I've been hoping to see a connectable water collection system made out of ultra-heavy plastic bags I could hook together and place under my deck, which is up three steps off the ground.
The great thing about the bags is that they would fit anywhere there is a space.

Xeriscape... cottage gardens ... victory gardens.. all requiring either no or little mowing or watering... grey water reuse ... cisterns... planting and planning (building and landscape) for the specific lot (taking into consideration the positioning of the building etc... just the tip of the proverbial iceberg

I agree - I recently heard about Geothermal Heating & Cooling... the units heat & cool more efficiently than current gas/propane/electric units, the extra heat stored in the unit can be routed to a water heater (basically providing free hot water in the summer & significantly reduced heating cost in the winter), & they use less energy to operate than normal systems. The overall effect is a savings to the user (residential or commercial) as well as a reduced dependence on foreign oil. the example given on the TV program I saw it on - was that if 10 schools in one area all used geothermal systems - it would reduce consumption of oil by 3.8 million barrels per year!!

Why are we not using this technology in more schools, businesses & new homes as well?? It just makes sense that if all new construction were to use energy efficient technologies- we can significantly help out our current situation with skyrocketing gas prices! (now if only we could get those maxi-suv's off the roads)

I am not a "tree-hugger", but anything that could save me money, not only on my own home maintenance & bills, but in my taxes (more money available for schools & businesses to use elsewhere other than utilities & maintenance) PLUS reduce our need for foreign oil ... complete winner in my book!

I quite agree with you. I don't believe with all this mass development of houses that owners are interested in composting and other environmental options. I see homes that look barren because all the trees have been cut down. I bought my first home in Florida two years ago and I absolutely love the oak trees, eleven I think, that give my property so much character. I would love to get into composting with a bin of some sort, what with the limbs and leaves and even household kitchen scraps that I would love to reuse around my plants.

I think installing grey water systems would be a big help. We waste millions of gallons of "almost used" water every day. A simple grey water system would not add much to the cost of a home, but would save money and the environment with its use.

Energy bug a boo? What part of we are past peak oil don't you get. You give good ideas and comment but we are all ignoring the pink elephant in the room. When you can't get oil, or can't afford oil what do you do. Without oil you don't make solar panels, plastic containment vessels for water, wind turbines etc. We not only need to reduce now, we need to find oil free alternatives. When we redid the house we are in now we put R48 insulation in the ceiling, we catch rain water for the vegetable garden, which we compost our scraps to enhance the soil. We use compact bulbs etc. We reduced our electric bill by 10% and are headed to 20%. We heat primarily with a high efficiency wood stove that exceeds EPA emissions requirements. We are still only one household and we have a long way to go. I turn off the computer when it's not being used. I shut off lights in empty rooms. We only need another 300 million people to do the same thing to make this country start down the road to a new era. We need to do more now. Last winter an elderly couple in New Hampshire froze to death in their home because they couldn't afford the oil to heat it. This in what is supposed to be the leading country in the world. These were good decent people who had worked hard all their lives and died for lack of heat. Now with $100 a barrel oil and the administration cuts in fuel assistance how many more people will die this winter? We need change now!

When I returned from England I looked all over for a composter. Everyone in England has them and it makes more sense than throwing out all the trash and buying mulch and potting soil. Could only find them online, and they were too expensive for my fixed income plus transportation costs. They have them in every gardening shop over there and they are cheap to encourage people to use them. Sometimes they give them away. They also recycle 70% of their trash and their goal is 90%. Where are we America? Distroying the planet!

There are some areas where rain water collection is not practical, either due to low annual rainfall or Mosquito Abatement. I'm sure the mosquito issue could be gotten around one way or another. I'm very pleased to see someone else thinking about the old ways. Not all progress is good! I'd love to hear more tried and practical solutions to modern problems.

I live in Australia at the moment and as an American, I find that this country is far ahead in some of the recycling areas .For instance, In the area I live in , drought has made a great inpact on all who live the southeast of Queensland. All new housing is mandated to have rain water tanks installed. The government has given incentives to the public to install these tanks on older homes. Why can't America learn from this devastating drought. We need to think about saving the very thing that keeps us alive-WATER. I would love to start a business when I get back to the USA in making and selling these tanks in areas of the US that have problems with drought. I don't think we have allot of options for people that is affordable.

Why couldn't you set up a system that uses something like recycled water mattresses or rubber boats. They have valves. You would need some kind of an automatic switch to fill and then go on to fill another, but if you had a cascade of simple mechanical switches, you could have enough storage to fit under the deck.

I never considered myself a tree-hugger but the older I get the more I realize we need to take care of our environment for the future. I use cloth napkins, recycle, use rain barrels and low energy bulbs, etc. What I would like to see is a better rain barrel system with connecting barrels for better storage. Here in the south, we have had drought conditions but one good rain can fill a barrel easily. Also, how affordable is it to install a gray water system on an existing home for toilet flushing? Anything to save my precious well water would be worth the cost & would keep my septic system from filling so fast.

Well I hug a few trees now and then and here's the reason mass housing has become so unsustainable. Money. Big builders haven't cared about composting, smart design, wise water or energy use, green products, or any other such regard, because they haven't had to. Two decades of cheap energy (83-03) let us get complacent and lazy, and we're facing the repercussions now. Be vocal! There's good movement here and good discussion above. Capture your rain water, tighten up your house, make those investments, and compost! It's not hard, doesn't stink, looks great, and gives you quality soil. Try a garden, it's good reason to turn off the tv, be with family and friends, and fun to eat something you grow. Keep it up and keep it going.

There are so many little things we can do without grand programs. Just recycling all your paper, cardboard, glass, plastics and cans is remarkable. Old 55 gallon barrels (non toxic prior usage of course) can be linked together using cheap plastic tubing with holes drilled near the bottom. They can surround a garden shed or small greenhouse and can even provide passive heating to the greenhouse on cold nights if painted black.
In our last home we built a really deep Koi pond (lined with multiple layers of recycled plastic)and found thousands of gallons of rainwater storage we used on our plants when rain got scarce. We put a barrier at 16" so the Grandkids wouldn't be in danger.
The new flourescent compacts are so much nicer, with warm colored light and out here in California PG&E subsidizes the cost as does Costco and many sellers. I use the new floods in my business and was amazed at the drop in my electric bill. It took me way too long to try them again, Oh, and they really last!
You don't need a bin to compost, just do a little reading and keep meats and the like out of it. I used old plastic 50 gallon fish barrels with holes drilled into them (for drainage and air) instead of having to turn the compost with a shovel I rolled them between two barriers. When I filled another it went on to it's side and it joined the rock and roll team. I have a gorgeous home and yard, I hide the compost behind a little fence.
I confess I have too many electrical appliances - my next purchase will be an "Urban Turbine" or vertical axis wind turbine. My neighbor is an electrician and we figure it will cost 7.2 years to pay it off (with the same money we would be paying the electric company, and we will generate about 12% more than we currently use. I'm staying on the grid ( I like my creature comforts) but I also like the idea of knowing no one is burning oil to light up my house. What is your latest idea??

Hey Stacy and Andrew,

Great post and great comments!

I agree that it's disappointing so many of us miss doing the easy stuff and moreso that so many don't even know about it. Hopefully, with the increased awareness in the media, some of these things will become commonplace again.

It's hard sometimes with the crazy lives we lead and the lack of social prodding sometimes. Peer pressure could go a long way, if the 'Jones' are the ones doing it.

I'm not above it. I'm guilty of my own apathy too. I have all the fixings for a nice rainbarrel sitting in my basement...they've been there over a year! Now, I'm embarrassed and will get it put in next weekend (just in time for it to freeze solid) :)

Fellow blogger,
-Eric