I haven’t had much time to keep up on my green news the last couple of weeks, so this list is a little puny. Let me know if you come across anything interesting I should read.

• Borders Plans to Trash Hundreds of Thousands of Unsold Books – Inhabit. This isn’t all that surprising, even if it is a little dispiriting. When I was doing research about my Kindle, I found that 25-36% of printed books are returned to the publisher and destroyed.
• 7 Foods that Should Never Cross Your Lips – Prevention. Some useful information on what food should be bought organic.
• How Organic Is Organic Dry Cleaning? – Big Green Purse. I’ve mostly phased out dry-clean-only clothes from my closet, but for the few that are left, it would be really good to find an environmentally friendly dry cleaner.
• The Power of Flower – Boston Locavores. Boston Locavores does a good job convincing me that I should switch to bulk flour from Harvest Co-op. Sorry, guys, I’m not committed enough right now to get a grain CSA and mill my own…
• Reknit Turns Your Unwanted Knitwear into New Treasures –  greenUPGRADER. I really like this idea. I wonder if I could figure out how to do this myself.

In other news, my Fun With a Kill-a-Watt post was featured in this week’s Carnival of the Green over at Eco Joe’s and last week’s Festival of Frugality at Yes I Am Cheap. Thanks, guys!

I got a Kindle for Christmas (thanks, Jason!), and in Maine I was really happy to have as many books as I wanted at my fingertips, in a package far smaller than the fifth volume of A la Recherche du Temps Perdu. But as the book geek and tech geek in me rejoiced, the green geek in me wondered: are Kindles better for the environment than regular books?

It fits in nicely there, doesn’t it?

A study by the Cleantech Group says yes. According to them, the Kindle breaks even after displacing 22.5 paper books. So far I’ve read 5 books in less than a month, so after 4.5 months it should be all gravy. (Veggie gravy, of course.)

This article in Environmental Science and Technology delves into newspapers and textbooks, as well, but it ultimately agrees.

On top of that, the Kindle is less disposable than, say, an iPod, because it’s designed with an easily replaceable battery. And once its useful life is over, Amazon provides free recycling.

On the other hand, buying books on the Kindle is so easy (and fast!) that I worry that I’ll buy more than I used to. It’s definitely more convenient than getting books from the library or Paperbackswap.com. Luckily the Greenest Dollar has some suggestions for free or cheap ebooks. I’ll have to look into that. Otherwise, this habit could get expensive really quickly….

I missed a couple posts last week because Jason and I were called to Maine to help care for my parents. We also had to bring Oliver, because until the vet gives him a thumbs up we still need to monitor his health. It was a lot of work and very little sleep, and in times like that my environmental values go right out the window. We were recycling nothing, using paper towels by the case, making multiple trips to the store because we forgot stuff, and wasting tons of food by making more than anyone would eat.

We tried to be good beforehand by packing lunch, snacks, and water bottles for the ride up. That also made the trip faster, because we didn’t have to stop along the way. But once we got up there we didn’t even have the energy to think about the environmental impact of the things we did.

The whole thing has made me realize that part of the reason we can reduce our footprint is because we have the time and the money to do it. Making our lives less stressful and saving money are actually environmental goals, because they free us up to focus on how our habits impact the environment. From now on I’m going to try to keep in mind that our actions are all interrelated—if we improve in one area, it helps in others, too.

And I’m going to try to get some sleep.

We finally got that Kill-A-Watt we’ve been thinking about, and we spent a good part of last weekend running around the house measuring the energy use of every single piece of electronic equipment we own. It was surprisingly fun. It was also a lot of numbers. (See below.) But we could draw a few conclusions from all of them:

1. The desktop computer is a huge energy hog, even when turned off. It’s also 10 years old and mostly used to store all our music and photos. So we’re planning on getting rid of it this year and replacing it with a network-attached storage device.
2. The cell phones and DS use almost no energy, even when charging, so it doesn’t seem worth getting the power strip I was thinking of.
3. We should always turn the Wii off on the console itself, rather than putting it into standby with the Wiimotes.
4. Our old CRT TV uses much less energy than a comparable LCD TV. We’re going to hold off on replacing it for as long as possible.
5. The heat dry setting on the dishwasher really does use a lot of energy. We’re definitely going to continue leaving it off.
6. Mom was right—don’t hold the refrigerator door open. It uses a ridiculous amount of energy.

.

Energy Use of Household Electronics (in watts)

• Mac laptop – 13″ Powerbook G4
  • sleeping: 2
  • off (plugged in): 1-2
  • in use (not charging): 16-32
  • in use (and charging): 49
  • charging (while off): 32
• PC laptop – Dell Latitude D630
  • sleeping: <1
  • off (plugged in): <1
  • in use (not charging): 22-37
  • in use (and charging): 44
  • charging (while off): 61
• Desktop computer – custom built PC
  • off (plugged in): 6
  • in use: 110-121
• Desktop monitor – MagInnovision 46
  • off (plugged in): 2
  • on: 18
• Printer – Canon IP4000
  • off (plugged in): <1
  • on: <1
  • printing: 11
• Computer speakers – Creative Labs SBS250
  • off (plugged in): <1
  • on: 1
  • playing: 1
• iPod speaker – JBL Onstage
  • off (plugged in): 2
  • idle: 5
  • charging: 5
  • on: 8-17 (depending on volume)
• Cell phone – Motofone F3
  • idle: <1
  • charging: <1
  • fully charged: <1
• Cell phone – Motorola Razr V3
  • idle: <1
  • charging: 1
  • fully charged: <1
• Nintendo DS Lite
  • idle: <1
  • charging: 3
  • fully charged: <1
• Playstation 2
  • off (plugged in): 2
  • on: 27
• Nintendo Wii
  • off (plugged in) – red light: 1
  • idle – yellow light: 11
  • on – green light: 21
• Apple Airport Extreme: 4
• Tivo – Series 3: 37
• Cable modem – Scientific Atlanta DPC2100: 4
• TV – Sony Trinitron 32″ CRT
  • off (plugged in): <1
  • on: 53-102 (depending on screen brightness)
• Toothbrush charger – Oral B
  • idle: <1
  • charging: <1
• Coffeemaker – Black & Decker Home Café GT300
  • off (plugged in): 1
  • on: up to 1252
• Toaster – Proctor Silex 22205
  • off (plugged in): <1
  • on: 832
• Electric teakettle – Presto 0270302: 686
• Refrigerator – General Electric Hotpoint HTS18GBSARWW
  • idle: <1
  • light bulb: 39
  • compressor on: 157
• Bedside clock/light – BioBrite 88631
  • clock: 2
  • light: 9-53
• Washing machine – LG WM0642HW
  • off (plugged in): 3
  • on: 7-439
• Dryer – LG DLG60452W
  • off (plugged in): <1
  • light bulb: 16
  • on: 242
• Dishwasher – Frigidaire FDB641RJS0
  • off (plugged in): <1
  • on: 22
  • heating water: 927
  • heat dry: 1154
• Roomba 560
  • idle (plugged in): 1
  • charging: 29
  • fully charged: 5
• Paper shredder – Novitech PS026/B2
  • off (plugged in): <1
  • on: <1
  • shredding: 63

I’m still catching up on all the stuff I didn’t read over Christmas break, so this is a lot of material. Enjoy.

• Unclog Away, Then Call the Experts – New York Times. Advice on unclogging drains without chemicals—I should try it. (Thanks, Danielle.)
• Where There’s Smoke…There’s a Trade-In – New York Times. Fine particle pollution has prompted Keene, NH to get rid of pre-1990 woodstoves.
• Coalition Sees Sky Falling Thanks to Urban Chickens – Urban Chickens Network. Farm Sanctuary, among others, argues against urban chickens because of the recent increase in abandoned birds. Personally, I think this argument could be used for any pet—how many abandoned cats are there in the world?
• Polluting pets: the devastating impact of man’s best friend – Vancouver Sun. Speaking of cats…a study shows that a cat has the yearly footprint of a Volkswagen Golf. So that officially makes Jason and I a three-car family. At least cats have a smaller footprint than kids….
• Auto Shutdown Manager – Pays to Live Green. Berklee is using something similar to make software updates campus-wide. I’m hoping we’ll soon use it for auto shutdown, too.
• How to Conserve Water: A Lesson From the Rain – Smart Family Tips. A backed-up sewer system forced this family to use less water, and it was easier than they thought.
• Cleaning Green: Baking Powder Power! – greenUPGRADER. I’ve really got to start experimenting with baking soda and vinegar again.
• 10 Cellared Squashes – Cheap Like Me. In my pursuit of root vegetable storage, I’m taking note of the various places these people stashed their veggies.
• Save Energy By Cooking With Your…Thermos? – Eat. Drink. Better. It seems like a lot of trouble, but it’s interesting.
• Simplifying Cooking – Tiny Choices. I heart Mark Bittman, too.

That’s it for this week. If you come across anything interesting, shoot me an email to let me know.