pay more attention

Four Canton St Restaurants on Jezebel Magazine’s Top 100 Restaurants for 2012

This is a great sign that Canton Street is doing all the right things.  Little Alley Steak, Inc Street Food, Salt Factory and Table & Main made the list in that order.  You’ll have to check out the magazine to see where they weighed in.

4th Annual Trilogy Trolley Crawl Tix on Sale

Top 5 Articles of the Week

What is a Block? - Better Cities and Towns

The block is something that confuses most people.  This article takes a stab at defining it and does a pretty good job.  Here’s how they define one:

the definition of a block should be based on the legal structure of urbanism. Therefore, a block is legally defined as private property surrounded by public rights-of-way. By this definition, a block is one of the two fundamental units of urbanism (alongside the right-of-way) reflecting the two types of property (private and public, respectively).

The article also uses an example from up the road in Alpharetta to illustrate the absurdities of suburban ‘blocks.’  They managed to find one has a perimeter of 12 miles!  We need more connectivity and smaller blocks. 

Don’t get Mixed Up on Mixed-Use - PlaceShakers

Mixed-use is one of those terms like sustainability.  It is over used and often used out of context.  This article lays it out pretty well:

Today, the most common misunderstanding I find about mixed-use is that most people think it equates, on any street or in any context, to a shopfront with housing above.

In short, mixed-use makes for three-dimensional, pedestrian-oriented places that layer compatible land uses, public amenities, and utilities together at various scales and intensities. This variety of uses allows for people to live, work, play and shop in one place, which then becomes a destination for people from other neighborhoods. As defined by The Lexicon of the New Urbanism, mixed-use is multiple functions within the same building or the same general area through superimposition or within the same area through adjacency… from which many of the benefits are… pedestrian activity and traffic capture.

How to Get a Trader Joe’s - Smyrna is signing a petition - Smyrna Patch 

I’d love it if it were just this easy to get a grocery store where you want it.  I’m sure we could collect a lot of signatures to get one here in Historic Roswell.  This commenter said it best:

Ultimately Smyrna has to prove we have the demographics to ensure Trader Joe's can survive. It's not about where we want it and why. Will Trader Joe's consider Smyrna and why?

Cops Set Up Sting to Keep Pedestrians Safe - AJC

Read this article, you just might learn something that will keep you out of trouble when walking or driving.  Here’s a stat that I wanted to be sure got out there.

...four people are hit by cars each day in the metro Atlanta area. (Sally) Flocks said between 70 and 80 pedestrians are killed each year in the metro area and more than 20 percent within 100 feet of a transit stop.

Alpharetta Downtown Development Picks Up Speed - ABC

Keep moving forward Alpharetta!  This will be a big boost to walkability in North Fulton.  I thought this excerpt was noteworthy:

In the past decade, other suburban cities including Woodstock, Norcross and Suwanee have tried to reinvent their downtowns by launching major projects.  Those ideas reflect principles of New Urbanism, a countermovement to the development patterns in the 80s and 90s across metro Atlanta that to suburban sprawl. New Urbanism aims to create public spaces, such as a city center, where people can congregate in parks that are near shopping, restaurants and entertainment.

Unfortunately, Roswell didn’t get a mention in the article but we are doing great things and our historic district has arguably been more successful than any of the towns that were mentioned even though they pursued very high profile projects.

Fun Stuff

Church vs Beer Map - Guess Where Georgia Is

Beijing’s Olympic Ruins - Much worse than Atlanta’s Ruins

Top 10 Best & Worst Cities to Live - This ranking used a very interesting methodology.  Number one on the list, Hong Kong.  Last on the list, Tehran.  Best US City, Washington DC.  

What the World Would Look Like Covered in Lego - Simple and Fun.. I’d love to drive under this bridge..

#2... Our Restaurant Scene

image: Yelp Melanie N.Why We Love It..

Who doesn't love great food close to home?  The dining options in our neighborhood range from affordable to fine dining and almost everything in between.  There are over 20 eating establishments in Historic Roswell alone with a number of others just on the periphery of our neighborhood.  

One huge bonus is that we don't have any fast food establishments in the heart of the historic district which is fantastic.  Virtually all of our restaurants are locally owned establishments so our dollars stay in the community instead of feeding into a corporate profit center.

What We Would Change..

We would love to see a good Italian restaurant on Canton Street.  We have Sugo and Amalfi at the southern end but they are not very walkable in their current locations.

Here are some of our favorites:

• Salt Factory
• Swallow at the Hollow
• Inc.
• Zest
• Ceviche
• Greenwoods
• Pie Hole
• Table & Main
• Pastis
• J.Christopher's
• Spiced Right
• Sugo
• Amalfi

HungryPeaches - Eating Green in Atlanta

image by Zero 666

One of the most important choices you can make to green your lifestyle is the choice of what you put into your body. Food choices impact both your personal health and that of the environment. The more research I do, the more I find that the modern industrial food machine is something to be wary of. Yes, modern agriculture does feed billions of people worldwide but, it is also responsible for environmental degradation coupled with financial suffering, and disease in millions. This is due in part to the overuse and under-regulation of pesticides, the seemingly endless consolidation of power into just a handful of multinational companies and the abuse of government subsidies that reward just the types of behavior the public thinks the subsidies are in place to prevent.

It is a well known fact that the average American meal travels over 1500 miles from farm to mouth. This results in the use of a great deal of energy to get your food into your stomach. Oh yes, I cannot forget to mention that genetically modified crops have been cross pollinating with wild versions of the same crops for years and are creating versions of these crops that evolution never intended. We don't fully know the implications of the introduction of these mutant genes. We are performing a giant uncontrolled experiment with the only thing we can use to survive, food.

The research on these subjects is vast and it does contain a fair amount of controversy. This being said, I personally choose to err on the side of caution and make choices that I belive to be the most socially and environmentally beneficial.

So, what are the alternatives? Pundits would say that environmentalists would like to see a return to a hunter, gatherer, forager lifestyle where the land is left to itself and people toil all day to meek out a meager existence. Obviously, this is a ridiculous claim but there are people out there who think the choice is either our current system or the hunter/gatherer/forager system. Many people just don't recognize that there is no shortage of alternative ways to grow food and eat that do not require significant lifestyle changes. Okay, I will admit that switching immediately to a diet of all local and/or organic food is next to impossible and just trying would cost you a small fortune. With that being said, there are ways to affordably change your eating habits and help improve your agricultural environmental footprint. The top three ways that you can green your diet are eating less meat, eating more local food and eating more organically grown food. The great thing about this is that it is a win-win for your health and the environment (if not for your pocketbook).

One of the great things about Atlanta is that we have hundreds of local farms, CSAs, restaurants and grocery stores that make it easy for you to find a better alternative. In our Sites You Should Know post last week, we highlighted the website LocalHarvest.org as a great site to search for local eating options. There are also local organizations such as Georgia Organics and Slow Food Atlanta that are leading the way to a greener diet here in Atlanta. Below, we'll highlight some of the options that are available to you.

Local Farms - These days, local and urban farms seem to be springing up everywhere and people are talking a lot about their backyard gardens as well. Atlanta is no exception. There are some that have been around town for a while and others are brand new. Farming your own food is a great way to get the community involved and the taste of a locally grown veggie or fruit is fantastic. You don't get the loss of taste between field and plate.

One of the most well known local farms here in Atlanta is the Oakhurst Community Garden in Decatur. Oakhurst works to educate kids, families and individuals on topics such as sustainable urban living, organic gardening, health and nutrition. The Oakhurst Community Garden partners with the Atlanta Community Food Bank as part of its Community Gardens Project. According to the ACFB, there are over 150 community gardens in the Atlanta area. Each one of them is managed by the neighborhood with help and advice provided by the ACFB when needed.

Beyond the gardens and farms in the city, there are many farms in Georgia that are focusing on organic and sustainable agriculture. The Georgia Organics website is a fantastic resource for information relating to anything and everything in organic agriculture in Georgia. Their website lists 167 organically focused farms in Georgia.

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) - There is a wealth of CSA's here in Atlanta. With the fertile soil and a great climate, our region can support a wide range of crops making CSAs a very good way of getting a diversity of locally grown produce for a reasonalbe price. According to Local Harvest, there are 55 CSAs in Georgia and 20 right in the metro Atlanta area. Some of the more popular CSAs are Cane Creek Farms and Local Food Stop for Northern Atlanta, Serenbe Farms for Southwestern Atlanta, Farmers Fresh CSA for Western Atlanta and Two Mule Farms for Eastern Atlanta. If you're in the city, you may want to check out Gaia Gardens in East Lake Village. Most CSAs will have designated pickup locations and times where you can go to get your produce. For more information on how CSAs operate and to find other CSAs than those mentioned here, check out Local Harvest.

Farmer's Markets

It seems that every city and town has its own farmer's market these days. The trend is definitely a good thing for the local food movement. According to Georgia Organics, the number of farmer's markets in the state increased 588 percent from 2003 to 2008. For those of you who aren't ready to dive head first into the monetary commitment of a CSA, a visit to the farmer's market is a good way to get your feet wet in the local food market. Now, buyer beware, the food that you get at your local farmer's market is not always organic and in some cases it is not always local. Most of the food is local but some vendors may bring in some of their produce from neighboring states. I haven't found much outside of Florida, Alabama, South Carolina and Georgia though. But, if local is what you are looking for, you should definitely ask. The same thing goes for organic. Just ask and you will almost always get a straightforward answer.

Some of the more popular markets are the Morningside Farmer's Market, East Atlanta Village Farmer's Market, the Green Market at Piedmont Park and the Atlanta State Farmer's Market. This is by no means a comprehensive list. There are markets all over the place during the spring and summer months. Most markets go from mid May through early October. Check out Local Harvest for an up to date list with times and dates.

Restaurants

Wow, the number of restaurants that are focusing on local, seasonal cuisine has exploded in the past several years. As a restauranteur with a green conscience, you will need to be able to differentiate between those that are just going with the trend (greenwashing) and those that have legitimately baked sustainability into their menus. Some of the legitimate restaurants that we like are Canoe, 5 Seasons, World Peace Cafe, Cafe Sunflower and R. Thomas' Deluxe Grill. Others that we haven't had the opportunity to check out yet but hope to in the near future are The Hil at Serenbe Farms, Watershed and Rathbun's. All of these restaraunts either focus on organic, local, and/or vegetarian cuisine. Some of these spots may be pricey but from my experience, they are worth the extra cash. But, they all have some fare that even the budget minded can afford.

When in a pinch or if you need a quick lunch, you may want to check out Jason's Deli. They have made some great moves to eliminate a significant amount of HFCS from their menu as well as stock as many organic veggies in their salad bar as possible. When you are eating in, you eat on non-disposable plates, drink from non-disposable glasses all with non-disposable utensils. This is rare in the restaurant business these days and significantly cuts down on waste. Jason's has ten metro Atlanta locations so it is likely that you will be able to find one when you are out and about.

Other restaurants have made some strides to green their menu but I'm not convinced that they are committed to the movement. If you are not certain, you should check out their website before visiting and if you are already there, you should inquire with the wait staff. I typically ask the server if they know where the food I am ordering came from. This is a good litmus test that will tell you how in tune with the food the staff is. The more they know, the more likely the establishment is concerned with the environment and your health.

Another item that comes up in restaurants frequently that I would be remiss not to mention is seafood. If you are reading this, then you probaly know already that many of the world's fisheries are in collapse or near collapse and that we have significantly overfished the apex predators in the ocean food chain. This being said, there are still a number of fish that are perfectly fine to eat. The problem is knowing which ones are. In order to make your choice easier, I suggest that you download the Seafood Guide from the Monterey Bay Aquarium or if you have an iPhone, you can download the app. Even if you are armed with this tool, you will likely still need to ask your server some details about the origin of the fish on their menu. The less they know, the less likely I am to order.

This only scratches the surface of the green restaurant scene here in Atlanta. Additional resources are Georgia Organics and Local Harvest. Also, the number of things to consider in order to eat green can truly be overwhelming so remember that you don't have to be perfect. As long as you are making a concious decision to eat greener and healthier, you are making a difference.

Grocery Stores

The dominant grocery stores in metro Atlanta are Kroger's, Publix, Wal-Mart and Target. In fact, Wal-Mart is the world's largest purveyor of organic foods. You wouldn't think so if you walked through a store but we're talking economies of scale here. In recent years, the sale of organic produce has been growing at a double digit pace annualy thanks to the big boys. This has helped bring more eco-friendly choices to the mainstream stores but all too often those choices are relegated to their own section of the store and the selection may not be consistent week over week. Attkitionally, these big stores don't take into account the seasonality of their produce. You're just as likely to find strawberries in January as you are in June. If you are green minded, these stores just aren't where you're going to find the best selection or the most concern for the environment.

So, what are the alternatives? We have seven Whole Foods Markets, six Trader Joe's, six Fresh Markets, the Dekalb Farmer's Market and dozens of health and nutrition stores around town. Whole Foods is a shopping experience in itself. It's almost worth the trip in the afternoon on a weekend just for the samples. You can expect to pay a pretty sizeable premium for your food but you will notice the difference in quality. If you would like your bill to stay a little closer to earth, you may want to try shopping for some of your produce and meats at Whole Foods and some at your standard grocery store. *I'm not trying to be an advertisement for Whole Foods here.* Buying any local/organic food from anywhere is a better choice than the chemical/conventional alternative. So, if you can get what you are looking for in one place, by all means do so. You will save time and you won't be burning fuel to transport yourself around making multiple trips.

Aside from Whole Foods, we also have Trader Joe's which is a smaller almost corner store that packs a fantastic selection of produce, meats, prepackaged foods and beverages into a small package. You will also find that the prices are a little more bearable. They have some really great store brand items that you won't be able to find anywhere else. Be careful, because you may become addicted. The Fresh Market is an upscale grocer that carries a good amount of organic items. They liken themselves to a smaller European grocer. Another alternative if you are in the Decatur area is the Dekalb Farmer's Market. This is a mecca for thousands of ethnic shoppers and those who are looking for great local produce. You almost have to check it out just for the experience. Last but not least, you should also be aware of the smaller health and nutrition stores in your neighborhood where you can often find niche green food products.

The next time you go shopping, don't forget that there are definitley green alternatives here in Atlanta and don't forget to bring your own reusable bags.


Drink

If you have made it this far then you might as well pair your meal with a local and/or organic beverage as well. Obviously, you will want to avoid bottled water which is one of the most inefficient means of hydrating the human body that has ever been devised. The tap water in Atlanta is not perfect but if you have a good filter or eat at a nice restaurant (generally have filters), you'll be just fine. One of the most popular local drinks is Coca-Cola but we're going to leave that suggestion off the list (HFCS, et.al.). In it's place, we'll subsititute the beer from Sweetwater Brewery. Yes, a completely different beverage but locally focused beverage with sustainability on the brain. They are part of a Carbon Neutral Partnership and they are a supporter of the Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper. Which makes sense since 80 percent of Atlantans get their water from the Chattahoochee and Sweetwater comes from the Hooch as well.

You can find Sweetwater at many local restaurants and bars on tap or in the bottle. But, if you are not thirsty for Sweetwater and are in the mood for a restaurant where you can drink a good locally brewed beer, look no further than one of the three 5 Season's Brewery locations. You can pair your beer with a nice organic and/or locally sourced meal. They also do tours of their breweries daily. Check out their website for more info.

For those of you who aren't beer drinkers, Georgia does have a good selection of wines that are grown right here at home in the mountains of North Georgia. To learn more about the growers, check out the Georgia Winegrowers' Association website. The next time you are out looking for a nice glass of wine, consider a Georgia wine. You'll be doing the environment a favor, contributing to the local economy and you might even enjoy it.


Other Great Ideas

Here are some other great ideas for HungryPeaches.

The Decatur Farm to School Initiative is a grassroots initiative organized by parents, teachers, community organizers and organizations (Georgia Organics and Oakhurst Community Garden). The focus is to create a program that will help Decatur school cafeterias source locally and organically grown food for school lunches and create a curriculum and environment that will help students understand their relationship with food. This is a very new initiative started in 2009. According to their website, "there are 39 states with programs in over 2,000 schools. These programs have been shown to increase students’ awareness and consumption of local foods, as well as support the local economy." We think this is a great idea and we will continue to keep an eye on it.

Another great idea is Salud! Cooking School at Whole Foods Markets. Salud! is a great way to learn how to get involved in your kitchen via instructor led hands-on classes and demonstration classes. It's also a great way to get a delicious meal. Cooking at home is becoming a lost art just like gardening has become. If we are to reverse this trend, we will need more cooks and gardeners and the classroom is a great, fun way to learn these lost arts. To see their seasonal schedule visit the Whole Foods Market website. Salud! is only in the Duluth and Alpharetta (Harry's Farmer's Market) locations.



I would have liked to have gone deeper into the details of the issues related to our current food chain. However, this post almost turned into a book as it is. For further education on this topic, check out the items below:


Books

The Omnivore's Dilemma & In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan
Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser

Movies & Video

Michael Pollan @ Google on YouTube!
King Corn (trailer)
The Future of Food (trailer)

iPhone Apps for GreenPeaches

Now, we totally understand if you don’t own an iPhone so we apologize in advance that this post is not dedicated to you. However, if you do, you will already know that it's not the iPhone that sets you apart, it's the apps you have on the iPhone.  We have been looking high and low for apps that can help you be green in Atlanta. Although there aren’t too many out there that are solely dedicated to green topics, there are a lot that really help even if they don’t know it. Here are four that we found that are either great in their current form or could be great with a little bit of work.

Seafood Watch from the Monterrey Bay Aquarium

This app makes eating seafood for the eco-conscious much easier. The app is the online version of their printable wallet card and is much more in-depth. It divides the country up into regions and has an alphabetized list of seafood in that area. It uses the following three classifications; Best Choice, Good Alternative and Avoid. When you view a specific type of fish, it will give you a brief reason for the rating then it will go into a consumer note followed by a summary. An added plus is that you get a picture of the fish so the app almost doubles as a field guide.

ATL Traffic

Unfortunately, it is almost impossible to avoid it. So, the best thing you can do is know where it is and how long it’s going to keep you from where you want to go. The app taps you into the traffic cameras for all of the local freeways and streets (that have cams). You also can pipe into the road signs and see all of the local traffic alerts. This one is a must when you are on the road a lot. It will definitely help you avoid sitting helplessly in some traffic jams. We know, some of them are just going to be unavoidable.

Green Guide

We’re not too sure about this one yet but it is a great concept. The green guide takes consumer reviews and ranks thousands of consumer products on their environmental merits. Right now, they focus on Toys, Personal Care and Household Cleaners. They have ratings for over 60,000 products. The idea is great but I don’t know that the rankings are accurate. As an example, when comparing the top 5 Deodorants & Antiperspirants on the Green Guide to their respective rankings on the Environmental Working Group’s Cosmetics Database (www.cosmeticsdatabase.org) we found TK that ranked in the Lower TK percent. The idea is great but the jury is still out on this one. It will keep you away from really bad products though.

Maps

The maps app comes standard with the iPhone and is a lifesaver. It is pretty normal as far as map functions go and it interfaces with Google Maps. What makes maps green is the fact that you can save gas and time by finding the best route before ever getting into your car. It has saved us on many occasions. The app also will pipe into Google’s transit and walking directions databases if you prefer to use those modes instead of driving.

Here are some others that might be worth checking out:

Carbon Footprint

GreenMeterp

pConsumpt

MeterRead

Get Green

ShopGreen

Green You

Growing Up Green

Green Lemur

iLocovore

Gas Buddy

iGreen

Recycler

Georgia Organics 2009 - 2010 Local Food Guide

Georgia Organics recently released its 2009 - 2010 Local Food Guide. You can download it for free as a .pdf from their website or you can use their lookup tool.

The guide uses locator maps to effectively divide the state up into five regions; Mountain, Metro, Piedmont, East Coastal Plain and West Coastal Plain. Each regional map shows the locations of all the businesses and organizations that are detailed in the guide. This is great if you either don't know what is around you in the way of local/organic food or if you are traveling and are unfamiliar with the area. Each locator map tags the Farms, Farmers' Markets and Restaurants with different tags so the reader can locate things quickly. The guide then details each region by county and provides a description with contact info for each business.

If you are in the metro area, you'll be happy to know that there are 32 farms, 26 farmers' markets, 54 restaurants and 23 grocers available to you in the 13 county metro area. This is a great source of dining ideas if you're looking to eat out. A few of our favorites that are in the guide are Canoe, 5 Seasons Brewery (both locations) and R. Thomas' Deluxe Grill. A couple others that are on the list that we are looking forward to checking out are The Hil at Serenbe and Watershed.

Jason's Deli - A Quick, Healthy Eating Option

If you are out and about town and are in the need of a quick stop for food, Jason' Deli might be the perfect idea.  Don't fall into the trap of thinking that Jason's is just another sandwich shop.  They are much more than that.  Jason's has an incredible selection of healthful organic food on their menu and at their delicious salad bar. They made news recently by removing high fructose corn syrup from thier menu in every way possile.  This follows their anouncement in 2005 to eliminate trans fats and MSG in every way possible. About the only place you will find HFCS is in their soft drinks and you'll have a difficult time finding trans fats or msg anywhere. Their prices are very reasonable especially given the quality of the food. You won't find a dollar menu but $6 to $7 per person for a healthy, nutritious meal isn't going to break the bank.

Some of our favorite things about Jason's.

• Great organic selection and salad bar.
• Limited HFCS.
• Non-disposable plates, glasses and silverware when eating in the deli.
• Lots of locations. 10 in the Atlanta Area!
• Friendly staff.

Jason's Deli is taking many steps in the right direction to a greener restaurant industry and a healthier world in general.  I only wish more high volume franchises would do the same.  If you are interested in finding out more about Jason's Deli, check out their website. They also update a blog every couple of weeks here. Also, they have info on their HFCS and organic policies on YouTube.

You can find all of the Jason's Deli locations in the Atlanta area on the GreenPeaches map.

5 Seasons - Great Local Dining & Beer

This is one of our favorite restaurants in Alpharetta.  Obviously, the food and beer brewed on site at 5 Seasons is delicious.  The thing that most people don't recognize is that 5 Seasons is one of the most environmentally friendly dining experiences in Atlanta.  They source much of their food locally and a good bit of the menu is organic.  The seafood is generally from the Florida gulf coast and is brought in daily.  I'm not too sure about the sustainability there but it sure is tasty.

If you are on the north side of Atlanta, you can probably get to one of their locations fairly easily.  5 Seasons currently has two locations and they expect to expand to  three locations in early 2009.  They first opened in 2001 in the Prado in Sandy Springs.  The second location is close to home in Alpharetta on Old Milton Parkway.  The new location is set for the intersection of Marietta Street and Howell Mill in Atlanta's booming West End.  I'm looking forward to seeing the beer list there.

Their website says the owners' shared vision is:

• Casual, Welcoming Surroundings
• Abundant Handcrafted Beers, On-demand
• Menus Changing With Local Growing Seasons
• Authenticity Rules, With Everything Prepared In-house  

I'd say they do a great job hitting on all four points.  5 Seasons hits a home run with their environmental efforts.  Yes, there are lots of things that restaurants can do to clean their image but without an in-depth investigation, it looks as though 5 Seasons is doing the right things.  They also compare favorably to other restaurants of their caliber on price.

Check out their webiste for events such as monthly Wine tastings and Beer & Cheese tastings.  These events are priced affordably and you may see me there pretty soon.

Top 10 Quick Fixes

I had a friend come to me yesterday after she watched An Inconvenient Truth and ask me what she could do to make her lifestyle a little bit greener.  She wasn't up for anything radical but wanted some small ideas.  So, I figured this would be a good time to put together a list of 10 Quick Fixes for nouveau-Green folks out there who don't know where to go or what to do.

Whether your goal is to help stop global warming, lower your energy bills, or help save the environment, energy efficiency is one of the first steps you can take to begin contributing.  It is something you can directly impact and helps in multiple ways.  I've broken these down into two categories, Around the House and Outside the House.

Around the House

 - Lower your Thermostat during the winter and raise it during the summer - Space heating and/or air conditioning accounts for about 50% of the average home's energy usage.  You save about 2% per degree that you lower or raise.  68 degrees during the winter months and 78 degrees during the summer months is usually recommended.  Use a programmable thermostat to take the remembering thing out of it.  Lower the heat another 10 degrees when you go to bed.  Also, set it lower/higher when you are away from the house for extended periods like work or vacation.  Don't forget to check your air filters either.  Doing all of these will save you a significant amount on your bills. 

- Keep your hot water heater on a medium or 120degree setting - You don't need it hotter than that.  Your water heater accounts for about 22% of your overall energy usage.  You may also want to consider low flow shower heads and faucets.  There are some very affordable and functional models out there and you don't need a PhD to install them.  Don't forget to use cold or warm water for wash loads and keep your showers short.

- Switch to CFL bulbs and get rid of those incandescent - Lighting and other appliances (non-refrigerator/dishwasher) account for about 13% of your energy usage.  A CFL bulb will use about 2/3rds less energy than a comparable incandescent bulb and it will last about 10 times longer.  Current estimates put the monetary savings at about 12x the cost of the bulb.  i.e. over the lifetime of a $3 CFL, you will save $36 over the use of the same lumen producing incandescent bulbs.  Be careful because there are some lighting situations that an incandescent bulb performs better.  These tend to be short on/off type lights where they are only on for brief periods of time.

- Keep your refrigerator in proper working order - Your refrigerator uses about 15% of the energy in your home.  Keep it on the correct temperature, clean the coils, and keep the freezer clean.  This should save you about $5 - $10 per month on your utility bill.  Also, you may want to keep your freezer and fridge full as an empty refrigerator is just cooling air which quickly escapes every time you open the door.  This will also keep you eating in which will keep your food bills lower, keep you from driving as much, and give less encouragement to the highly inefficient restaurant industry.

Outside the House 

- Minimize the number of trips you take -  When you head out to run some errands, go to the store, get something to eat, head to Starbucks, or whatever, try to pack a few trips into one.  This will save on gas and will lower the wear and tear on your car.  You'll find that a little pre trip planning will also save you some time.

- Fill Your Tires properly - Your tires typically lose about 1psi per month.  So, we would suggest filling them once a month and checking them each time you fill up.  You should check the tire pressure when the tires are cold for the most accurate reading as the friction from contact with the road while driving will excite the air molecules inside the tires and cause them to give a higher than actual reading.  You should also rotate frequently and check for uneven wear.

- Clean Your Car Air Filter - Most air filters will last about 12k miles.  There will be dirt accumulated on the outer edges of the air filter after a couple thousand miles.  Don't let the oil change guy sucker you into paying for something you don't need but you should remain vigilant in checking it yourself to ensure that you aren't wasting unnecessary money on gas.  This item is especially important on older cars.  Newer cars don't see as big of an impact on gas mileage with a dirty filter.  They do however see a noticeable decrease in power.

- Eat Out Less - The restaurant industry is one of the most inefficient industries in the world, wasting both energy and food on a monumental scale.  Stay at home and learn to cook something new and invite some friends over for dinner.  It's more rewarding and unless you are a gourmet chef it is cheaper.

- Buy Less Stuff - Consumer goods are awesome! I love them but I really try to buy only what I need.  Think about the amount of energy spent designing, producing, packaging, and transporting the goods you buy.  A good trick is to make a pact to not buy anything on impulse and instead take at least a week (in some cases a month) to decide whether you really need what you originally wanted.

- Eat Less Meat - Meat is an incredible contributor to global warming.  It's not really in the scope of Efficiency Solutions but you can learn more here.  The methane released from livestock is actually a more significant contributor to global warming than CO2 but you wouldn't know that from the news.  To do your part, try something radical like eating a vegetarian diet for 1 week or even 1 day a week.  We do a one month vegetarian diet each year and love it.  I doubt that I will ever fully give up meat because it tastes really good and is a great source of protein but eating a little less is something most of us can definitely do.

Ok, I have detailed some pretty easy things to change that will help you significantly reduce your carbon footprint and begin living a greener and more efficient lifestyle.  Good luck!

 MDH