Want to Go Solar?

Blog Week of October 16, 2011


Read This First!

The best advice for a homeowner interested in a Solar PV system for their home is to first do your homework! Prices for Solar PV systems will vary depending on the size and type of system, as well as the overall structure of your home. An average solar PV system costs between 16k -28k and may be more depending on the type of solar panels you use, however, the industry has seen a 30% drop in solar panel prices in the last six months alone, meaning that solar for the home is becoming more affordable.

Generally, the more electricity the system can generate, the higher the savings – but the bigger the initial cost. A 4kW system typically provides around a quarter of your home’s electricity needs and will save you money on your annual electricity bill.

The Database of State Incentives for Renewable Energy (DSIRE) has information regarding incentives available in your state. You can use energy calculators available on various websites (such as OneStopGreen.com) to determine how much potential your home has to produce electricity from solar.

How much electricity you will generate will depend on:

• The tilt angle of your roof and its orientation (maximum output is for a perfectly south facing roof with a tilt angle of 30 degrees)
• Where you live: the south-west gets more sun than the north, which could impact the amount of electricity your system will generate, although not too significantly.

Our initial site survey will first complete a comprehensive energy audit of your home in order to determine potential problems areas. Otherwise, it’s as if you are just pouring water into a bucket with a hole in it – no matter how much water you pour in, its going to continue to leak out. In much the same way, it is important to address all the other problem areas of the home before even thinking about adding a solar PV system.   

Also, be sure to:

• Make written notes – Inspect your roof and make note of all the measurements, in particular the orientation of the roof.
• Look at the roof – from both inside and outside.
• Be safe – Use access equipment for closer inspection where roof quality is uncertain.
• Record any possible risk of shade – Shade will reduce the effectiveness of your system.  Look for shady spots on the roof from trees, neighboring houses and chimneys.
• Examine the house – Measure the tilt angle of the roof, this is important when determining how big of a system is needed.
• Look at electrical use – Look at your fuse box and metering to see how much energy you are using.
• Identify your main electrical appliances – The biggest users and when you use them can help set a baseline for a solar system.
• Look around your property – Plan and discuss where to locate cables and equipment.
• Be sure to ask about other costs – This includes scaffolding, panel/module information, details of warranties, details of the inverter, the company’s terms and conditions, and information on how it has calculated the payback, rate of return and savings.

One Stop Green is looking towards a ‘greener’ future, sharing the latest and greatest ideas in green living and green technology with you through our staff written blogs. Going 'green' is no longer a choice, it's our responsibility, that's why it's so important to try and do the small things that can help change the outlook of the planet - and this is essentially the purpose of One Stop Green. We believe even the little things like recycling or using less water helps the environment out in a big way, and that's why our various solutions seek to nurture and edify your home or business in an eco-friendly manner.

Visit our website at www.onestopgreen.com or download the mobile app at http://fwd4.me/01gP

Easy Ways to Reduce and Reuse

Blog week of September 18, 2011


Start With Around the Home


We have a number of useful tips on easy ways to reuse or recycle in the home that are available on both our website and mobile app. However, the following are probably the most creative and have been chosen as our staff favorites:

Be sure to make full use of your water! Inserting a bucket to collect water while waiting for your shower to warm up is perfect for watering plants!

Get twice the use out of your sink water! In homes across the U.S., the bathroom accounts for 74% of total water usage. Install the AQUS System to capture water from the bathroom sink, then filter and disinfect it to provide reused water for toilet flushing! Reduce metered water usage in a two-person household by 15–20 gals a day – or approx. 6,000 gallons a year!

You have got to Clean Green! Old newspapers are great for washing windows, just crumple up and wipe clean of all dirt and grime. Be sure to also save your worn or old t -shirts and use them as cleaning rags for anything from drying a freshly washed car to dusting or polishing your furniture!

Save that Sponge! Don't clean things with a dirty sponge, but don't toss it out either! 2 minutes in a microwave can effectively destroy 99% of bacteria and other harmful buildup in a sponge and it can then be re-used to clean anything!

Finally, be sure to Pee in the shower! Save wasted toilet water by peeing in the shower. Just kidding...One Stop Green in no way endorses peeing in the shower (except under extraordinary circumstances).

As you can see, being ‘green’ doesn’t necessarily mean spending lots of money to make excessive upgrades to the home, at its very core, its just living your life in a smarter, more efficient manner in order to reduce your overall negative impact on the environment.


One Stop Green is looking towards a ‘greener’ future, sharing the latest and greatest ideas in green living and green technology with you through our staff written blogs. Going 'green' is no longer a choice, it's our responsibility, that's why it's so important to try and do the small things that can help change the outlook of the planet - and this is essentially the purpose of One Stop Green. We believe even the little things like recycling or using less water helps the environment out in a big way, and that's why our various solutions seek to nurture and edify your home or business in an eco-friendly manner.

Greener Searching

Blog Week of Sept. 4, 2011

What Google’s Energy Transparency Can Teach Us

Google, in response to recent criticisms, compiled data to reveal its energy use, greenhouse gas production, and put its environmentally friendly initiatives on display.  This all started from a claim by The Sunday Times, a British newspaper, stating “Googling” something uses the same amount of energy as boiling a teapot (British people love their tea, and so did I when I visited, with cream even).  This bold claim put Google on defense and spurred an investigation into how much energy its ever-growing data centers use.  The Sunday Times accepted Google’s response that most searches use 35 times less energy than The Sunday Times suggested, however Google wanted to be sure.

Google’s concern is valid; it is regularly seen as one of the best places to work in the United States and the perks its employees enjoy are subject to jealous comments by other office workers across the country.  Google’s statistics could be considered high, using 2.3 billion kWh of electricity last year, enough for a medium sized city (207,000 homes according to Edison Electric Institute). However, that is about half of the biggest power users, mostly oil companies, automobile manufacturers, and steel mills.

In defense, Google has decided it will now publish numbers regularly to track progress in reducing its carbon footprint.  Google has also pointed out that searching for something for a research project is more efficient than going to a library and looking in books for the information.  In addition, Google, is pushing customers to use their centralized data centers to store and process data, called cloud computing.  Cloud computing is more efficient and cheaper for a company than that company using its own information technology department (Google states an in-house email server uses 75 times more energy than using Google’s Gmail).

Google’s own in-house green initiatives have also spread beyond the company itself.  Google has invested nearly $1 billion in renewable energy projects across the United States.  Wind farms in North Dakota, California, and Oregon, and solar projects in California and Germany all have received investment from Google to help reduce the reliance on fossil fuels for our everyday electricity.  In addition, a transmission system, one of the key hindrances to many renewable energy projects, has been started with the help of Google to help jump start offshore wind farms on the Atlantic Coast.

Google’s transparency should be an example for companies across the United States.  For Google to sit down and plot out its carbon footprint was no easy task, and the results opened even their eyes to how much they use.  Companies like One Stop Green can help companies and households help identify changes that can be made to improve their own carbon footprint in order to help make the world a greener place.

One Stop Green is looking towards a ‘greener’ future, sharing the latest and greatest ideas in green living and green technology with you through our staff written blogs. Going 'green' is no longer a choice, it's our responsibility, that's why it's so important to try and do the small things that can help change the outlook of the planet - and this is essentially the purpose of One Stop Green. We believe even the little things like recycling or using less water helps the environment out in a big way, and that's why our various solutions seek to nurture and edify your home or business in an eco-friendly manner. 

Visit our website at www.onestopgreen.com or download the mobile app at http://fwd4.me/01gP

Electric Vehicle Technology on the Move Again….

New Advances That Increase Options and Utility

It’s no secret that electric vehicles now have a foothold in the car industry and are gradually being manufactured by more and more companies.  Toyota, Nissan, Chevrolet, and other car manufacturers are hard at work in making their products competitive not only against one another’s, but also against traditional gas-run vehicles as well.  There have been some recent developments in the world of electric vehicles and we have taken the liberty to track and discuss them below.

Toyota has announced that its RAV4 EV, an electric compact SUV, will be available for sale to the general public in 2012.  After being released back around the turn of the century, Toyota discontinued its production quickly and as a result, very few were released.  This four door SUV will be more spacious than competitors like the Nissan Leaf and Chevrolet Volt and will thus offer more spacious options for consumers.


Luxury brands are also on board with the electric movement.  Mercedes, for example, offers the choice of ‘electric’ for some of its S-class models.  Most recently, Rolls Royce has began leasing its new 102EX that can travel over 100 miles per charge. However, it is still a Rolls Royce and thus gas savings will not be worth the high asking price for everyday consumers.


Car2Go, the company that loans Smart cars, is adding a new service to its repertoire.  By the end of 2011, it will have launched an all-electric car-sharing program based out of San Diego, CA.  These electric Smart cars will be capable of about 84 miles of driving per charge.


Finally, the first electric vehicle highway will undergo construction during fall of 2011 in the state of Washington.  AeroVironment has been chosen by the Washington Department of Transportation to build an extensive network of charging stations along Interstate 5 and U.S. Highway 2.  The purpose of this project is to combat inefficiencies that arise when traveling long distances in an electric vehicle.


One Stop Green is looking towards a ‘greener’ future, sharing the latest and greatest ideas in green living and green technology with you through our staff written blogs.  Going 'green' is no longer a choice, it's our responsibility, that's why it's so important to try and do the small things that can help change the outlook of the planet - and this is essentially the purpose of One Stop Green.  We believe even the little things like recycling or using less water helps the environment out in a big way, and that's why our various solutions seek to nurture and edify your home or business in an eco-friendly manner.  Visit our website at www.onestopgreen.com or download the mobile app at http://fwd4.me/01gP

USGBC Blog: The House of Representatives Vote on Lighting Effi...

USGBC Blog: The House of Representatives Vote on Lighting Effi...: "Bryan Howard Legislative Director U.S. Green Building Council UPDATE: The bill, which needed 2/3 to pass, failed . UPDATE: Office of Ma..."

Los Angeles Drivers Put to the Test…

Blog week of July 17th 

10 Mile Weekend Shutdown of Busiest Freeway in the U.S.

When one thinks of Los Angeles, warm weather, beautiful beaches, and Hollywood come to mind.  As attractive as these features of LA are, the city’s reputation is often overshadowed by how frustrating it can be to travel even short distances.  Drivers are notoriously known for being heavily reliant on freeways, and with a lack of comprehensive and efficient alternatives, traffic relief is not promising for the near future.

It is no wonder that a weekend closure of a 10 mile stretch of Interstate 405, the nation’s busiest freeway, was cause for concern.  With a long stretch of freeway closed during the weekend of July 16, a freeway segment that over half a million drivers depend on every day, there should have been a nightmare traffic gridlock in the surrounding area, right?  In the city known as the “freeway Mecca,” the general expectation was that we would witness an event dubbed as “Carmageddon.”


However, as the LA Times staff points out, there were similar traffic concerns back when Los Angeles hosted the 1984 Summer Olympics…and traffic was “a breeze.”  History does indeed repeat itself and once again Los Angeles drivers have proven that when given proper incentive, they can manage to utilize other means of transportation en masse (or at least decide to leave their cars at home).


If told to stay off the roads for a reason like Carmageddon, or anything else, what would you do?  Many people stayed home and had family time or block parties.  Some went to parks or nearby attractions to enjoy themselves, and found a new way to have fun.  These guys even had a candle-lit dinner on the deserted highway.

There was also a noted increase in the use of mass transit, some estimate a 10-15% jump in ridership during the shutdown.  While an area as large as Los Angeles requires an extensive mass transit system, the bulk of its operations are road based buses, which in the event of a shutdown of a road, such as the 405, would hamper its operations as well, or the buses would be subject to the same traffic headaches as other cars given open roads.  A more comprehensive and efficient mass transit system would help matters, however in a sprawling city like Los Angeles, distances can be too hard to tame.


Now imagine if drivers in the Los Angeles metro area found incentive to drive less daily.  Carbon emissions in the area would greatly reduce, gas prices would relax, less road maintenance would be necessary, and travel would be less stressful.  I’m sure that you can come up with other ensuing benefits from a decreased dependence on freeways.  However, the fact remains that until drivers are offered extensive and reliable alternatives, the status quo will remain intact.


One Stop Green is looking towards a ‘greener’ future, sharing the latest and greatest ideas in green living and green technology with you through our staff written blogs.  Going 'green' is no longer a choice, it's our responsibility, that's why it's so important to try and do the small things that can help change the outlook of the planet - and this is essentially the purpose of One Stop Green.  We believe even the little things like recycling or using less water helps the environment out in a big way, and that's why our various solutions seek to nurture and edify your home or business in an eco-friendly manner.


Visit our website at www.onestopgreen.com or download the mobile app at http://fwd4.me/01gP

• one
• stop
• green
• Los
• Angeles
• freeways
• Interstate
• 405
• weekend
• July
• 16
• bill
• freeway
• Mecca
• Carmageddon
• LA
• Times
• 1984
• Olympics
• Summer
• carbon
• emissions
• gas
• prices

The debate over the incandescent light bulb…

Blog week of July 10th

Opponents claim that current light bulb laws are anything but bright...

In 2007, Congress passed an energy act that requires light bulb manufacturers to upgrade the efficiencies of their products.  This act is part of an extensive federal movement to encourage Americans to use resources – in particular energy, more wisely.  While most agree that the intent behind the initiative is good, some lawmakers believe that the method behind the 2007 legislation wrongfully prevents consumers from buying traditional, cheap incandescent bulbs.

The Republican coalition is led by Texas representative Joe Barton, who argues that personal liberties are at stake as a result of the law and that the federal government must be mindful of the ideological implications of its actions with respect to the Constitution.  The so-called Barton bill is currently circulating in the House and its proponents point out that alternatives, such as CFL and LED light bulbs, cost much more than traditional incandescent bulbs and that some even pose health risks with their mercury content.

Democrats assert that consumers will save money, despite the extra cost of fluorescent and LED bulbs, because the efficiency of these bulbs will be accounted for in immediate savings on energy bills, not to mention the overall longevity of the lighting source compared to tradition incandescent bulbs.  Additionally, opponents of the Barton bill contend that the small concentration of mercury in compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) and advances in technology, make any perceived health threat negligible.  The Obama administration officially opposes the bill because it would repeal measures that encourage technological innovation, increase employment, and reduced emissions.

If the 2007 act remains intact, 100-watt light bulbs will no longer be available for purchase from most vendors after January 1st, 2012.  75 watt, 60 watt and 40 watt bulbs will follow suit within the next three years following the January 1st threshold. For comparison sake – that 60-watt incandescent bulb (the most popular kind) can be replaced by a 13-watt compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL), or a 4-watt LED light bulb. In addition to the impressive wattage savings of 47 and 56 watts respectively, most CFL light bulbs have a 10,000-hour lifetime, compared to just the 1,000-hour lifetime of an incandescent bulb. Furthermore, LED light bulbs have an amazing 50,000-hour lifetime, meaning it will last up to 50 times longer than the traditional incandescent bulb! While the up-front costs are obviously more than the incandescent bulb, the long-term investment is certainly well worth it by both the amount of energy the bulb consumes as well as its relatively long life span. With technology and demand increasing daily, the type of CFL and LED bulbs being produced are becoming more diverse, offering more choices for consumers at even lower prices. With the government as a driver, the prices for these advanced lighting technologies will soon reach market parity in that it will cost the same as traditionally inefficient incandescent bulbs. Sounds like a bright idea to me!

One Stop Green is looking towards a ‘greener’ future, sharing the latest and greatest ideas in green living and green technology with you through our staff written blogs.  Going 'green' is no longer a choice, it's our responsibility, that's why it's so important to try and do the small things that can help change the outlook of the planet - and this is essentially the purpose of One Stop Green.  We believe even the little things like recycling or using less water helps the environment out in a big way, and that's why our various solutions seek to nurture and edify your home or business in an eco-friendly manner.

Visit our website at www.onestopgreen.com or download the mobile app at http://fwd4.me/01gP 

one stop green House Representatives incandescent bulbs energy act Joe Barton bill efficient LED health risks mercury fluorescent Obama administration innovation employment emissions 2007 100 watts January 1st