Throw a Green New Year’s Party!

Start 2012 off right by greening your New Year’s Party!

With some minor adjustments, you can reduce the cost of throwing a party and prevent that awful wasteful feeling at the end of the night while still showing your friends and family a good time.

1. This is an easy one - Nix the paper invite and use an e-invite service or social media like Facebook to notify your invitees.
2. You don’t need to go overboard with the decorations.   Either use small potted plants that you can give to guests at the end of the night, or look around your house and think of new ways to use what you already have.
3. Don’t purchase plastic throwaway cups, plates, napkins or utensils.  There is nothing worse at the end of the party than seeing the giant landfill contribution you are about to make.  Use your normal drinking glasses; borrow from friends if you need more.  Prevent guests from losing their glass by using reusable (and removable) chalkboard labels to put their name on the glass.  Use plates you already have and reusable cloth napkins.  Make any food bite-size to avoid needing utensils.  Don’t worry about everything matching; your party will have more character if it doesn’t.
4. You will likely want to have some sort of food available to your guests.  Make your party later in the evening to avoid the expensive and complicated dinner party.  Use local, seasonal ingredients when possible.  Focus on bite-size appetizers and desserts to avoid needing utensils.  Take it a step further by adopting my “don’t cook, just assemble” philosophy.  Make appetizers and desserts that are no cook/bake to avoid using your stove and oven.  There are tons of websites offering no bake/no cook recipes online.
5. Keep your thermostat on 68 degrees or lower.  Take advantage of the body heat and save on your energy bill!
6. Use limited lighting.  Guests will think you are setting a mood, but you will also be saving on energy.
7. Don’t throw away bottles at the end of the night.  Any corks you accumulate can be made into a cool cork message board.  The bottle itself can be used for many different crafts that would make great gifts for your friends.  Check out these ideas to spark your creativity.
8. Lastly, don’t wait until tomorrow to clean your dishes.  Save energy by running your dishwasher late at night.

Dominion GardenFest of Lights Opens at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden

So, have you been?  Have you checked out what approximately 500,000 bulbs looks like? (That’s 40 miles of light strands!). How about the over-sized L-O-V-E letters in the Rose Garden?  If you haven’t been yet, it’s time to get a move on!

It’s expected that over 50,000 folks will see the illuminated Lewis Ginter, an annual tradition for many.

And how does energy conservation tie into this? Well, they’re using more LED lights than before.  And being energy gurus, you know that LEDs use less energy and still give a bright and stunning display.

GardenFest runs 5 p.m. – 10 p.m. daily except for Dec. 24 and 25 at the non-profit Garden located at 1800 Lakeside Ave., Richmond. The event includes family-friendly activities, dining opportunities, music and more.

Admission for Dominion GardenFest is $11 adults; $10 seniors; $7 children ages 3 – 12 and free for children under age 3. Admission for Garden members is $5; for children on a membership it is $4 (ages 3 – 18).

To learn more, call (804) 262-9887 or visit www.lewisginter.org.

Have fun!

Lighting Program Ends Dec. 31st!

Looking for last minute stocking stuffer ideas?  Give the gift that will not only save you money, but save your friends and family energy and money for years to come: compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs).  Dominion’s current lighting program provides $1-$6 instant savings per bulb on select products in participating stores in Virginia and North Carolina…but don’t wait too long!  These discounts end December 31, 2011.

In September 2011, Dominion Virginia Power filed with the Virginia State Corporation Commission for a second phase of the program that promotes the switch to energy-saving CFL and LED light bulbs, which exceed minimum efficiency standards.  If approved, the program is expected to launch June 2012.  Dominion has not yet filed for a second phase of the program in North Carolina.

Replacing your light bulbs with CFLs is an easy and cost effective way to practice energy efficiency in your home.  CFLs not only use approximately 75% less energy, they can last up to 10 times longer than the traditional incandescent bulb.

Calculations based on information from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found that purchases of approximately 7.8 million bulbs through Dominion’s discount programs since 2007 are projected to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide by more than 1.7 million tons, or the equivalent of removing approximately 305,000 cars from the road for a year.

Check out www.dom.com/lightingprogram for a list of participating products and retailers to take advantage of the program before it ends on December 31, 2011! 

NEST = The $500 Prized Thermostat?

If you’re half as geeky as we are here, you’re probably aware of the NEST Thermostat.  But to catch everyone up, it’s the newest techie item on the market for energy gurus.

The NEST is a learning thermostat that has a brain like no other.  After you install the unit, it asks you a few questions, determines your maximum comfort level temperatures, and then begins to learn your lifestyle.  Turn it up a few degrees when you have company, make a tweak lower when you’re too warm, and it won’t affect the learned schedule.  But make the changes every day for a few days and it’ll start to change its settings to match your lifestyle.

And if your lifestyle includes significant travel, you can remotely adjust your NEST thermostat via the internet or your smart phone.  Going on vacation??  The Auto-Away feature will automatically turn down the temperature when you’re gone.

The concept is from innovator, Tony Fadell, he’s one of the former brains behind the iPod, moving from toys to thermostats.  And the NEST has that iPod feel.  The round thermostat turns red when your home is heating, blue when it’s cooling, and the screen is a sleek LCD.  Simple enough, right?

Interested in getting one of these swanky new age thermostats?  Good luck!  Released in October at a retail price of $249, it’s sold out through the end of this year.  Don’t worry, you can get one on Ebay for $400, $450, $500…or, whatever the winning bid is!

Green Gift Guide

Although the weather hasn’t felt like it, I hear the winter holiday season is upon us.  After sifting through the huge pile of ads on Thanksgiving just like the rest of America, I had a major realization:  I was not going to be a crazy person out running around town scrounging for deals on Black Friday.  It seems that many people had the same idea as online sales between Black Friday and Cyber Monday soared to a record high.

I am happy to report that thanks to my online shopping excursion over the weekend, I am almost finished with my shopping - and I only started on Friday!  I highly recommend online shopping not only because you get to sit at home on your couch and keep your sanity, but it keeps more cars off the road.  In addition, there are some awesome eco friendly gifts available on the web that you may not have considered.  Here are a few of my favorites…

1. Reusable bags.  Yes, yes I know this is not a new idea, but if you are anything like me, you often forget your reusable bags when going shopping which totally defeats the purpose of having them.  Solution: Find reusable bags that pack up nice and small and fit in your pocket or purse.  My personal favorite brand is Envirosax.  Not only do they come in chic patterns, they roll up super small and are incredibly durable….did I mention they can hold up to 44 pounds each?!
2. There are lots of websites out there offering recycled products.  One of the most interesting is the site uncommongoods.  They have cool items like picture frames made out of old ceiling tiles, recycled tire flower pots and recycled wetsuit ipad covers.
3. In case you haven’t checked it out, I highly recommend going to Etsy for handmade one-of-a-kind gifts.  There are many sellers on the site offering jewelry, clothing and home décor all made from 100% recycled materials.
4. Give bamboo kitchen supplies like spoons and cutting boards to the cooks in your family.
5. Buy credits for friends and family for sites like Amazon, Netflix, iTunes, etc.
6. Want to give your friends something charitable but useful?  Buy products like 100% organic bags from FEED Projects.  Not only will your purchase provide meals and job training to children in need from around the world, you will have a unique gift for your friend.  It’s a win-win.
7. Visit the adoption center at the National Wildlife Federation to “adopt” your animal of choice (I adopted a baby giraffe for my niece).  You will receive a certificate of adoption, and the funds will help protect wildlife.
8. Low on cash but still want to give something?  Try plantable holiday cards from websites like Botanical Paperworks.

Have any original green gift ideas of your own?