Fresh AIRE

Take Energy Action this Earth Day

With Earth Day upon us, many of you may be wondering what you can do to help protect our environment. Maybe you feel like you’ve already done everything you can, or maybe the prospect of making your home more energy efficient seems daunting. Fortunately, no matter where you are on the spectrum, ENERGY STAR is here to help.

This Earth Day, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is announcing “ENERGY STARs Across America” – a nationwide, grassroots effort to help families learn about energy saving actions they can take in their homes and communities that will help protect the climate.

There are lots of ways to get involved:

• Join the 2.7 million Americans who have taken the ENERGY STAR Pledge at www.energystar.gov/changetheworld
• Find energy efficiency events near you with EPA’s ENERGY STARs Across America map. These events -- featuring everything from light bulb exchanges to community service projects -- provide opportunities for the whole family to learn about ENERGY STAR and energy efficiency in a fun and engaging way.
• Enter the Be an ENERGY STAR Video Challenge. Pick up your video camera and document how you save energy in your home, school, workplace and community. Selected videos will be featured on energystar.gov and ENERGY STAR social media sites. This fall, ENERGY STAR’s online audience will vote for their favorite videos to be showcased in ENERGY STAR’s Energy Awareness Month video in October. Enter the challenge here.

Last year alone, Americans, with the help of ENERGY STAR, saved $18 billion on their energy bills while reducing the greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to those of 33 million vehicles. These are pretty impressive statistics, but that doesn’t mean we can’t make 2011 even bigger and better!

A New Perspective From HB Woodlawn

Hi everyone!  First, I'm Ashley and I am a sophomore at HB Woodlawn. I am working at Fresh AIRE as part of an internship for school credit, but I am also using this opportunity as my Gold Award for Girl Scouts-not to mention I'm learning all sorts of new things about energy! 

Last night, I made an account on www.earthaid.net, it is a website that helps track energy consumption.  All I had to do was look up our home account information at Washington Gas and Dominion Power, and it graphs your usage, shows you your carbon footprint and gives tips on how to reduce consumption.

 

Rain Barrels – Back to Basics

The rain barrel idea is simple.  Stick a drum under your downspout at home to catch rainwater and store it for later use.  This helps the environment, lowers your water and sewer bill, and makes your garden thrive in dry times. There’s no point in throwing away rainwater if you can make use of it, right?  After all, water stored in your rain barrel is water that won’t rush off your property and into local streams.  By decreasing stormwater runoff, rain barrels help reduce stream erosion and the pollution that washes into Arlington streams and the Chesapeake Bay.

By installing a rain barrel at your home you will:

Arlington Expands Successful Recycling Program

Arlington County is enhancing its recycling program for people who live, work, or visit multi-family or commercial establishments. The County now calls for multi-family residential properties and businesses to give residents and customers the opportunity to recycle more materials, such as cardboard, magazines, plastics, and metal items. Commercial property owners will receive letters detailing the changes.

“The County continues expanding its recycling program to make it easy for all to recycle in Arlington – whether they live in multi-family properties or work for a local business,” said Dept. of Environmental Services Director William O’Connor III.  “By stepping up education and recycling requirements in the County, we plan to capture more recyclables while reducing trash – which ultimately will provide cost savings for County businesses and residents while helping to preserve our resources.”

 

Energy Efficiency Federal Tax Credit Extended, Reduced

If you planned to make energy efficiency improvements to your home and receive Federal tax credits but missed the December 31st deadline we mentioned here,we have good news!

Congress and President Obama passed legislation that extends federal tax credits for energy-saving upgrades another year.  The tax credits were set to expire at the end of 2010 but have been extended until December 31, 2011.  However, the incentive has been reduced to 10%, up to $500.  In 2010, the incentive was 30% up to $1,500.00.

 

Change your life in 30 days

If you love your car, but also love saving money, improving your health and helping the environment, Arlington County is looking for you.

The Car-Free Diet Skeptics Challenge is designed for Arlington County residents that currently drive their cars frequently, but are willing to try car-free living for 30 days. If you are chosen as one of the final Skeptics, for 30 days you’ll share your experiences online, through videos, blog posts, Facebook, Twitter, and Foursquare. This is where your creativity comes in handy. Make a movie of your commute. Write a blog entry describing your evening bike ride. Share helpful tips and things you've learned on your Facebook and Twitter pages.

 

 

It's Christmas Tree Collection & Recycling Time

Christmas Tree Collection will be from January 3-14, 2011 on your regular refuse day. 

 

Since trees will be ground into wood mulch, please:

• remove the tree stand
• remove lights and decorations
• Do not place the tree in a plastic bag.

 

During the first two full weeks in January, Christmas trees are collected curbside for residents with curbside refuse and recycling service. Residents are reminded to place the tree on the curb no later than 6 a.m. on your regular trash collection day and to remove all decorations, nails, stands, and plastic bags. After the trees are collected, they will be ground into wood mulch for garden use. Special unbundled brush or metal pickups will be suspended during this time.

After Jan. 14, holiday trees will not be recycled, but will be collected as trash on your regular trash collection day.  After Jan. 14, residents may also resume making requests for special curbside pickup of unbundled brush and metal by telephoning the Department of Environmental Services at 703-228-6570 (703-228-4611 TTY) the day before regular collection from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., weekdays.

Arlington County Justice Center Awarded EPA ENERGY STAR Label

• Retrofits saving County $450,000 annually
•  First County building to receive highly sought after designation
• Meets strict energy performance standards
• One of only 34 courthouses nationwide to receive ENERGY STAR label in 2010

ARLINGTON, Va. – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has awarded the Arlington County Justice Center, which includes the Courthouse and Detention Center, its ENERGY STAR label. The first government building in the County to receive an ENERGY STAR, the Justice Center meets strict energy performance standards, uses less energy, costs less to operate, and creates fewer greenhouse gas emissions than three-quarters of courthouse facilities nationwide.

"The Justice Center ENERGY STAR is an important recognition of Arlington County’s on-going commitment to environmental stewardship,” said Jay Fisette, Chairman of the Arlington County Board. “By working together with the Sheriff’s Office and employing forward-looking and innovative practices, Arlington is one step closer to realizing our vision for a sustainable, energy-efficient community.”

13 percent reduction in energy consumption

 

Snow = Opportunity!

While a few inches of snow may be a nuisance to some, it presents an opportunity for those in the know.

Inspect your roof as the snow melts and compare it to your neighbors.  Snow melt is one easy way to identify inadequate insulation and air leakage in your attic. The pictures below show a few examples of homes that have poor or inadequate attic insulation.

This lack of insulation wastes money and can lead to significant ice dams that cause damage to your gutters and roof.  For a limited time you can still use the Federal Tax credit to insulate your roof for about 75¢ per square foot or less. Insulating your attic can have a payback period of about 2-6 years and make your home significantly more comfortable.

 

Here are some examples of what to look for:

This home has major ice dams that are blocking the front entrance. Sealing attic bypasses and insulating to proper levels would stop this problem and the heating bills for this home would be considerably reduced.

Below, the snow on the roof melted except for the cold outermost edges around the eaves, creating icicles and ice dams. Notice the unheated garage roof is still full of snow. The neighbors house apparently has adequate levels of insulation as they have no sign of snow melt.

The house shown below was 9 years old when the front left room was discovered to have no ceiling insulation. You can clearly see the break between the insulated and uninsulated areas.

Below is an example of GREAT INSULATION in the forefront and the other homes beyond with inferior insulation.  Notice the row house in the front part of the picture, it is the only home with snow on it.  The other roofs have a white coating which helps in the summer, but the others clearly aren’t insulated nearly as well as the first.  Also notice the great solar tube and solar panels.

When you insulate you home you also reduce the amount of time your heating and cooling equipment run which lengthens their useful life and reduces maintenance.

Even when you can’t see the snow melt patterns on your roof, an inadequately or improperly insulated roof costs you money daily in the winter and summer!  Imagine dollar bills flying off your roof hourly!

Take a look around your house and let us know if you find anything surprising!

 

Register for Arlington Green Games - Only 18 More Days!

You likely read about the opening of this new exciting program on our previous blog posting here or our press release here.  There are only 18 days remaining to register your commercial property or office for Arlington's Green Games. 

 

The Arlington Green Games is a friendly competition for commercial property owners/managers and office tenants to reduce costs while reducing their emissions. The year-long competition pits buildings against buildings and offices against offices in the race for business gold. The highly interactive program incorporates trainings, best practices, and technical assistance along the way. Top performers and most improved scores will be recognized by the County and local media.

 

You can register for the inaugural season here until December, 2010. The inaugural season will occur January 2011 - December 2011 and winners will be determined in early 2012.

 

Learn more below and register today!

http://www.arlingtongreengames.com