Green Building Materials for your home
Many environmentally conscious home builders are crafting homes by using green building materials. Even if you’re not in the market to buy a new home, though, you can help to stop global warming and protect the environment when you replace old appliances or remodel.

My husband never quite forgave me when I gave the buyers of our last home the new front-loading washer. But it was a stickling point for them, and I wasn’t going to blow the sale over a $1,000 appliance.

So when the washer / dryer combo unit that came with our present home broke down and parts were unavailable to repair it, our home protection plan offered to replace it for free. Except the appliance they were going to give us was a replica of our existing model, which wasn’t energy efficient. A little known aspect of many home protection plans is the company will generally credit you the replacement cost and let you pay the difference for an upgrade at wholesale pricing.

This was an opportune time, I figured, to make amends with my husband and give him the front-loading washer and dryer of his dreams. After all, he does the laundry in my house. But buying green appliances isn’t the only way you can green your home. Here are a dozen other ideas

Go to any home improvement store, and you’ll find aisles reserved for green building materials. Some of these green building supplies are legitimate and others could be considered questionable, depending on which environmentalist you ask. If you are like most Americans — concerned about global warming and protecting the environment — do your homework and investigate the origin, harvesting methods and production of green materials before purchasing.

Green floors are typically made from renewable or recycled products. These non-toxic flooring materials are said to be safe for the environment and for people, and can be installed in an eco-friendly manner without harmful gas emissions.

• Cork Floors. – Cork is made from stripped tree bark, leaving the trees intact. It is warm and inviting, but cork can yellow in sunlight, scratches easily and cannot come into contact with water.
• Bamboo Flooring – Bamboo is a grass, not a wood. It renews itself every 3 to 5 years. Inexpensive bamboo is generally younger and not very durable, so ask for premium bamboo, made from adhesives that do not contain formaldehyde. Bamboo can be nailed, glued, stapled or floated, and comes in horizontal or vertical patterns. Do not install in areas that get wet.
• Recycled Carpeting – Most green carpeting is made from recycled plastic food and beverage containers. Their vibrant color options tend to last longer than nylon carpets. This shock-free static product does not emit volatile organic compounds (VOC), which are part of the typical “new carpet smell” but can irritate the lungs, and recycled carpets are stain resistant.
• Linoleum Flooring – Linoleum is a manufactured product made from natural raw materials such as linseed oil, a binding agent obtained from pine trees (without harming the trees), renewable wood products, ground limestone and jute, which is a plant fiber. Linoleum floors are stain resistant, do not absorb water and are biodegradable at the end of its useful life, generally around 40 years.
• Eco-Friendly Wood Flooring – Certain types of exotic hardwoods such as Brazilian Cherry or White Tigerwood are grown in South America. These are harvested from well-managed forests with renewable resources. Brazilian Cherry is engineered wood made from 3-ply construction using formaldehyde-free adhesives. It is generally more expensive but resilient and harder than oak.

Green Building Materials
Reclaimed or salvaged lumber can be used to build walls, as support beams or in roof construction. Many green companies specialize in obtaining building materials from older homes that are about to be torn down or dismantled. Instead of filling up landfills, previously used lumber is put back into new construction.

Environmentally conscious home owners can buy hand-hewn wood beams or rough sawn lumber such as oak, cherry, maple or pine, many of which are aged to a density and hardness that you cannot find in new lumber.

Solar Energy
Solar means sun in Latin. Solar energy uses the sun’s power, either in passive applications such as heating water in swimming pools, or directly converting it to electricity using photovoltaic cells. It works through a process called photovoltaic energy. When bits of solar energy, called photons, are absorbed by a solar cell, electricity is generated.

To provide solar power, solar companies install large, flat panels on top of roofs, and each panel contains grids of solar cells. It works best in wide, open locations that get plenty of sun. Some systems can store energy for use at night or on cloudy days.

Many utility companies, especially in California, offers rebates and credits to home owners who install solar panels. In addition, excess electricity can also roll-back the solar power owner’s electrical meter — in essence, sending electricity back to the utility company — netting home owners a credit.

Energy-Efficient Windows
Sunlight comes through windows in a visible and invisible spectrum. The light we can see spans all the visible frequencies. You can use a prism to see how white light is actually made up of a spectrum from red through blue and violet. The light humans cannot see are infrared and ultraviolet, which fade furniture and floors. Low-e is a hard glaze coating on windows that block some of the damaging rays, while reducing heat loss in the winter and keeping homes cooler in the summer.

Dual pane windows offer insulation against the elements and soundproofing qualities. After I installed dual pane windows, I no longer woke up when the sprinklers came on in the morning. Many energy-efficient windows qualify for rebates and credits.

Energy-Efficient Products
ENERGY STAR is a government-backed program that identifies energy efficient products, from compact fluorescent bulbs to computer monitors to air conditioners. ENERGY STAR says compact fluorescent light bulbs use 75% less energy and last 10 times longer than regular light bulbs. Some people don’t like them because the spiral design is ugly and they cost more than incandescent bulbs. But not all compact fluorescent light bulbs are squirrelly looking. And the initial expenditure to buy energy-efficient light bulbs is actually a lot less in the long run when compared to the life expectancy of regular light bulbs.

Consumers are also offered energy-efficient appliances such as refrigerators, microwaves, dishwashers, washers and dryers. Wisdom says buy appliances that sport the ENERGY STAR label.

What Is Green Power?

Green power is the solution to a cleaner, sustainable energy system. Renewable energy—power from the sun, wind, plants, and moving water—is a sustainable way to meet our energy needs and protect the environment and public health.

• Wind energy converts the power available in moving air into electricity. Wind power does not produce emissions, generate solid waste, or use water.
  
• Bioenergy is energy from trees and plants. This includes crops grown specifically for energy production and organic wastes ( such as wood residues from paper mills and methane from landfills ). Using bioenergy to generate electricity reduces global warming emissions if new plants are grown to replace those that are harvested.
  
• Geothermal energy uses heat from inside the earth to make clean power.
  
• Solar power captures the heat and light of the sun to generate electricity. Solar energy does not produce emissions, generate solid waste, or use water.
  
• Hydroelectric power captures the energy in falling water. It does not produce emissions or solid waste, but can have a relatively low or high impact on the environment, depending on the site-specific factors such as maintenance of water flow and water quality, fish impacts, and other land use issues.

Why Buy Green Power?

Choosing green power could make a big difference for the environment because electricity generation is the largest industrial polluter in the country. Electricity generation currently produces:

• About two-thirds of the annual U.S. emissions of sulfur dioxide, the main cause of acid rain and very small soot particles. These fine particles are believed to be responsible for the largest share of the 50,000-100,000 deaths caused by air pollution in the United States each year.
  
• About 30 percent of the nitrogen oxide emissions, which stress forest ecosystems and combine with organic compounds in sunlight to form smog. High smog levels can also trigger heart and respiratory problems and contribute to air pollution deaths.
  
• About 40 percent of the carbon dioxide emissions. This heat-trapping gas causes global warming, which may lead to increased droughts, flooding, disease, ecosystem disruption, and severe weather.
  
• Toxic-metal emissions (such as mercury and lead) and nuclear waste.

What Are the Dirtiest Energy Sources?
All fossil fuels and nuclear power contribute to one or more of the problems mentioned above. Since these power sources currently account for more than 90 percent of the electricity generated in the United States, it is not possible to avoid them altogether. But some are worse than others, and you can try to minimize their use.

Coal. Most electricity in the United States currently comes from coal. But coal burning is the leading cause of acid rain, the largest source of global warming emissions, and a significant source of smog, toxic metals, and tiny-particle pollution. Reducing coal usage is critical to slowing global warming and protecting the environment.

Oil. Oil produces high levels of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides and relatively high levels of carbon dioxide, as well as problems associated with drilling, refining, and transportation, such as tanker spills. Furthermore, the increasing U.S. dependence on imported oil is economically risky and will continue to increase the U.S. trade deficit.

Nuclear power. After coal, the next largest source of our electricity is nuclear power. While nuclear plants don’t cause air pollution, they do create radioactive waste, which must be stored for thousands of years. As accidents at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl proved, nuclear plants also carry the risk of catastrophic failure. And nuclear power can be very expensive.

What About Natural Gas?
In 2004, natural gas accounted for about 19 percent of the U.S. electricity mix. Use of natural gas is projected to increase dramatically in the next two decades if we continue on our current path, but supplies are limited and imports are increasing. Our growing reliance on natural gas combined with limited supplies makes this fuel subject to price spikes, which can have a significant impact on consumer energy costs. In addition, though natural gas is much cleaner than coal or oil, it does produce global warming emissions when burned. So, while the use of natural gas serves as a good transition to a cleaner future, it is not the ultimate solution.

What are My Green Power Options?

Green Pricing Programs
Green Pricing is an optional utility service for customers who want to help expand the production and distribution of renewable energy technologies. With green pricing, you do not have to change your electricity provider. Instead, customers choose to pay a premium on their electricity bill to cover the extra cost of purchasing clean, sustainable energy. As of March 2006, more than 600 utilities, electricity providers in 36 states offer a green pricing option.

The majority of green pricing programs charge a higher price per kilowatt-hour to support an increased percentage of renewable sources or to buy discrete kilowatt-hour blocks of renewable energy. Other programs have fixed monthly fees, round up customer bills, charge for units of renewable capacity, or offer renewable energy systems for lease or purchase.

• To see what green pricing options are available in your area, visit the Department of Energy’s Green Power Network – Green Pricing page.

Green Marketing
Green marketing is the sale of green power in competitive markets, where consumers have the option to choose from a variety of suppliers and service offerings, much like they can choose between long-distance telephone carriers. The key difference between green marketing and green pricing is that with green marketing, you are actually switching electricity providers. 

Green marketing is offered in Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Virginia, and the District of Columbia.

• To see what green marketing options are available in your area, visit the Department of Energy’s Green Power Network – Green Marketing page.

Renewable Energy Certificates
Consumers throughout the United States have a third green power option: Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs or sometimes “green tags”). A REC represents the environmental attributes or benefits of renewable electricity generation (usually one credit = one kilowatt-hour). RECs can be purchased in almost any quantity and are usually available from someone other than your electricity provider. What you pay for is the benefit of adding clean, renewable energy generation to the regional or national electricity grid. The overall environmental benefit of purchasing a green pricing or green marketing product versus RECs is exactly the same. RECs provide a “green” option for people in any state, but are ideal for people who live in states where green pricing and green marketing options are not available. 

• For a list of REC or green tag marketers, visit the Department of Energy’s Green Power Network – Renewable Energy Certificates page.

How Can You Tell If You’re Buying Green Power?
When power flows from the generator to your house, electrons get mixed together on the wires. You can’t specify which electrons you get, but you can make sure that your money goes to support clean, sustainable  generators, which has the effect of making the whole system “greener”. To do this, you will need to look closely at utility marketing claims and materials. To ensure that the claims are truthful, many states now require disclosure labels, just like the nutrition labels on food packages. But don’t hesitate to ask for more information directly from potential suppliers, including the percentage of power derived from each fuel source and the level of each of the above emissions compared with the regional average.

Other important information to discover is whether a company’s renewable offering will lead to new projects, so that you know your money is adding to renewable energy use in your region, and whether the company provides comprehensive energy-efficiency services to help reduce your power use and your bill. Be skeptical and ask questions.

Green-e is a voluntary certification program for renewable electricity products. The Green-e program establishes consumer protection and environmental standards for electricity products, and verifies that these products meet the standards. The Green-e logo certifies that at least half the power supplied is from renewable sources. Many products will carry the Green-e logo, and the best way to find the most environmentally sensitive providers is by doing some comparison research. To find out which Green-e certified products are available in your state, visit Green-e’s electric choices page. Questions about particular providers can be directed to the Center for Resources Solutions, which administers the Green-e program, at (415) 561-2100.

Power Scorecard is a web tool that rates the environmental quality of electricity offered to customers in California, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Texas. It will help identify products that have the lowest overall environmental impact on our air, land, and water, and those that will lead to the development of the most new renewable energy generation. Power Scorecard will be expanding into other states in the near future.

The Future
Some renewable power sources now cost somewhat more than conventional power, because the market for renewable energy is not fully developed and renewables have received fewer subsidies than fossil and nuclear fuels. Also, the damage to the environment and human health—otherwise known as externalities—caused by fossil fuels and nuclear power is not included in electricity prices. Renewable energy needs your support to overcome these barriers and become less expensive in the future. Look into becoming a green power consumer today!

The governor of the U.S. Virgin Islands has signed a memorandum of understanding ( MOU ) with federal agencies to develop a clean energy development strategy for the territory.

The U.S. Virgin Islands can reduce its reliance on fossil fuels by 60 % within the next 15 years by developing its renewable energy resources, Governor John P. de Jongh, Jr. announced during a workshop at the ” U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory “.

The MOU calls for NREL and federal agencies to work with the U.S. Virgin Islands to establish an aggressive renewable energy deployment strategy for the islands that includes transportation, electricity generation and transmission, energy efficiency, and tourism and industry. The agreement also calls for a communications and public education campaign.

In Apr. 2009, the International Partnership for Energy Development in Island Nations ( EDIN ) selected the U.S. Virgin Islands as one of its three pilot projects.

“We want to be able to showcase places like the U.S. Virgin Islands, where energy costs are so high, as leaders in implementing energy efficiency and renewable energy solutions” said NREL senior vice president of commercialization and deployment Casey Porto, who opened the NREL workshop.

” The EDIN project will create models that can be replicated elsewhere, putting into play the right mix of renewable energy resources and energy efficiency practices in order to leverage the greatest reduction on fossil fuel dependence ” Porto said.

Currently, the U.S. Virgin Islands rely entirely on fossil fuels to meet their energy demands. Not only do the islands have among the highest energy prices in America, their economy is especially vulnerable to supply disruptions and price fluctuations. At the same time, the islands have abundant natural resources, including solar and wind power. With the right financial and regulatory systems, the U.S. Virgin Islands could be a model for renewable energy development — especially for other island nations and territories.

” A green energy efficient Caribbean is the first step in the fight against global warming. Nowhere is the stark reality of rising sea levels more palpable than on islands, ” said Joe Garcia, Director of the Department of Energy’s Office of Economic Impact. ” The EDIN project will ebb the tide of rising sea levels and lower the cost of energy in island nations. It will also usher in an era of greater collaboration and energy security in the Americas. ”

In 2009, the U.S. Virgin Islands Energy Office received $17.8 million in funding from the Department of Energy under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The funding supports a variety of energy efficiency and renewable energy projects, including improvements to the islands’ power transmission and distribution system, a renewable landfill-gas-to-energy treatment system, and a 350 kilowatt solar photovoltaic panel system to supplement power for the government-operated airport on the island of St. Thomas.

In his NREL visit, Gov. de Jongh and a delegation of 25 stakeholders from the islands’ public and private sectors heard presentations by Department of Energy ( DOE ) and NREL experts on renewable energy technologies, integration and transmission of electricity from renewable energy systems, policy and market analysis and project development and finance. The delegation also met with officials from Hawaii, Alaska and other locations that are embarking on similarly aggressive renewable energy strategies.