Resources· EarthScore: Your Personal Environmental Audit & Guide. By Donald W. Lotter. 1993. 107 pgs. $8.95 + $1.75 S&H. Morning Sun Press, PO Box. 413, Lafayette, CA 94549. ISBN 0-9629069-4-8. This educational and fun environmental audit guide helps readers analyze the environmental i.mpact of their household energy and water use, transportation, consumerism, toxics, waste/recycling, environmental advocacy, respect of the land, livelihood and family planning. Strategies for reducing your environmental. impact are integrated with the "audit" questions. Not all of the questions give you sufficient answer choices, but you get a general sense of which habits you ne.ed to rethink to be environmentally ,conscious. It was heartening to learn that a passenger on a full airplane uses nearly the same amount of fuel as a car driver (27 miles per gallon). But EarthScore also reminds us to ask - airlines if they are using fuel-efficient and low NOx emissions (NOx destroys the ozone layer). Those who survi_ve the audit's tough scoring system and reach the exalted rarik of eco-hero are to be congratulated! Practical Home Energy Savings. By David Bill and the Rocky Mountain Institute. 1992. 51 pages. $8.00. RMI, 1739 Snowmass Creek Road, • PRACTICAL HOME ENERGY SAVINGS Snowmass, CO 81654. Practical Home_Energy Savings is filled with valuable information for reducing your utility bills. The conservation suggestions have mostly a five year payback. These quick tum-around mel:tsures may encourage all but the ~einporary renter to make energy efficiency investments for a more comfortable and safe home. For instance, it's best to buy electronically ballasted integral compact fluorescent lamps because · . other fluorescents contain radioactive elements. But they should still be disposed of as toxic ~aste because of their toxic mercury content. As one incentive for action, the book points out that if the US were as efficient as Western Europe or Japan, we'd wipe out the federal deficit. Consumer Guide to Home Energy Savings. By Alex Wilson with Home Energy Magazine. 252 pages. $6.95 + S&H. American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, 1001 Connecticut Ave., NW, Suite 535, Washington, DC 20036. -ISBN 0-918249-09-0. If yo_u are planning to buy any new household appliances, check this Guide. It has listings of super energyefficient products, and some straightforward,•simple techhiques for reducing your utility bills. It's a great reference resoui·ce with useful visual aids like insulated window shades that reduce heating bills in the winter and cooling bills in the summer. (See shades above) Page 52 RAIN Summer 1994 Volume XIV, Number 4 ... ~ :.iil . The Efficient House '{1" f::::/) Sourcebook: Reviews of selected books & directory of organizations devoted to homescale resource efficiency. By Robert Sardinsky and Rocky Mountain Institute. 1992. 165 pages. ISBN 1-881071-00-:-6. See address, column 1. You' 11 s11ve time searching for the best books on energy efficiency by perusing this Sourcebook's reviews first. The Rocky Mountain Institute has a well-established reputation for excellent energy efficiency work. So look here fitstfor good references and sources in any of the following topics: house design, construction and retrofit; energy-efficient appliances; ownerbuilder design and construction; re.newable energy sources; energyefficient house plans; financing energy efficiency; resource-efficient landscaping and site design; houiehold environmental quality; safe and efficient water use and waste disposal. Since mobile homes consist of 5-10% of single-family housing in the US, there ,is even a review of Your Mobile Home Energy and Repair Guide. A Straw Bale House Video Workshop. 1992. 29 minutes. VHS. $39.95. Kharp Video, PO Box 1388, Tijeras, NM 87059, (505) 299-4096. With lumber prices skyrocketing and concern for forest ecosystems increasing, houses made mostly out of dried straw bales make sense. This is not a joke, but an effective building material. Neither the big, bad wolf from our childhood _fairytales nor a ferocious wind can blo'Y plastered straw bale
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NTc4NTAz