Live Green: Central New Yorkers change lifestyles to lighten their carbon footprint

by James T. Mulder, The Post-Standard

Friday February 08, 2008, 4:47 PM

When Peter Wirth married Jane Tretler three years ago, one of the items he brought to the marriage was a wooden rack for drying clothes.

Wirth, who jokingly refers to himself as an "eco-Nazi," had long used it as an energy efficient alternative to an electric clothes dryer.

At first, Tretler did not want to use the rack because it meant an extra 10 minutes of work in her busy day. But she experimented with it and now uses it to dry most of the laundry, except for sheets, comforters and any clothes that need to be dried quickly. Those items still go into the electric dryer in their home, in Fayetteville.

"Now that I'm in the habit of using it, I think it's great," Tretler said. "I like to try to think about what carbon footprint I am leaving. If I can lessen my carbon footprint, it's worth it."

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Ithaca's embrace of environmental values attracts new residents

by Rebecca James, The Post-Standard

Friday February 08, 2008, 4:43 PM

Rob Morache knows the lure of the green city.

The architectural designer left the Syracuse suburb of Westvale in 2004 to move to Ithaca, about 55 miles south.

"It was a really conscious choice," Morache said. "I wanted to live somewhere smaller, a place that's got the whole green conversation going on."

Country Home magazine listed Ithaca as the nation's second-greenest city, behind Burlington, Vt., and ahead of Corvallis, Ore. Those three, like most in the top 10, are college towns.

Ithaca's green reputation just keeps growing, as it draws environmentally minded newcomers who start businesses, join groups and build green homes.

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There's a new meaning for 'green grocer'

by Bob Niedt, The Post Standard

Friday February 08, 2008, 4:38 PM

A new watchword in retail is "sustainability," and for grocers, sustainability is not something you find in the laundry soap aisle.

It's all over the place.

From reusable grocery bags and household battery recycling to store lighting and fleets of new tractor-trailers, the supermarket industry, especially, is moving forward in the area of environmental sustainability.

Wegmans Food Markets Inc. has put a team in place to identify sustainability shortfalls and to target methods to fill the gaps.

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Hybrids' advantage grows as gasoline prices rise, payback period shrinks

by Rick Moriarty, The Post-Standard

Friday February 08, 2008, 4:22 PM

Nobody has to tell Jan Mead, of Tully, that buying a hybrid vehicle makes financial sense, despite the higher sticker prices that hybrids carry.

She sees the evidence every time she pulls one of her two Toyota Priuses into a gas station.

Mead said she gets miles per gallon in the mid 40s to low 50s with the hybrids, which have both electric and gasoline engines and easily switch between the two depending on how much power is needed at any given moment.

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Mayors of Syracuse, Auburn say environmental policies pay off

by Greg Munno, The Post-Standard

Friday February 08, 2008, 4:19 PM

Having a green mayor can be good for a city's national reputation.

That's what Syracuse Mayor Matt Driscoll banked on when he decided to invest more than $2 million to replace light bulbs in city buildings with more energy-efficient bulbs.

Driscoll's calculus seems to be right on. Since replacing the bulbs and taking the lead on a few other environmentally friendly initiatives, Driscoll and the city have been showered with praise by groups across the country.

Driscoll has led National Conference of Mayors panels on going green, and the city has won awards, including the Alliance to Save Energy's prestigious Charles H. Percy Award for Public Service.

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Construction industry employs both basic values and sophisticated technology

by Tim Knauss, The Post-Standard

Friday February 08, 2008, 4:04 PM

It was a plum job, but home builder Kevin Stack had to walk away.

Two years ago, a potential customer from out of town contacted Stack, president of Northeast Natural Homes, to build a house near Skaneateles Lake. The customer told Stack he wanted an energy-efficient, eco-friendly house.

"Whatever I could put in there green, he wanted," Stack said. "Geothermal, photovoltaics, solar thermal, you name it. He would do anything I told him he should do."

So what was the problem?

The customer wanted to build a 6,000- to 8,000-square foot house, with a 3,000-square-foot guest cottage. The customer, who was single, planned to live in the house about six months out of the year.

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How to make your old house greener

by The Post-Standard

Friday February 08, 2008, 3:50 PM

Renovating an old house beats building a new one. Just look at all the lumber, energy and other materials you save.

Experts advise you to think of your home as a system that uses energy, creates waste and provides quality of life. You're out to decrease energy and waste, but increase the quality.

Here are a few ideas:

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House in the woods near Tully uses passive systems to reduce energy needs

by Tim Knauss, The Post-Standard

Friday February 08, 2008, 3:48 PM

The first house Kevin Stack built was his own, which he started in the woods of Tully in 1982.

There was good reason then to build with energy efficiency in mind -- oil prices were near record highs after the start of the Iran-Iraq war -- but Stack's environmental concerns went beyond the price of fuel.

"I almost feel like it's innate," he said. "I certainly wasn't a tree hugger, by no means, but I had a lot of respect for nature."

For one thing, Stack refused to remove any extra trees.

His house is wrapped on the north side by tall evergreens, which provide a wind shield in the winter. The southern exposure, which opens out onto a small pond, is shaded by mature cherry, ash and maple trees during the summer. During winter, the deciduous trees conveniently drop their leaves to let in the sun.

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Energy bill requires cars to be more fuel-efficient, renewable fuels to be more common

by Mark Weiner, The Post-Standard Washington Bureau

Friday February 08, 2008, 3:45 PM

A federal energy law passed by Congress at the end of 2007 will bring about sweeping changes for consumers and businesses over the next two decades.

The law will touch almost every American household, affecting anyone who drives a car, uses appliances or simply turns on a light.

The bill, which the House of Representatives passed Dec. 18 by a vote of 314 to 100, received wide bipartisan support. All members of Central New York's congressional delegation voted for its passage.

Americans who drive passenger cars will see the biggest changes, thanks to a provision that raises federal fuel-efficiency standards for automobiles by statute for the first time since the standards were enacted in 1975.

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Can Destiny USA, devoted to consumption, truly be green?

by Rick Moriarty

Friday February 08, 2008, 3:30 PM

Talk about building green. Destiny USA is taking the term to a whole new level.

Emerald 5 ShowTel and Conference Center, the 1,342-room hotel planned for Destiny's second phase, will be as green as they come -- literally.

Renderings released by Destiny show a 39-story building shaped like giant blades of grass facing Onondaga Lake. Green see-through solar panels will cover the exterior.

Developer Robert Congel says the high-rise structure has been designed to meet the platinum, or highest, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standards of the U.S. Green Building Council.

Congel has spoken many times about the need to wean the nation from its dependence on imported oil. He wants to make Destiny a technology demonstration for doing that. And at the same time, he's planning to use the project's green credentials to lure technology companies and conference events to Syracuse.

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How you can fight global warming

by The Post-Standard

Friday February 08, 2008, 3:17 PM

Robert Turner is a professor of economics and environmental studies, director of Colgate University's environmental studies program and director of the Center for Ethics and World Societies.

Small wonder then that he feels a twinge of guilt when he passes one of the remaining light bulbs in his house that he has yet to be changed to fluorescent.

He spoke with The Post-Standard about the increasing public awareness of global warming and the things, both big and small, that we can do as individuals -- such as lobbying lawmakers to make policy changes and, yes, changing our light bulbs.

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