The Way To Living Green

Start Up Your Week With Some Green Fun!

2009-08-02T01:59:00.000-07:00

Who said Green cannot be fun?

Some friends told me being green will means have to let go a lot of good thing.
And, heck, no!

For me, green living means living a healthy lifestyle that will wouldn't increase the burden of our love earth. Living green is really fills with a lot of fun.

So, to start our week more lifely and fun ahead, check this out.

Department of Energy had actually created this site: www.loseyourexcuse.gov mainly for the kids. The site intended to nurture the next generation to be more proactive in energy usages. And, they did it in a very creative way.

I took up the challenge to play the flash game available, and guess what.... I am a lousy gamer!! haha.

Yes, that is my score, haha, 220. And, I had only managed to go into round 4.

Take a look at these screenshot, of the 3 rounds that I made it through...

Enjoy your Sunday!

Have a Green day ahead.

Mark
Way2Green

P/S: Tell me your score at the comment, ok?

Go to real Green !

2009-07-31T09:23:00.000-07:00

It was a boring Saturday, no dates, no moods, no works...what to do ? At first i was thinking to go for a movie with my siblings, but too bad that they have to bring their children to school activities.

Instead of going to shopping mall to spend money that might create tones of carbon footprints, why not go to a real green walk? Made a call to my friend who loves jungle trekking and luckily she had no programs.

See! How comfy to immerge in our mother of nature...

This is the real green, right?! It is amazing!

There is a dam.

Bet some chinese trekkers celebrated Chinese New Year here too!

Ants are going back home sweet home? or marching for battle?

What a unique color of this butterfly!

Do you see the spider on the petal?

Harvesting for honey!

This flower is about 2cm but thanks to my canon that allows me macro it nicely!

By : Simone

Think green, act green, enjoy green! You can do it too!

http://www.way2green.com/

Say 'NO' to disposable chopsticks!

2009-07-26T09:32:00.000-07:00

Are these chopsticks look awesome with the food as compared to those disposable one?

Shall you go to any restaurants that are using disposable chopticks, perhaps you can help our earth by saying 'NO' to them, if the restaurant doesn;t have any washable chopsticks, please ask for fork & spoon.. :)

By: Simone

http://www.way2green.com/

Ladies, keep a pair of chopsticks in your handbag, you will find them useful!

Broom or Vacumm cleaner?

2009-07-25T04:42:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, i told my friend Johnny, that i am using broom to sweep floor.

Johnny:" WHAT!?....nowadays are there still have people using broom to sweep floor, especially engineer like you and somemore you are a city girl! Most of my friends are using vacumm cleaner and to them, broom is an outdated and 'not-so-effective' to sweep floor"

"Hoah?! Why not? My family has been using broom all this while, my parent have never used vacumm cleaner either! " I said.

According to Johnny, a good vacumm cleaner really helps a lot in his housework. Dust, sand and hair has no way to run away from it.

I debated back, saying....emmmm, i am not keen to use vacumm cleaner because it consumes electricity...i want to reduce carbon footprint but, i do believe that vacumm cleaner is effective, perhaps it will be good if there is a solar powered vacumm cleaner :)

And what about you ? Broom or vacumm cleaner?

Simone_cf

P/S : Just done my housework with broom, and used a piece of tissue paper to wipe a small area on the floor, and apparently, my floor is still dusty. of course, i have to mop it with water again.

www.way2green.com

Living Green = Living Hard?

2009-07-23T08:24:00.000-07:00

Haha, funny video...... living green really doesn't mean you have to sacrifice your comfortness........

Browsed this video, good one.

Hope you enjoy this, have a Green day ahead.

Mark
Way2Green

Make good use of Cereal Packaging Box

2009-07-21T07:43:00.000-07:00

I just love this cereal packaging box because of its awesome design, while doing grocery shopping last weekend. I think i am not a wise consumer (sometimes) because my buying desire is so easily influenced by product packaging. Among 3 variety of cereal types which packed in red, brown and green boxes respectively, i chosed this.

When home, i was looking around my kitchen....That's it! A new role for it!

What do you think ? Isn;t my kitchen has a nice and unique pendant lamp now?

by Simone_cf

-p/s: nevertheless, the cereal tastes good too! :)

How do Cambodian get electricity?

2009-07-20T09:44:00.000-07:00

Last month i went to Siem Reap, Cambodia. Managed to take the scenic boat journey from Siem Reap to Battambang. They live in the floating houses which mostly from made bamboo as base while wood as wall, which built along the river bank.

Whether a big or a small family, i could feel that, they are living happily in the floating home sweet home, although the non luxury one.....

By the way, some of them run a small business in front of their house, they sell snacks, buns, beverages and mixed rice too...these families are relatively richer than others. Thus, it is not surprise to see TV antenna installed at the houses....however, I didn;t see electricity cables or any transformer towers along the river bank. Emmm?...I asked the guy sitting next to me whether he has any idea where are the cambodians get electricity to power up their home appliances? He felt funny either...then i replied naughtily, must be wind power or solar power!

When i reached Battambang, walking along its street, found this, woaoh!, looks like my hypothesis is true! :)

By Simone_CF

-Being panel author of waytolivinggreen, i feel so great when i could help to pormote green living and hopefully my bloggings would share readers some funs while pursuing green living-

Does Arguments Make Any Good to Green?

2009-07-20T08:02:00.000-07:00

The world first green city.
The world first eco-friendly city.
The world first carbon neutral city.
The world first ............... and, now... solar city.

Every single time, when there is such a initiative, a big plan to do something for green, we will see voices of objection.

"They should use the money to do retrofit to the existing city."
"All these plans, when in execution, will create environmental hazards."
"This are all marketing, to sell their properties!"

All this happened again, when Babrock Ranch, planned to be the world first 100% solar power city.

Everytime when I see or hear this kind of critics, I feel terrible.

Mankind population is increasing, and for that reason, we will definitely have to build more living spaces for all. And, we can't avoid to build new city, or expand the existing one.

While argue on retrofitting the existing city, I believe we should be grateful that these new developments are planning from the beginning stages to be eco-friendly, and green.

Why argue, critics when both side are trying to do good for the earth?

Let's look at what LEED had been doing for the past decade. They started with Green Labeling system for new buildings, then existing buildings, and now even for a complete neighbourhood development.

All these means different people, at different position, should do their part for green. It really doesn't matter if it is a new city or an existing one.

I strongly urge people to use more of their time to do more good for earth, despite spending time on arguments.

Have a Green day ahead.

Mark
Way2Green
P/S: If there is one thing that good about this critics, I believe that is the buzz that it creates. That get people to talk, think and hopefully act on doing more green, and live a green lifestyle.

Cool Biz? What You Should Not Be Wearing This Summer

2009-07-19T08:33:00.001-07:00

Any idea what Cool Biz is?

The history goes back to year 2005, where the Japanese government starts to promote this campaign, call CoolBiz.

The idea is to get the white collar workers to stop wearing tie & jacket to work on summer.

Why so?

Because in Japan, most japanese wear tie & jacket to work, even during the hottest day in a year. That is a symbolic of respect.

However, this practice had made office buildings consumes more energy, as a lower temperature setting is required.

It is until recently, the campaign become popular. As more and more people are concern about environment, and the effect of high energy consumption, a day without a tie is more more acceptable in Japan.

I personally do not wear tie to work. This could be odd, especially when people starts to feel as if we do not respect them.

But, from my experience, when I tell them the reason I don't wear a tie, they normally accept my explanation. Furthermore, a deep impression were given.

So, guys, do your part for the earth this summer.

Have a Green day ahead.

Mark
Way2Green

Efficient Lighting, Anyone?

2009-07-18T08:35:00.000-07:00

What kind of lighting do you use at home?

While a lot of talking had been into LED (light emitting diode) lighting, most of us are still using fluorescent, either tube or compact type.

There are a lot of LED lights already available in the market, flashlight, garden light, emergency light, even replacement tube for fluorescent. With its long life (100,000hours), LED seems to be the next big thing in lighting.

But, till date, LED lighting is still not mature, its efficiency are still below what fluorescent can produce. While waiting for the next breakthrough, and with the large numbers of installed base of fluorescent, more focus should be enhancing the existing installation.

One straightforward, cost effective and green way is to replace the existing fluorescent to a more efficient one.

Let's talk about fluorescent tube for example. Many of us are using T8 tube now, however, some of the countries are still using T10 or even T12 tube.

Now, what exactly is the difference of these tubes?
Simple, the numbers represent the diameters of the tube, ie T10 = 10/8 inch, T8 = 8/8 inch, and T5 = 5/8 inch tube.

But, what does it means in terms of green?

For a 5000 lumens tube, T12 consumes 65W, T8 consumes 58W, while T5 consumes only 50W.
And that is why we should start to change to T5 fluorescent tube.

At the same time, with its smaller diameter, T5 uses less glass, and less mercury too.

But, there is a concern of converting from T10 or T8 to T5 as these comes in different length.
So, in the past, when converting, we will need to change the ballast and the fittings. And, it is troublesome.

But, now, with the converting kit, this is no a concern anymore.
Have a look at this:

All we need to do is to remove the original starter, and replace the existing tube with this new all in one converting kit, and we are done.

Have a Green day ahead.

Mark
Way2Green

New Eco Bag? Is It Really Eco?

2009-07-14T08:51:00.000-07:00

Ok, I am going to talk about eco bag again, after just 2 weeks.

So, what is the point to talk about it again?

"New" eco bag.

The keypoint is "New". For most of the eco bag that is available today, it is new.
(of course, when you reuse it, its no longer new, but that's not what we meant.)

What it means is that, these eco bags are made of new fabric. While it is good to use these bags, but it could be better.

How?

By using recycled material.

Look at these eco bags.

I just got to know about this company while relaxing and watching TV.

These are the producst from a HongKong based company, called reSackel, founded by a young guy, Brian.

Brian was frustrated with how people use plastic bag in HongKong, and he formed this company to reuse the rice sacks into something useful.

I must say, good job Brian!

Good news is, Brian's products are now available in UK & US too.

Check it out at his corporate website.
http://www.resackel.com/

Have a Green day ahead.

Mark
Way2Green

The Myth Of Energy Saving - Switch Off Or Unplug?

2009-07-13T08:48:00.001-07:00

Have you heard of this advise?

"To save your electricity bill, do not just switch off your appliances, be it be TV, Air-Conditioning Unit, DVD player etc. But instead, UNPLUG and you will see a significant drop of your electricity bill."

This advise had actually caused a bit of a discussion among the energy efficiency community all over the world, whether this could be true or not?

Well, if you are staying in the US, this could be very much true. However, if you are staying in Europe, and most parts in Asia, this may not be true anymore.

Why?

Simply, we do not share the common wiring system.

What exactly does it means?

Look at the two different switch sockets below.

In the states, almost all are using the lower type of sockets. And, in some parts of the world, people are actually using the upper type of sockets.

Now, what is the differences?

Notice the on-off button?

Yeap, that is the main differentiation factor.

In the states, when we "switch off" our TVs, and many other appliances, we are actually putting it into standby mode.

Whereas those who are using the on-off button, the term "switch off" means "UNPLUG" in the US terms.

And, the advise of unplug to save energy, do not applicable to those who use on-off button.

Now, why there is differences in power consumption when we already put the appliances into standby mode?

Well, these power consumed is called phantom load, or electricity vampire, or simply, standby power. What it does it to supply power to appliances in sleep mode. It consumes less energy, but still consumes energy.

So, find out what kind of system you are using, and make sure you "switch off" in the correct way.

Have a Green Day Ahead

Mark
Way2Green

P/S: Learn the behavior of your electrical appliances by understand how they consume energy. I recommend the use of these kind of gadgets:

Solar Panels - Kill One To Save A Thousand?

2009-07-11T10:14:00.001-07:00

I read a post recently about the dark side of solar panels... that it produces tonnes of wastages from its manufacturing processes.

When I see the post, I just couldn't resist to put my comment to it.

Have you heard of this quote "Kill one to save a thousand"?

The solar panel production is just one of these things that does so.

Let's not only looking into the solar panel manufacturing process, try to look at it at a broader picture.

In the process of solar panel manufacturing, there's different chemicals being used, and highly toxic waste is the byproduct from this results. (also note that the silicon tetrachlorite can be recycled and handled safely)

But, a typical solar panel can last for over 25 years. Which means it will generate electricity that is needed for 25 years, WITHOUT buring coal!

Researches shows that for every single unit of power that we use, the coal power plant use 3 unit of raw power (ie coal, gas etc). And that means tonnes of green house gases.

As more and more BIPV (Building Integrated Photovoltaic) system is being installed, which transmission is highly efficient, every single unit of power generated by solar power is producing 3 times its contribution to reduction of green house gases.

So, if we look at the benefits of solar power, it really outshines the dark side of the manufacturing process.

I must say, while energy efficiency is still the cheapest way to cut down carbon footprint, there are still lots of things that we can avoid to use energy. In this kind of circumstances, it will be better to use green energy.

Let's hope that the solar panel manufacturers can soon produce solar panels in a more effective ways with more competitive pricing. And, we will all benefit from it.

Have a Green day ahead.

Mark
Way2Green
P/S : Let me find some cool gadgets to share next time. :)

Energy Efficiency Starts with Measurement - Microsoft Hohm

2009-07-10T08:16:00.000-07:00

"If you can't measure it, you can't improve it." Lord Kelvin

When it comes to energy efficiency, this is probably the most important step of all.
Energy efficiency is all about improvement of the way we use energy, and the first step we should always take is to understand how we use the energy.

Sounds difficult to understand? It is not.

What do you do when you want to slim down? The first thing is, find out what is your weight now, then, you use that as an indicator of your results.

Understand now?

Microsoft had recently launched their "Microsoft-Hohm" program. After Google launched their "power meter" some times ago.
Check out here : http://www.microsoft-hohm.com

What is this all about?

It is a program that helps home owner do a preliminary check on their house energy efficiency.

All you need to do is to set up your home profile, like the one below.

And, after completing all those, the program will shows you some recommendation action that you can take to improve your house's energy efficiency.

If your utility provider is part of their partner list, you can even download your usage history to do some analysis.

Now, go register and start to save energy!

Have a Green Day ahead.

Mark
Way2Green.com
P/S : Share with us if you have a success story.

Bundanoon Bans Bottled Water

2009-07-09T07:21:00.000-07:00

This could be one of the movement that will spread all over the world, just like the "say no to plastic bag" movement.

Today, a small town of 2500 people voted and decided to ban bottled water. All local business will stop selling bottled water and visitors are encourage to stop drinking from it.

I must salute all these people for taking such a bold step.

Most importantly, they are doing it right! It is a community decision, and for others, they provide an alternative solution, ie selling reusable plastic bottle, and allow people to refill it at designated location.

That leaves everybody an option, and guide people to support the decision.

Just have a look at the thrown away bottles that piled up at landfill below.

These plastic bottles will one day take over our living space if we do not stop consuming them.

Do your part today.

Have a green day ahead.

Mark
Way2Green

What Stops You From Living Green? Skill or Will?

2009-07-08T08:33:00.000-07:00

A lot of people already knows why we should be living green, and how much damages it can cause if we don't act today.

We all know that because of our needs of electricity, power plant burn coals and other fossil fuel to generate the electricity, and that results in leaving higher carbon footprint.

We all know that our gas powered vehicles are emitting green house gases to the environment, and that contribute to the climate change we see nowadays.

We all know that chemical based cleaners will harm our water system.

We all know this............ and that........

But yet, a lot of these people are still not taking action to live green.

Why?

Is it a skill or will problem?

We all have enough reasons to set our will right, but a lot of us stopped, or hesitate when we looked into the difficulty, the obstacle, the changes that we will need to face.

Skill, or resources is probably the main reason for a lot of us to start to take action.

"But, are there a lot of these skills and resources available?"

Yes, there are, and plenty of them. And, for that reason, we decided to set up this blog to share with you for all these information.

Don't believe in us? check this out.

http://www.ecocoffins.com/

Some people had even created something green for the dead.

Don't you think there are plenty for us who are still alive?

Have a green day ahead.

Mark
Way2Green

Cloth Bag for Green?

2009-07-03T07:52:00.000-07:00

When was the last time you get yourself a "Green" cloth bag?

Just because everyone is shouting "NO TO PLASTIC BAG", suddenly, cloth bag become the next "Green" thing.

Nowadays, walk to your nearby market, shopping centers, even fast food chain, everyone is giving away cloth bag.

The intention is good, just as cloth bag is mostly reusable, biodegradable, handy (and sometime sexy?), and it cut downs the use of plastic bag.

But, let's see when it is being mis-used...

You go to a fast food chain, and because you want to do your part, you get a cloth bag.

Next, you go to a department store, and guess what? you got another cloth bag. And, this time, they even gives you some points to redeem a gift when you accumulate enough usages of the cloth bag.

The next day, you go to a boutique, and you get another cloth bag......

And, all of these cloth bags, comes with their own "brand".....

We all ended up, collecting cloth bag....

And, the next week, when you go to the department store, with the cloth bag you keep in your car (branded: fast food chain), the cashier tells you:

"Sorry Sir/Madam, we can't credit you with your green points.... you cloth bag is not ours..."

This is what happened when cloth bag is being mis-used... as a tool to create loyalty, a tool of promotion, and not as it green purposes..... to cut down the use of plastic bags....

It is difficult to change how business are working, but, you and me can make a difference, please don't bother that much about the "green points", it is really the "Say NO to plastic bags" that matters.

Have a green day ahead

Mark
Way2Green

Green Building Forum 09

2009-07-02T09:42:00.000-07:00

Just came back from Green Building Forum 09 today, had never expected such a huge turnout from the local guys.

Of all the speakers, I was particularly impressed by the presentation by Dr. Wong & Tony Chan.

Dr. Wong had presented his research about vertical greenery, a technique that uses plants to cool down the building, and most interesting part is that, these plants not only grows horizontally, (ie roof garden), but also grows vertically!

Tony presented about sustainable town planning, looking at a much bigger picture. With all the case studies presented, I think most of the audience got an eye opener.

One tips given at the forum for homeowners:

Insulate your roof! Because more than 50% of heat comes in from roof. With good insulation, we can all cut down the use of air-conditioning during summer.

Have a Green day ahead.

Mark
Way2Green.com

P.S: Take part in your local community for this kind of forum, you will learn a lot, and you can share it with your friends, together we make a difference.