Sunday, April 11, 2010

Recycle Shingles?

What do you do with old shingles? If you, like me, think the only thing you can do with them is throw them away then you'd be wrong.  I didn't know it till today but it is actually possible to recycle your old shingles.  


Once we finished roofing the chicken coop last night, I had a small pile of shingle scraps left over.  I really didn't want to just throw them away but I really didn't know what else to do with them.  So I did what I always do when I need an answer...I ask Dr. G (Google search)


It turns out that it's possible to turn roof shingles into roads...and that's exactlly what they are doing in Missouri with their ROOFS TO ROADS program.
More than 276 million pounds of roofing shingles are dumped into Missouri landfills every year. That’s enough shingles to completely cover St. Louis City and St. Louis County.
(picture from here)


So if you're like me, you're thinking..."Good stinkin' but what can I do where I live?"

Unfortunately I don't know.  I'm going to start by calling several of the companies around town that build/repair roads and I think I will also call the roofing companies and see how/if they recycle their shingles.  If you have a shingle recycling program in your area, how does it work?  

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

test test test
there

Start here

Using Bikes to power inmate's Tv

Remember when I said that gyms should start using their stationary bikes to generate power? (Recapturing Bike Energy from Gyms)

Well, it seems that a sheriff in Arizona had the same idea. It seems that Sheriff Joe Arpaio decided to buy a converted stationary bike and hook it up to the tv. 

Now if inmates want to watch tv, they have to use the bike. You can check it out here via treehugger

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Easy Green Tip

Did you know that you can use almost 30% less printer ink just by changing your font? (Of course going paper-less all together is better)

Which of these sentences would use less ink if they were printed?


Which of these sentences would use less ink if they were printed?

If you chose the second one, you'd be right.  NPR's All Things Considered aired a story this afternoon about how the University of Wisconsin is saving THOUSANDS of dollars simply because they changed the default font on their email system from Arial  to Century Gothic.  You can listen to the story here  (it's only about three minutes long)

My work prints a lot of paper everyday so hopefully they will take this serious and at least look into it. The only other thing is that you may want to change the font size to 11 (from 12) in order to prevent items being pushed to a second page because century gothic is a tad bit wider font.

The best part about this simple change...it doesn't cost anything to do!

Friday, April 2, 2010

Carbon Offsets for Work Vehicles?

In March 2010 I drove my work truck (2004 F250 diesel) 943.5 miles
Using the EPA's website:
CO2 emissions from a gallon of diesel = 2,778 grams x 0.99 x (44/12) = 10,084 grams = 10.1 kg/gallon = 22.2 pounds/gallon
My trucks gets about 16mpg so 943.5 miles gives me about 59 gallons of gas or 59x22.2 =
1,309 pounds of CO2

The cost per ton at Carbonfund.org is $10 so about $6 to offset the work truck.  Or either about 4 pine trees or about 21 maple trees (once they are 25 years old) according to www.erasecarbonfootprint.com

I also drove 341 miles in my work car
CO2 emissions from a gallon of gasoline = 2,421 grams x 0.99 x (44/12) = 8,788 grams = 8.8 kg/gallon = 19.4 pounds/gallon
The work car gets about 18mpg so 341/18= 19 gallons or 19x19.4 =
367.5 pounds of CO2

At $10 a ton that should be about $1.80 or 1 pine tree or 6 maple trees.

I used 25 gallons of gas in the VW so

25x19.4 = 485 pounds of CO2

which is $2.40 or 1.44 pine trees or 8.64 maple trees
Total for the month of March is:

Work
$7.80
5 pine trees or
27 maple trees

VW
$2.40
1.44 pine trees
8.64 maple trees


The Chicks have Arrived

Say hello to the little chicks:






They are so tiny and cute and only about 2-3days old.  Right now they chirp, peek the ground, fall asleep, chirp, drink water, sleep, chirp,  chirp, dog pile each other, sleep...

We will post updates over at our joint blog www.fireflyskiesfamilyfarm.com/