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Saving Energy Saves Money
At GreenBy3, we talk a lot about saving money by reducing energy costs. Here are five ideas from our top ten “Biggest Bang for Your Buck” list of tips to save energy. (You may have seen some of them before. That’s because they work!)
- Control Your Thermostat — for heating, set your thermostat at 68 degrees or less during the day and 60 degrees when you’re away or sleeping. For cooling, try 78 degrees when you’re home and 80 degrees when you’re away. You’ll save approximately 1% for every degree of night setback.
- Lower Your Water Temperature — Usually you can lower the temperature on your hot water heater to 120 degrees (medium on a gas heater dial) and never notice – but you’ll cut your water heating costs by 6% – 10%.
- Insulate Your Water Heater — If your hot water heater is older or located in an unheated area — a blanket of fiberglass insulation around it will reduce heat loss by 25% – 45%, saving between 4% – 9% on water heating expenses.
- Replace Your Showerhead – A good quality, low-flow showerhead will reduce your water use by 6 – 7 gallons per minute and you’ll never miss the extra hot water that used to run down the drain while you were in the shower.
- Laundry Tips — Using hot water costs 20 – 40 cents per load. Use cold water for wash and rinse cycles (switch to a cold water detergent) and wash full loads whenever possible. And try an extra spin cycle or two. Your clothes will dry twice as fast! (Bonus laundry tip: Toss a clean dry towel or tennis ball into the dryer to get clothes to dry even faster. The towel absorbs moisture and the tennis ball helps circulate air between clothes.)
Next week we’ll share the rest of our top ten “Biggest Bang for Your Buck” list of tips to save energy — and money!
A Visit with the Green Bees at Flowertown Elementary School
GreenBy3 owner, Jorge Riano, had a great visit recently with the Green Bees — the environmental club at Flowertown Elementary School in Summerville. He was wowed by how smart these 3rd graders are and how much they are doing to reduce their school’s impact on the environment.
The club has been meeting since 2009 when a third grade student asked if there was more they could do at school to help the environment. Since then, the Green Bees have revived a school-wide recycling program, planted several small sustainable gardens and even convinced the Principal to save paper by publishing the school newsletter digitally.
When Riano attended a meeting of the Green Bees, he told the students about his business, answered questions, toured the school and helped the students brainstorm innovative ideas the club can begin implementing in the Spring. Adding some vertical gardens and a compost pile were good, new ideas as well as creating a battery recycling drop-off site at the school.
These Green Bees are making a real difference at home and at school. It is encouraging to know these students will continue to influence those around them to make choices that support our environment.
Helping the Community and the Environment
Last year a small Hispanic church in Summerville realized their building was riddled with termites. The extensive repairs needed were not in the budget. GreenBy3 donated reclaimed lumber and nails to construct a worship center for the congregation to use while they raised money and made necessary repairs to their church building. GreenBy3 also made energy improvements so the new structure would be as air-tight as possible to keep utility bills low.
Centro de Restaurcion Cristiano Ministerio worship center built with reclaimed building materials.
Being able to help this church better cope with an expensive, unanticipated need is exactly why GreenBy3 goes to the trouble to salvage and store used, but usable, building materials.
Reusing reclaimed materials is also a great way to reduce the environmental impact of our commercial projects and to reduce costs for our clients. Part of our mission, value system and business model is to make a positive impact on communities, people and the environment. Our reclamation efforts help us achieve this goal in all three arenas.
We applaud all the efforts that are going on to reclaim and reuse building materials. What makes GreenBy3 different is that when we bring reclaimed goods out of our warehouse, we know they will be used to meet a need and will never end up in the landfill when a buyer finds they not serve the purpose after all.
If you have used or surplus building materials at your home or business, we’d be happy to assess them for needs in the community and/or to reduce the environmental impact of future GreenBy3 projects. Reclaiming and reusing is a win-win practice for you if you’re deconstructing at your home or business and when you’re starting a new project.
Contact us at reclaim@greenby3.com or 843-606-0355. Help us spread the word among your friends who are contractors or who do demolition work.
Two Doors Down Features GreenBy3
Thanks Liz and Kari for a nice piece onGreenBy3 on Two Doors Down this week. This site/blog/directory makes it easy for everyone who wants to shop local, buy local, eat local, and live local whenever you can. The directory of local businesses and services covers several cities including Charleston and Asheville; two areas where GreenBy3 does business.
Rethink Holiday Cards
At GreenBy3 we usually avoid printing things that are likely to just end up in the trash (i.e. brochures, marketing materials). But as the holidays and the end of the year approached, we reflected on how much we sincerely like and appreciate our friends and business associates. We realized we wanted to send holiday cards. Not e-cards, but old-fashioned Christmas Cards that are signed by hand and arrive in the mail.
To send personal greetings with minimal impact on the environment, we designed our own reusable holiday card. When friends have enjoyed our card, they can pen their own message (if they like) and return it to us in the enclosed, self-addressed, stamped envelope.We’ll save the card and send it to them again next year – and the next year, and the next. This is the beginning of a fun holiday tradition shared with the people who make our business a pleasure all year.
Rethink, Reclaim, Revive, Return, Reuse!
We designed our card as a post card with plenty of room for messages on the back. It is printed on recycled card stock with chlorine-free ink. We even used Go Green Forever stamps for postage.
Plenty of room on this side to pen our greetings year after year.
These cards will not end up in the trash in January. And to further reduce our footprint, we won’t be ordering new cards next year. Our returnable, reusable card is good for the environment.
We were pleased to find a way to send our friends, clients and colleagues old-fashioned holiday wishes with an updated twist that makes it good for people, community and the environment. This will just be more fun as the years go by.
Another Win-Win
Earlier in the year, Jorge heard the staff at Crisis Ministries mention they would need an additional storage shed while the new men’s shelter was being built. A lightbulb (energy efficient, of course) went off and Jorge told them “I think I can help you with that.”
Indeed, students in the Building Construction Program at Stratford High School build a shed every year as they learn construction principles. For the last several years, Jorge has helped the program incorporate energy efficient features into the sheds. When Jorge explained the need, it was immediately agreed that upon completion, the next shed would go to Crisis Ministries.
Students have been learning and building all semester. They even installed a solar light tube, so Crisis Ministries will not have to bear the cost of connecting electricity for lights. Friday, the last day of school before the holidays, was delivery day.
Stratford High School Building Construction Program Instructor Don Thompson gives his final approval to the shed his students built this semester.
In the parking lot outside the shop at SHS, here is the completed 8'x16' shed students built for Crisis Ministries.
Getting the shed onto the truck took a lot of know-how. Thanks American Towing.
After a brief trip down I-26, the shed arrives safe and sound at Crisis Ministries.
Ricky King, with Crisis Ministries, and Jorge Riano watch carefully as the shed comes off the truck.
Almost done.
From Left: Ricky King, Jorge Riano, Thomas Riano, Jack Ryan, Mark Gourdine. Wando High School students Thomas Riano and Jack Ryan helped get the shed settled at Crisis Ministries.
So this turned out to be the kind of win-win project GreenBy3 likes best. Stratford High School students got a hands-on learning experience that served a real need in the community. Wando High School students also got in on the learning experience as they helped on the delivery end of the move. Any student that did not already know, now knows a little bit about Crisis Ministries and the work they do. Hopefully, because of that knowledge, they will be more inclined to help out at Crisis Ministries again.
Crisis Ministries got a well built shed that meets their need for additional storage space which will help them out a lot as the new men’s shelter is being built.
All the students involved can feel good about a job well done that will serve a good cause. And just in time to say Merry Christmas to Crisis Ministries!
Construction/Demolition Debris is Not Just Trash
Last week Jorge participated in a panel discussion at the 2011 Construction & Demolition Debris Recycling Conference in Columbia. Sponsored by SC DHEC, NCDENR, EPA Region 4 and the Carolina Recycling Association, the conference brought people together from North and South Carolina to share information and ideas about how to do more recycling of construction and demolition debris.
There were a few familiar faces from Charleston. Bryan Cordell with The Sustainability Institute was on the conference planning committee. Rebecca O’Brien, Director of the Sustainable Warehouse spoke on the same panel as Jorge — their topic was “Planning & Policies for C & D Recycling”.
Keynote speakers shared that construction and demolition debris accounts for 30% of the waste generated in the Carolinas, yet only 10% of it is being recycled.
Twice as much material is recycled by the residential sector than by the commercial sector. And much of the commercial “waste” is material that could be reused — wood, shingles, metals, concrete, bricks and more. There is a market for much of it. Clearly, recycling and reusing have an unrealized potential for environmental and economic benefit.
GreenBy3 is way ahead of this curve. We focus on reclamation of materials for 3 reasons:
- to divert those materials from landfills to other projects, ensuring they serve a new purpose and are not discarded again.
- to help out people who have met with hard times and the community organizations that serve them.
- to help our clients reduce project costs.
It was an interesting day at the conference and good to meet others who share our passion for reclaiming and reusing building materials.
Photo Follow-ups
Here are more pictures of some of the things we’ve been discussing here lately:
A few weeks ago we told you about our partnership with Stratford High School. As a practical exercise to learn construction principals and building techniques students in the Building Construction program are building a shed which, when completed, will go to Crisis Ministries in downtown Charleston. The agency especially needs additional storage now while the new shelter for homeless men is under construction.
Here are a few shots of the shed under construction:
And just before Thanksgiving, we suggested you Rethink Holiday Shopping and support local merchants this year. On Thursday, Dec. 1 we attended a Lowcountry Local First Bash at the Mom & Pop-up shop on King Street. We were happy to see a big crowd there and we had a lot of fun.
Kate Gebler with Lowcountry Local First was busy at the Welcome table.
GreenBy3 has especially close ties with Country Bumpkin in Mt. Pleasant. Legare Riano (center) is a talented beader. See samples of her work at www.legaresbeads.com .
Look at the crowd! Good job, Lowcountry Local First! Remember, you can still shop local merchants at 359 King St. until Dec. 15.
‘Tis the Season to Buy Local
“Buying Local” revives communities by helping the people closest to you. It builds businesses, supports families and makes a place feel like home. And it helps the environment by reducing packaging and shipping costs. What’s not to love?
Charleston’s 4th annual Buy Local Month started this week and runs through December 15. Mom and Pop-up Shops have a home base downtown at 359 King Street, but they’ll also be popping-up in other locations to give us all a chance to support local merchants by buying local.
Get in the spirit and rethink holiday shopping. This year, buy gifts that reflect what is truly unique about the Lowcountry — it’s the creativity and industry of the people who live and work here.
Weekend tip: Saturday, Nov. 19, 10 am – 4 pm, The Local Artisans Market will be at South Windemere (think EarthFare in West Ashley). This is an awesome chance to find one-of-a-kind gifts made by local artists.
GreenBy3 is proud to be a member and a fan of Lowcountry Local First.
GreenBy3 Partners with Statford High School
GreenBy3 is continuing the Business Partnership with Stratford High School that we began last school year. Our connection began through the school’s Building Construction Program and is now expanding to the whole school. Components of our partnership include:
Shadowing Program – students from the Building Construction Program “shadow” GreenBy3 staff and have the opportunity to observe how construction, renovation, and demolition projects progress. One day they may go with us to apply for a permit, on another day they may sit-in on a meeting with architects, and on another visit, they may help us organize reclaimed materials in the warehouse. We try to offer a “real-world’ experience to students considering careers in a related field.
Building Project for Crisis Ministries – every year, students in the Building Construction Program learn construction principles and techniques by building a shed. This year, GreenBy3 has connected the student project with a need for a storage shed at Crisis Ministries. December 16 is the projected delivery date for Crisis Ministries to receive their new shed, built by local students.
Expanded Campus-wide Recycling Program – GreenBy3 and the school are in the early stages of significantly expanding recycling program on campus. We love this project because it can get the whole school thinking green!
At GreenBy3 we try to make a positive impact on people, the community, and the environment. We have found our partnership with Stratford High School to be a good way to achieve those three goals.
Stratford High School students shadowing GreenBy3 at Fanta Family Festival earlier in the fall
Posted in Project Updates
Tagged crisis ministries, service projects, Stratford High School
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