Electric Bill: $39.74

With a few changes at home, my roommate and I got our electric bill down to just under $40. That's everything - we don't have gas service. We made two major changes. Since it's spring time, we turned off the HVAC and hung a clothesline. Last month's bill was $55.11, and that had about half a month of heating on it. I'd say we improved significantly.

Green Yourself - a checklist

Mother Earth News published this checklist to see how environmentally friendly each of us really are. Since I am a renter, not a homeowner, some of these are not financially reasonable for me to implement. The one thing I never realized, and they point out, is the negative impact of pets - very smart thinking. I know I can't hardly keep that litter box clean with just one cat!

Walk Your Talk: The Fifteen Most Important Things You Can Do to Green Your Life

all the small things

I just figured out that it costs me $.02 per hour to run my desktop computer and monitor. what a bummer. so if i leave it on for 50 hours, it only costs a buck! that means that in order to cut my energy bill, i've got to get serious about turning things off or down. unfortunately, since i rent my apartment, it's extremely worthless for me to replace the furnace.. although i think the payback on a programmable thermostat may be less than 12 months... (to be continued)

User Input error!

I was working on fixing an old computer that had a PS/2 keyboard and mouse, and had a bit of trouble getting it to work. As I was working, I realized that computer input devices really haven't advanced as quickly as the rest of our computers. Computers have gotten faster, monitors have gotten bigger, but our input devices? Wireless is at the top of the list. Why are we still using a keyboard and mouse? Why aren't we talking to our computers!? The XBOX 360 currently has a game called Tom Clancy's Endwar which can be controlled completely by voice commands using the system's wireless headset. I can also issue simple commands to my cell phone when using my Bluetooth headset, like "Call John Doe."

So why are we still using keyboards and mice to control our state-of-the-art computers? I remember my uncle having speech recognition software which let him "type" in a document by speaking to it. It seemed much faster than typing, from what I remember, so why don't we extend this ability to enable us to issue commands to the operating system? I'm sure there are still speech-to-text programs out there, but I want my operating system to hear me issue commands, like "open Firefox Web Browser." The software would have to be built into an operating system, constantly listening for commands. The HAL 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey worked well, and that was 1968!

Before I even do the research, it seems that we have the technology to do this; voice recognition is better than ever, and the microphone hardware already exists. What are we waiting for?

MOVED

I moved this blog to my other blog, dguirl.blogspot.com. I just couldn't settle with the "scenviro" name, so i figured i would stick with my own...

A Green (White) House: Don't print the Citizen's Briefing Book

I have heard nothing but good, forward-thinking ideas coming from the transition team. I am intrigued by the idea of an open government, and even more so by opening a briefing to the citizens of the United States to contribute their ideas in an effort to be that much closer to a truly democratic society. Thank you.

I am proposing that President Obama and his team allow volunteer companies and organizations to contribute their input to make the White House "green", using LEED and other popular standards to embrace conservation, sustainability, and a healthy indoor environment for those working inside. Set the example.

Promote the Green Industry and support Green Jobs. Award the job, not just to one company, but to all those that can collaborate together to make the White House green. Companies, small and large, will have the opportunity to contribute their efforts to be a part of history and change our government for the better. The changes will remind Americans and countries around the globe of the importance of the environment in the United States. From installing CFL's to using renewable energy to being 100% paperless, I hope the White House can become green in every way; building design, office operations, transportation, communication, indoor health, energy efficiency, and much much more. 

For those companies and organizations that donate their efforts, they could possibly be rewarded not with cash, but by x amount of tax breaks, T-bills or something of equivalent value.

Sincerely, 

David Guirl
http://scenviro.blogspot.com
Columbia, South Carolina
USC Alumni and concerned American