Grist | Topics | 235 Results

RESULTS		Results 176 – 200 of 235
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Headline	Author	Published	Section
Matters of the Hearth On fireplaces	Umbra Fisk	23 Jan 2006	Ask Umbra
Dear Umbra, We pile on socks and sweaters, but there are just times you need more warmth. Should we use the fireplace or our central (gas-powered) heater? Also, can you let us know which is better, natural firewood or those chemically infused logs that claim lower particulate matter is released? Kas Sut Davis, Calif. Dearest Kas, Although we've contemplated this heating dilemma before, I find I have more to say about fire. Don't use ...
Topics: advice, air pollution, Ask Umbra, energy, energy at home, energy efficiency, green living (all these topics)

Moving Light Along On LED holiday lights	Umbra Fisk	07 Dec 2005	Ask Umbra
Dear Umbra, Suppose I replace all my many old, tangled, not-so-efficient holiday lights with the newer LED lights. These are supposed to be better for the environment. What is the best way to dispose of my old lights? R-M Ottawa, Canada Dearest R-M, The LED lights are indeed better for the environment, and, since I'm frankly running out of winter holiday-related questions (see my previous work on Christmas trees, gift wrap, cand ...
Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, energy efficiency, green living, holiday (all these topics)

Do the Bath On heating with bathwater	Umbra Fisk	16 Nov 2005	Ask Umbra
Dear Umbra, After a hot bath, I leave the water in the tub so the heat will go into the room. My husband says the heat saved is inconsequential. How would one calculate the BTUs saved this way? J. Reiman Helena, Mont. Dearest J., I do that too. I'm trying to heat the entire office building with my baths, and I've been making my editor bring me my encyclopedias in the tub. Ay, there's the tub. Roughly speaking (and cut me a little s ...
Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, energy at home, energy efficiency, green living (all these topics)

LEED Is Broken; Let's Fix It	Auden Schendler, Randy Udall	26 Oct 2005	Soapbox
By Auden Schendler and Randy Udall 26 Oct 2005 In the last five years, something exciting has happened in the green-building world. Conferences on the topic used to be love-ins, featuring hippies in beads and Birkenstocks, with friends of Dennis Weaver pitching tire houses. Okay, it wasn't really that bad ... but close. Recently, however, the U.S. Green Building Council1 has given the field a professional sheen, and helped it blossom. The USGBC attracted 8,000 people ...
Topics: energy efficiency, green building, placemaking (all these topics)

LEEDing Us Astray? Top green-building system is in desperate need of repair	Auden Schendler, Randy Udall	26 Oct 2005	Soapbox
By Auden Schendler and Randy Udall 26 Oct 2005 This piece is excerpted from the essay "LEED Is Broken; Let's Fix It." The full essay can be found here. Pan of green gables. Once the narrow province of hippies in beads and Birkenstocks, the green-building world has in the last five years blossomed and taken on a professional sheen. That's thanks in large part to the U.S. Green Building Council and its flagship p ...
Topics: energy efficiency, green building, placemaking (all these topics)

Over the Chill On preparing for winter	Umbra Fisk	05 Oct 2005	Ask Umbra
Dear Umbra, With the coming winter, our local news did a story on how to save on heating. The tips included window treatments, lowering the water heater, etc. But those of us in apartments are limited in what we can do. I can feel the cold air seeping through the cracks, and laying towels on the window sills doesn't seem to help. Any advice? Carol Lafayette, Ind. Dearest Carol, Yar. It's going to be doom and gloom this winter acro ...
Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, energy, energy at home, energy efficiency, green building, green living (all these topics)

Sill and Grace On windows	Umbra Fisk	12 Sep 2005	Ask Umbra
Dear Umbra, I just bought an old house and need to replace some of the windows. Are there alternatives to vinyl windows that will still cut down on heat loss? Noah Winer Philadelphia, Pa. Dearest Noah, I hope I've caught you before you've placed your window order, because you are at a moment of opportunity. Window replacement will make a huge difference in your house's energy efficiency. You could be losing up to a third of your heat through t ...
Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, energy, energy at home, energy efficiency, green building, green living (all these topics)

Coming attractions Could TV and film be the key to the renewable energy revolution?	Chris Schults	05 Aug 2005	Gristmill

Topics: Bill McKibben, energy, energy efficiency, messaging, movies, TV, United States (all these topics)

Get a Load of This On washing machines	Umbra Fisk	11 Jul 2005	Ask Umbra
Dear Umbra, I have a top-loading washing machine that's nine years old. I've heard that front-loading machines are a lot more efficient and use less detergent, so I'm thinking about taking the plunge, even though my old machine works fine. How much less water do the front-loading machines use, and why? And is it true that they use less detergent? (I just switched to an environmentally friendly detergent, but boy, is it expensive -- ...
Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, energy, energy at home, energy efficiency, green living (all these topics)

String Theory On clotheslines	Umbra Fisk	08 Jun 2005	Ask Umbra
Dear Umbra, We would like to install a clothesline this summer to take advantage of the few months of sun that we get here in Oregon. Any advice on the best kind, and how to keep air-dried clothes from feeling like cardboard? German Whitley Philomath, Ore. Dearest German, Excellent. If your power supplier is, as I suspect, Consumers Power Inc. in Philomath, you are paying about 7 cents per kilowatt-hour; their handy electricity calculator ...
Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, energy, energy at home, energy efficiency, fashion, green living (all these topics)

Changing clothes to battle climate change Japanese dress down to save 81 million gallons of oil in summer	Chris Schults	31 May 2005	Gristmill

Topics: energy, energy efficiency, fashion, Japan (all these topics)

Soccer moms, flexitarians and hygridders Wired reports on the new power generation	Chris Schults	10 May 2005	Gristmill

Topics: electricity grid, energy at home, energy efficiency, green living, green products, renewable energy (all these topics)

Land of Millikin Honey Green-car blogger Mike Millikin answers readers' questions		06 May 2005	Daily Grist

Topics: bikes, business, cars, electric vehicles, energy efficiency, hybrids, InterActivist, interview, politics, Prius, public transportation (all these topics)

Land of Millikin Honey Mike Millikin, publisher of green-car blog, answers readers' questions		06 May 2005	InterActivist
Mike Millikin of Green Car Congress. In your opinion, what's the most promising path for future cars? Fuel cells? Biodiesel? Electric? What's the most important thing the average person can do to reduce the impact of their motoring?�� -- Matt Weiser, Sacramento, Calif. Short- to medium-term: Plug-in hybrids with a downsized diesel or alternative/biofuels fuel-combustion engine component. Lo ...
Topics: bikes, business, cars, electric vehicles, energy efficiency, hybrids, InterActivist, interview, politics, Prius, public transportation (all these topics)

Got Millikin? Mike Millikin, publisher of green-car blog, answers Grist's questions		02 May 2005	InterActivist
Mike Millikin. What work do you do? I am the publisher/writer of Green Car Congress, a site covering technologies, issues, and policies for sustainable mobility. What does your organization do? What, in a perfect world, would constitute "mission accomplished"? My mission is to build a company that offers a portfolio of media products providing detailed technical, practical business and produ ...
Topics: bikes, business, cars, electric vehicles, energy efficiency, hybrids, InterActivist, interview, politics, Prius, public transportation (all these topics)

Got Money? On spending wisely to help the environment	Umbra Fisk	10 Mar 2005	Ask Umbra
Dear Umbra, I read your column on how best to spend six hours of time a week on environmental issues, but how about the best way to spend limited financial resources on environmental issues? Obviously, giving a gift to Grist would help, but what can I do with my limited pocketbook to make the most difference on a daily basis? Chris Kent, Wash. Dearest Chris, Save up your money and use it to replace an inefficient bu ...
Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, cars, energy efficiency, green living (all these topics)

They met on the Prius showroom floor ...	Geoff Dabelko	26 Jan 2005	Gristmill

Topics: energy efficiency, fossil fuels, fuel efficiency, politics (all these topics)

Whining Is Job One Ford Battles Hybrid-Friendly Legislation, Destroys Electric Cars		24 Aug 2004	Daily Grist
Whining Is Job One Ford Battles Hybrid-Friendly Legislation, Destroys Electric Cars Ford Motor Co. CEO Bill Ford's vocal attempts to position his company as eco-friendly are sounding a little hollow this week. As the California legislative session nears its end, Ford has ramped up lobbying efforts to kill a bill that would allow d ...
Topics: Big Auto, business, California, cars, electric vehicles, energy efficiency, hybrids, jackassery, placemaking, politics (all these topics)

Energy Asterisk On Energy Star labels	Umbra Fisk	23 Aug 2004	Ask Umbra
Dear Umbra, When I see the Energy Star rating on an appliance, can I trust that some government or consumer group is monitoring the ratings, or is that just a commercial ploy? Who profits from the Energy Star thing? Not Starry-Eyed Bridgewater, N.J. Dearest Not Starry-Eyed, A green screen. Photo: EnergyStar.gov. Energy Star is a project of our very own U.S. EPA, with assistance from the Department of Energy. Products that meet Ener ...
Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, Department of Energy, energy, energy efficiency, green living, US EPA (all these topics)

Lovins Spoonful Hunter Lovins Dishes Out Cowgirl Wisdom and Lots More		06 Aug 2004	Daily Grist

Topics: Amory Lovins, business, energy efficiency, InterActivist, interview (all these topics)

Fan Attic On whole-house fans and their righteousness	Umbra Fisk	29 Jul 2004	Ask Umbra

Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, energy, energy at home, energy efficiency, green living (all these topics)

To Air Is Human On opening windows versus running the AC	Umbra Fisk	26 Jul 2004	Ask Umbra
Dear Umbra, My friend and I have been having a debate that I hope you can help us settle. What is the rule of thumb when turning off the air and opening the windows? I live in Texas and in the spring we have one or two days in a row that are cool enough for open windows followed by four that are not. Should I open the windows when it is nice only to have to close them again and turn the air on in a day or two? ...
Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, energy, energy at home, energy efficiency, green living (all these topics)

Swamp Thing On swamp coolers and their coolness	Umbra Fisk	22 Jul 2004	Ask Umbra
Dear Umbra, I recently visited Moab, Utah, and found that many people there use "swamp coolers" rather than conventional air-conditioning systems. Moab is in a near-desert environment and has frequent water-shortage problems. I'm wondering whether this swamp-cooler method of air-conditioning is really greener than the systems most of the rest of us use, and whether it is depleting the already low water supply in ...
Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, energy efficiency, green living (all these topics)

Icebox, Icebox, Baby On when to retire a fridge	Umbra Fisk	15 Jul 2004	Ask Umbra
Dear Umbra, I love to freeze fresh veggies at their peak of ripeness during the summer. Then, in the winter, I don't have to buy commercially frozen veggies or long-distance transported ones. In order to do more of this, I'd like to move my 1985 refrigerator to the basement and use its freezer entirely for this purpose. I would buy a new one designated Energy Star. Would this end up being environmentally a plus, a minus, o ...
Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, energy, energy at home, energy efficiency, food and agriculture, green living, local food (all these topics)

The Heat Is On Advice on heating tiny urban dwellings	Umbra Fisk	25 Feb 2004	Ask Umbra
OK, Umbra, I live in a building in Brooklyn where, in typical Brooklyn style, we do not control our own heat. That is, there is no thermostat in our apartment. Thus, our only options for regulating the temperature in the winter are turning off the radiators or opening the windows. Obviously the latter is an absurd waste of energy; I don't want my poor radiator trying to heat all of the outer boroughs of New York City ...
Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, energy, energy at home, energy efficiency, green living (all these topics)

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