Recent Green Living Posts | By Steve Rypka on October 7th, 2010  October has been officially proclaimed Energy Awareness Month – again. The first proclamation was in 1991 and now for the second year in a row by President Obama. It’s good to reinforce the concept of energy awareness, and by proclaiming the same month again and again, our leaders are also setting a good example by recycling October, a valuable, limited resource.
All kidding aside, energy awareness is of vital importance to everyone. Most of us don’t think much about our energy use except when it’s time to pay the bills. Many complain about the high cost but do they really understand what we get in the bargain? Continue reading October is Energy Awareness Month. By Steve Rypka on September 23rd, 2010  Years ago, I travelled to Arizona to attend solar home tours. First it was Tucson, then a year or so later, Flagstaff and Prescott. Each one was a great experience. I met homeowners who benefitted from doing things differently. Best of all was their willingness to share their experiences with others.
I’ll never forget seeing my first straw bale home. The natural feel of the walls and the thick, inviting window ledges seemed to envelope those inside. I remember speaking with one homeowner as he proudly displayed his solar heating and cooling system. Yes, in the extremely hot climate of Tucson, AZ he cooled his home using passive and active solar technology and design, with very little electricity. I learned a lot from that conversation. Continue reading Solar Home Tour. By Steve Rypka on August 12th, 2010  An increasing number of homeowners in Nevada have something to smile about every month – their power bills. This is especially true during the heat of summer, when air-conditioning drives energy use sky high. The number of solar-powered homes is steadily growing, signs that the industry is heating up as the price of renewable energy continues to come down. Overall, interest in green building, energy efficiency and clean power has never been greater. The paradigm shift that was once but a glimmer in the eyes of a few is gaining momentum while transforming our homes, our communities and our lives.
Continue reading Clean, Green and Moving Forward. By Steve Rypka on July 29th, 2010  The sun oven is fired up, steaming hot inside - and totally carbon-free! Renewable energy can be fun, easy, inexpensive – and good tasting. Yes, it’s all those things and more when you get into the joy of cooking using a sun oven. We’ve had our sun oven now for about five years and this summer we’ve been using it more than ever (they work during the winter too by the way). Who needs a hotter house, a bigger gas or electric bill, or food that has to be constantly watched to keep from burning? Solar cooking is the new barbeque – and it is a lot of fun! Continue reading Solar Cooking: The New Barbeque. By Steve Rypka on May 6th, 2010  The oil spill off the Louisiana shore is exacting a huge toll on the environment. Another thread is being pulled from the grand tapestry of life and, no matter how distant, it affects us all. Fingers are being pointed in plenty of directions, but how many of us take personal responsibility for the disaster? We have all contributed.
We’ve grown up in a society based on the oil standard. It’s so ingrained in our culture that we barely give it a thought. Yet at this point in time, we are utterly dependent on oil for almost everything we take for granted in modern life, either directly or indirectly. Here in the southwest, we don’t use fuel oil for heating our homes, but most of our communities are designed around the fact that nearly everyone has (or needs) a car. Thus, even our homes are at least indirectly responsible for our rapacious appetite for oil. Continue reading Ending Our Addiction to Oil. By Steve Rypka on December 31st, 2009  The Copenhagen climate talks are behind us and the results were, shall we say, suboptimal. Despite dire warnings from the world’s brightest scientists, along with more than ample physical evidence of the need for immediate action, the world’s leaders have again, well, failed to lead. Spectacularly I might add. Copenhagen yielded no new treaty or binding agreement to address the issue of climate change. Some said it was doomed to fail; that it had a snowball’s chance in hell to create meaningful change. With leadership like that, who needs enemies?
Continue reading A Snowball’s Chance. By Steve Rypka on December 17th, 2009  Children will benefit most from the lessons we learn now. 2009 has been a year of learning. With economic challenges at every turn, many have been forced to do more with less. People have downsized, minimized, economized and localized. In a sense it could be considered a sort of natural correction. As we move forward into the New Year we should not forget these important lessons. For example, average home size has been growing for decades. Now there is a greater appreciation of the “smaller is better” concept. Homes that provide for our needs without being lavish or oversized make a lot of sense, not just for the occupants but for all of society. It’s much easier and less expensive to make a small, efficient home completely energy independent. I can’t count the number of people that have complained to me about high energy costs but who fail to make the connection to the size and efficiency of their home. Continue reading Lessons Learned. By Steve Rypka on December 3rd, 2009  I was pleased by a recent report detailing the substantial rise in property values in certain neighborhoods that are now the most desirable in the Las Vegas Valley. It was not completely unexpected. Ever since the light rail system was completed back in 2015, the value of nearby homes and businesses really took off. Ridership is more than double the projections. Everyone now wonders why Las Vegans took so long to build one in the first place.
Continue reading Future Vision. By Steve Rypka on November 5th, 2009  The greening of modern society is underway and nowhere is it more important than in our homes. With over one hundred million homes in the U.S. there’s plenty of work to do, but the potential benefits are enormous. It’s a multi-faceted transition: lights and appliances are getting more efficient every year, renewable energy systems are sprouting everywhere, utilities are beginning to build smart electric grids, and building codes are improving in many jurisdictions. Perhaps most importantly, people are changing their behavior.
Continue reading Greenbuild 2009. By Steve Rypka on September 24th, 2009 O ctober is National Energy Awareness month and this year’s theme is “A Sustainable Energy Future; Putting All the Pieces Together.” The idea is to encourage everyone to see how they fit into the big picture. According to the U.S. Department of Energy’s website, “No matter how large the problem may appear, the fact remains that each of us is a part of the solution. Every day, each of us makes decisions that can stimulate sustainability and a new energy economy.” It sounds as if they may have borrowed those lines from one of my earlier columns! There are a lot of pieces to the energy picture. As I’ve mentioned previously, the Southern Nevada Solar Home Tour will take place on Saturday, October 3 and that’s no coincidence. It’s a part of the American Solar Energy Society’s 14th annual National Solar Tour, the world’s largest grassroots solar event. Last year’s tour was attended by over 140,000 people in over 3,000 communities across the country. Continue reading 2009 Solar Home Tour. | The Clark County Library District is sponsoring a series of five presentations on Green Living to be held at the West Charleston Library. I hope you can join us!
Download the flyer (PDF). Green Transportation: Getting Over Oil Thursday, May 31 6:30 p.m. The future of transportation is exciting and changing rapidly. Learn how people are saying adiós to the gas pump, saving money and helping the environment. |
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