Becoming green: Dip your toes in the water

What is sustainability? These days it seems to mean: something about the environment that the average Joe doesn't have the time or money for. For a more accurate definition of the word "sustainability" I turn to the corporate businessman. This businessman is thinking about sustainability constantly - how will his business survive and thrive for the next year, next five years, next 50 years? The difference between his thought process and the sustainability movement is that the sustainability movement is concerned about how to keep the world we inhabit in good condition for the next generation - our kids, their grandkids, and the kids 50 generations from now. Some people think - it ain't easy being green - but I beg to differ. There are a lot of great things everyone can do to start dipping their toes in the water. I have compiled a list of high impact, low cost sustainability measures which are applicable on an individual basis, in a household, in a commercial interior space, retail space, and/or building portfolio. This article is the first in a series describing each of these measures. #1 - Replace faucet aerators: A typical kitchen or bathroom faucet sold today has a flow-rate of 2.2 gallons of water per minute (GPM). Most manufacturers now offer bathroom faucet aerators with a flow-rate of 0.5 GPM (reduction of almost 80%) and kitchen faucet aerators with a flow-rate of 1.5 GPM (reduction of 30%). It is also possible to purchase generic aerators that are compatible with most faucets with flow-rates of 0.33GPM for bathroom and 1.0 GPM for kitchen. Aerators usually cost $1-$10 and are typically easy to change out (like - your grandmother could do it). My only word of caution is: if you do a lot of pot-filling in your kitchen, the 1.0 GPM aerator is going to slow you down. #2 - Fight vampire power: We're not talking hot vampires from the movies here - we're talking that blood-sucking leach you pulled off your ankle at the lake last summer. Your appliances, equipment, and gadgets that are plugged into the wall are drawing power even when you're not using them. Per the Energy Star website the average household pays $100 in vampire energy costs per year, and the country pays over $10 billion annually! How do you fight vampire power? A wooden stake? NO! (Drum roll.) Power strips! You can plug all of your gadgets that don't need to be running all of the time into a power strip and flip the power strip switch off at night or when you're away. Different gadgets draw different amounts of vampire power, so start with the big culprits like your printer, router, computer/monitor, and go from there. Stay tuned for next month's installation of high impact, low cost measures for a sustainable planet. Melissa Wrolstad, LEED AP ID+C, BD+C, is a project manager, CodeGreen Solutions, New York, N.Y.