I haven't been posting any pictures on the blog, because it's much better to have them right there on the website. Where people can see the concrete actions that they and others are taking to live greener. I'm using Flickr with a plug-in that allows me to feed my photo stream directly into the challenge page.
For example, check out the results of the Change a Light Bulb No-Brainer Challenge here.
Sweet. We changed 132 light bulbs, which will save around 60,000 kWh over their lifetime.
Real Action!
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Friday, October 30, 2009
350
Oil is Dumb had a lot of fun at the 350 event in Austin last weekend.On October 24, 2009, people gathered in hundreds of iconic locations throughout the world to take action on climate change. The goal? To create history's largest living petition, sending a message to world leaders as they prepare to draft a new global treaty on cutting emissions this December in Copenhagen, Denmark. This day will be perhaps the world's largest ever single concerted effort to take a stand on climate change.
Here are some more fun pictures.
Bryan and Tracy | Oil is Dumb poses in front of a Hummer SUV limo
A human 350 sign in front of the capitol.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
July, 2009 No-Brainer: Cancel Your Junk Mail
Let's be honest. Junk mail is the devil.
Very few people actually read their junk mail. Here are some facts:
Do It.
This month's challenge is sponsored by the Austin Chocolate Festival.
Send this link to all your friends. When you do the No-Brainer, let us know how many friends you sent it to, and we'll start giving out free Oil is Dumb t-shirts to the people who sent it to the most friends.
Enjoy getting less mail in your mailbox!
- Chuck
Very few people actually read their junk mail. Here are some facts:
- One study says Americans throw away 44% of bulk mail unopened, yet still spend 8 months per lifetime opening bulk mail. (Consumer Research Institute) 1
- Fifty-five percent of Americans “dislike” and 26% “despise” getting internet disks in the mail, while 1.9% “really appreciate” them. (June 2002 Opinion Research Corporation International Poll commissioned by New American Dream) 1
- Junk mail accounts for more than 1% of the total oil used by cars in the United States.
- $320 million of local taxes are used to dispose of unsolicited mail each year 2
- The production and disposal of direct mail consumes more energy than 3 million cars. (New American Dream calculation from U.S. Department of Energy and the Paper Task Force statistics) 3
Do It.
This month's challenge is sponsored by the Austin Chocolate Festival.
Send this link to all your friends. When you do the No-Brainer, let us know how many friends you sent it to, and we'll start giving out free Oil is Dumb t-shirts to the people who sent it to the most friends.
Enjoy getting less mail in your mailbox!
- Chuck
Monday, March 9, 2009
March, 2009 No-Brainer: Use Reusable Bags
Plastic bags are dumb. They use up oil, they fill up our streets, landfills, and lakes, and they aren't even necessary because we have other options. And paper bags are even worse. So what's this month's challenge? Don't use em. Oil is Dumb is doing our biggest drawing yet, of three prizes: $100, $50, and $25. In addition, Oil is Dumb will give out $5 right away to every participant just for saying you'll do it. As an added bonus, Oil is Dumb will give the first 50 participants, free of charge, a high quality 1 Bag at a Time reusable grocery bag to start you off right. Contest ends Tuesday, March 31, 2009. The contest is here.
The thing I'm most excited about in this month's No-Brainer is that we have our very first sponsors. One of the things I like about the way Oil is Dumb is structured is that getting genuine, good for the environment, solid businesses to sponsor our contests is very important. We don't just sell ad space on our website. We actually have an interest in connecting people with green businesses that we want to support. So we research our sponsors carefully to make sure they actually do good things for the environment, and do it well. So I'm proud to introduce our first two sponsors.
1 Bag at a Time is committed to supplying the highest quality reusable bags available and to promoting awareness about the full impact of disposable bags. We believe in the power of consumer and corporate responsibility as a positive force in the world.
Energy Action is dedicated to increasing conservation awareness one house at a time. If you want to save energy by improving your house, or if you are selling your house and need an energy audit, we are here to help you.
I recommend both these companies. If you are taking part in this month's No-Brainer then getting 1 Bag at a Time bags will get you extra entries into our drawing, so if you were thinking of making the switch to reusable bags, you might as well do it now, and 1 Bag at a Time is a great place to get them. I also recommend Energy Action, which is right here in Austin. Have you ever considered doing an energy audit on your home, to find out how to green up your life? Now is a perfect time, and Energy Action is the company to call.
The thing I'm most excited about in this month's No-Brainer is that we have our very first sponsors. One of the things I like about the way Oil is Dumb is structured is that getting genuine, good for the environment, solid businesses to sponsor our contests is very important. We don't just sell ad space on our website. We actually have an interest in connecting people with green businesses that we want to support. So we research our sponsors carefully to make sure they actually do good things for the environment, and do it well. So I'm proud to introduce our first two sponsors.
1 Bag at a Time is committed to supplying the highest quality reusable bags available and to promoting awareness about the full impact of disposable bags. We believe in the power of consumer and corporate responsibility as a positive force in the world.
Energy Action is dedicated to increasing conservation awareness one house at a time. If you want to save energy by improving your house, or if you are selling your house and need an energy audit, we are here to help you.
I recommend both these companies. If you are taking part in this month's No-Brainer then getting 1 Bag at a Time bags will get you extra entries into our drawing, so if you were thinking of making the switch to reusable bags, you might as well do it now, and 1 Bag at a Time is a great place to get them. I also recommend Energy Action, which is right here in Austin. Have you ever considered doing an energy audit on your home, to find out how to green up your life? Now is a perfect time, and Energy Action is the company to call.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
We Saved Water
Congrats to all the participants in the February, 2009 No-Brainer. We did great. There were 36 participants, and we received 26 photos of signs people made to remind them to use the 5-second rule on their faucets.
And a special congratulations to Farah E., who was the winner of our $50 bonus drawing! And last but not least, the Oil is Dumb Team wanted to give out some additional $10 awards to our favorite photos:
Squeaky Cleanest Faucet: Mary H., Littleton, CO
Most Creative Sign: Geoff O., Austin, TX
Most Artistic Sign: Nicole S., Austin, TX
Together, here is what we saved:
Oil
Electricity: ................. 514 kWh
Natural Gas
Water: ........................ 2,016 gallons
Paper
Carbon: ...................... 0.35 metric tons
Landfill Waste
Sulfur Dioxide: .......... 1.6 lbs
Nitrous Oxides: ......... 0.59 lbs
Mercury: .................... 0.015 lbs
Cost: .......................... $360
Here are the assumptions we are making for these numbers. First, that by using the 5-second rule, and therefore having to turn off the faucet when doing things like brushing your teeth and shaving, we save roughly 4 gallons of water per day. Second, we assume that if people say they're doing it (and if they went to the trouble of making a sign), then they are doing it, at least for two weeks. We also assume that the electricity it takes to pump, process, and treat water at a waste treatment plant is 0.13 kWh per gallon (this makes 262 kWh total). Plus, we assume 13% of total home energy use goes to water heating, 15% of our water use is through the faucet, and 73% of that water is hot. That means we saved an additional 7 kWh per person, or another 252 kWh. So that brings us to a total (conservative) estimate of a savings of 514 kWh.
The big surprise here is how much electricity was saved. We weren't even trying to save electricity. We were just turning off the faucet. But since it takes energy to treat and pump that water, plus the fact that it takes energy to heat the water, we ended up saving a whopping 514 kWh. That is about half of what a household uses in a month.
Here are some photos from the contest (the full photo post is on Facebook, and it'll be on our new website soon):
And a special congratulations to Farah E., who was the winner of our $50 bonus drawing! And last but not least, the Oil is Dumb Team wanted to give out some additional $10 awards to our favorite photos:
Squeaky Cleanest Faucet: Mary H., Littleton, CO
Most Creative Sign: Geoff O., Austin, TX
Most Artistic Sign: Nicole S., Austin, TX
Together, here is what we saved:
Oil
Electricity: ................. 514 kWh
Natural Gas
Water: ........................ 2,016 gallons
Paper
Carbon: ...................... 0.35 metric tons
Landfill Waste
Sulfur Dioxide: .......... 1.6 lbs
Nitrous Oxides: ......... 0.59 lbs
Mercury: .................... 0.015 lbs
Cost: .......................... $360
Here are the assumptions we are making for these numbers. First, that by using the 5-second rule, and therefore having to turn off the faucet when doing things like brushing your teeth and shaving, we save roughly 4 gallons of water per day. Second, we assume that if people say they're doing it (and if they went to the trouble of making a sign), then they are doing it, at least for two weeks. We also assume that the electricity it takes to pump, process, and treat water at a waste treatment plant is 0.13 kWh per gallon (this makes 262 kWh total). Plus, we assume 13% of total home energy use goes to water heating, 15% of our water use is through the faucet, and 73% of that water is hot. That means we saved an additional 7 kWh per person, or another 252 kWh. So that brings us to a total (conservative) estimate of a savings of 514 kWh.
The big surprise here is how much electricity was saved. We weren't even trying to save electricity. We were just turning off the faucet. But since it takes energy to treat and pump that water, plus the fact that it takes energy to heat the water, we ended up saving a whopping 514 kWh. That is about half of what a household uses in a month.
Here are some photos from the contest (the full photo post is on Facebook, and it'll be on our new website soon):
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Carbon
One of the things I really want Oil is Dumb to do that hardly anyone else does is to account for our energy and resource use comprehensively.
Here's what I mean. It's becoming increasingly popular these days for companies (and people for that matter) to think about their carbon emissions. We're very aware of our carbon use, and how carbon emissions contribute to global warming by being a greenhouse gas. But here's the thing. Carbon is not the whole story. There are a lot of other emissions that are important, like sulfur dioxide; and we also need to think about our consumption of resources, like paper, which are also a major strain on the environment. Not to mention how much energy we use in the first place.
As an example, a company that operates a manufacturing plant for scientific instruments might use mercury. Let's say they're concerned about the environment, and they've decided to assess and offset their carbon emissions from the energy they use in their manufacturing. So they can be carbon neutral, but as a byproduct of their manufacturing they still dump mercury in a river. So do they get to claim that they're an environmentally friendly company? I think the answer is obviously no. Mercury is toxic, and call me crazy, but if you dump poison into the water supply, I think you're doing something bad for the world.
So these are my thoughts on carbon. Carbon is a great proxy for how environmentally responsible your company is. It is correlated to many other things. If I cut my electricity use dramatically then less coal needs to be burned and less carbon goes into the air. Or if I use less paper, then not only am I saving trees, but less paper needs to be made, which saves electricity and water, both of which in turn save coal, which in turn reduces carbon. So they are all interrelated.
But while this is true, they aren't completely the same thing, as in the example about the mercury. I think tons and tons of companies fall into this category. You can't be carbon neutral and dump mercury into a lake, and still think you're doing something good for the environment. So being carbon neutral is good, but it doesn't mean I am good to the environment.
So here's what I'm doing. I'm going to go all out, and comprehensively account for all of my resource use, and all of my emissions. A while back, when I first started Oil is Dumb, I made this decision. And I decided to keep accounting records for all these things just like I keep accounting records for money. I've been doing this for a year and a half. I decided that for us to consider ourselves solvent as a company, we had to take in more money that we spend, but we also had to conserve more resources that we used, offset more emissions that we emitted, and in general to actually leave the planet in better condition that we found it.
Here is the list of accounting records we keep: oil, electricity, natural gas, paper, water, landfill waste, carbon dioxide, sufur dioxide, nitrous oxides, and mercury. Why doesn't every company do this? We think they should. And here is my favorite thing about Oil is Dumb: as a company, Oil is Dumb has conserved more oil that we have used, used a net negative amount of natural gas, paper, and water; have produced a net negative amount of landfill waste, CO2, SO2, NOx, and mercury, and the business has conserved more electricity than it takes to run itself. It's really amazing. But the most amazing part is how easy it proved to be. I couldn't believe how easy it was. Honestly, I think if other companies even tried, many could do it. We call this being eco-negative, and we call this business model Upside-down business.
Here's what I mean. It's becoming increasingly popular these days for companies (and people for that matter) to think about their carbon emissions. We're very aware of our carbon use, and how carbon emissions contribute to global warming by being a greenhouse gas. But here's the thing. Carbon is not the whole story. There are a lot of other emissions that are important, like sulfur dioxide; and we also need to think about our consumption of resources, like paper, which are also a major strain on the environment. Not to mention how much energy we use in the first place.
As an example, a company that operates a manufacturing plant for scientific instruments might use mercury. Let's say they're concerned about the environment, and they've decided to assess and offset their carbon emissions from the energy they use in their manufacturing. So they can be carbon neutral, but as a byproduct of their manufacturing they still dump mercury in a river. So do they get to claim that they're an environmentally friendly company? I think the answer is obviously no. Mercury is toxic, and call me crazy, but if you dump poison into the water supply, I think you're doing something bad for the world.
So these are my thoughts on carbon. Carbon is a great proxy for how environmentally responsible your company is. It is correlated to many other things. If I cut my electricity use dramatically then less coal needs to be burned and less carbon goes into the air. Or if I use less paper, then not only am I saving trees, but less paper needs to be made, which saves electricity and water, both of which in turn save coal, which in turn reduces carbon. So they are all interrelated.
But while this is true, they aren't completely the same thing, as in the example about the mercury. I think tons and tons of companies fall into this category. You can't be carbon neutral and dump mercury into a lake, and still think you're doing something good for the environment. So being carbon neutral is good, but it doesn't mean I am good to the environment.
So here's what I'm doing. I'm going to go all out, and comprehensively account for all of my resource use, and all of my emissions. A while back, when I first started Oil is Dumb, I made this decision. And I decided to keep accounting records for all these things just like I keep accounting records for money. I've been doing this for a year and a half. I decided that for us to consider ourselves solvent as a company, we had to take in more money that we spend, but we also had to conserve more resources that we used, offset more emissions that we emitted, and in general to actually leave the planet in better condition that we found it.
Here is the list of accounting records we keep: oil, electricity, natural gas, paper, water, landfill waste, carbon dioxide, sufur dioxide, nitrous oxides, and mercury. Why doesn't every company do this? We think they should. And here is my favorite thing about Oil is Dumb: as a company, Oil is Dumb has conserved more oil that we have used, used a net negative amount of natural gas, paper, and water; have produced a net negative amount of landfill waste, CO2, SO2, NOx, and mercury, and the business has conserved more electricity than it takes to run itself. It's really amazing. But the most amazing part is how easy it proved to be. I couldn't believe how easy it was. Honestly, I think if other companies even tried, many could do it. We call this being eco-negative, and we call this business model Upside-down business.
Friday, February 6, 2009
More Money
Congratulations to Geoff O., of Austin, TX, who was the winner of the $50 drawing for his picture of his clothes washer set on cold. Thanks for taking concrete steps towards making our nation energy independent.
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