photo credit: d_vdm

Consumerreports.org reports that some Protein Drinks like Muscle milk are contaminated with heavy metals such as arsenic, cadmium, lead and mercury. They recently investigated 15 drinks and found that most people already had enough protein. Some of the drinks even posed a health risk, due to the presence of possibly harmful heavy metals.

Federal regulations do not generally require that these protein drinks and other dietary supplements be tested to ensure that they are safe and free of contaminants.

Cadmium is a carcinogen, lead is a toxic, as are the other contaminates.

Be careful and read up on the dangers, if you regularly drink these protein drinks.

Heavy Metals in Juice

They also conducted tests in 2011 on several samples of juice and found that several contained arsenic levels higher than Federal limits for bottled water. Lead Arsenate pesticides were once widely used in orchards, so residue is probably causing the issue.

Recommendation is to minimize the amount of juice drunken and to dilute it with water whenever possible.

Fungicide in Juice

Orange Juice from Coca-Cola and PepsiCo were recently found to have the fungicide carbendazim. They were imported from Brazil.  The EPA approved this chemical for orange use from 2002 to 2009. The companies claim the level of fungicide was safe.  We would steer clear of this juice ourselves.

Arsenic in Rice

In September 2012, Consumer Reports issued a report asking that the FDA institute standards for the amount of arsenic in rice. Their study found that brown rice had higher levels than white rice. Rice from southern states had higher levels than rice from Asia or California. Some other recommendations:

• Eat a balanced diet with a wide variety of grains
• Rinse your rice before cooking. Repeat this until no residue is present in drainage
• Make sure you cook your rice with a good amount of water. Perhaps 6 cups of water to each cup of rice

EasyEcoBlog.com’s Free Easy Green iPhone and iPad App is now available in the Apple App store.  Stay up to date with all our latest green tips on your iPhone. Anywhere you go, you have access to the latest information on solar power, recycling, saving energy, as well as many other green topics to help you save money. Search the App Store for Easy Green on your iPhone to find it.

EasyEconBlog.com’s Free Easy Green Android App is available in Google play formerly known as Android Market. If you own an Android Smartphone or Tablet, you can stay up to date with all of our green information.

photo credit: quinn.anya

We are deep in winter and it is very cold in many areas. Having curtains, blinds, or shades on windows can help keep warm air inside.  They will also help keep the hot sunlight out during the summer.

Window blinds and shades are pretty cheap, easy to install, and lead to a short payback time.

Well made Insulated curtains can cost from $50 a window to hundreds of dollars, but work a lot better. Payback time is usually measured in years from 3+ years onwards. Be sure to hang curtains as close to the window as possible and cover the entire window. Close your curtains at night to reduce heat loss. Use can use two drapes to maximize efficiency.

US DOE has a nice consumer guide.

All Home Decor – Resources to help decorate and care for your home.

UV Film for Windows – Privacy, Heat Loss Control

UV Films that are placed for Windows can help enhance privacy and minimize Heat Loss. They are easy to apply and relatively inexpensive. Amazon has 3M kits from under $20.

Insulating films add reflect the sun’s rays in summer, keeping the home cooler without using air conditioning. These UV films also help retain up to 55% of your home’s heat in winter. Curtains, flooring, and furniture will fade less due to 99% UV ray blockage.

UV Window films add to the comfort and energy efficiency of your home at a small cost.

Lowes has instructions on how to apply the window UV film yourself.

You can also purchase new windows with built in sun stopping technology.

Housing accounts for 20% of total US energy use with heating a cooling consuming a whopping 44% of residential energy use.

Home Energy Audits or Home Energy Assessments can help pinpoint energy problems in your home and offer you fixes that will save you energy and money. These professionals should provide you with analysis of your home, a list of items that need fixing, the cost to fix them, and the estimated cost savings.

We recently had a Home Energy Audit done, to comply with the Energy Upgrade California Rebate Program. Being environmentally conscious, we wanted to ensure everything in to save energy.

SDI Energy Audit November 2011

We had to choose a contractor that was on the approved list for Energy Upgrade California. SDI of Burlingame, California was selected because they seemed pretty thorough, knew about the rebates, and were priced reasonably at $500.

The company was pretty thorough with their energy audit and performed the following tests:

1. We provided statistics regarding our home, including one year of PG&E bills
2. They photographed and mapped out the entire house
3. We voiced our concerns over problem areas and upgrade interests
4. They identified all air vents and sealed them to perform duct pressure test. This checks to see how much our ducts leak by blowing air into the return
5. Gas and carbon monoxide leak tests – appliances, water heater, heater, stove. This actually found a leak by the water heater and the heater, which PG&E fixed for free.
6. They performed a 64 point combustion safety test
7. Combustion gas test with all fans turned on, doors set to worst case, they attempted to find whether gases or carbon monoxide was being emitted by our gas burning appliances. This test found that some of our stove top burners were emitting carbon monoxide. We had them check by a pro.
8. They checked the walls, attic, and floorboards for insulation
9. They used a pressure and flow gauge to measure how much air was flowing in and out of the home
10. Blower test – with all windows closed, fans off, they checked how leaky our home was
11. Crawl space inspection. Checking for insulation, noting whether rodents were present, and looking for plumbing penetrations
12. Checking the amount of air exchanges our receives. Adequate fresh air is important

In the end, they offered some useful suggestions including additional insulation and weather stripping. We were interested in replacing our 20 year old central gas forced air furnace, so they went back to analyze the costs and benefits of doing so. In contrast to an energy audit the previous year, SDI did not have equipment to look inside walls like a borascope. The criteria that they used was similar. Our home performed better than expected, probably due to all the changes we have made over the years.

Recurve Energy Audit 2010

Previously we had an energy audit performed by Recurve.

They where formerly known as Sustainable spaces. We had a 50% off coupon which made the decision to use them easier. Their normal price is $750.  We feel that the price should be a lot cheaper or free considering they want to sell you items.  Before the audit, we sent them the last years gas and power bills.

They had a team of people mapping out the layout of the house with laser measuring equipment, this generates information for their energy internal modeling software.

Recurve used a borascope to look inside our walls and check for insulation.

They ventured deep into our crawlspace to check out our heating and ventilation.

This found many interesting holes in our floor like this one. Every wire or cable that is run helps turn your floor into Swiss cheese.

A Fluke Thermal Imager was used to look at our walls and ceiling for insulation and possible heat leaks using infrared technology.  It is hard to rip up walls to add insulation but they make it clear that future remodels should incorporate more insulation. A $50 Black & Decker Thermal Leak Detector can help you pinpoint air leaks the DIY way.

Air vents were covered during their air blower tests.

Checking airflow at the vents with a balometer.

Checking heating equipment, operation, make, model.

Recessed light fixtures can be a source of heat loss.

Air blower test with conduct in this special apparatus in our front door.

A couple days after the odd results were sent over to us. They detailed where energy was being lost in our home. The energy audit then suggested how to mitigate these problems.

This report examined our heating equipment and made some recommendations. They found some broken air vents, and asbestos in heating boots. Our home was relatively well sealed resulting in less air changes than suggested.

In the end, we found the home energy audit to be useful in analyzing our home’s energy profile. Recurve focused mostly on our heating – HVAC needs. The firm made several recommendations, many of which were very pricey. No return on investment information was provided. Clearly they make their money on repairs not on doing the audit itself. They should have provided some basic information on how to save energy and how things tie into our solar power system. We had several drafty areas that did not receive the analysis we asked for.

We tried to contact them for some followup work and they never returned our emails.

Here are some certifications to look for in a firm:

RESNET or Residential Energy Services Network certification means the firm has been trained and demonstrated technical proficiency.

BPI or Building Performance Institute Accredited companies have completed rigorous training, administered by a network of affiliates, in home performance evaluation focusing on this house-as-a-system concept.

Be sure to read our article: Ways to Save Energy, Money on your energy bill