Take the commuter challenge! 

The following information is provided by our friends at Trailnet.

Stop by one of our refueling stations for breakfast and coffee on your way to work to celebrate National Bike to Work Day with Trailnet!  Last year we saw over 330 cyclists… let’s beat that this year!

When: Friday, May 18, 2012, 6:30-9:00 a.m.

Where:

• Big Shark, 6133 Delmar Boulevard, St. Louis, MO 63112
• Children’s Hospital, 1 Children’s Place, St. Louis, MO 63110, hosted by St. Louis Children’s Hospital
• Mungenast St. Louis Honda, 5939 So. Lindbergh Blvd., St Louis 63123, hosted by Dave Mungenast
• Downtown Bicycle Station, 1011 Locust Street, St. Louis, MO 63101
• Ferguson Bicycle Shop, 429 South Florissant Road, Ferguson, MO 63135, hosted by Live Well Ferguson
• Kaldi’s on DeMun, 700 DeMun Avenue, Clayton, MO 63105, hosted by Pedal the Cause
• Missouri History Museum, 5700 Lindell Boulevard, St. Louis, MO 63112
• Missouri Botanical Gardens, corner of Tower Grove and Shaw, St. Louis, MO 63110
• The Patio Cafe, 7711 Bonhomme Avenue, Clayton, MO 63105, hosted by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation
• Straub’s Webster Groves, 211 W. Lockwood Avenue, Webster Groves, MO 63119, hosted by Team Revolution
• Temple Emanuel, 12166 Conway Road, St. Louis, MO 63141

Special thanks to Companion bakery for providing the fuel to our riders… aka bagels!

Here are some ways to Green your holidays this year.

Kickoff your holidays the Green way by cooking your Turkey through a paper bag. Here is the recipe found at http://www.greatpartyrecipes.com/how-to-cook-a-turkey.html On the website, you can also find more green ways to cook your Thanksgiving turkey.

Paper Bag Turkey
1 whole turkey, 23-25 pounds
1 large brown paper bag (grocery bag)
Butter, soft but not melted
Salt or garlic salt and pepper to taste

Remove neck and giblets from cavities. Rinse the turkey and pat dry with paper towels. Stuff, if desired.

Thoroughly coat the turkey with butter using your fingers or a paper towel. Season generously.

Place the turkey in the paper bag. Seal the bag with staples, paper clips or a needle and thread. (Use 2 bags if 1 is too small.)

Place the turkey on a sturdy shallow baking pan. Bake at 325° for about 5 hours. Reduce the cooking time to 4-4 1/2 hours for an unstuffed or smaller turkey.

And no, the paper will not burn, and the turkey will not taste like paper. But you will enjoy all those little gasps of appreciation when you “unwrap” your perfect paper bag turkey.

When Turkey day is done:
Buy a real Christmas tree instead of a fake.

Decorate your Christmas tree with natural materials such as popcorn and cranberries.

Use tablecloths that are made out of fabric.

Use silverware and dishes that are not disposable.

Send out online invite cards.

Buy Eco friendly gift cards made out of bioplastic materials such as corn based and a material called Mirel. Target sells these types of cards.

Wrap up larger gifts with pillowcases and smaller gifts with newspaper.

Give battery free gifts.

Choose meat and vegetables that are locally and sustainably grown.

Organize a media swap full of movies, books, CDs, etc. with family and friends.

It seems like most retailers this year are pushing their LED holiday lights—and with good reason. LED lights trump their old-fashioned incandescent counterparts in every category.

It’s true that LED light strands cost more than the old kind upfront—you’ll be paying about 25%-30% more to hang them from your home’s gutters—but you’re getting such a better product for your one-time investment. It would be like buying a Tesla electric car—of course it costs about $100,000 more than a Honda Civic, but think about how much more satisfaction the Tesla will bring you. The Tesla looks better and I’m willing to bet it’s a heck of a lot more fun to drive.

If you’re willing to “test-drive” LED holiday lights this year, you’re going to notice their energy savings right away. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, LEDs use just 9.3% of the energy of a standard mini-bulb string and a mere 2.2% of a standard C-7 string (See chart below).

LED strands have some other pretty cool advantages as well: They’re shatterproof and nearly impossible to break, which means if you drop them off your ladder and step on them on your way back down, they will still be intact. LED strands are also built with longevity in mind—the bulbs are rated for 50,000 hours, have no filaments to burn out, and the bulb contacts are coated with zinc to fend off rust. Those old strands can’t even come close!

You can bet that my pathetic old half-broken holiday lights are on their way to be recycled—I think it’s definitely time to trade them in for a shiny new Tes…I mean a great strand of LED lights.

Here are the energy consumption numbers the Department of Energy came up with:

The cost of running each type of light string for 12 hours per day for 40 days:

*Assumes an electricity price of 10.5 cents per kilowatt hour (Annual Energy Outlook 2008 Residential Average).

Furnace filters have always confounded me—sure, I understand their purpose (making the furnace run better and cleaning indoor air)—but there are just so many types to choose from and remembering the proper dimensions is always somewhat of a challenge. It’s even more difficult when you consider their ecological impact!

I suppose I could make it easier by first breaking down the types of filters into two general categories: Disposable and permanent. The disposable filters, generally speaking, can be further broken down into pleated and spun fiberglass types. And then there are the “High Performance” electrostatic-charged pleated filters (such as Filtrete). These uber filters have been embraced by organizations such as the American Lung Association because of their efficiency rating—typically 80-85%, which makes indoor air much cleaner. The downside? High cost, unsurprisingly. These filters will cost $600 over a 10-year period (average cost of $15 a piece, with a replacement interval of 3 months). Comparatively, a standard pleated filter, also replaced every 3 months, will run about $200 for 10 years. The basic spun glass filter, which costs the least per filter (only about $2.50), will run about $300 for 10 years, assuming that it gets changed every month, as recommended. Of course, with these lower-priced filters efficiency is sacrificed; a standard pleat maxes out at 20-30% efficiency, while spun glass is less than 20% efficient.

You or I could spend $60 a year on top-of-the line filters and be satisfied knowing that most of those nasty VOCs and allergens are being removed from the indoor air we’re breathing. But then, we would be generating a ton of waste. Why not consider a permanent, washable filter, such as the “Lifetime Eco-Filter” from WEB? They’ll run about 20 bucks and last 10 years—they can be purchased at hardware stores such as HomeDepot and Lowes. WEB’s filters are made from post-consumer recycled materials and come in one size that quickly adjusts to fit many standard furnace sizes. They’re also 40-50% efficient and can easily be cleaned with water. Just make sure they’re completely dry before re-installing to stop mold from growing in the system.

I guess furnace filters aren’t that complicated, after all.

There is so much going on with the emphasis on energy reduction and what simple tips you can do.  I have been pod- casting with Jean Ponzi from the Earthways Center on EcoLifeStl.com and here are our top five.
1) Phantom Energy -this is all the stuff that is plugged in that you may not be using, toaster ovens with a clock, mine has a clock and it is never right, I use the stove clock that is five feet away.  Cell phone chargers, vcrs, dvds, all these can be put on a power strip that doesn’t draw even while it is plugged in.

2) Energy Star – Buy appliances with the Energy Star label.  Energystar.gov

3) Home Energy Audits -There are several auditors in the St. Louis area that do audits. I had mine done by Home Green Home in January.  It is a very simple process. They did the audit, gave me a report and a price to do all the work.

4) Weather Sealing – Simple things like caulking around your windows and doors, inside and out. I removed my ceiling fan recently because we rarely used it and it was like having a window open, constantly leaking. The fan was right above the thermostat so the air temperature change would continually kick on the thermostat.  The hallway is much more comfortable now and the HVAC doesn’t kick on nearly as much. $ being saved!

5) Maintenance – There is several simple easy things to do. One is cleaning the air conditioner condenser outside. Simple spray off the coils to remove the dirt and debris, this will help in the cooling of your unit. Also don’t forget about the refrigerator coils, a quick vacuum can reduce the work load on the condenser, again saving  energy.

To hear more about what You can do listen to the Pod-casts on EcoLifeStl.com

Going Green for Baby
1 – There are many online stores selling organic and green baby food, clothing, personal care products, diapers, etc. Check out Fit Pregnancy’s Going Green for a list of these companies.

2 – Indoor air pollutants are often more dangerous than outdoor ones. When painting your baby’s nursery, be sure to use no-VOC paints. Also, switch to safer, biodegradable, and non-toxic brands for your air freshener sprays, toilet bowl cleaners, floor cleaners, wood polish, dish soap, and all other cleaning products.

3 – Cloth diapers to reduce the amount of landfill waste. For disposable diapers, choose chlorine-free, or even better, choose the biodegradable and flushable gDiapers, which break down completely in as little as 51 days. Wet gDiapers compost very well in your backyard.

4 – Resale shops offer new or almost new infant and children’s clothing at a fraction of the cost. In St. Louis, check out Kangaroo Kids or Once Upon a Child for gently used baby and kid items. Buying and selling used saves you a lot of money and also gives items another chance to be useful to someone else before finding their way to the dumpster.

Thanks to little R!

What is organic cotton?

Organic cotton is cotton that has been grown for at least three years without chemical pesticides, defoliants, or fertilizers. It is also processed without oils, chemicals, and pesticides.

What is transitional cotton?

Transitional cotton is cotton that has been grown organically, but for less than three years. As farmers transition from growing cotton without pesticides and chemicals to growing it completely organically, the soil needs time to return to a non-fertilized state before the cotton grown in it can be truly considered organic. Buying transitional cotton helps farmers take the steps to eventually grow 100% organically.
Information found at: http://store.kidbean.com and stlouisgreen.com e-news.  To receive the e-news visit www.stlouisgreen.com and submit your e-mail.

You’ve probably heard by this point that bamboo isn’t a tree at all, but a grass. Bamboo represents a family of grasses that range in size from tiny to huge, and in color from lime green to maroon stripes. It is incredibly fast-growing and versatile, and it has become the unofficial poster material of environmental designers and builders.

Bamboo can be flattened into flooring, molded into furniture, pressed into veneers, sliced up to make window blinds, or hey, you can just build your whole house out of it. Using bamboo in buildings earns architects and builders LEED points.

Most bamboo comes from China and is grown with few or no pesticides. Because it is so fast-growing, it is much easier to maintain healthy bamboo forests. Although, this also means it uses a lot of water and harvesting too fast can deplete soil fertility. Some growers do use pesticides and other chemical inputs, however, so keep that in mind. But for the most part, bamboo is one of the greenest materials around.

Information found at: treehugger.com and stlouisgreen.com e-news

1 – Only fill up your auto in the early morning when the ground temperature is still cold. All service stations have their storage tanks buried below ground. The colder the ground, the more dense the gasoline. As the ground warms, gasoline expands, and so buying in the afternoon or in the evening… your gallon is not exactly a gallon.

2 – When you’re filling up, use the slowest speed; do not squeeze the trigger of the nozzle to a fast mode. The trigger has 3 stages: low, middle, and high. In slow mode, vapors created by pumping are minimized. All hoses at the pump have a vapor return. If you are pumping quickly, some of the liquid that goes to your tank becomes vapor and gets sucked back into the underground storage tank.

3 – Most importantly, fill up when your tank is half full. The reason is that the more gas you have in your tank, the less air you have occupying the empty space. Gasoline evaporates faster than you can imagine.

4 – Last, if there is a gasoline truck pumping into the storage tanks when you stop to buy gas, DO NOT fill up — Most likely the gasoline is being stirred up as more pours into the tanks, and you might pick up some of the dirt that normally settles on the bottom.

thanks to Jessica Ingraham.

Here are 12 tips for how to stretch a tank of gas.

1. Change your air filter. A clogged air filter leaves your engine gasping for breath and means you’re probably running with a “rich” mixture, that is, more gas and less air. Many department and auto stores carry air filters, and they are simple to change. A clogged air filter can cost you 1 mpg. Replace your air filter regularly.

2. Change your oil as recommmended by manufacturer. Usually every 3000 miles. Dirty oil cuts back engine efficiency, so make sure your oil is changed according to the car manufacturer’s recommended schedule. You can change your own, and buying your own oil is much cheaper. There’s a drain plug under your engine that will come out readily with a wrench. Have a bucket ready to catch the dirty oil, and remember to dispose of it safely and responsibly. NEVER empty your used oil in the sewer or in your lawn.

3. If your fan belt is too tight, your engine is working too hard and wasting gas. The belt should give a little to finger pressure when the engine is not running. if it doesn’t, you can easily adjust the tension with a wrench.

4. Change your old spark plugs. Badly worn spark plugs can cost you as much as 2 mpg. This is probably a job for a trained technician.

5. The car has been a way of life for most Americans. There are alternatives. These include mass transit, bike paths, and carpools.

6. Purchase smaller vehicles. Heavier cars are more costly to run. A reduction of 200 pounds in automotive weight typically improves fuel economy by nearly 5 percent.

7. Use the air conditioner in your car as little as possible. It uses a lot of gas. Roll down the windows and get some fresh air!

8. Using cruise control can save gas. If you drive on the open road often, staying at a constant speed will save fuel.

9. If you are taking a trip, start while traffic is light. Plan to stop for meals at times when traffic is heavy.

10. Don’t let your car idle for a long time to warm it up. Also, don’t let your car idle for more than a minute after it is warmed up-this idling wastes more gas than restarting your car.

11. Do not rev the engine and then quickly shut your car off. This wastes gas. It also pumps raw gasoline into the cylinder walls. This can wash away a film of oil that protects the cylinders and will increase engine wear.

12. Check your tires. Your owner’s manual has important information on your tires, including the correct air pressure that should be in them. Underinflation of your tires can cost you as much as 1 mpg. Radial tires have 50 percent less road resistance, so they give you 3 to 19 percent better mpg.

Adapted from 547 Ways to be Fuel Smart, by Roger Albright. Thanks Critter!