What is green air filter and how does your air filter choice impact your building and the environment? Simply put, a green air filter provides a high level of filtration efficiency for improved air quality while providing low airflow resistance to minimize energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Green air filters also provide long life for fewer change-outs and use minimal components to reduce source and waste streams. Overall, green air filters can be effective in reducing building operating expenses as well as protecting the environment.

Indoor Air Quality

Air filters are no longer simply used to protect HVAC equipment. Effective air filtration provides the primary defense for building occupants against pollutants in a building. Now more than ever, air filters play a critical role in the indoor air quality of the building itself. Better indoor air quality can reduce absenteeism and has been shown to improve employee productivity.

Energy Efficiency

HVAC systems consume approximately 40% of the energy used in commercial buildings. Air filters play a significant role in the energy used to operate the HVAC system. The higher the filter’s resistance to air passing through it, the more energy is consumed to operate the HVAC system’s motor.

Greenhouse Gas Emissions

The resistance of an air filter is directly related to the amount of energy consumed by an HVAC system. Greenhouse gas emissions are directly related to energy consumption, and more specifically, electric power generation. Simply put, minimizing energy consumption reduces greenhouse gas emissions.

Source and Waste Stream Reduction

Since some filters are disposable products, they have a significant impact on the waste stream of a building. By extending the life of a filter, or by using filters with fewer or lighter weight components, both the source and waste streams of a building can be reduced. Permanent HVAC filters can be washed and reused, reducing items sent to the landfill. Green Irene sells MERV 13 HVAC air filters for homes and small businesses that improve indoor air quality, as well as permanent air filters that can be washed and reused.

Commentary: You can begin making your office more energy efficiency immediately by first getting a Green Office Makeover (GOM). A GOM will help you identify what kinds of improvements you can make in your home. Green Irene will provide specific recommendations that you can implement with the help of government funds and save money while reducing your footprint. Green Irene also carries a range of energy efficient lighting products that will save you hundreds of dollars annually on energy costs. This is the time to GO GREEN while saving GREEN. Get a Green Office Makeover today! Contact your Local Green Irene Eco-Consultant for more information.

Excerpted from Green America:

In an old folktale, a man travels the world in search of treasure, only to return home and find it had been in his hearth all along. Similarly, as we all hear daily news reports on the ever-worsening effects of climate change, we tend to look beyond our own communities for the solutions, from looking forward to new renewable fuel sources to waiting for exciting future technologies, like plug-in hybrid cars. But a huge solution—one that’s available right now and can cut our climate emissions in half, quickly and painlessly—has been in our own homes the entire time: energy efficiency.

We can create significant energy savings—at home, at work, and in our communities and beyond—using technologies available today. Simple things like light bulbs, surge protectors, and clotheslines, banded together with more complex machinery like Energy Star appliances, solar powered hot water heaters, and other cutting-edge solutions, when implemented together, hold the promise of massive energy savings—and massive climate crisis mitigation.

The quickest, easiest, and most powerful way to move at the speed and scale necessary to counteract the worst effects of climate change is by vastly ramping up our energy efficiency efforts—at home, at work, and as a nation and world. It’s the closest thing we’ve got to a magic bullet that will solve the climate crisis, but all of us have to be willing to do our part, right now.

That’s why we’ve amended our 12-step climate change plan to say that US homes and buildings need to be 50 percent more energy-efficient than they are today. Fifty percent is possible, right now, using existing technologies. Fifty percent is, according to numerous experts, cost-effective, meaning we’ll actually save money taking these steps. And fifty percent will bring us benefits that go beyond curbing climate change and preserving our world for future generations—our homes will be more comfortable, our energy bills will be lower, our air will be cleaner, we’ll create green jobs, and we’ll pave the way for a green energy future, making it more cost-effective to install massive amounts of solar and other renewables.

Continue Reading…

Commentary: You can begin capitalizing on these funds immediately by first getting a Green Office Makeover (GOM). A GOM will help you identify what kinds of improvements you can make in your office. Green Irene will provide specific recommendations that you can implement with the help of government funds and save money while reducing your footprint. This is the time to GO GREEN. Get a Green Office Makeover today! Contact your Local Green Irene Eco-Consultant for more information.

Excerpted from The Daily Green:

The Obama Administration is dolling out $3.2 billion for energy efficiency and energy conservation projects in states and cities across the U.S., moving that portion of the economic stimulus money a bit closer to your office.

The Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant program will fund new and existing programs in states to promote home and office energy audits, weatherization, energy efficiency upgrades, replacement of outdated appliances and other similar initiatives. The Department of Energy had previously estimated that the average qualifying home or business could benefit from $6,500 in improvements. Each program differs by state and city, so look to your local agencies or energy.gov/recovery for details. While home improvement initiatives are likely to help individuals most directly, the grants cover a broad array of potential initiatives:

“The funding will support energy audits and energy efficiency retrofits in residential and commercial buildings, the development and implementation of advanced building codes and inspections, and the creation of financial incentive programs for energy efficiency improvements. Other activities eligible for use of grant funds include transportation programs that conserve energy, projects to reduce and capture methane and other greenhouse gas emissions from landfills, renewable energy installations on government buildings, energy efficient traffic signals and street lights, deployment of Combined Heat and Power and district heating and cooling systems, and others.”

Don’t wait for the money to find you. Check out existing Home Energy Tax Credits available this year.