I've definitely been converted to "tree hugging", but as a profit motivate businessman, and an analytical one at that, am carefully assessing each potential move before making them in a gradual fashion.
I could therefore post the world's longest TUG post on this, but will spare you, just a few thoughts for now :
Personal - House :
- tankless water heaters. Forget electric (nowhere near efficient enough compared to gas), and be careful with gas, due to the (already posted) inefficiencies of wasting water as it heats up and moves around the house... also, if you are in a high humidity area and mount these on outside walls....I'm pretty worried about them rotting well before they hit pay back.
- old fashioned heaters. Get one with proper lagging and a decent digital and programmable thermostat... ancient history in Europe, but standard US water heaters are still using 30+ year old technology standards (minimal lagging, always on, thermostat is a screw you turn).
- A/C. Be careful, don't go to the absolute highest SEER unit, the payback is just not there once you get past about 16 to 18 SEER
- Roof insulation - I've decided to go for open cell foam (after MUCH research). Expensive, but payback is there in a hot climate
- Roof material. For both hurricane preparedness and insulation, standing seam roof.. and WHITE... don't believe them when they say with the new coatings you are just as reflective and emittive with coloured roofing, their own stat make clear what we all learned in school.. white reflects best.
- House direction... if you have this choice.. in a hot climate, face the house to the North, in cold climate, to the South.. again, obvious stuff
- Windows... in a hot climate, get the right windows (low E), double glazed.. if you plan to use the a/c a lot.
- Cistern. In my hot climate (with all water being desalinated), I've gone back to the old fashioned idea of building a cistern under the garage, with that water to be used for landscaping, pool, and toilet flushing.
- Dual flow toilets.. yup, even though using cistern water, I bought them.. daft, eh ?
- Salt water chlorination in the pool... if you haven't converted, do it ! Better for the environment, lower running costs, and much nicer to swim in
- landscaping. If in an area where water is scarce / expensive... minimise the water suckers.. and grass... xeriscaping....
Personal - habits and small changes
- A/C (again).. don't run it lower than 79 (run fans to give more cooling, more efficient than running the a/c any cooler), and turn up to 82-84 during the day if you are out.
- Compact CFLs - only use them in areas where you don't continually turn on and off the light... light any fluorescents, life is based on cycles, not hours.
- Cars... drive less, trade in that SUV for something smaller.. my crystal ball shows old fashioned station wagons making a comeback... I've had a (small) station wagon for years... gets well over 30mpg
- Reusable grocery bags.... use 'em... and wherever possible don't take a bag in a store when they offer you one....
- bottles and cans... give up soda entirely, or if that fails, buy the 2l bottles rather than cans...... ban bottled water, refill bottles from the fridge dispenser (the filters help take out metallic flavours etc from city water)
- don't run the dishwasher / washer / dryer until they are full.....save water and power.
- try to minimise buying heavily packaged foods.. so cook more from fresh ingredients.. it tastes better anyway
- don't buy so many magazine or newspapers.. read the newspaper online (on our islands, over 30% of all waste is paper and cardboard!)
Cayman is terrible at recycling.... it is said we are too small a place to make it worthwhile... but for so wealthy an island, surely it is not too much to ask for us to be more responsible in looking after the place we live and where our children will live ? hmm
Oh, and as for our resort...lots and lots of stuff... so much in fact that I have an intern this summer working on collating all of this so we can track it and also communicate it to our guests and owners.... though having said that, we plan to do more and more in this area... just the right thing to do.
Right.. off back to lentil knitting and yoghurt making
Oh, and in case you think I am a total convert... I'm still a sceptic, I think carbon offsets are just an invention to a) cheaply salve consumer consciences, and b) enrich many middle men....
