An attempt at something a little better

By Vincent Cameron
 First and Foremost:

Previous to this class, I had absolutely no intention of being eco-friendly.

I did things my way and didn’t care about the impact I had on the environment.
After completing two semesters in this Biology class I’ve realized how a little change
Such as spending a few less minutes in the shower can save much more than I
Previously thought possible.

The changes I’ve made have been small and simple, but they are impacting enough
To help off-set my carbon-footprint and maybe pick up a little bit of slack in my area.
My changes have been small, but productive.
At Four Gallons per Heres an interesting shower..
minute, A twenty five
minute Shower Is using Doesn’t look anything like mine
up to a hundred Gallons But It’ll have to work for this.
of water.

By reducing that time Because I have an older shower

Down to about half That is slightly more unrestricted
I can save roughly It wastes a lot more water per
Fifty to sixty gallons of Minute. It operates at about 50psi
Water that is just being And drains four gallons a minute.
Flushed down the drain. Previous to my little attempts at
Change, I would take 20-22 min
Showers, after realizing how
Much water could be saved by
Cutting that time down I started
Taking 10-13 minute showers.
 Continued*
PREVIOUSLY NOW
I would shower
I still shower twice a day, but
Twice a day, once in
On a much less impacting scale
The morning and once
I take one full shower in the
Again at night time.
Morning, which consists of 10 to
This involved me using
12 minutes of actual running water
Double the amount of
And one shower when I get home
Water in one day, not
From school. Due to the fact that
To mention my
I take P.E. at school, and it’s
Showers used to run
Physically demanding, I sweat and
On longer than they do
Need a shower to stay clean when
Now. I used to take
I get home, though this shower
Two twenty minute
Is generally very short. 2-5 mins.
Showers a day, simply
Because I sweat a lot.

40 minutes/ 2-showers
4GPM (Gallons/minute)
Totaling 160 gallons a day. 20 minutes / 2 showers
4GPM (Gallons/Minute)
Both of these don’t include the use Totaling 80 Gallons/day
Of showers by others in the house.
Roommate/Father/Brother etc.
 Neither of these cars are electric or hydrogen
Based, but one is more effective at saving fuels
Than the other. I’m sure you can figure that out.
Hummer Alpha H1 : 14MPG
Camaro 2010 RS : 29MPG
So lets talk cars here for a second. For the past ten
years my family has owned the original H1 Alpha
Hummer, As far as an all-terrain utility vehicle goes,
this thing is a beast, but when attacking the rugged
terrain of Los Angeles, its worthless.
So even though the MPG is a rough
Estimate, by getting my father to
Dispose of his Hummer and transfer
Over to a Camaro, I’m potentially
Saving 15MPG every time we drive.
(*Continued)
So where does this factor in? Well
The H1 barely gets about 14 MPG
After owning it for so long the severe
Wear and tear has dampened that #
Even more, and it only effectively guzzles
Gas nowadays. That’s where this sexy
Picture to the right comes in..
So to the Camaro, In the past six months my family has made the change from the a big
Hummer, over to this much smaller and focused-power vehicle, a Camaro 2010 RS.
The switch is kind of a big deal for my family because with my brother
My father and I all sharing the Hummer there was always a lot of room to go around for
Seating and storage. Condensing all of that into a sportscar is a little more taxing on the
Spacial environment you get to sit in, but the change is also effectively helping us reduce
Our carbon footprint that’s out there. (It’s not perfect, but it’s a step!)

Also, I live all the way out in Calabasas. (818!) so I make a lengthy drive every morning
From my house to school. I drive over thirty miles every morning to get from there to here
Hey, I even did that this morning to present this to you all. And I have to drive thirty miles
Back home once I’m done with my portfolios. That’s roughly two gallons of gas a day in
The Camaro, which would be at least double (up to four gallons of gas a day) driving in the
Hummer. (Not to mention the drive is much more comfortable in the Camaro anyways.)
So again, What does it all mean? At two gallons of gas per day, I’m effectively creating
Up to 28 pounds of carbon dioxide just driving to and from school in the Camaro.
28 pounds of Carbon Dioxide compared to the roughly 56 pounds that would be being
Created by the Hummer! There are many more steps I could take to impact my carbon
Footprint, such as taking a bus to school every day and/or using other means of public
Transportation. Sadly for me it would be such a hassle to figure this all out because I
Live so far away, I’ve decided not to. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try!

One of the more important things

We can all do to help impact our environment
Is spread the word. You might feel lame, but a few words can go a long way. The most indirect
Thing I’ve done to help impact our environment is probably to talk. Spreading the knowledge
And information I’ve learned in our Biology class, I’ve been able to teach a few ‘wiser’ people
A few cool tricks. And I’m sure you can too.
Electricity.
Another thing we all use as human beings is electricity. So where does this come in
To my presentation? Well, following my last slide I was explaining word of mouth and
Passing on information and knowledge. My Grandfather worked as an electrical
Engineer for Kimberley Clark for roughly thirty years, and you would be surprised at
How much he didn’t know about new lightbulbs that I did!
In the past two weeks I helped him replace over twenty bulbs in his house.
(My grandparents have over-head can-lights. So there are up to six in each room.

In his living room alone we replaced six 72

Watt light bulbs. With these running together
they were using up to 432 watts an hour.
We replaced them with these
Mini-twist 75-watt CFL Light Bulbs
These CFL bulbs only use 18watts an
Hour instead of 72. Which means they
Can effectively reduce 432 watts down to
182/hour. Saving 250 watts per hour in
Only one room!
Overall we replaced around 22
Lightbulbs in the entire house.
22x72/hr= 1,584 watts
22x18/hr= 396 watts.
This saves him and my grandmother
Up to 1,188 watt-usage per hour.
He can use these new lights up to
Five times the length/usage the
Original Lights would be costing him.
After doing this in my grandparents house, and showing the results to my father
We both agreed that it would be a great idea if we did the same here, Funny enough
He had already been buying a few of these CFL bulbs so we had already been saving.
Regardless we still intended on replacing the last of our incandescent bulbs with CFL’s
We replaced seven bulbs in the house, saving us another 126watts per hour in certain
Rooms. I’ve also began paying close attention to when the lights are on, and when they
Need to be on. I’ve began turning the bathroom lights off in the morning, and using
Light from the shower-window to fill the room instead. And I’ve also focused on turning
All my lights off before leaving for school. As most of the other people in my household

Either don’t wake up for another few hours after

I leave, or don’t need to be wasting energy while
They are out of the house.
Water.
We all drink it, and we all waste the bottles it comes in.
Sure some of us recycle the plastic but regardless
By using the plastic you are force-feeding the
Companies who profit from making the plastic
In the first place. Recycle or
Not it doesn’t help to drink
From these plastic water
Bottles day in and
Day out.

As far as
Water actually
Goes, I read a few facts
Online that really pushed me away from wanting
To drink out of water bottles.
“1500 waterbottles Are consumed/used by the
US every SECOND.” ; “Over 17Million barrels
Of oil are used in production of water bottles
Each year.” ; “Even in its smallest form plastic
Will never degrade.” ; “One in Six water bottles
Used makes it back into the recycle factories.”
Those are just a few quotes that impacted
My following statements about how I’ve changed
My family buys two, 32 pack Arrowhead waterbottles a week.
We all drink water from bottles in my house, but recently
I’ve been trying to change that. .5L of plastic in every
Bottle. With 64 bottles in circulation in my
Household alone, we’re using up to 32L
Of plastic alone.

Instead of
Feeding into the
Plastic companies and
Purchasing these water bottles, we bought every
One in my house metal canteens and now fill
Those up every morning and through out the day
This saves us from using sixty-two plastic bottles
A week, and though we still have them around the
House, they’re only used when traveling or other
Specific events. We rarely use them now
Compared to how we use our water resources
Now. Also, if a water-bottle alone costs
$0.25-$2.00, you can be effectively paying over
A hundred times the amount a the same quantity
Lets revert back to electricity for a second. If you guys don’t already know, I’m
A total nerd/gamer, I’ve been gaming for practically my entire life.

So how does THIS work into my bio portfolio? Well, my gaming rig is a beast and has A 750watt power supply,
And with a 22” monitor and other Lit gaming accessories Im sure you could see how this begins to pile up.’
So in attempts to better impact our environment, I’ve began unplugging my machine.
See in the past I used to game for six to eight hours a day. Especially over summer. Time with electricity,
costs money and energy. Six to eight hours a day seven days a week including weekends totals
around 55-65 hours of usage a week.
 Practically all computers operate differently. Even with the same specifications, depending on whether or
Not you utilize standby and sleep modes, computers can suck up different amounts of energy. After calculating
My specifications compared to how often my computer is on, I’ve learned a lot about what I can do to save
Energy. I have a 750watt power supply, but that doesn’t necessarily mean my computer is using all of that every hour.
While in full use at max performance my computer uses around 300-350 watts (monitor included)
300watts x 65hrs/week totals about 19,500watts a week. But it gets worse, I don’t use any sleep or hibernation mode on my rig.
That means my computer is operating at full performance all the time, and I rarely turn off my monitor aswell.

In the past I used to never turn my rig off, I just let it run all day all week. I realized at 300watts/hr with my monitor on all week Im
Potentially using up to 50,400watts a week. 300watts/hr x 24 hours = 7,200/day. 7,200/day x 7 days = 50,400watts. After learning
That, I began turning my rig off everytime I was leaving the house or room for a prolonged period of time. Now my rig is only on
When I’m using it, which is still roughly six to eight hours a day, but that’s only 1,800 watts a day. (12,600/week) In comparison
12,600 vs 50,400 is a huge difference. Saving almost fourty-thousand watts a week just by turning my rig off when I’m not using it.
 An Attempt, at change.

So that basically concludes what I’ve been doing in the past few months to attempt to
Change my carbon footprint for the better. Its taken some time and actual attention, but
None-the-less its helping the environment. Just keep in mind, information is only helpful
If its in the right place at the right time, don’t be afraid to open your mouth and spread
Some wisdom, you might spark a larger change than what you’ve done yourself, and all
In all its helping us as humans, helping us as a whole, and helping our environment.

By Vincent Cameron

40 minutes/ 2-showers 22x72/hr= 1,584 watts

4GPM (Gallons/minute) 22x18/hr= 396 watts.
Totaling 160 gallons a day.
20 minutes / 2 showers COMPARISON 32L plastic waterbottles
4GPM (Gallons/Minute) 0L plastic waterbottles
Totaling 80 Gallons/day
126,000 CPU Watts
Hummer Alpha H1 : 14MPG
 Bibliography
http://wiki.answers.com/

http://www.wolframapha.com

http://greenwashinglamps.wordpress.com/category/energy-statistics/u-s-energy-statistics/

http://earth911.com/recycling/plastic/plastic-bottles/facts-about-plastic-bottles/

http://www.drmediaserver.com/CFLGuide/index.html