Some GREEN inspiration

Good Morning!

Here is a fun slideshow of inspiring green ideas in interior decorating: Green Interiors

There are a lot of cool product links too. Take a break and enjoy!!

(from Domino Magazine online)

Tips From Award Winning "Green" Builder

Wilmington's Award Winning "Green" Builders Anne & Bradshaw have offered some tips for you to use at home to save energy costs and improve indoor air quality retroactively.

1) Provide exterior or interior shading (decorative shed roofs work great) for East/West facing windows to prevent heat gain in the summer

2) Add CO (carbon monoxide) alarm in the home (essential for a green certification)

3) Remove carpets and add tile/wood/laminate floors to remove allergans

4) Insulate, Insulate, Insulate - Make sure attic is well insulated and insulate under floors in crawl space (or seal the crawl space for mold control!)

5) Replace old windows with new argon filled low E

6) Check out the hvac system - make sure the ducts are well sealed and the handler/compressor are functioning at max, add programmable thermostat to the system, check that condensation is not creating a mold problem at the intake or vents, and best - insulate the area where ducts run (ie insulate the attic roof if ducts are in the attic, seal and insulate the crawl space if the ducts are in the crawl.)

7) Replace the old water heater with an on demand tankless

8) Use low flow fixtures

Etc.......

Savings could be substantial!

Anne & Bradshaw are available to do an energy consult or help with subcontractors or, of course, help with remodeling!!!

Anne & Bradshaw General Contractors, Inc

P.O. Box 221, Wrightsville Beach, NC 28480

910-232-1474

(Pam Fasse is a CENTURY 21 Sweyer & Associates' agent and owns Anne & Bradshaw along with her husband.)

Clearing out the Clutter in your Home Office

Everyone can always use some tips on how to organize their home office as well as their office at work.

Martha Stewart has a very helpful article on her website on just how to do that.


Click on her site to find out what these topics below cover.
Martha Stewart Tips

Topics Include:
- Centralizing
- Navigating Bills
- Reducing Receipts
- Saving Selectively
- Maintaining Order
- Document Retention Guidelines
- Going Paperless

Sustainable Lifestyle

You've heard the term...Sustainable Lifestyle?
Here's a very informative website The Green Home Guide that gives you some great tips on how to make your lifestyle more sustainable.

The topics cover the following areas:

• Reducing, Reusing & Recycling
• Cleaning
• Transportation
• Personal Practices
• Energy

At home, at work, at the grocery store and everywhere in between, there are many ways you can live a greener life. What’s more, it isn’t hard at all. The key is to ask yourself some basic questions: Am I using more resources than I need? Am I using more energy than I need, and am I using that energy as efficiently as possible? Are my actions making my community a healthier place? These questions can lead to both subtle and dramatic changes in your daily behavior in new and exciting ways.

Ideal Bite for Work

One of my favorite green websites is Ideal Bite. Every morning when I check my email at work, I have an Ideal Bite email waiting for me, and I can't even count how many times I've used their tips.

Finding resources to go green at work on the web can be difficult, but Ideal Bite has a great resource here. These tips are great for use at the office, and most of them carry over to home life, too. One of my favorites tells you how to stop getting so much junk mail.

Going Green 101: What your family can do today!

Even Oprah is going "Green"!

Make saving our planet a part of your daily life with easy changes.
Start today with help from these resources.
Click on the following link to see the tips given on one of Oprahs shows about going green.
http://www.oprah.com/tows/pastshows/200704/tows_past_20070420_b.jhtml?promocode=incl20070420BP

Looking for Green products for your home?

Check out Wilmington's premier store featuring exclusively green building & home products.

Sapona

Located at 4113-b Oleander Drive, Wilmington, NC

910-313-6606

http://www.saponagreen.com/

Sustainable products:

- Flooring
- Countertops/tiles/partitions
- Wall Coverings
- Building materials
- Paint
- Low energy water heaters
- Low energy lighting
- Low flow water fixtures
- Cotton insulation
- Non-toxic cleaners
- Window treatments
- Sinks, hardware & lighting

Now you don't have to go too far to make your home a safe environment for your family!

Our Friend the Computer - great tip for work (or home)!

Ahhh, the lovely modern convenience of computers; how did we ever live without them? An integral part of everyone's day to day lives, computers have become standard in homes and offices everywhere. And while they help us tremendously day to day, they are also huge energy-users.

One simple way to cut back on the energy used by our computers is to forego that fancy screensaver (I know, I know, we'll all miss those 3D flying objects!), and instead set your monitor to "sleep" after so many minutes of inactivity. Activating sleep settings on just one computer prevents approximately 300 pounds of CO2 emissions each year.

For detailed instructions for setting this up, check out this link.