Rent Green: Coffee Grounds and Eric Corey Freed

Shamelessly appropriating the theory behind “Can’t Someone Else Do It?, EPA’s Greenversations posted a recent article about reusing coffee grounds. Among the uses were:
1. Composting or fertilizer
2. Dye paper
3. Flea (and odor) repellant (!)
4. Grease absorption

In our townhouse, coffee grounds are sprinkled around exterior door and window sills to repel ants for an effective and pet friendly insect barrier.

Two weeks ago, Eric Corey Freed, author of Green Building & Remodeling for Dummies offered tips on a greener home to the New York Times. For “space reasons” the NYT only ran 5 of the tips, causing Joe Romm at Climate Progress no end of distress for highlighting impractical, overly simple, or questionable recommendations. Additional correspondence revealed that the NYT cut Eric’s list of 21 to a random 5. Leaving aside the somewhat heated and holier-than-thou storms that occasionally blow across the green world, Joe also embraced the “Can’t Someone Else Do It?”. He linked to, and critiqued, “100 Ways to Conserve“.

Taking just Freed’s 21, many can be used in a rental situation, including:
1. Insulate and turn down the water heater to 125F. (And use the vacation setting)
2. Reduce the amount of water flushed.
3. Replace incandescent bulbs with CFL.
4. Turn off unused lights and electronics.
5. Replace thermostat with a programmable model. Even on a 60 year old house with 80 year old wiring, it only took me about 15 minutes.
6. Request low or no VOC paints.
7. Caulk or seal around tubs and windows. Weather seal doors.
8. Install a low flow showerhead. I replaced one a few weeks ago.
9. Never buy bottled water again.
10. Install a ceiling fan (sometimes you can get one installed at lease renewal).

(Via Greenversations and Green Building Law Update.)