Georgetown Fun

Environmental Information
Ok, the environment isn’t “fun”, but without it how can we have any fun at all? This page contains environmental information specific to the Georgetown community.

With all of the news about our planet under stress, how can we act locally to do our part?

Conservation - use less – conservation is a win-win. Some ideas:

Turn out the lights when you leave a room and replace incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescents (more on compact fluorescents later).
Limit the use of air conditioning to only the most uncomfortable days. Unless it is oppressively humid a fan works well and uses a lot less energy.
Turn down the thermostat in the winter and put on a sweater.
Take showers, not baths and keep the showers short.
Drive fuel efficient cars, car pool and try to batch together trips to visit multiple stores that are near each other all on the same trip.
Replace old appliance with newer energy star rated appliances.

In 2008 we limited our air conditioning use, limited how much we ran our pool filter, replaced incandescent lights with compact fluorescents and replaced a large commercial freezer with a home energy star freezer. For the months of June and July we used 25% less electricity than the same months in 2007 and in August we used less than one half the electricity we used in 2007!

Recycling

In Georgetown G Mello provides curb side recycling of cans, glass bottles and jars, paper and recyclable plastic types 1 through 7.
Box Q, 97 Tenny St. #7 recycles electronics, TVs and monitors. You can contact them at (978) 352 – 2506. Mention Cub Scouts Pack 50 when you recycle with them and they make a donation to the Pack.
I have read that Home Depot recycles compact fluorescents regardless of where you bought them but I haven’t confirmed this is true locally.

Compact fluorescent facts:

Energy star rated compact fluorescent bulbs use less than one quarter the electricity of an incandescent light that puts out the same amount of light and last ten times longer. A compact fluorescent may cost more initially but they save you money over time!

There are some drawbacks to compact fluorescents that you need to be aware of:

You can’t use a compact fluorescent in a circuit with a dimmer. The dimmer may dim the compact fluorescent but it will burn out quickly.
All fluorescents lights contain mercury. Do not throw a spent fluorescent light in the trash, recycle it. As noted above Home Depot is reported to recycle compact fluorescent bulbs.

If you break a fluorescent bulb open a window and evacuate the area for 15 minutes. Mercury is a neurological toxin! If the bulb broke on a hard floor, wear rubber gloves, use cardboard to scoop up the debris and wipe the floor with a wet paper towel. When you are done double bags the gloves, cardboard, debris and paper towel and dispose in the trash. If the bulb broke on carpet, wear gloves and use sticky tape to pick up debris. When you vacuum the area for the first time immediately dispose of the vacuum bag and wipe out the vacuum try with damp paper towel. Double bag the vacuum bag, gloves and paper towel and dispose in the trash.

Big environmental loser technologies:

Ethanol – the idea was we would grow our own fuel in a renewable and green manner. The result has been rising food prices, farmers clear cutting the Amazon forest and massive fertilizer run-off polluting the Gulf of Mexico. The government mandating a certain percentage of ethanol being added to gasoline is one of the worst environmental blunders of all time.
Hybrid cars – sure they get great gas mileage but they do it by using a huge collection of toxic electronic and battery components. The total energy required to design, build, run and then dispose of a hybrid car at the end of the cars life is far higher than any standard car. One day this will be a good technology but it isn’t there yet.