Energy Saving Shutters for the Home Insulation Tax Credit

Danmer Custom Shutters

Danmer’s Thermalite™ Custom Shutters are one of the best ways to utilize the home insulation tax credit. Their stylish custom shutters will not only provide superior insulation and significantly reduce your monthly energy bills, the interior of your home will be dramatically transformed.

Thermalite Custom Shutters are certified for the Federal Energy Tax Credit and can save you up to 35 percent on your home energy bill. By restricting the amount of air that flows through your window openings, their unique shutters keep your house warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer.

Eco-Friendly Custom Shutters

Danmer Inc. developed their unique line of environmentally-friendly shutters to help preserve natural resources and reduce energy consumption. Thermalite Custom Shutters have been certified for the Federal Energy Tax Credit through the end of 2010, and not only will they help protect the environment for future generations, they’ll also keep your family safe from harmful chemicals–which are often found in everyday household items.

What is Thermalite?

Thermalite is a synthetic material that will not crack, warp, peel or fade, and is made without a single toxic ingredient. It looks and feels just like real wood, is moisture resistant, fire-retardant, and insulates up to three times better than wood. In addition, this unique material is eco-friendly because it requires fewer natural resources to produce and does not break down into toxic chemicals once disposed of.

To Learn More

To learn more about how Thermalite custom shutters qualify for the Federal Energy Tax Credit and can transform your home into a more stylish environment, request a free in-home design consultation.

You Don’t Have to Be Tough on The Planet to Be Tough on Bugs: 5 Eco-Friendly Steps to Protect Your Home

Today’s post was written by Cindy Mannes, Chief Marketing & Strategy Officer of Arrow Exterminators

At Arrow Exterminators, an Atlanta pest control company, we are pest control professionals but we are also homeowners and parents just like you.  We want to protect our families, our homes and our environment.  We’ve always believed that you don’t have to be tough on the planet to be tough on bugs.  Below we offer five tips to protect your home, while reducing the use of applied products.

Eco-Friendly Tips to Prevent Pests This Spring:

• Keep all kitchen areas clean and free of useless clutter.  Kitchen appliances should be kept free of spills and crumbs.  Clean shelves regularly and store foods such as cereal, flour and dog food in sealed containers.

• Keep garbage areas clean.  Garbage should be stored in sealed containers and disposed of regularly.

• Seal cracks, crevices and other gaps around doors and windows.  Doors and windows should always be kept closed or well screened.

• Check pipes and pipe areas around the house for leaks, cracks or gaps and seal and patch any problems if necessary.  Leaky faucets should also be fixed.

• Keep moisture away from the foundation of your home and repair leaks around structural wood.

The STEPS® Total Protection System

Our commitment to protecting families, homes and the environment has led to a company-wide transformation in the way we do business – the STEPS Total Protection System from Arrow Exterminators.  STEPS, short for Sustainability Through Environmental Practices and Solutions, utilizes a three-step process that is widely accepted as the most environmentally friendly approach to pest control.

The STEPS Process Includes:

1. Full inspection of your home and property to pinpoint pest issues.
2. Identification of not only the pest, but the true cause of the problem.
3. Treatment in the most environmentally responsible way to alleviate current issues and help prevent any future recurrence.

About Arrow Exterminators

Family owned and operated since 1964, Atlanta-based Arrow Exterminators is the sixth largest pest and termite control company in the United States, ranked by revenue. With QualityPro Certification by the National Pest Management Association, the company offers innovative and environmentally responsible extermination services, including mosquito control and fire ant control, to protect homes and businesses.

To Learn More

To learn more about Arrow’s STEPS Total Protection System and our commitment to a healthier home, community and planet, visit our website at www.arrowexterminators.com.

Apparently China is Leading the Green Revolution

As reported in the L.A. times by Jim Tankersley and Don Lee on Thursday, China surpassed us last year in the race to invest in wind, solar and other sources of clean energy.  We apparently also fell behind 10 other countries, which included Canada and Mexico, in clean energy investments as a percentage of economic output.  If this kind of stuff continues, not only will our children and grandchildren end up paying the price, but our work force will also suffer.  Our country badly needs new jobs to help sustain this shaky recovery, and investment in green technology should be a no-brainer.  Spain, Germany and Italy have also leveraged private clean energy investment by supporting wind and solar power with a variety of long-term financial incentives.  If we want to be the economic powerhouse that we were in the last century, our political priorities and environmental policies need to start working in conjunction with one another.

      

California’s Legislature is at Least Doing One Thing Right

SB 71

In rare unanimous bipartisan support between California’s State Senate and Assembly, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger just signed bill SB 71 into law, which will exempt green manufacturers from paying sales and use taxes on manufacturing equipment.  This in turn will encourage manufacturing investment, job creation and economic growth throughout the state.  “We’re sending a clear message to every entrepreneur and innovator that it pays to invest in a clean future for California,” said Arnold.  Read the governor’s press release to learn more about the bill.

The eureka! envirovac™

Another Piece of the Green Puzzle

So the vacuum I’d bought just after I graduated college finally gave out on me the other day.  We had a good long run together, but it took researching a new one to realize that I could’ve been saving money and cleaning up the environment the whole time I was vacuuming my house.

Less Energy Usage

Wanting to avoid spending several hundred dollars, I went online to see what was out there. I found all the familiar brands of course (and more than a few I’d never heard of), but the one that first caught my eye I eventually bought.

Eureka’s envirovac is a standard full-size upright vacuum that is environmentally friendly.  Using 33 percent less energy than comparable models, this unique vacuum is equipped with a washable hypoallergenic filter and its flip bottom dust cup eliminates the need to purchase replacement bags, features that both reduce waste and make life easier.

Eco-Friendlier Cleaning for a Whole Lotta Dollars Less

The vacuum cost just a little over $60 and took about three minutes to assemble.  Two screws into the handle component piece that connected to the base, winding the hose through its grooves then putting the attachments in their place and I was able to fire the thing right up.  It roared to life and worked perfectly, so then I read a little more about the green home appliance I’d just bought.  First off the box is 100 percent recycled unbleached cardboard, and upon reading further I learned just how much of an impact this powerful vacuum has.

The average household runs their vacuum for a little under an hour each week.  Eureka! provided one of those energy table type breakdown sections, where they explained in detail the green benefits of their machine.  It turns out your average vacuum is powered by a 12 amp motor, so over the course of an hour it’d require 1,440 watts of energy to run.  The envirovac is powered by an eight amp motor, and over the course of an hour would require 960 watts to run – 480 less than the average vacuum.  Over the course of a year this savings adds up to 24,960 watts of electricity.

The Green Revolution Begins & Ends in the Home

In addition to the added utility bill savings, ultimately this means less energy would have to be produced and less harmful emissions would be released into the atmosphere.  So think if everyone used one of these types of vacuums… Changing the way we use our world’s depleting natural resources is the first step toward healing the planet.

A Moving Anecdote

So my little sister called me about a month ago and asked if I could help her move.  She just got a new one-bedroom apartment in a decent area that’s within a few blocks of her new job.  Moving day was the first of the month, a Monday, so her brother the writer was really the only one who had the time to help.  Now my sister is the type that saves EVERY memento she’s ever acquired, and her IKEA furniture doesn’t exactly weigh all that much, so the two of us figured we’d be able to get the job done.  But the problem was the drive; her new place is a solid 45 minutes away from where she lives now.  We were able to get in three trips with my truck before the afternoon L.A. traffic jammed up all freeways, then we stopped for a bite to eat and caught a movie.

Dual Pane Glass Windows in Action

It was cold and only getting colder that night, and we only had time to get in two more trips.  Once we unloaded the last box it was after midnight, and the last thing I wanted to do was get back on the road.  My sister was beat too, but she’d forgotten to have the gas turned back on, so there was no heat in the place.  The temperature I’d seen on the bank down the street’s clock just a few minutes before read 38 degrees, way too cold for two Southern California natives to spend the night in a place sans heat.  But I noticed that the apartment seemed, warm isn’t the right word, it was definitely chilly in there, but not as cold as you’d expect it to be.  I walked over to her windows and checked them out; every single one in the place was dual pane.  I couldn’t and wouldn’t have been able to tell if they were filled with argon, it being a colorless gas and all, but I figured that as long as we each had two blankets we’d be fine.  And we were.  I slept like a baby on her couch and she did the same atop her mattress.  We woke up the next morning and made the final trip to her old place to pick up her last few scattered possessions.

An Environmentally Friendly Insulator

For those of you out there that have doubts about whether installing dual pane windows will really help you save on your energy bills, if what I’ve been writing about with my last few posts hasn’t convinced you, I’d suggest asking your family and friends that have already switched over to these revolutionary products.  Not only will they help save the environment by reducing energy consumption and save you money at the same time, they’re aesthetically pleasing and have the added benefit of increasing your home’s value.

What is U-Value?

U-Value

U-value measures heating efficiency, which is a windows ability to block the flow of heat through a glazing system and retain a room’s temperature.  The lower a window’s U-value, the greater an insulator it is, which in turn means increased savings on your monthly energy bill.

For More Information

For more information about U-value and how you can select the proper energy efficient windows for your home, read the U.S. Department of Energy’s information about tips for saving energy and money at home.

Argon

Argon is a colorless, odorless, and chemically inactive gaseous element that reduces the overall transfer of heat in insulating glass units.  Argon makes up just under one percent of the earth’s atmosphere, making it the third most abundant gas on the planet.  And with it occurring naturally in the environment, argon causes no adverse environmental consequences.

Symbol: Ar

Atomic number: 18

Atomic weight: 39.948

Dual Pane Argon Gas Filled Windows

Revolutionary Performance & Protection

CertainTeed is a leading North American manufacturer of building material. Though they make a wide range of innovative construction products, one of the company’s most revolutionary creations are its dual pane argon gas filled windows.

Dual Pane Argon Gas Filled Windows

CertainTeed’s proprietary Thermaflect® Low “E” glazing system features a low-conductance spacer and argon gas between its panes of glass. With a U-value of 0.32, these cutting-edge green home improvement products are nearly twice as energy efficient as ordinary double-pane glass windows, which have a U-value of 0.50. Resulting in increased insulation value and warmth with decreased condensation, your home’s interior will be more comfortable and energy efficient. These unique windows also meet the Energy Star® guidelines for energy efficiency in all U.S. climate zones.

To Learn More

Headquartered in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, CertainTeed is a subsidiary of Saint-Gobain, which is renowned for their expertise in glass technology and is one of the top 100 industrial companies in the world. Browse the CertainTeed website to learn more about dual pane argon gas filled windows and the rest of their superior building products.

An Eco-Friendly Green Tile Company

Mid-America Tile

Mid-America Tile is a wholesale flooring distributor and importer that specializes in designing stylishly decorative, environmentally friendly ceramic tile.  When properly installed and maintained, their unique product has a 50-year lifespan, which saves time, money, and the additional resources that would’ve been needed to replace a tile of inferior design.

Mid-America Tile ceramics are made from 100 percent natural raw materials, which are often found within close proximity to their Chicago factory.  This helps the environment by reducing fuel consumption and transportation costs, and the leftover material from their manufacturing process is even ground up for use in paving bricks and road filler.

Additional Benefits

These ceramic tiles also have the added benefit of not emitting volatile organic compounds (VOCs).  When used with most common cement-based setting and grouting materials, these tiles help prevent the growth of mold, mildew, fungus and other viruses, allowing you and your family to breathe cleaner air.  They are easily cleaned using just warm water and pH-neutral cleaners; chemicals, waxes, strippers, solvents or shampoos are not needed.

Products

From specially tailored designs that bring together a homeowner’s most imaginative décor to simple yet tasteful patterns, there isn’t anything Mid-America Tile won’t create for their customers.  Their other products include porcelain, glass, metal, natural stone tile, electric radiant floor heat and installation products.

To Learn More

Browse the Mid-America Tile website to learn more about this innovative green tile company, which is family owned and has been at the forefront of their industry since 1961.

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