Home Energy Audit

We just got done receiving a home energy audit from Tom Nolz with the Neighborhood Energy Connection. Tom was full of information about how to improve our home's efficiency. We were excited and proud to be told that we are currently in the top 5-10% for our minimal energy use. But we also know there's always room for improvement. 

Tom's biggest task was to complete a blower test. He sealed a big blower into our front door and then essentially sucked all the air out of the house. Then he and Nate walked around to literally feel all the spots where air can get into the house from openings in our home. Our furnace had hot air being sucked in like a wind tunnel. In addition, our patio door is warped and a strong breeze made its way through the cracks in this door. This might be a replacement we'll take care of in the near future.

Tom suggested that we do regular, annual tune ups on our furnace, but it probably wouldn't be the greenest option to replace it because our heating use is so low. 

I would highly recommend getting an energy audit done on your home. Tom was extremely knowledgeable. He was very positive and supportive, and he provided realistic suggestions that we could handle making. He didn't make us feel bad about the giant leaks in our patio door and furnace; he just helped us to see how we could realistically make these problems better. When he suggested a swinging patio door and I said I wasn't interested, he was able to provide another option that would still be an improvement on our current situation (a wood frame sliding door will be less likely to warp than a vinyl frame door). 

All you need to do to get started is contact your energy company (We just called Xcel Energy). 

Let us know if you get some new ideas for efficiency after your audit!

A picture of the Blower Door Test. This man is not Tom :)

Great Veggie Recipe!

After a brief hiatus from our weekly vegetarian dinners, we recommitted with this tasty dish: Baja Black Bean Cakes with Spicy Sweet Potato Sauce. Thanks to Simply Organic for directing me to The Vegan Chef for this recipe. We are loving our adventures in vegetarian eating (although Nate hates the excessive dirty dishes I create when I dive in to new cooking territory--I cook and Nate does dishes, thus inhibiting my ability to limit my dish use.)  

We took the Mow-Hi Pledge!

Our 3" Lawn

This year, the city of Maplewood challenged citizens to take the Mow-Hi Pledge. According to the pledge, raising your lawnmower to 3 inches has a number of benefits for your yard, the environment, and yourself.

In addition to raising lawnmower height, we agreed to leave clippings on the lawn. Some benefits of these 2 simple steps include:

• Research shows that the shorter you mow, the faster the lawn grows. This seems counter intuitive, but it's true. Therefore, you'll need to mow less frequently. The City of Maplewood recommends timing your cuts so you remove no more than 1/3 of the blade height. 
• You'll save on water because longer blades shade the roots and therefore water loss is reduced.
• Root depth equals the height of the grass blades, so roots reach down further for water. 
• Leaving clippings on the lawn substitutes for 1/3 the fertilizer a lawn needs per year. 
• Less mowing equals less gasoline used (or, if you use a battery powered mower like us, less electricity used). 

For more information about leaving your lawn long, visit the University of Minnesota's Sustainable Urban Landscape Information Series. 

Indoor Plants

Like most new moms, I've felt my fair share of fear about SIDS. When A sleeps too long, I still tiptoe into his room and poke him to make sure he's okay.


One thing that helps me (and A) to breathe easy is a plant in his room. While all plants help to cleanse the air around us, some are more efficient than others. We spend a lot of time indoors, babies even more so, in places with poor air circulation. Our indoor spaces are full of pollutants, often the air we breathe inside is more polluted with chemicals than the air we breathe outdoors. A study by NASA found that certain plants more efficiently filter out toxins and create cleaner air for us to breathe. The ten most effective plants to remove pollutants such as formaldehyde, benzene, and carbon monoxide are:

• Bamboo palm (Chamaedorea seifritzii) 
• Chinese evergreen (Aglanema modestmu)
• English ivy (Hedera helix)
• Gerbera daisy (Gerbera jamesonii)
• Janet Craig (Dracaena) 
• Marginata (Dracaena marginata)
• Mass cane/corn plant (Dracaena massangeana)
• Mother-in-law's tongue (Sansevieria laurentii)
• Pot mum (Chrysanteium morifolium)
• Peace lily (Spathiphyllum "Mauna Loa")

A's the proud owner of a Janet Craig, and we all breathe the fresh air a little deeper in his room. 

(Information obtained from Raising Baby Green by Dr. Alan Greene, M.D. (2007).)

Plastic Conversions to Oil

Sometimes I forget how many people have inspired my passion for social responsibility. Though I didn't know it until the last years of my Grandpa Willson's life, he was a huge advocate for social responsibility. Grandpa was converting plastic into oil on his farm years before I was born, similar to this.

What an honor to be related to such a genius.