Buying Local — It’s Good For A Lot of Reasons.

While this isn’t what you would call strictly a green post, it is an issue about which we feel strongly. The Green Movement is a community, within that community are a lot of small businesses that are doing their best to act in an environmentally responsible way. We believe that is is the accumulation of a lot of those little things that are achieved by helping out local business that help us all be greener. Shopping locally means, in a lot of cases you are using your car less. It also means you are providing less support to the highly toxic Asian manufacturing world, where the WalMarts of the world get a great many of their products and foods. And you are supporting a strong retail environment in your own neighbourhood, which impacts directly on your own quality of life, among other things.

I found this little poster on Facebook the other day, and thought it might be nice to share with you, as a reminder of the benefits of shopping locally. Please feel free to share it with your on line friends.

Livclean Homes Services. Dragging Me Into A Greener Home Environment.

By Jim Murray, Creative Director, Our Green Directory.

Part One—The Offer

Yesterday, a rep from LivClean Home Services knocked on my door and asked me if he could inspect my water heater to see if I qualified for a free replacement water heater that would be more energy efficient. Being a green guy, I couldn’t really turn him down. After inspecting my antique water heater, which was 16 years old, he informed me that I might have a couple of feet of calcified sludge in the bottom a that would impact on the amount of water the tank could hold and how long it takes to heat the water itself. He went on to explain the features of the new water heater and how much more efficient it would be…even that I could drain the sediment periodically to keep it running at almost 100% capacity.

It all made sense to me so I signed up to have my water heater rental transferred from Enbridge and have my water heater replaced at no charge by these guys. I have an installation appointment for tomorrow morning.

I did check them out and they seem to be a legitimate organization. I can’t see how they might be scamming me if they are, because $16.95 a month is hardly worth the effort. And they are carrying the Energy Star logo on all their materials.

I believe that the cost of the new water heaters plus a profit margin is being subsidized by some government program and that would be how they are making their money. They apparently also do a range of different home products. If this goes well I might talk to them about replacing my boiler.

But the proof, as they say, is in the pudding, so I’ll finish this post after they have come and gone and let you know what my total experience was like.

Part 2  – The Installation

OK so the first thing that happened was that on Thursday, they called and asked if they could reschedule the morning appointment for the afternoon. That was fine. They did not call first like they said they were going to but who really does these days.

The installers showed up more or less on time and got set up with a minimum of disruption. I do wish they had worn those little plastic booties that most industrial people wear when they are working in other people’s houses. But they were pretty careful. I did have to stand outside and make sure that the runoff from the old water heater, which they pumped out a basement window, didn’t come right back in, which has been known to happen. This helped raise my respect quotient for people who work outside.

The installation went very smoothly. There were only a few very simple instructions re adjusting the heat levels and they were in and out in about an hour and, voila, I had a new water heater, and a more energy efficient way to do one more thing around the house.

All in all it was a very good experience. The product was great. The price (0$) was right and the installers were friendly, outgoing and capable.

Part 3 The Link

LivClean Home Services
1-866-755-9553
www.livcleanhomeservices.ca

Skipso — Powering The Clean Revoluton

I was looking up some information on a client I may be doing a new web site for and found that one of the places they were listed was a site called skipso.com. This site is an excellent receptacle for a lot of things green. This site can help green businesses with access to information, investment assistance and promotion to a global marketplace.

Here’s what they say about themselves:

Skipso is an online platform and business to business marketplace entirely focused on sustainable innovation. 

Skipso leverages the power of the Internet to accelerate the Cleantech Revolution.

In particular, Skipso aims to:

• Accelerate innovation in clean technologies by creating an environment where ideas, best practices and opportunities can be exchanged
• Bridge the gap between industry and research institutions / academia by creating an alternative platform for collaboration and knowledge transfer
• Facilitate interaction and collaboration of talented individuals and experts worldwide, providing them with new professional opportunities and challenging projects to work on
• Support cleantech companies investing in innovation by giving them access to an expert community to outsource their R&D or sponsor cleantech innovation research
• Help entrepreneurs and innovators kick-start their projects by gaining easier access to capital & support services