The Five Eco Principles – Smart Design

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While in Chicago in April, I had a chance to visit the museum of science & industry.  The experience was great, and my friend and I thoroughly enjoyed the museum.  We were both intrigued enough to pay the extra ~$25 or so to see the smart house.  We were not disappointed, and left with some good ideas about things to re-use and things to purchase made from re-used items.  Recently, I thought it would be a good idea to share the principles with the readers, and figure out how you can best take advantage of them.  Today is the first one, focusing on smart design.

Design is important for plenty of reasons.  No one would want to live in an eco-friendly house if it looked like a huge eyesore.  I dont care how much you are interested in saving the earth, you wouldnt want to live in an ugly house.  So, one of the prime things an eco friendly house needs is good (looking) design.  You should not need to sacrifice looks to be eco-friendly, and you wont need to.  Having lots of windows will allow for more heat in the summer, but also keep your place cooler in the winter.  Opening windows will allow for a nice cross breeze that can cool your house down quickly, which can save you more on cooling costs in the summer.  Adding fans is also a good way to keep the temperatures under control.  Force the heat down in the winter and change direction in the summer to move the warm air out.

Alot of the smart design principles are important, but one of the easiest to appease is probably the location of windows.  If you have south facing windows, you can leave the windows open for natural light, cutting down on your electricity.  Not on this, but everyone loves windows (as long as you’re not living in a ‘fishbowl’), and they can be beneficial as they cut down on artifical light, as well as heat your home.  Things like this arent rocket scientists, but the large developers dont give them consideration because they are not the ones paying the electrical bills.

Smart Design is not limited to just the inside of the home.  Where I grew up in the Western United States, water was our primary concern.  When it rained (not often) water can be caught in a rain barrell or encouraged to seep into the ground to water grass or flowers.  This is to protect the rivers and drainage basins that storm drains empty into, as the runoff can carry toxic chemicals and other materials that can alter the natural balance of the river or lake ecosystem.  One of the best ways to combat this effect is to have paths of woodchips or gravel, as opposed to cement.  The gravel and woodchips can absorb the water, as opposed to letting water run off, as cement does. You can save on walkway construction costs and will not have to sacrifice anything on design either!

While it is still quite expensive, solar energy is also worth considering.  There’s a 20% federal tax credit on systems, and many states (and some counties) have credits as well.  The payback period is still around 20 years, depending on quite a few factors, but is well worth it, espically if your house was designed well and is not an energy hog in the first place.  The lower your baseload (typical energy usage) is, the smaller number of solar panels you’ll need, recuding your system cost.

Good, eco-friendly design can easily be as visually appealing (or more so) than non eco-friendly design.  It’s also a great starting point, as you can design in many energy saving features, such as lots of windows. Seriously thinking about the lifecycle costs of many decisions made reguarding your home can allow you to live in a more eco (and wallett) friendly way.  Who wouldnt want that?

Sustainability and the New Saucepan

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Recently, I purchased a new saucepan for my kitchen collection.  I was given a windfall, and decided to save the majority of it, but decided to take a bit and treat myself with a new saucepan.  Cooking is something I enjoy, and I had been eyeing a new sauce pan for some time.  The one that I have currently works just fine, however I am in the process of updating my cooking gear and looking to store the current set (given to my by an old roommate) for use in a possible vacation dwelling down the road.

So, you ask, Why does this concern me?

Well, the one that I purchased can be found here, and yes, I did pay 110.00 for a single pan.  I am well aware that it sounds like a but-load of cash (and it is).  When you think of the lifetime cost of the pan, however, it becomes cheaper than most pans.  A typical cooking set comes with 10 pans, and the one sold here costs $89.98.  It comes with two frying pans, 2 sauce pans, four lids and a dutch oven.

While growing up, I can remember my parents going through at least three of these sets, but I am sure that in their many years of marriage it could easily be double that.  I always wondered why they would get new cookware, and why the ones they bought did not last longer.  “They dont make stuff like they used to” my dad would say.  I always wondered why, but just  went along with it.

When the moment came (I regretted being an adult and having to spend my hard earned dollars on cookware), but I did the proper research and settled on a brand and began to purchase items piece by piece.  I’ve grown my collection up to four pieces at this point, and use each one frequently, and have never had any problems cooking (or cleaning!) any of them.  I have included a handy estimation chart to calculate the lifetime cost of purchasing lower quality cookware.

Year Cost Lifetime Cost
0 89.98 89.98
5 89.98 179.96
10 89.98 269.94
15 89.98 359.92
20 89.98 449.90
25 89.98 539.88
30 89.98 629.86
35 89.98 719.84
40 89.98 809.82
45 89.98 899.80
50 89.98 989.78

(I assumed a 5 year life span over 50 years.  If you have to buy your first set in your mid 20’s, I am assuming you wont need anymore cooking gear in your 70s.)

This does not count the shipping of the pots, nor does it take into account the ‘whole’ (or life cycle) cost of the product.  The whole cost is the cost of fuel for transport, the cost of materials disposal or any related costs of making, purchasing and disposing of the product 10 times!  As opposed to doing this, you could purchase one high quality set (here, total cost of $850) and use it for the lifetime.  While the set requires a large capital outlay, you can obtain your cookware piece by piece.  Will you ever really get “tired” of using the same pans for 50+ years? Well, maybe, but you can get over that.  These higher quality items will also be available for your children when you’re done on the planet.

Purchasing the cookware just once will also allow for a healthier planet in the longer term, as well as a positive return for your cooking new pan dollar.  So next time you need a new pan readers, what will you choose?

For further reading on life cycle analysis, check the following

  1. EPA Life cycle Analysis – EPA’s information about what a life cycle analysis is, and how it can help you.
  2. Life Cycle Assessment tool from Carnegie Mellon

Questions to the readers:

  1. Are there any products which you would pay top dollar for? If so, which ones?
  2. Do you consider the lifetime cost of a product when purchasing the item?

Intro

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This is my first attempt at blogging. I have decided to write this blog because I am very interested in all aspects of sustainability, and would like to share that interest with others.
I have also begun this for other reasons, one of them being that I am a terrible writer, and am hoping that more practice will make my writing better. So to that end, began to think of things that I could write about, and decided to write about sustainability in all aspects of life.

I intend for this blog to cover sustainability in the following areas, but will not let these limit my blog.
– Environmental Sustainability
– Financial Sustainability
– Mental Sustainability
– Personal Health

I am expecting that there will be plenty of things for me to discuss in these topics, and will also be answering questions by email at [email protected]