What a memorable storm in Ohio:09/14/2008

I just got power back!! You never know how much you need something until you do not have it: Energy. So let's not waste it!
This week was quite a mess after this Hurricane Ike's tale passed trough Ohio. In one of my previous statement about getting ready for emergency I said that it is a good thing to do even if we are not in the "land of hurricanes". Maybe I was wrong on the second part.
I hope no one got hurt and I attached some useful information to recover from this disaster.

Be aware of possible food related Health issue:
Health District’s Food Safety Hotline: 513-946-7949

Storm Damage notice from Hamilton County Auditor:
Auditor Dusty Rhodes notice, go to: http://www.hamiltoncountyauditor.org/

If you sustained significant storm damage from the severe winds of September 14, 2008, you may be eligible for property tax relief. You may download the form on the Auditor's website, www.hcauditor.org. Click on "Forms", scroll to” Real Property", and download "Real Estate Destroyed or Injured Building Form."

Duke Energy contacts:
To report electric problems: 651-4182
To report gas problems: 651-4466

Call your insurance and document your damages;

For more information read this article from WCPO:
http://www.wcpo.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=66aa78b0-80e6-45a4-b89b-32da806bef36

An honorable end for my 5 yrs old cell phone: recycled.

Yesterday was my last day with my small and simple cell phone. In today cell phone's era is quite a long time to have a phone for 5 years.

My husband gave it to me as a present for my birthday and uploaded for me a background image of a sunflower, my favorite flower.

So I decided I needed to give to my cell an honorable and memorable goodbye. I'll recycle it! Who knows maybe one day I will own a cellphone with a piece of my sunflower cell phone.

If you want to give an honorable and memorable goodbye to your beloved cell phone too, find a place near you in this EPA website page

http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/partnerships/plugin/cellphone/cell-recycling-locations.htm



or visit earth911 at

http://earth911.org/electronics/proper-disposal-and-recycling-of-e-waste/



EPA has now a new program called Plug-In To eCycling where you can find a place to recycle any plug in object: http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/partnerships/plugin/index.htm

My brand new green dryer - I love it!

Before the summer comes to an end I want to share with you a picture of my brand new environmentally friendly dryer.

As you know by now, I was born and raised in Italy, and this is the only way we dry clothes.

The dryers are just to expensive to run in Italy, where energy is not so cheap as it is in USA, and sometimes they ruins the fine Italian clothes.

I need to say that the American dryers adds a nice softness, so you can air dry the clothes in the sun and then just fluff them 5 minutes in the dryer.

You may ask what I'll do in the winter. I'll just dry them in the house.

The house heating is strong enough to dry them all and it is a good way to humidify the rooms without wasting water with the central humidifier.

From my experience I can say that the only season when it takes a little to dry the clothes is in the fall or beginning of spring when it's very humid, but not cold enough to run the heating system. And of course you need to know how the weather will be like or the clothes are going to dry and get wet again in the rain if you are not in the house.

Here you can find more information about energy use of different dryers http://www.consumerenergycenter.org/home/appliances/dryers.html

Backyard Compost Bin Sale on September 27th 2008!

Maybe you were thinking of starting composting, but the high price for the bin was holding you back.
In that case do not miss this Compost bin sale for Hamilton and Clermont County on September 27th 2008.
Click here for more information
http://www.hcdoes.org/sw/residential_compostbin.htm.

For the ones of you who do not know what is composting or do not have a good reason to start composting, here are some information:

"Yard trimmings and food residuals together constitute 24 percent of the U.S. municipal solid waste stream. That's a lot of waste to send to landfills when it could become useful and environmentally beneficial compost instead!" (EPA website http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/conserve/rrr/composting/index.htm);

In LA the City recently started a program to collect food waste and bring it to a composting location http://www.cbs8.com/story.php?id=137554# .

By the way, according to Rumpke so far Cincinnati has only 16 years of landfill left, then the city will need to "export" garbage with an increase cost for you and grown up kids. (Cincinnati Magazine, August 2008 - 35 Ideas for a cleaner, greener city - page 127, #5).

So don't miss this opportunity and start composting.

Emergency preparedness volunteering opportunity in Hamilton County

I'm quite sure that during those days at the pick of the Hurricane season, you had a glimpse to the New Orleans mastodontic evacuation in response to hurricane Gustav. Now is the turn of the East coast to prepare for hurricane Hanna.

The changes in the response from Katrina were admirable. They were more prepared and organized and most of all people listened to the mandatory evacuation and they put their emergency plans in action.

I know we are in Cincinnati away fro the hurricane land, but it is still a smart choice to be prepared for an emergency (a tornado, a flood, a disease, a terrorist attack), if something happen you will never regret it.

A few days ago I signed up to volunteer for the emergency plan of Hamilton County and you can do it too http://www.serveohio.org/OhioCitizenCorps_OR.aspx.
In this way you can help your community when in need, you receive a free training about emergency and your family will be the first in line to receive help.
Even being an interpreter for someone who is sick or displaced can be important.

One of the things that I want to be prepared for the most is the Pandemic Avian Flu.
My veterinarian background tells me how bad this pandemic flu can be.
If you want to learn more you can go at http://www.who.int/csr/disease/influenza/pandemic/en/ World Health Organization) or at http://www.pandemicflu.gov/ (USA).
You may not know that in case of Pandemic Flu all the people that are in the country where is the outbreak may not be able to come back to USA. For more information about Pandemic Flu and traveling abroad click here: http://travel.state.gov/travel/tips/health/health_3096.html, http://travel.state.gov/travel/tips/health/health_2747.html#evacuate,
http://travel.state.gov/travel/tips/health/health_1181.html, http://wwwn.cdc.gov/travel/contentAvianFluQA.aspx#travelinfection, http://wwwn.cdc.gov/travel/contentAvianFluAsia.aspx.
I hope you will check the list of other useful links I provided on this blog on the right white column.
And here you can read an interesting article published by CNN on the first 5 things to do in case of medical emergency http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/09/04/ep.first.aid/index.html.
Be safe, be ready, not sorry!

Preparing for the winter:tips to save energy and money

The winter is approaching and it's time to get ready for the winter. We have the all fall to do that http://www.ecy.wa.gov/news/envirotips/tips_fall.htm.

This year we may receive quite expensive heating bills, as energy cost is steadily rising.

As you may know heating and cooling account for about half the energy used in a house.

So what about starting to follow some of the advices I collected at the bottom of this posting?

But first I’ll tell you what I did

I have a new house and while me and my husband were going through the process of building it, we tried to make as much choices we could afford, that would have save energy in the future.

We have two energy efficient heating and cooling systems to which we applied a zoning system so that we can heat and cool only the areas where we leave in a certain time of the day.

And we installed thermostats so that we could control the temperature in each zone. I was advised from the technicians to avoid more than 5 degree F of difference between the zones, or the system would have run inefficiently.

So during the winter mornings we keep the day zone at 65-67 degree F and the night zone at 60-62 degree F.

You may say it's quite chilly, but if you wear a warm sweater and sleepers and you are moving (cleaning, cooking, etc), it's actually quite a comfortable temperature. Usually when is extremely cold outside I keep the temperature lower, because the furnace is going all the time anyways, and the house feels warmer compared to the outside.

If despite the slippers and the sweater you are still chilly, start the funs before modifying the temperature. The funs will allow the air to move and make the temperature more uniform.

Then at night we reverse the temperature set. In the day zone we put the temperature at 60-62 degree F and in the night zone at 64-65 degree F.

Cool temperatures make you sleep better and a nice, warm pajamas and covers are all you need at night.

If you have programmable thermostats you can change the temperature about 1 hr before you go form one zone to another.

One important thing is to keep the door from one zone to the other closed.

It's also good to close all the drapes to keep the warm inside from dusk to dawn.

If you are warm do not open the windows, but instead lower the thermostat.

We installed energy efficient windows and our walls and roof are well insulated.

I have a heating and cooling system yearly check up by a professional to make sure that the machines are tuned up, the air filters are clean, and the humidifier is working properly. It makes your house safer and your systems can run at the highest efficiency.

If I leave the house during the day, all the thermostats are set at 60 degree F; there is no need to keep the house warm if anyone is in the house.

Last, if we go on vacation we leave all the thermostats at 50 degree F that is the lowest temperature to keep the pipes from freezing and the furniture and appliances to be damaged from condensation.

Also the water heater uses quite a lot of energy. So if you have a water heater older than 5 years it’s a good idea to put a water heater blanket. In my case I don’t need to.

Keep the water heater at 120 degree F. If you leave for vacation set the water heater on vacation mode.

What I still need to do is to insulate all the hot water pipes in my unfinished basement. So this would be my fall project.

Do you have any project or question? Leave a comment to the post.


For more advices use the following very helpful and detailed links.
-Duke Energy saving tips http://www.duke-energy.com/ohio/savings.asp
-Energy Star EPA program http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=heat_cool.pr_hvac
- USA Department of Energy: weatherization program http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/wip/- USA Department of Energy Consumer guide to Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/consumer/