Energy Audits: Not At All Painful

Audit. To many people, the word is enough to incite a feeling of discomfort. Audits are considered to be bad things, signs that you’ve done something wrong with your taxes or some other policy. But energy audits are a completely different animal.

So what does an energy audit entail? What is its purpose? Well, the entire idea is that an auditor will come into your home, and does some tests to essentially figure out how energy efficient your entire home is, and then can let you know what improvements you can make to improve that efficiency.

Energy Efficiency: Green is What You Save, Not What You Spend

Image via Wikipedia

Today, as a part of my internship with You Save Green, I assisted in an energy audit. I’ll talk more about that later, but what I want to discuss here is the multitude of economic opportunities provided to those looking to make their homes more sustainable.

New Year’s Resolutions

The Pillars of Sustainability

It’s almost time for one of my favorite holidays – New Year‘s! Now why do I love New Year’s so much? Because, it’s one of the only times each year you get a chance to start fresh. It’s a great time to make some resolutions to improve your life and the lives of others.

What are your plans for this year? Why not make a sustainable resolution this year? When I say sustainable, I mean that you should make a resolution that you can finally follow through with. Make it simple but impactful. Instead of saying “I’m going to lose weight,” make it a quantifiable goal,

NYC Makes Christmas ‘Greener’ Than Ever Before

Travel to New York this winter? In the ‘City that never sleeps’ it’s no surprise that there are quite a large number of lights, which not-so-shockingly use up their fair share of energy. And of course, at Christmas time, during the holiday season, one would expect this energy usage to skyrocket. With all of the big decorations – the tree in Rockefeller Center, plus some new things – there has to be a huge impact on the environment, right? Well, there’s where you’d be surprised. Many of these decorations are actually quite environmentally friendly, at least as much as they possibly can be.

Christmas is over, so what now?

WAIT! Before you throw out those boxes or return that hideous sweater your Aunt Tilda bought you, READ THIS! Here’s a quick list of tips about what to do to make sustainable uses of all types of leftovers from Christmas! (or for my people, the still-continuing Hanukkah!

1. Food. Have leftover food? Instead of throwing it out, here are a whole bunch of things you can do with it:

Hippodrome Receives LEED Silver

Congratulations to the Hippodrome Building(1120 Avenue of the America) on receiving a LEED Silver certification! The building, which contains corporate offices and a large parking lot, was noted by the USGBC for having an energy-efficient glass-curtain wall and energy efficient mechanical systems, among other sustainable improvements. If you’re in the city, check it out!

Affordable Sustainability

Take a look at this!

So I was just in a dollar store, and what do I come upon? Even for such a low price, companies are ENCOURAGING sustainability! With affordable containers like these, there’s no need for the plastic bottles and cups that unfortunately don’t usually get recycled! Another point for team Green!

You Save Green!

Today, I started my first real-world experience in the world of sustainability. I began an internship at YouSaveGreen, a full service auditing-installation-maintinence renewable energy company based in Brooklyn, NY. Over the next few weeks, I will be working on their various projects around the area, from planning, to the grunt work, and covering everything from solar, to wind, to geothermal energy.

Last Minute Green Decorating Tips

If your family is anything like mine, you’ve likely just started decorating for the holidays. Whether or not you’ve decorated already, these tips should come in handy this year, or in years to come.

1. Use green lights.

Do I Matter?

I’ve spoken to a few people about this blog recently, and all of the expressed the same sentiments: They felt that no matter what they did, whatever they were doing would make too small of an impact to matter, and therefore just didn’t do it. They thought that just like they felt no reason to go bottle free, or recycle, or shut the water while brushing their teeth, that I shouldn’t bother with this blog because it won’t make a noticeable difference.

However, this is exactly what the point of this blog is. I want to get the message out there that no matter who you are, where you live, or what you do, you are making an impact on the environment, so why not make it a good one? I think that the tips I present provide enough easy, painless ways to make this happen.