Everyday Green Home

Today, Tony Pratte, our regular co-host from The Sound Room, joins us once again on the show. In the Everyday Green Home Podcast, we talk about green homes, green living, and green communities. And we discuss how to make all of it work for you in your life, and why it all matters. We offer solutions, and we love to talk about the kind of choices that all of us can make, to make our homes, and ultimately the whole world, a better place.

The Living Standard

The Living Standard, which was recently released by the US Green Building Council, is all about people. It's about a dialogue about green living and sustainability, and it is here to help people understand.

In today's episode, we discuss how the Living Standard helps people to help themselves, each other, and the environment. And we talk about what we can do, as individuals, to make a difference.

The Living Standard is a toolkit

The Living Standard is a toolkit that has been designed to help us have a better conversation about what we can do to live a green and sustainable lifestyle.

Small things count

Tony explains that if you can make a small, incremental change in your life, you won't have to worry about the big environmental problem. And if you can imagine a billion people making small changes, it makes a lot of sense because that ultimately adds up to a billion small changes that are happening all over the planet.

A big conversation

Talking about the environment is a big conversation to have, and there's a lot that we need to understand. Unfortunately, a lot of people have problems when they talk about the environment because they become consumed with the big picture.

What we need to understand

We need to understand that everyone looks at things a little differently. And not everyone will always agree about certain things. However, not having everyone in agreement, will make no difference to the kinds of small changes that we can make, that are common sense.

There is always something you can do.

There is always something that you can do, to be part of the solution, and to change things for the better.

Sometimes we tend to become overwhelmed with everything we need to do to green our homes, but it does help to know that whatever we do on a small scale will ultimately also work on a bigger scale because, even if it's a small thing, it will still move the needle.

The US Green Building Advocacy Committee

A few months ago, the Missouri Gateway Chapter of the US Green Building Council asked Tony to be on their advocacy committee.

Why the Living Standard was released

Tony explains that the Living Standard was released to move the environmental conversation away from jargonized, scientific, builder-speak towards a more common language that is easily understood by everyone.

A non-confrontational conversation

He points out that the conversation about the greening the environment, and sustainability, does not have to be a confrontational discussion. However, people tend to make it that way, mostly because it gets into politics.

The goal of this podcast

The goal of this podcast is to keep the politics out of the way, to have a real conversation.

How to have the right kind of conversation, and take it to even more people

We need to speak to more people who live outside of our community, and we need to use inclusive language and powerful images to help everyone to feel that they have the ability to take the necessary daily action towards creating a sustainable environment for all.

It's all about a choice

It's all about the choice you make. And you can choose to take a small, incremental step that will make a big impact later on.

The top three things you can do to make meaningful small changes in your home

1. LED lightbulbs
2. Green cleaning products
3. Use recycled toilet paper

Links and resources:

Living Green Effortlessly: Simple Choices for a Better Home by Marla Esser Cloos

The Living Standard Campaign

The Standard Issue Report

The Sound Room

Energy Star

The Watersense

NAHB (National Association of Homebuilders) Sustainability and Green Building Toolkit

For the whole of July, we're on a trend. So everything that we will be talking about on the podcast this month will be based on the theme of independence through personal choices.

Today, we're talking about buying local, and we're very excited to have Chelsey Simpson joining us as our guest on the show. Chelsey will be talking to us about the stores she co-owns, about what goes into sourcing the very best local produce, and about her motivation for doing what she does.

Urban Agrarian

Chelsey is a local business owner in the Oklahoma City area. She is the co-owner of Urban Agrarian, a fabulous, non-traditional grocery store that stocks primarily locally sourced items and products.

Locally sourced products

For most of the Urban Agrarian's twelve-year history, just about a hundred percent of everything sold in its stores has been sourced locally, in Oklahoma. Due to the pandemic, however, Chelsey and her partner have more recently expanded its line to include some nationally sourced products.

The Urban Agrarian is a small grocery store

Both Urban Agrarian stores are small, with each of them measuring about a thousand feet. That puts them in a situation that's a little different from most other grocery stores, which are usually a whole lot bigger. However, Chelsey explains that they are still a traditional grocery store in that you can go in there to buy your bread, milk, eggs, steaks, tortilla chips, snacks, as well as a whole lot more wholesome products.

A win-win situation

For many people, finding a grocery store that focuses on stocking the kinds of locally- sourced foods and items that they would prefer to have in their diets and their homes is truly a win-win situation.

Thinking beyond local

Chelsey explains that at the Urban Agrarian, they try to curate things, and think about everything beyond the simple notion of the store being local. They prefer to talk and think about it in terms of the store being source-verified. And they feel that they are in a position to do that because they know almost everyone who makes or grows the things that are stocked in their shop personally, by their first names.

Individual sourcing involves a lot of work

It takes a lot of work to source each item in the store individually, and it is not the way that most regular grocery stores work. Most of the grocery stores rely on national distributers to supply them in bulk with whatever they might need.

The Urban Agrarian is a food hub

The Urban Agrarian serves not only as a grocery store but also as a food hub. The term "food hub" describes that the Urban Agrarian is doing the aggregating and sourcing of their products, as well as curating products for their customers. That means that they go to the trouble of sourcing all the best quality local products, and then they bring them to one location for the convenience of their customers.

Grass-fed beef from BF Farms

One of the products carried by the Urban Agrarian is the grass-fed beef, supplied by Jane, Doug, and their family, from BF Farms in Oklahoma. They all speak very proudly of the hundred-year heritage that the family has on their farm, and about the great quality of the meat that they supply.

High mineral content

Jane and Doug have explained that the land they own in north-central Oklahoma has very high mineral content. And the high mineral content has promoted good grass growth, which adds even more nutritional value to the beef and lamb that they sell.

The Urban Agrarian is in close partnership with BF Farms

When the Urban Agrarian store was being built, Chelsey and her business partner partnered closely with BF Farms. Some wood from an old barn on the farm was used to create a dropped ceiling in the store.

The effect of the pandemic

For safety reasons, due to the pandemic, the Urban Agrarian stores are closed presently to walk-in customers because the size of each store is small. So their products are only available currently from call-in orders.

Placing a call-in order is very easy

It is easy to make a call-in order at the Urban Agrarian. And once you have ordered what you need, you can simply drive up and have your order delivered to you at the curb-side. It is very easy, and it's also contact-free.

Links and resources:

Urban Agrarian

BF Farms

Find a Farmers Market Near You, from PBS

Know Where Your Food Comes From

Today, we're very happy to be having a conversation with Suzanne Shelton, from the Shelton Group.

The Shelton Group is the country's leading marketing communications firm, exclusively focused in the ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) space, and it exists to help companies gain a market advantage, as a result of what they are doing to create a world that is both sustainable, and socially just.

The Shelton Group achieves its aim through creating on-going insights gatherings to discuss the thinking and the expectations of the market, and the way people's thoughts and expectations translate into the brands they prefer, and the products that they buy. Once have these insights have obtained, they are applied in the form of marketing communication strategies and communication platforms, which the company then amplifies out, over time, on behalf of their clients.

Suzanne founded the company twenty-nine years ago, and they have been focused on the ESG space for the last fifteen years.

The bias of the Shelton Group

Suzanne explains that the bias of the Shelton Group is that they believe in the power of organizations as well as the power of entrepreneurialism. And fundamentally, they trust in the strength and intensity of business and competition.

Suzanne thinks that she is also wired in the same way!

Solving problems in the world

Suzanne explains that businesses can be a force for good, provided that whatever they do also benefits the business, in terms of money, or profit.

There are many problems to be solved in the world, so the framework of the Shelton Group is that business can be utilized as a force for good, to help solve some of those problems. However, the only realistic way that any business can work as a force for good is if there is some monetary value in it for that business.

A pragmatic approach

Suzanne believes that businesses need to be able to explain pragmatically how they can read and measure their market advantage, and how they intend to execute against that.

An optimistic view

Suzanne is an optimist. She feels certain that we will weather the storm of the global pandemic, and come out on the other side, stronger and better than before.

She is also optimistic that businesses will indeed solve some of the world's greatest challenges.

The good news

Wall Street has lately been asking questions that they weren't asking five years ago. And investors are asking questions on investor calls with Fortune 500 companies about diversion and inclusion policies, or greenhouse gas emissions. So if a company doesn't have their environmental and their social acts together, they will not be able to answer those questions.

For Suzanne, now that Wall Street has started asking these questions, it feels like financials are finally a part of the environment, and also of the work-streams within our society. She feels that Corporate America is now motivated in a way that it has never been before.

The best thing that's happened

In Suzanne's view, the best thing that has happened in terms of moving everyone towards the creation of a sustainable future is that Wall Street has started asking some important questions that they were not asking before.

The ESG framework

The ESG framework is a framework through which rating agencies measure and rate the performance of companies based on a host of metrics under the environmental, social, and governance categories. Then, the scores get reported out to fund managers and investors on Wall Street.

Part of the ESG framework is that they have real metrics on many different social issues, including gender equity, racial equity, and even pay equity.

Where business needs to go to create meaningful solutions

Although what is happening in America right now is generally not good for business in the long run, Suzanne points out that there is no business case for global warming or societal unrest either.

Suzanne's advice to business people is to embrace stakeholder capitals and a triple-bottom-line approach because that's the best way for them to move forward, assist in making sense of the world, and help in creating peace within it.

That approach makes total sense to Suzanne, and she feels that, ultimately, it will be best for businesses, best for the world, and best for the planet, because they are all connected.

Links and resources:

Go to the Green Home Coach website and click on the "consult with me" link for a free 20-minute consult with Marla about the product swaps you can do in your home.

Shelton Group

Sustainalytics

Just Capital

Change the World- Fortune

Pearl Certification

For Curated Better and Green Products:

Shop Everyday Green Home

Today, we're happy to have Christy Howell, from CRH Design + Build, joining us. Christy was on the show previously, about a year-and-a-half ago, when her business was going through a transition phase.

She is currently building a pilot home using the incredible ICF (Insulated Concrete Form) technology blocks, which she describes as being like large Lego blocks for adults. Building a home with this innovative new green technology has many benefits. In today's episode, Christy will talk to us about the myriad advantages of building a house in this way.

What CRH Design + Build does

Christy has a bachelor's degree in fine art, so CRH Design + Build does a large number of interior design projects.

Since 2004, she has been doing a significant amount of interior design assistance with new construction projects, remodels, staging, and other kinds of work that falls under a similar umbrella. Although most of the work she is doing is residential, there are also some commercial projects that she does.

Between 2018 and 2019, Christy felt that it was time for her to change, and start transitioning into a greener lifestyle. So she decided to incorporate some more structured, and healthier ways to build, and some greener oriented ideas, into her business.

Adapting to changing times

Since the start of the pandemic, Christy has been looking for ways to adapt the kinds of changes that we have all had to make, due to the pandemic, to what she was already trying to adjust her vision for her business into becoming.

Christy's pilot project

Christy's pilot project is a house that she is building for her parents. It has been built with ICF blocks, and she cannot wait to experience the wonderful cool factor that the house is going to be providing during the hot summer months of July and August.

When Christy discovered ICF building blocks, she fell in love with them immediately because of their resilience, which is mind-blowing from a wind factor, a tornado factor, and even a hurricane factor.

All the other aspects of ICF

The ICF build will contribute towards the green home certification Christy is seeking for the home. It helps Christy as it makes it easier for her to accommodate it in the various steps she needs to take in the green process of the build. The certification also reassures her that her customers are healthy because they're sleeping in homes where there's no need for them to worry about anything toxic or anything going wrong, other than the occasional things that will typically require regular maintenance in a home.

What ICF blocks consist of

Christy describes ICF blocks as large Lego blocks for adults. They are approximately four feet wide and sixteen inches tall. They are put together like a sandwich, with sides made of styrofoam about two inches thick, and concrete in between.

The many benefits of ICF technology

All the external walls of a house can get built from ICF blocks. The blocks insulate the walls to keep the house warm inside in the cooler weather and cool inside in warmer weather.

ICF blocks create a very well sealed home because they get stacked in a way that makes the building very strong and completely airtight.

To save money on construction costs, you don't have to use ICF blocks to build the garage.

ICF blocks not only insulate the house so that it stays warm or keeps cool when necessary, but they also isolate it from any noise from outside. Christy explains that they do such a great job that you won't even know when it's raining outside, and at times, you might not even know when it's thundering!

The quality of homes built from ICF blocks is impressive. The houses are resilient against strong winds, tornadoes, and even hurricanes.

Construction involves a lot of hard work

Constructing a house requires a lot of hard work. Christy assures us that it is possible to do it, however. She explains that as long as you have grit, you'll do well. If you have tenacity, you'll be great, and if you have the drive, you're sure to be successful!

Links and resources:

Go to the Green Home Coach website and click on the "consult with me" link for a free 20-minute consult with Marla about the product swaps you can do in your home.

CRH Design + Build

Christy on Instagram

Christy on Facebook

Fox Blocks

For Project Recording and Planning: Rocketbook From Everyday Green Home:

Rocketbook Smart Reusable Notebook – Lined Eco-Friendly Notebook with 1 Pilot Frixion Pen & 1 Microfiber Cloth Included

We're happy to have our regular guest, Tina Gleisner, from Home Tips for Women, joining us on the show today!

Tina is an expert in home maintenance, and how to get things done around the house, whether it's DIY or calling in professional help.

In today's episode of the Everyday Green Home Podcast, we will be talking about budgeting and planning for the bigger expenses for the maintenance, improvements, and replacements that are needed in the home.

Home maintenance with sustainability for green homes

Our homes are living and breathing things. And, even if we use only materials that will help us to live sustainably, our homes will still need some tender loving care to last for as long as possible.

Replacing the expensive things in the home

From time to time, we have to replace something in our home, like the roof, an air conditioner, or an entire HVAC system, that involves a major expense. The smaller things, like the air filters, are easily manageable but replacing a whole air conditioning system will cost more money than most people have sitting in the bank.

Budgeting for the major expenses

We need to plan and budget for those major expenses because they often tend to come up unexpectedly.

Budgeting for a new roof

Most roofs last for about ten years, unless you live near the water, with severe weather and salt air, which will cause the roof to deteriorate faster. So it would be a good idea to get a roofing company to come in and check your roof out after ten years, and then have them do it again another five years later. This will give you valuable feedback that you can use in your planning and budgeting process.

It pays to get a professional in once a year

It pays to have a professional come into your home once a year to tune up your HVAC system, your air conditioner, and your water heater because regular maintenance is sure to prolong the life of those things and save you money in the long run. Also, systems that are well maintained tend to retain their energy efficiency a lot better.

What to do if one of the major systems in your home breaks

If any of the major systems, or a big appliance in your home breaks, for example, the garbage disposal system or the air conditioner, your first line of defense is to find the manufacturer's warranty, so that you can check to see if that appliance or system is still covered.

Tina strongly advises people to get an extended warranty for their refrigerators because many of the ice-makers tend to be error-prone and problematic.

Water heaters

It's a good idea to buy the very best and most energy-efficient water heater that you can afford so that it will last for a long time.

HVAC Systems

Tina points out that it's not that easy to buy a high-end HVAC system because they can be very pricey. So the best way to handle that is to obtain an energy-efficient HVAC system, and then maintain it to extend the life of the system for as long as possible.

How to budget for the long-term maintenance of your home

The rule of thumb, when budgeting for the long-term maintenance and replacement of the bigger things in your home, is that you should be saving an average of two to three percent of whatever the purchase price of your home would be currently.

Generally, if the house is brand new, you won't need to spend money on any of those big-budget repairs and replacements right away, so in that case, you would only need to save one percent of the purchase price of the home, annually, for the first two to five years. After that, you could increase it to two percent, and by another percent after the next five years. In that way, by the time you get to fifteen years, you will be saving three, or even four percent of the current value of your home, annually. This is necessary because a lot of things will need to be replaced after twenty or twenty-five years.

Start your budget today

Remember that the best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago. And the next best time is today! So if you haven't yet started a budget, be sure to start one today!

Links and resources:

Tina's Website

Home Budgets: Planning for the Unexpected

Budgeting to Replace/Upgrade Interior Home Components

Plan & Budget for Exterior Home Upgrades

8 Wood Rot Repairs Your Home Might Need

Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency

The Home Depot - Father's Day Savings

FREE 20-minute consult with Marla about the product swaps you can do in your home! Green Home Coach website and click on the "consult with me" link.

Over the last couple of months, due to the global pandemic, the entire structure is being re-analyzed, and people are starting to make changes based on what they're finding.

Today, Tony Pratte, our regular co-host, joins us to talk about what we can do, incrementally, to green up our homes. This is an exciting topic because now that we are all spending more time at home, we're beginning to notice the things in and around our homes that we would like to change, repair, or upgrade.

Incremental green

The concept of incremental green is that as you're caring for, maintaining, and upgrading your home, you're thinking about the next step you need to take to uplevel whatever you're doing and make your home greener. In doing that, you will be providing an enhanced experience for everyone living in the home, by making it healthier, safer, or more comfortable.

So, for example, if it's time to paint your house, instead of going straight for the paint you'd usually buy, first check to see that it's a no-VOC (Volatile Organic Compound) paint. Or if you're replacing a thermostat, instead of buying the cheapest one that you can find, invest in either an Ecobee or a Nest. Those are learning thermostats so they will cost you more money initially but they are sure to save you money (and frustration) in the long run, over the next ten years.

A free consultation

Greening your home incrementally is quite similar to doing a product swap as you maintain or upgrade your home.

If you would like to know what kinds of things are available for a product swap, you can go to the Green Home Coach website and schedule a free consult with Marla. She will spend twenty-minutes with you, and give you some awesome tips to help you to start thinking in the right way about what some of your product swaps could be, to best suit your particular situation. Marla would love to help you out!

The way Marla looks at things

The everyday kind of things that we all do in our homes include how we take care of our homes, and the cleaning products we prefer to use. Marla refers to this as the living part, and she breaks everything down into five different categories, for green and greener things.

Doing product swaps and incrementally greening your home in five different categories

There are many parts to a home, and lots of things inside every house, so breaking everything down into five different categories is a helpful way to avoid feeling overwhelmed when you're thinking about all you need to do, to green your home.

The five different categories are:

1. The place where your home sits on the land.
2. All the materials and the different products that are brought into the house to make it a home.
3. Energy
4. Water
5. Breathing

Everything that happens outside of your home fits category 1, like windows and natural light, trees for shade, rain barrels, and garden plants and flowers.

Category 2 could be as simple as using reused, recycled, bio-based or wood-based materials in your home, and sourcing your materials locally.

For category 3, make sure that any new appliance you buy has Energy Star, repair whatever you can, upgrade your lighting to LEDs, and buy the kind of plugs that you can turn on and off remotely.

For category 4, you need to do whatever you can to conserve water. Don't leave the water running when you're brushing your teeth, shaving, or doing the dishes.

Breathing, in category 5, is all about the indoor air quality in your home. This category is most closely tied to your health and wellness. A good place to start is with the air filters in your heating and cooling units.

Marla's top three easy green steps

1. Use LED lightbulbs
2. Use only green cleaning products
3. Use only recycled or non-tree toilet paper so that you don't end up flushing a forest down the toilet.

Links and resources:

Go to the Green Home Coach website and click on the "consult with me" link for a free 20-minute consult with Marla about the product swaps you can do in your home.

We have Dave Miller, from Delta Electronics, joining us today to talk about bathroom ventilation and bath fans.

Ventilation is very important, yet it's something that's often overlooked.

About Delta

Delta Electronics came out of Taiwan and they have been going for almost fifty years. They are a very diverse firm, with a core philosophy of energy efficiency, good stewardship of the environment, and a green approach.

Diversity within Delta Electronics

What Dave enjoys about Delta is their diversity. And he loves what they're able to bring to the party, intellectually, through Delta's many different divisions.

Delta is the world's largest brushless DC motor manufacturer. They are the largest manufacturer of power supplies on the planet, and they do EV charging stations for hybrid vehicles and plug-in cars. They also get into projectors as well as several other diverse and complementary categories, including bath fans.

Dave explains that at Delta, they are truly communal in the way that they approach solutions.

Delta started its Delta Breez division ten years ago.

About bathroom fans and ventilation

Dave points out that the ventilation is like the lungs of the house because it gets rid of all the odors, moisture, cooking smells, molds, and mildew. With everyone staying at home during the pandemic right now, there is a lot more potential for pollution, moisture, and toxins in our indoor environment.

Moisture is the enemy of your home, and most of the moisture in our homes comes from the bathroom. The moisture from the bathroom drifts out into other areas of the home, so the bathroom ventilation is particularly important. Bath fans are one of the key elements to having cleaner and better air to breathe in our homes.

How Delta entered the bath fan manufacturing business

At Delta, they truly utilize their brilliance as DC (direct current) motor manufacturers when it comes to building their very energy-efficient DC brushless motors.

Delta's founder Bruce Cheng suggested that the company start manufacturing bathroom fans because they were already making the best DC motors on the market. At the time, DC motors were such a novelty in the bathroom fan business because they were more expensive. But with Delta's engineering prowess and manufacturing capabilities, the company became the first in the industry to exclusively use only DC motors in its exhaust fans – setting a new standard for energy efficiency and reliability.

This became a game-changer for Delta because, with their DC motors, their bath fans use a whopping 75 percent less energy than a fan with an AC motor would.

Bath fans are the solution for the future

Talking about bath fans makes Dave wax evangelical because they represent the future for him, and he feels that we have to preach where we're headed.

He explains that in the future, we're going to have to learn to consume less and provide more. And bath fans from Delta are the solution because they can provide effective and essential ventilation for your home while saving lots of energy with their quiet, energy-efficient, long-lasting DC motors.

Low-sound motors

The DC motors that Delta provides have a long life, they're very efficient, and they are also the quietest motors in the entire bathroom ventilation industry.

Dave points out that a loud fan is an ineffective fan because it never gets turned on!

Changing the air in the home

Dave tells us that a rule of thumb in any tight, efficiently sealed home is that one-third of all the air needs to be changed out every hour, on the hour. So that every three hours, all the air in the whole house has been changed out. And bath fans provide an effective, precise, and valuable way of doing that.

Providing the perfect solution

Delta looked into the commercial/ industrial side of their business and they applied what they found there to the residential side of the business. And now, Delta's motors, with their long-lasting, energy-saving, and quiet DC technology, provide the perfect solution for reliable bathroom ventilation.

Delta's commitment to being energy-efficient

Delta's commitment to being energy-efficient while providing excellent solutions, coupled with the innovative way that they have combined all their in-house technology, has earned them the Energy Star Partner of the Year Award for five years in a row, and a Sustained Excellence award for three years in a row!

Links and resources:

Delta Breez Bath Fan Buying Guide

Delta Breez website

Delta Breez 100 CFM Integrity Bathroom Exhaust Fan with Edge-Lit Dimmable LED Light From Everyday Green Home

Available on Amazon and Home Depot!

We're very excited to have Sharon Rowe, the creator, and founder of ECOBAGS™, and the author of The Magic of Tiny Business: You Don't Have to Go Big to Make a Great Living, back on the show with us today!

For a long time, environmental movements have been telling everyone to work together. That has become more important at this time than ever before. Now is the time that we need to stand up to the things that aren't true, that are harmful, and that do not benefit people. Sharon feels that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there needs to be more focus on infrastructure and job creation, and people need to move away from selfish behavior, towards selflessness.

Cooking at home

In Sharon's family, they're home-cooks. They have been practicing cooking for years, and they all love to do it! They are aware, however, that some people don't have the income to buy any food right now, and that's quite frightening.

Food distribution

There's a lot of focus on new models for food distribution now, on a much smaller scale than before, because, as Sharon points out, you can be a lot more nimble when you're tiny. The models involve various individuals within the local communities having to be innovative and to make use of social media to communicate both their offerings and their needs.

Sharon's book, The Magic of Tiny Business

Tiny business is really about staying true to what you need, and not engaging with the things that are not essential.

Sharon loves tiny business! Because, for her, a tiny business is all about being nimble. Her book, The Magic of Tiny Business, is all about being nimble, which means doing only what is necessary, and nothing extra.

What tiny business is all about

Sharon explains that tiny business involves a shift and become nimble. And that all comes down to the very sensible and basic rule of simply spending less than you make, which sometimes means having to cut down on the number of unnecessary extras that you spend your money on each month.

Sharon points out that it's not about deprivation. It's about conservation.

Small business is all about being nimble and only doing what is necessary and nothing extra.

With what the world is going through right now, small business is all about keeping the cash flowing. That means getting as much as possible in, at the front end, and letting as little as possible go, from the back end, without shorting suppliers. Because we're all part of the same ecosystem and it's all about relationships.

Staying in business

Everyone wants to stay in business. And to do that right now, people need to work together and stay in communication with one another.

Business is all about problem-solving and maintaining your margins. And to maintain your margins, you have to know what they are.

It's also very important to help others by meeting them where they are. And those who are not willing to play that way could risk losing their place in line.

When times get tough

When times get tough, you have to trim your sails. You could find yourself having to cut back on the number of people you employ to save your business. At first, it might seem like you're pulling in too much, and you could even get some pushback from your employees, family, and friends, but by trimming your sails you can save the whole boat so that you can ultimately carry everybody over the water.

Making the right choice is part of the shift

Something positive to consider is that in times like these, tiny business allows you to choose who you want to play with, so you no longer have to play with anyone you don't choose to anymore. And you also get to select the products which are made by the people you choose to play with.

Moving forward from this point

We need to be careful of snapping back to how things were before the pandemic. To avoid doing that, we will have to focus on structurally shifting the way things are run. There's a lot that can be done on a local level.

Supporting local businesses rather than the big-box stores as much as possible is one example of how we can do that, and it's also a great example of community.

Links and resources:

Buy The Book! The Magic of Tiny Business: You Don't Have to Go Big to Make a Great Living by Sharon Rowe

Purchase ECOBAGS™ from Everyday Green Home

Previous Episode: ECOBAGS™ and The Magic of Tiny Business

JW Peters, the President of Solar Power of Oklahoma, joins us today to talk about solar power for homes. JW wants his company to have a strong voice within the community and within the state, to make sure that he is doing everything he can to promote solar.

JW and Marla both serve on the Board for the Oklahoma Renewable Energy Council.

Currently, the US gets a lot of energy from burning fossil fuels. There is a finite amount of fossil fuel on earth so it will run out at some point. Solar, however, is a sustainable industry.

How JW got into solar

JW got into solar by accident.

His business partner, Kevin, was approached by an out-of-state company that was selling solar in Oklahoma. They were looking for someone to do their installations, so Kevin reached out to JW and asked if he was willing to team up with him to do that.

JW agreed, so they both took classes to learn about solar. They very quickly realized, however, that their jobs were not going to last much longer. By the time they figured that out, however, they had already learned how to install solar, properly, and efficiently, so they decided to step up their game and become the voice of reason for the solar industry in Oklahoma.

Neither JW nor Kevin had ever sold anything before, so they had to learn the best way to present all the information about solar to people. They aim to present all the facts so that individuals can make an educated decision about whether or not solar is right for them.

Solar is a viable industry in Oklahoma

The number of sun hours in a particular state will determine how well a solar industry will do in that state.

Oklahoma is the seventh-best state in the US for its number of sun hours. And yet the biggest problem that JW has encountered with his clients and customers is that most of them did not even realize that solar is available in Oklahoma. So they had no idea that it's viable, and that it can save them money.

Utility rates continue to rise and most Americans are not even aware that their utility rates have gone up on average by 3.4%, year-over-year, over the last ten years.

Doing things a different way

JW tells his customers that with solar, they can do things differently. He explains to them that he can show them a better way, one that's healthier for the environment and will save them money.

Storing solar energy

The energy from the sun has to be stored. In the early days of solar, about ten to fifteen years ago, very expensive batteries were used for storing solar energy. Those batteries were not particularly energy-efficient and they did not last very long.

Now, when you produce solar energy, you use only as much as you need and the rest gets fed back into the electric grid. This means that you will still be connected to a power utility but you will be feeding all the excess power that you produce back into the grid. You will gain credits for doing that and you can then access and use the power that you have stored whenever you need it, at night or when the sun isn't shining.

That is known as net metering and it has been a game-changer in the solar industry because it means that solar systems no longer have to have batteries, and that reduces the cost significantly.

Solar is simple

Solar panels can be mounted onto the roof, they can be placed in a field, and they can even go into a back yard.

The solar panels produce DC power which is then inverted to AC power, which is what powers your home. That is done through a series of micro-converters which are usually situated at the back of the solar panels.

The solar power is then connected to the main electric panel of the house.

With a solar system, you will be able to produce about seventy to eighty-five percent of your annual electric consumption. And if you purchase a solar system in 2020, you will get a twenty-six percent federal tax credit.

In some states, you can even lease a solar system, rather than having to buy one.

Links and resources:

Solar Power of Oklahoma

SEIA (Solar Energy Industries Association)

Solar Chargers and Lights from Everyday Green Home

Tony Pratte, our once-a-month guest co-host from The Sound Room, joins us today to talk about no-touch smart homes.

Tony has an extensive background in smart homes and automation. With the Coronavirus pandemic, it's very helpful to have automated, no-touch systems in place in your home.

A wireless world

Currently, we are going further and further along the route of wireless internet inside the house. A couple of years ago, Tony saw some interesting statistics that showed that 65% of people under a certain age will never plug into a hard-line internet connection.

Tony explains that no matter what you do in the smart home world, everything starts with making sure that you have good wireless internet coverage in the house. For the do-it-yourselfer, the products that you will need are available online.

What you will need

With everybody at home right now, there could be four or five people, with each of them using multiple devices, all needing to be on the internet at the same time. So you need to ensure that the wifi signal in the house is strong enough and that there is even coverage that's accessible throughout the house.

You will need a wireless router. A good wireless router will provide enough coverage for an average, smaller home. For a bigger home, however, you will need a wireless repeater, or a wireless access point of some kind, to extend the range of the wifi signal from the router throughout the house.

The easiest thing to do

For the homeowner, the easiest thing to do once the wifi in your home is up and running is to take a smart device like a smartphone or an iPad, log onto your wireless wifi network, and walk around the house. That way, you will be able to check the strength of the signal in all the different areas of the house and verify that you have internet coverage in every room.

Ways to make your home more of a smart home

With a smart home, or a connected home, you're trying to simplify your life and make things easier, so you don't have to touch things as often. The three easiest things that you can add to a smart home are thermostats, lighting, and sound.

If your thermostat knows what to do, you won't have to touch it. There are a lot of different wifi thermostats available. Tony's company mostly uses Ecobee thermostats. You can program smart thermostats, and many of them will learn your patterns as well.

There are several different kinds of do-it-yourself smart lighting systems available. These have modules that you plug into the wall, and then you can plug a lamp into the module and automate it. That way you will touch only your personal device and not the lamp itself. This can then be tied into voice-control.

Smart homes

Smart houses have features like thermostats, lights, or TVs that can be controlled remotely by an app on a smartphone, iPad, or some other device. There will also be some kind of controller in the house that all the remotely controlled devices and features talk to. The controller allows everything to be brought into the same app, and it allows you to create scenes. Scenes allow you to select your preferred sequences with the devices in your home, and bring them together to create an experience. For example, first turning on the coffee pot in the morning, then the music, and then the shower.

Voice and app control

Voice and app control make it easier for people with limitations or disabilities to have more independence and freedom.

Sound

Tony recommends Sonos for do-it-yourself sound.

The Sonos app will guide you through the installation, step-by-step.

Voice command module

The voice command module allows you to control the thermostat, the lighting, and the sound systems.

Sonos, Nest, and Ecobee integrate with a bridge, called Caseta, made by Lutron, available from Home Depot, which will allow you to create scenes.

Links and resources:

Ubiquiti

The Sound Room

Smart Home Products from Everyday Green Home

Hand Sanitizer from Everyday Green Home