What is your opinion on these green facts?
Solar – 0k – 0k for entire house to be electrically independent
Prius – k for a 72hp compact car. Cut your mpg in 1/2 for groceries because it takes 2 trips to fit everything.
Speaking of groceries – 20% more for organic
Bamboo kitchen doors – 2 sq/ft vs. 2 sq/ft for oak
Now that’s some "green"!
Solar – $100k – $200k for entire house to be electrically independent
Maybe in AZ or NM. That said i do have a solar water heater because it cost me $500 to build and has paid for itself!
Prius – $25k for a 72hp compact car. Cut your mpg in 1/2 for groceries because it takes 2 trips to fit everything.
Buy a gasoline car of the size you need that gets good fuel economy.
Speaking of groceries – 20% more for organic
If i want organic I will grow my own. I like the nice big bananas in the store that sell for ha lower price as opposed to those rotten looking organic ones.
Bamboo kitchen doors – $38 2 sq/ft vs. $18 2 sq/ft for oak
Trees regrow. Oak furniture will last a lot longer than you will!
The green I like best is a paycheck.
You’ve discovered the true meaning of the "green" movement. More "green" from our wallets to become "earth friendly."
I am still not convinced the Prius is green anyway. The studies about the potential harm it causes when it’s usful life is over seem to say it is worse for the environment (to dispose of it) than a regular car because of the mercury in the batteries, etc.
well…ok…everyone knows a gas compact car is more cost effective but it doesn’t make you "feel" green….
organic? with the crap they use to grow food it may be worth it [i live in farm country]
cabinets? if you got the money bamboo? i like the oak better..anyway
solar p.v; gosh you must use a lot of leccy! get another quote……
or cut your waste a bit. go for the low hanging fruit first, for example insulation will give a better payback than generation.
prius; not good mpg my little diesel car does as well .and yes i can get the family shopping in there, even sleep in the back if i need to.
groceries; grow your own even a bit of salad. might not sound much, but adds those needed micronutrients that get lost in storage, and makes you feel so good
kitchen doors; do you really need new ones? my kitchen cupboard is well ‘pre-loved’, 50 odd years old solid wood and fit for a few decades more. having said that, bamboo is the fastest growing plant of all and needs no frtilisers or pesticides, so god choice for the consumer junkies.
The media is going green happy. The united states whitehouse is not even greened up,… yet we as everyday people are to shell out big money to suppositivly do our part. do our part is right for the economy not the environment. this whole environment hoopala is a money making skeem. There probably are valid concerns with the environment but because most of it is theory everyone is bendingthe science to benefit themselves.
I think these "facts" needa little revision. Since when is Bamboo environmentally friendly? It’s a weed which takes over and strangles ecologies
well, maybe $100,000 for 2500 square foot home is right. Even with rebates, there is a 15 to 20 year payback. but close.
If you live in a city and drive in 100% stop and go traffic and have 2 of 3 people that you ever have to carry, and you never take long trips, a prius is ok, but anything else, never.
My take on people who eat organic is that A) they feel guilty about something in their past and want to pay a repentance fee. or B) they think they want to live to be 110 years old, but they can live to be 100 with plain old groceries. In any case, by the time they are 90 to 95, they won’t remember their kids or grandkids, no one will come see them, they have have their depends changed by a stranger, and they added 10 years are just a wasted time anyway.
Bamboo is to make chop sticks from or to put under fingernails, not for wood floors. I love the person that brags about 50 year old cabinets, sorry, what does that mean, we all go out and get 50 year old cabinets, so that what, the people we take them from can go out a replace them with bamboo??? your response makes no sense.
Where are you shopping? And they seem to be more of your individual opinions than actual green facts.
When I looked into going solar, it was about $50-$100k, but with state and federal tax rebates it was even less. Wind looked to be even less expensive.
Near me, typically the organic products are about the same price and usually better quality than the megabrands. I’d suggest that you find a less expensive grocery store.
The Toyota Prius hasn’t been a compact-sized car (like that of the Corolla or the Honda Civic) since the 2003 model year, and it has never had less than 98 net hp (not that you even need that much for most driving). Since 2004, the Toyota Prius has been a midsized hatchback. The Prius is usually called a TARDIS as it is bigger on the inside than it looks from the outside. How many groceries do you have in a shopping trip that you cannot fit them in a Prius? Even back when I used to do a shopping trip once every few weeks in my Classic 2001 (compact) Prius, I rarely filled up more than half of the trunk with several dozen full bags, and still had all the passenger seats empty.. (Sounds like you just like driving back and forth to your expensive grocery store.) The current 2009 Toyota Prius has a MSRP of $22,000, so I guess that you loaded up yours with a lot of comfy features…
Besides, if you want to go green, you’d either grow more of your own food, or at least buy locally. (Myself, normally I walk to the grocery store and carry home my own groceries in my backpack, and when I can I go to the local farmer’s market…)
and bamboo doors? try cork instead.
To correct some other posts:
Besides having the best fuel economy of any car in the US market for several years running, the Toyota Prius is also rated a PZEV (partial zero emission vehicle) in California emission states. PZEV means SULEV emission standards (90% cleaner emissions than the average car), plus zero evaporative emissions (no fuel-system emissions when the car isn’t being driven), and a long warranty. While some manual transmission TDI diesel vehicles may match highway fuel economy on the eCVT Toyota Prius, the diesel vehicles have such high NOx and particular matter emissions that they usually cannot be sold new in California emission states because they are so dirty (poor air quality/cause smog emissions).
Usually the mythic "article" from The Mail on the nickel in the hybrid cars’ NiMH batteries is quoted from a now retracted article. The retraction that clears up this bit of misinformation is at:
http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=417227&in_page_id=1770
(They were using data from the early 1970′s about the INCO-Sudbury nickel mine, which was more than 20 years before the first hybrids needed NiMH batteries, and the plant has greatly cleaned themselves up and reforested the area since then. If you were to add up the amount of nickel in the million+ hybrids sold since 1997, the total is less than 1% of the world’s annual nickel production (far more nickel is used for stainless steel, for example).
The lead-acid (Pb-A) 12v accessory batteries in hybrids tend to be smaller than those found in every traditional gasoline vehicle. Recycling programs are in place for traditional lead-acid batteries.
All the hybrids on the market use NiMH (Nickel-Metal Hydride) batteries, which contain no heavy metals (so they’re not hazardous waste, like the Pb-A batteries), and are easily recycled.
The hybrid battery packs in the Prius have labels on them for whom to contact to recycle them. Toyota pays a $200 "bounty" for each hybrid battery to be sure that it is properly recycled.
Some other good reading:
Hybrid Battery Toxicity: http://www.hybridcars.com/battery-toxicity.html
Hummer versus Prius: "Dust to Dust" Report Misleads the Media and Public with Bad Science: http://www.pacinst.org/topics/integrity_of_science/case_studies/hummer_versus_prius.html
Prius Versus Hummer: A Nickel for Your Thoughts: http://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/200711/mrgreen_mailbag.asp#headaches
"I read an article stating the Prius has a worse impact on the environment than a Hummer because of the enormous pollution created in making the car’s batteries. True?" : http://www.straightdope.com/columns/080404.html