Apps to help conserve our most precious resource: WATER!

Enjoy this article appearing in Abode magazine this month in newsstands or at www.c-ville/abode.com

Water is vital to everyone, every day. In honor of World Water Day on March 22, this month Betty has found top-rated iPhone applications to help you do your part to conserve our most precious resource.

Drip Detective: I love this clever app that calculates your water waste and cost from leaky faucets. Simply tap the screen each time a drip fall from your faucet and voila—see the reason why you should fix it ASAP!

How Blue Are You? This application launched by American Standards details their highest efficiency products, but also offers a water savings calculator, quiz, and efficiency tips.

How much water do you eat? The Virtual Water Project would like to tell you. This application shows the large amount of water it takes to produce everyday things such as food, paper, and cotton clothes. ($1.99)

My Water Diary: Track your weekly water consumption with this application. Just click on their cute shower, toilet flush or mop graphic to see your use. Only caveat: because it hails from the U.K., it calculates in liters.

Meter Readings will help you easily monitor all of your household utility meters—in addition to water, energy and gas. Once you start entering readings, your usage, costs and savings are calculated and displayed in easy-to-visualize graphs.

Finally Facebook, Friend2Friend, and Siemens have teamed up to offer a Personal Water Footprint Calculator to help you conserve. Take a test and you’ll learn where you use water and get savings tips. Plus, you can share with your friends.

I'll drink a glass of tap water to that!
Best,
BWB

July's column in Abode: Green Gadgets that are worth it!

Enjoy Betty's July article in Abode magazine here or at Abode.com
Green gadgets that are really worth it

Far be it from Betty to promote the latest, greatest green gizmo with a hefty price tag and made-in-China label, but I believe your pocketbook and the planet will appreciate these eco-gadgets.

The Smart Strip “is still the best bang for your buck as far as green gadgets,” according to Paige Mattson of the Blue Ridge Eco Shop. Given our love of Plasma HD, LCD, TV, and all things bright and flashy, it behooves all of us to conserve energy in any way we can. This powerstrip can sense when devices are on and off and acts accordingly to eliminate any excess energy drain. Reviews suggest the cost (around $40) can be recouped within months.

So many items in our home require the use of batteries, why not use solar battery chargers? They now come in all shapes, sizes, and options. Ubergreen geeks will love the HyMini which has an option to collect wind power while you jog, bike or ski! Given the wide price range, consider your budget and remember solar power requires some planning and patience.

Finally, two gadgets which conserve our most precious resource:
water. No plumber is needed for the Controllable Flush, a five-part handle replacement, which converts a standard toilet into dual flush.
After all, not every flush needs a full flush. (If it’s yellow...). A two-person household can save 15,000 gallons of water per year depending on your toilet!

The five-minute shower timer is simple, durable and costs $5. Suction cup this (recycled) plastic covered hourglass to a relatively dry area to help you to cut down your shower time. I used mine from the Charlottesville City (free from Earth Day) religiously. Here comes the green confession. I thought I was the queen of the quick shower (me: I'm sure I'll have left-over sand! shower timer: you were just daydreaming of your next Betty idea for at least 30 seconds!) Unfortunately that one wasn't shatter-proof (so check for when you purchase).

Here's to half-flushes and shorter showers!
BWB

SEEING GREEN...cool green links from local govt websites!

Check out these cool new online tools that have me seeing green...

Albemarle County’s new Green Resource Map HERE (check the left hand side under: What's New - last link listed)

This cool map includes farmer's markets, recycling, green roofs, etc which I'm quite sure required the use of Betty's directory and search tool :-)!

Map features:
*Providing a resource for residents to find out where they can reuse, recycle and/or properly dispose of common household items (e.g. electronics, motor oil, inks/toner, compact fluorescent bulbs, etc.)
*Highlighting Park & Ride sites to make carpooling easier
*Featuring farmers market locations so that residents can choose to “eat local”
*Green demonstration projects for residents to tour/visit/see, such as LEED certified buildings, rain gardens, solar energy sites, green roofs, etc.

"The Green Resource Map is a very visual and engaging guide to a wide variety of local options that support the kind of sustainable lifestyle habits that many of our residents are very interested in," said Albemarle's Environmental Compliance Manager Sarah Temple.

The Green Resource Map is the newest of the County’s continuing efforts in promoting innovative environmental stewardship and climate protection. Other recent accomplishments include earning the prestigious ENERGY STAR rating for the County Office Building McIntire, reducing municipal energy conservation by 12% and achieving a savings of $113,000 in 2008 and installing solar energy panels on the County Office Building at 5th Street.

Next up... Charlottesville City's Water Use Calculator

June is Water Conservation Month which is a good reason to check out your water use and compare it to other residents in the area and then consider purchasing a rain barrel or implementing other steps to conserve.

Brian Buckley will be at the farmer's markets and is offering a five dollar discount if you mention Better World Betty! Between that and the city rebate program of 30 dollars - you are getting a rain barrel for a steal at $45! Don't forget to check out the Charlottesville's Green city page (to be honest, I still have a hard time finding from the Charlottesville' home page, so here's the link)

They have some really great water-saving tips for the home.

Thank you, local government, for providing these two important tools for change!
BWB

Betty's got a barrell!

I'm singin' in the rain because last Sunday (May 3) I FINALLY took matters into my own hands and installed the rain barrel I've had sitting around for over a month my green friends. Completed SOLO I am proud to add.

The delay? Well that would just turn out to be a long list of really good excuses. But Sean Tubbs of Cville Tomorrow made me feel better today when he said, "I am seeing Betty everywhere." Ah-ha. That's why you haven't seen me installing my rain barrel.

Step one: I chose a strategic spot, the southeast corner of our home so that we don't have to use any county water this year for our veggie/flower garden. Instead we will use the collected rain fall.

Step two: I gathered/purchased all necessary supplies. It's not just the barrel you need but a connector piece, a flexible drain hose, a saw, a tightening ring (I'm quite sure these are NOT the official terms), cinderblocks to give it some height for easy access, and a piece of particle board or other wood platform. The cheapest place for the cinderblocks would be the Ivy MUC Landfill facility (tip from Brian Buckley - Thanks!), but I didn't want to consume all that gas to get there, so I bought mine along with the other stuff at Martin's Hardware (about 4 bucks each). I think everything together cost me 25 dollars.

There are handy-dandy products that attach neatly and snug, and if that's your preference it will cost anywhere from 20-50 dollars, at least when I looked. The only downside of rigging my own was that now I have a five foot section of drain hose that doesn't have a home (email me and I will give it to you FREE).

Step three: Saw off the gutter and then start attaching the parts. Set your barrel atop the platform, setting on the cinderblocks. You're set.

After just four days of rain last week, it's full! The garden is not exactly in full swing yet.

I will confess to you all right now I only DREAM of being an amazing gardener/green thumb. The only thing green about my thumb is I can use it along with the pointer finger of my right hand to write checks to better gardeners whose plants I purchase (only to kill them with improper watering or pretending the deer won't come eat them!). That or type articles to inspire others to use THEIR green thumb.

Happy harvesting!
BWB

On Being Waterwise

Betty's Green Tips appear monthly in Cville's ABODE. Check it out here, or online

Baby, it's dry outside
With the last measurable rainfall having happened in July, we all need to get more water-wise. Local water expert Jennifer Watson at Charlottesville's Public Works recommends spending a day pretending that a gallon of water costs the same as a gallon of gas. (Your five-minute shower just got very expensive!) Other strategies:

Inside
Don't leave water running while washing, brushing, or shaving. Each minute saves three to five gallons.
Stop the flow. Pesky leaks still top the list of EPA's biggest home water-wasters. To find a toilet leak, drop food coloring in your tank and wait 15 minutes. If the toilet changes color, you've got a leak. Speaking of toilets, did you know that commodes made before 1980 consume five to seven gallons of water per flush? The city (970-3211) and county (977-4511) will give you a $100 rebate to replace your old toilets, plus a free water-saving kit.

Outside
Don't let water (and money) evaporate by daytime watering. Corann Ley, a local horticulturalist, offers this lawn trick: If your handprint stays in the grass, water. If not, leave it. Plant native and drought-resistant plants and don't forget to mulch. Thorough watering, rather than daily watering, promotes stronger root growth and therefore healthier plants. Drip irrigation hoses can save you 70 percent on water use.

Our community
Find a way to connect to our local water this month: Hike at Ivy Creek, fish the James, or volunteer to monitor local streams (streamwatch.org or charlottesville.org).