Summer is coming. Swimming pools are major resource sinks.  If you are gifted (or cursed) with a swimming pool or spa, a pool cover is an essential item.  It helps improve the safety of the pool by preventing small kids from falling in and it helps reduce electrical, heating, and chemical costs.

Pool covers are not substitutes for fences.  Every pool should be fenced and locked. Many localities including ours require a perimeter fence around the pool.

Some vendors claim up to 80% savings using a swimming pool cover. This is a little optimistic.  You can measure how much water you lose every month by making marking the side of your pool’s tile. Refilling a pool with water costs a lot of money. Your water will also stay warmer with a pool cover.

A pool cover:

1. Increases safety
2. Reduces the use of chemicals – (Less evaporation and tree contamination)
3. Reduces water consumption – (Less evaporation)
4. Reduces power use – (Less pool sweep and pool pump operation time, less temperature loss)

In our own experience, it is a no brainer to get a cover for a pool, but they do cost thousands of dollars.  The thermal blankets you can drape over the water’s surface do not provide the same level of performance as a vinyl pool cover.

The only downside is that you need to pump water off your pool cover a couple times a year.  Look at all the gunk that we prevented from entering our pool!

Also consider getting a variable speed pool pumps to save even more money.

Don’t forget to get your pool heater checked and serviced. This will ensure it runs at 100% efficiency.

Save money on pool chemicals by using common grocery items. Pool Care

Spa Covers

A recent Q&A article from a NYU professor answers some questions regarding Organic food and Nutrition.  Some of the most interesting tidbits from the article:

Certified 100% Organic means that all the ingredients in a product have been grown or raised according to the USDA’s organic standards, which are the rules for producing foods labeled organic.

Certified Organic requires that 95 to 99% of the ingredients follow the rules.

Made with organic ingredients means that at least 70% of the ingredients were organic.

USDA organic rules are about the letter of the law, not its spirit. Food marketers, however, take advantage of public perceptions that “organic” implies spirit - sustainability and better nutrition. Companies that follow the rules can legitimately market highly processed foods as organic, taking advantage of their health aura to command higher prices.

Q: Aren’t organics elitist? People can’t buy organic foods if they aren’t available at an affordable price.

A: I once heard Eric Schlosser answer a similar question aimed at his book, “Fast Food Nation.” He pointed out that social movements have to begin somewhere and that several began with elites but ended up helping the poor and disenfranchised – the civil rights, environmental and women’s movements, for example.

I would add the organic movement to this list. It has already forced mainstream food producers to start cutting down on pesticides and to raise farm animals more humanely. As the supply of organic foods increases, and the Wal-Marts of the world sell more of them, organics should become more democratic.

CSA or Community Supported Agriculture

CSA is becoming a more popular way for people to buy local, seasonal, sustainable food directly from a farmer. A farmer usually sells a box of vegetables or farm products to consumers on a weekly subscription basis. The consumer gets extremely fresh food that is usually organic and helps local farmers directly.

New rules for Organic Meat and Milk

New organic food rules have recently been announced by the US Agriculture Department (USDA) regarding organic meat and organic milk.  Organic Milk and Organic Meat must come from livestock grazing on pasture for at least 120 days a year, and that 30% of their feed must come from grazing pasture during the grazing season.  Producers must have a pasture management plan and Ranchers must have a plan to protect soil and water quality.

Previously the rules state that livestock needed to have  “access to pasture”, which could mean the door was open but they never went out.

New rules take affect in June 17, 2010.

photo credit: crd!

SC Johnson, makers of Pledge and Windex has a new site that lists ingredients in their products.    I noticed that the website contains most of their products, including the Windex products shown on the home page of the site.  You no longer have to dig for MSDS documents. Clearly the green oriented brands like Seventh Generation, Method, and the like are starting to affect the mainstream brands.

SC Johnson created their own Greenlist label to indicate how green their products were. A consumer, Wayne Koh has actually sued them over this label.

“Through our Greenlist™ process, each potential ingredient receives a rating from 3 to 0. An ingredient with a 3 rating is considered “Best,” 2 is “Better,” 1 is “Acceptable” and 0-rated materials are used only on a limited, approved basis when there is not a viable alternative. Whenever possible, we work toward replacing these 0-rated materials with those that have a preferable environmental or health profile.”

A consumer who sued cited paying about 50% more and not getting a product that was very green.

This article describes the efforts and covers the controversy behind some chemicals like monoethanolamine in Mr Clean and Formula 409. 2-butoxyethanol in Simple Green is another chemical that I would just avoid.