at home

Like many of us, writer Colin Beavan was frustrated by the slow political response to the threat of climate change. (Can that pace still be referred to as “glacial”?) Unlike the rest of us, he decided to take matters into his own hands by becoming No Impact Man. No Impact Family, actually: “For one year, my wife, my 2-year-old daughter, my dog and I, while living in the middle of New York City, are attempting to live without making any net impact on the environment. In other words, no trash, no carbon emissions, no toxins in the water, no elevators, no subway, no products in packaging, no plastics, no air conditioning, no TV, no toilets. . . .” Not even caffeine. The experiment began in November, 2006, and you can find out how it went on Beavan’s No Impact Man blog. Or see the movie, which got a standing ovation at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Either way, you’ll be entertained and learn a lot — not just about genuinely effective ways to reduce our carbon footprint, but about the ripple effect that one person’s radical act can set into motion.

Summer’s the easiest time of the year to eat locally. All kinds of fruits and vegetables are starting to ripen, whether in your garden or piling up on stands at the farmer’s market. If you don’t have a patch of dirt to call your own, how about finding a community garden through the American Community Gardening Association? It’s a great way to meet your neighbors and spend less to feed your family great food. If you’d just as soon have the tomatoes and peaches show on your doorstep, consider supporting “community supported agriculture” by joining a CSA. Members who subscribe to CSA farms receive a box of fresh seasonal fruits and veggies each week. To locate a farm or market near you, enter your zip code in the Get Local Info box on The Daily Green's homepage.

How cool is this? Berthold Kaufmann’s home in Darmstadt, Germany,
is warm and dry despite the freezing rain — and it has no furnace. No geothermal heat. No big electric cord snaking out the back door. In fact, the house gets its heat and hot water from no more juice than it takes to run a hair dryer. So what’s the energy source? Sunlight, along with heat from home appliances and body heat from Kaufmann, his wife, and their two kids. Why is that enough? Because superinsulation and sophisticated windows encase the home in a shell that’s practically airtight. Heat-recovery ventilation systems recycle almost all of the building’s warmth, and little cold seeps in.

In Germany passive houses cost only a bit more to build because the commercial infrastructure’s already in place. That’s not the case in the United States, and American houses tend to sprawl, making them harder to insulate. Maybe by the time the mortgage crisis wanes, more American homeowners will be considering the “Passivhaus” option. How would you feel about an airtight home sweet home?

We’d like to second Fran’s suggestion that you take a look at the three finalists for the X Prize Foundation’s Energy and Environment Challenge, and vote for your favorite video. The stakes are $10 million+ in prize money for the competition most likely to “end our addiction to oil and stem the harmful effects of climate change.”

Much as we appreciated the proud-to-be-a-nerd spirit of the “Capacitor” and “Energy Independence” contenders, we agree with Fran: we think that a competition to “Reduce Home Energy Usage” would be great. The concept is that over a two-year period communities would compete to see which could reduce its home energy consumption the most. The videomakers point out that participants wouldn’t need to be technology experts, and that teams could consist of school districts or homes within a zip code. Could you come up with other kinds of communities that might mobilize around this challenge? What do you think about the approach of using the prize to tackle energy consumption instead of alternative energy production?