Earth Hour 2009

Earth Hour 2009 is tonight, from 8:30-9:30 local time. At this point I'm planning to participate in some ways... like I'll turn down more lights than I would normally.

I have a 6 yr old who is not fully comfortable falling asleep in the dark, so out of respect for her I'll more than likely leave the hall light on by her room. Chances are, DH will be on the couch watching TV, so I can easily turn lights off around him. We don't usually watch TV in the dark because it bothers my eyes, but one hour certainly will be fine.

To learn more about Earth Hour, have a look at the video that Amber at Strocel.com included in her Earth Hour post (thanks for that, Amber :) This video explains how Earth Hour originated, and how it has become a global event.

In my opinion, it's not that one hour that makes any difference - it's the awareness gained by the exercise that does.

Return to Fine Grind

Lighting Offices With Sunlight

(This is why I don't throw away newspapers until I've read them ;)

Here's a March 12th Vancouver Sun article about technology invented by professor Lorne Whitehead and being produced by a UBC research team that involves using sunlight to light offices, with a solar canopy and a series of mirrors to redirect sunlight into the depths of buildings where simple light from a window wouldn't reach.

Interestingly enough, on sunny days many offices use more electricity because the glare from undirected sunlight makes working difficult so quite often blinds are closed, requiring that lights be turned on. The solary canopy and mirrors effectively reduce the glare to the point where the sunlight is usable, as well as diffusing it enough so that sunscreen is not required.

This project is being worked on in a UBC lab, with a test site at a BCIT building. Basically the solar canopies in place redirect the light through a series of reflective ducts, which travel through the building. There are fluorescent lights in place as back up, which come on if the light is interrupted by something such as a cloud.

Sounds promising to me! I`m definitely keeping my eye on this as a potentially beneficial new green technology.

Return to Fine Grind

Cleaning Your Garburator

I've heard many times about grinding some citrus (like lemon or orange pieces) to clean the garburator, but hadn't considered the vinegar/baking soda option.

In his column in today's Vancouver Sun, Shell Busey suggests the following:

Pour 1/2 cup of baking soda into the garburator, then 1/2 cup of white vinegar. Close the drain, leave for eight hours, then carefully rinse with boiling water.

I'm definitely going to try that. It would be easy enough to add the baking soda and vinegar and close the drain right before going to bed at night, and rinsing it in the morning.

He also suggests the following for cleaning the garburator blades:

Make ice cubes that are 1 part lemon juice and 5 parts water. He recommends two trays. To clean, run hot water first for two minutes, then grind all the ice at once while running cold water. After the ice has been ground, shut off the garburator for an hour.

Sounds good to me - no harsh cleaners involved. Certainly worth a try :)


Return to Fine Grind

Green Cleaner: Electrolyzed Salt Water

It's green, and it sanitizes, degreases, kills athlete's foot, kills anthrax spores, kills salmonella, cleans toilets and sinks, increases the shelf life of produce, to name a few. It's ten times more effective than bleach at killing bacteria, and you can drink it.

I want this stuff!!

What is it? Electrolyzed salt water. Low voltage electricity can convert salt water to a very powerful, yet non-toxic cleaning agent. Sodium ions are converted to sodium hydroxide (a cleaner and degreaser), and chloride ions become hypochlorus acid (a disinfectant).

The catch is that the machine required to zap your salted tap water costs about $10,000, although apparently there are companies out there that sell "home use" ionizers for anywhere from $600 - $3,000.

Can't we just add salt to water and stir it really well? No?

Hopefully if this stuff works as well as it appears, the home ionizers will become more mainstream and affordable.

This info, btw, is from a Vancouver Sun article, the link to which is not working at the moment. Here's the pertinent details for anyone who's interested in Googling it to find out more:

Source: Vancouver Sun
Article Title: Miracle Water Answers Prayers
Publication Date: March 14, 2009

Return to Fine Grind

Re-using My Fax Cartridge

We have the Brother Intellifax 770 fax machine. One day, in the midst of receiving a multiple page fax, I inadvertently stumbled upon another green/savings trick.

Dang, the cartridge ran out, and oops I had no replacements left. Desperate and willing to try anything, I simply rewound the film back from one side of the cartridge to the other and re-inserted it into the fax machine.

It worked like a charm. Yowza! Since then (not that I receive billions of faxes by any means), I've been using each cartridge 2 or 3 times. It takes awhile to rewind the film, but if you do it while you're sitting in front of the TV, it's no big deal at all :)

This is the fax machine:


Here's the replacement thermal roll:


This is the cartridge that the roll attaches to:





Return to Fine Grind