Doity Laundry: Nevada Green Challenges & Some Green Saving Tips!

Doity Laundry: I found my green awareness inadvertently because of the natural magic cleaning power of the sun when my baby boy was allergic to the chemicals in disposable diapers. I tried a diaper service and he was allergic to those chemicals also! I had to wash my own diapers with detergent and bleach and then rinse in hot water about 3 times. Someone told me that the sun kills the bacteria and viruses found in cloth so I started using less bleach, less rinses and hung the diapers out to dry. Not only did it kill the bacteria in the diapers - those things became white as the day I bought em! Have a tough stain on whites? Want to save some money and energy? Hang it out to dry!

Water: Having enough water is a challenge in our valley. The myth is there is no water in the desert (see my post: Why Would I Want to Live in the Desert: There is No Water!) There is plenty of water in the form of aquifers and Lake Mead via the Colorado River. Unfortunately the Colorado Compact both built us to the gambling mecca we are today (by building the Hoover Dam) and screwed us out of a precious resource that is available in our state but it is not all ours! We must be careful to use this resource wisely and conserve what little we have until we get our water issues straightened out!

• Pool Cover: Southern Nevada Water Authority offers instant rebates for pool covers once every 36 months. Keep your pool toasty warm with solar heat while preventing rapid water evaporation!
• Watering Schedule: Adhere to your MANDATORY assigned watering schedule days & times.
• Take out your grass and participate in the Water Smart Landscapes Rebate.
• Wash your car at places that use reclaimed water

Electricity: The Enron scandal rocked the west coast back in 2000. Politicians and Political pundits called the Enron debacle a "victimless crime." I don't know how much of it is victimless when Hundreds of Thousands of households on the west coast are still paying the ultimate price from that scam: Utilities with Damaged Credit Ratings & Deferred Energy Purchases. What happens when credit ratings get ruined? You pay a higher rate for your purchases. Also the spook that there was no electricity scared utilities to purchase power for years ahead of time. Call it speculation if you will. Well do you think Enron or any of the other wholesalers that were involved or the utilities are absorbing these prices? No, the people who use the utilities are paying the ultimate price! Scandals are fueled by greed. Greed from the people providing a service or product and greed from the people using a product or service. NOW if us west coasters would have reacted to "shortages" of electricity by means of conservation when we were alerted to these "shortages" the game would have been OVER for Enron and the other energy wholesalers.

• Know Your Rate Tiers! Last year (2006) everyone was a participant in the on peak/off peak program. Now it is a program you need to sign up for. I will have to analyze my bills from last year to see if the savings will outweigh the benefit. Summer on peak times are 1 PM to 10 PM. Last year it seemed like on peak times were shorter, I could be wrong! I would utilize my thermostat timers for the temperature to slowly go down to 78 degrees prior to 1 PM and then have them set to go up to 88 until off peak time. My air conditioner would rarely turn on during those times! It's also wise to circulate your pool during off peak periods as pools cost almost as much to circulate as it does to run your air conditioner! I would also schedule to do my laundry at off peak periods. Usually throwing the load into the washer prior to on peak times and then putting that load the dryer during off peak times. Same with the dishwasher, it was turned on right when the off peak period began. Running heat emitting appliances during the hottest parts of the days only puts strain on your air conditioner and makes your energy bills skyrocket!
• Compact Florescent Bulbs (CFB) provide more natural light, last longer, use less wattage and emit verly little heat. We have been slowly switching to these bulbs and I love the light they emit! Calculate your savings for switching out to CFB's!
• Nevada Power Auto Shut Off: They used to have an incentive program that had a mechanism to automatically shut off your air conditioner during the hottest times of the day. Supposedly the air conditioner is shut off for short periods of time to relieve the grid and you could barely notice it. It appears that this program is no longer available!
• Solar Screens & low E glass windows help keep the heat from the sun from baking your home!
• Ceiling Fans: Use ceiling fans in any room you can - even during winter - to circulate the air and keep the room temperatures even!
• Cook on your grill outdoors when it is too hot out. We have always cooked on our grill when it is too hot out. Consider spending a little extra money on a grill that has a side burner so you don't have to create heat in your home on a hot summer's day!
• Conduct an Energy Audit to find hidden energy and money saving incentives in your home!
• Be aware of where Nevada's power comes from!

Harness Solar Energy & Wind Power: Nevada Power finally has a Net Metering program in place!!! Net Metering is when you provide your own power through either a photovoltaic system (solar) or wind power system and your meter runs backwards to credit you for the power you provide to the utility. When I was considering putting a photovoltaic system on my roof top a couple of years ago there was no net metering program! This is great news and I am glad they have done this! Nevada power offers more incentives via rebates for solar energy installations through an extensive program that you must apply for about a year prior to installation. Imagine the possibilities if builders could start offering photovoltaic systems as an upgrade to your home purchase! It would make a great long term real estate investment by increasing your home's value while saving money and would be less expensive than getting your own contractor after the fact and we could slowly replace the air polluting coal and natural gas plants that make most of our electricity! To my amazement Michael Meservier posted a survey in regards to buyer demand & solar energy after I had this penned in draft!

From Nevada Power's website:

Renewable Energy For Nevada

By year-end 2007 Nevada will be the No. 1 state in the nation based on solar watts per capita and solar as a percentage of retail sales.

The rankings incorporate two major solar projects expected to go online in 2007: Nevada Solar One and the 10-megawatt SolarStar project to be built at Nellis Air Force Base, the largest solar-photovoltaic project in the country. Read more about Nevada Power's commitment to Renewable Energy.

Air Quality: Main pollutants for the Las Vegas Valley are: Dust, Ozone and Carbon Monoxide. You can view the air quality forecast here. And Remember: Don't be a Dusthole!

Growth: Growth is a challenge for Southern Nevada. Much of Nevada is BLM land and desert. Even though it is desert, there are still living, breathing things that we need to be concerned about displacing as we grow: the desert tortoise, burrows, wild horses, rabbits, big horn sheep, mountain lions, coyotes and bats. The desert provides life to so many unusual plants and animals and contains so much beauty that people do not even realize!

Mining: Mining accounted for 9% of Nevada's gross state production in 1997. Minerals that are sought after include (but not limited to): Gold, Silver, Copper, Gypsum and Lithium. Mining effects are visible to the naked eye! Drives in the desert show abandoned mines and mountains that are half gone. Less obvious effects are possible mercury and lead poisoning of our underground (aquifer) water sources. Gypsum recycling is gaining ground!

Nuclear Waste: The Nevada Test Site has had 928 nuclear tests and 1021 detonations since the 1940's. The test site provides a (debatable) perfect ground for the Yucca Mountain Low Level Nuclear Waste Facility. The main debate points are seismic activity & transportation. Between 1976-1996 there were 621 seismic events greater than 2.5 magnitude within 50 miles of the Yucca Mountain Site. Transportation of nuclear waste on our roads and rails should be a concern to ANYONE who travels highways, interstates, freeways and live near railroad tracks. Having a nuclear repository in our backyard doesn't mean that you are safe from transportation accidents that involve nuclear cargo! Transportation routes go through 43 states! Many people think that they are safe because of NIMBY thinking - reality is they are not! My biggest concern isn't the safety of the facility but the transportation of this stuff!

As you can see, Nevada faces many challenges that must be addressed. In the meantime, raising public awareness to the problems and some minor solutions can make a bridge over the path to a greener future!