How eco-friendly are you?

[Quincy]

Hello everyone,

I hope you're all having a great week!

Today I want to talk about things that you do to be eco-friendly in your home. Perhaps you own solar panels? Or maybe you have a smart home so that you can control everything at your convenience?

I think that the first step is to turn off the lights in places that are not in use. I believe that most of us know how to save energy and why we should do that. As a host, you can also encourage your guests not to waste energy.

Usually, I use the 'eco' setting when using the washing machine and also turn off the lights, where possible, but even I sometimes forget! 

What do you do to save energy? 

I would love to hear your ideas!

[Helga0]

Hi everyone, 

I was just preparing to post my contribution to the December calendar Lizzie started, hunting for a picture I did not find, but I found many of our renovation work. The advantage when you start with a ruin, you just have to start from scratch.

We insulated walls, floors and ceilings over the years, to bring down the electricity consumption. The materiel itself is not ecologic, there is not enough space for that option, it's mostly compact layers of aluminium and blister, some foams in other places. But the effect is satisfying.

For heating, I got radiators with a stone in them. Electricity heats the stone first and it radiates heat, which is more efficient than blowing hot air. 

The light bulbs are all led by now and hot water is produced over night, when it's cheaper. Grudginly, I reduced the flow to the shower, as many guests would empty a tank destined for a three to four person household for a day, all in one long hot shower, if the flow is strong and massages their shoulders so nicely. That's a particular problem in a small bathroom, as you have to run a deshumidifyer often, to get the humidity out. 

We used water soluble paints to avoid poison as far as possible and I do not use many chemicals. Sometimes you need bleach, as someone said, but most of the time white vinegar will do. 

In France, even in Paris, it's easy to get local products on markets and bread and vegetables, that are not wrapped into plastic. Although hosting imposes some packaging. I refuse single portions for soap or jam - better a good shampoo from a shared bottle or an organic jam out of a normal jar, but juices or yogghurts still come in single portions. 

[Maureen116]

We grow as much of our own food as possible, organically. We raise meat birds and layers. So our guests get fresh eggs for breakfast. I make all of our bread. Guests get a fresh loaf of bread.  We compost everything we can for the garden. We recycle and reuse everything we can. Our guest cottage also has a its own recycling station. We conserve water (summer droughts). We have thousands of gallons water collected during the rainy season in large cisterns for if the well is dry during drought and for the garden. 

All appliances are low energy, low water use. All light fixtures are low energy lighting. We can heat our home and guest cottage by wood stove or regular heat. I drive a Smart car. 

We will install solar and wind energy when we can afford it. We live on a small island and try to be as self sufficient as we can. That has to include being green. 

[Lawrene0]

No dryer, no dishwasher, no a/c, poor internet, but the rewards are rich. This message from our electricity provider went straight to our heads, @Quincy. Thanks for the opportunity to trot it out. Note that I won't be showing it to said neighbours.

[Karen-and-Will0]

Hi @Lawrene0, We get a similar bill from our electric & gas company and I have to admit it’s a bit addictive for us!!  LOL

[Quincy]

@James250, @Anand5, @Em4, @Karen496, @Oomesh-Kumarsingh0, @Kim238, @Mary90, @Chris232, @Alexandra224, @Jim-and-Marcia0 @Liga2 @James250 @Karen-and-Will0 @Amanda222 @Willow3, I thought you might find this topic interesting :-). 

[Oomesh-Kumarsingh0]

@Quincy Great post! I have a high quality solar water heater which provides hot water to my apartments during the whole year. It is very efficient and makes you save money on the long run. I also have inverter washing machines which consumers less power and produce less noise when they are operating. I am soon planning to replace all air conditioning units on my properties by inverters AC units. 

[Quincy]

Hi @Oomesh-Kumarsingh0, 

Especially where you live!

Mauritius must be very sunny at the moment 🙂 

It sounds like you'll be busy!

[Oomesh-Kumarsingh0]

@Quincy Hi indeed the weather in Mauritius is very warm and sunny during practical all year round. But December is always the peak season for the tourist I am already fully booked for December and January. 

[Karen-and-Will0]

While we also do many of the energy and water saving ideas mentioned in the other posts here I took a harder look at what we could do in a different/bigger way and what eco-friendly could mean to us. During that journey we added zero waste and plastic free living to our daily practices. Plastic isn’t like paper.  Plastic can only be recycled a very few times and then ultimately becomes trash.  Walk on the beach and you will see a lot of plastic waste.  The changes weren’t easy.  It took time.  Our daily practices spilled over into our 2 Airbnb homes.  For example, one of our homes has no trash can and they both have very very limited plastic.  The houses are family friendly and most people have plastic cups and dishes for kids.  Instead we have stainless steel.  We have water bottles made from thick very sturdy glass (ie don’t break) and filtered water instead of plastic water bottles.  The soap we leave for guests comes from Whole Foods and is purchased without wrapping and the toothbrushes are bamboo.  Liquid hand soap is purchased in bulk and we directly refill the containers.  The shower curtains are cloth (hemp or cotton) with one having metal rings and the other braided hemp cloth.  I could go on and on.  Almost all of our guests comment on how interesting and eye opening the experience was during their stays.  We even had a news director from NBC TV as a guest and he and his family were blown away by our zero waste and plastic free living approach and asked us to be on TV.  Zero waste and plastic free living have been a great journey for us and its fun to now watch others discover these new approaches.  I would strongly encourage this great way of living.  It took us around 2 years to get where we are and it took dedication to change but it has been very worth it not only for us, but more importantly the planet.  I hope others find this info helpful.

[Quincy]

Hello @Karen-and-Will0, 

Thank you so much for sharing this with us!

It's always great to hear everyone's tips & tricks on how to be more efficient with resources. Plastic is indeed a big problem on the beaches! I mentioned the Great Pacific Garbage Patch before to Helga, what do you think of that? I've also heard there's a big project going on named 'The Ocean Cleanup'. 

[Susan906]

Karen and Will,

Wonderful to read of all your efforts and solutions to reducing waste and plastic use. I live in a small village by the sea and its appalling how much plastic is on the beach and in the harbour every day. I pick up a lot but sadly I'm seeing some councils here in Scotland are abandoning recycling as its too expensive! 

Its truly up to us as individuals to demand change, and we can start with daily habits and in our choices of what we buy.

My home is eclectic and charming, my guests love it. Most is furnished from auctions, thrift shops and found items. I make things from driftwood and other things I find. 

I hang all my washing in my courtyard to dry. I use baking soda and vinegar to clean as much a small possible. Vinegar and newspaper make glass sparkle, can also clean a fireplace glass.

I have wood fires and use them in winter as this old stone house gets cold. I am used to the cold now and dress for it. It does irritate me when guests emerge in the morning in tee shirts and bare feet complaining of cold when I'm in two sweaters and socks. I do get up early and bake a soda bread which also helps heat the kitchen. As the house is big and very old,  I'm always looking for ways to reduce my energy costs as it's so high here. 

Its important to me to reduce, reuse, and recycle so I appreciate all your suggestions you've made.

sue 

[Martin333]

Hi

we (my wife and I) host here in very rural Spain. Electricity as such is reasonable but the fixed connection charge up to a max power, which is tightly controlled, is expensive. One house is slightly on the luxurious site with a jacuzzi on the balcony, air con/heating (heat pump), electric boilers and ceran cooking hob but we use some simple electronics that limit parallel usage. Cooking or washing switches off the jacuzzi. Air Con / heating switches off for a while when there is still too much power used (like both hair dryers on full blast) and the boilers only really have a chance at night or when the people are out. So we manage with 4.8Kw max load. We explain this to the guests (often blame it on the rural setting and the power company which helps) and so far it does work. 

Waterboilers have the advantage that the water simply gets progressively cooler giving ample warning to get on with it.

Water comes from our own wells and is reintruduced by our own sewage systems. One advantage of having very soft water or using a water softner is that guests tend to use much less soap / champoo / detergent, specifically when they have tried to get rid of a foamy head under progressively cooler water.

Again we do explain this.

We also explain to our guests that a toilet is not a general waste disposal and usage of agressive chemicals may kill billons, good bakteria that is.

One house has supporting solar panels but here in Spain one is not allowed to feed the excess into the grid ...... So, yes, sometimes in summer the decision is either run an air con or the underfloor heating (Bathrooms) might come on ....

We also have forced ventilation in the bath rooms. A slightly noisy vent (not loud but you do hear it) comes on when the humidity is above a certain point - interestingly guests find out fast that opening the window cuts the running time ..... This with the above mentioned low wattage underfloor warming keeps these bathrooms dry and avoids the usual humidity problems.

I'm not worried about lights as with advanced LED the total wattage is about the equivalent of two old 60Watt bulbs per house and we rather have a couple of 3 watt leds on than worrying about sensors and when is dusk or where to position a switch.

But what we did is every light and all sockets are on a remote. These have a an "all out" button and chanel 1 button 1 is a welcome setting. Works like a charm. Yes, there is a switch at each door but it just does the welcome setting. Total usage on standby is 7,5 Watt which includes TV etc. These remot(es) have fixed slide in places in the houses and we explain that without them nothing will work. Amazingly they are still there.

We have also put moskito netting in some windows and fly screens on doors to encourage natural ventialtion.

Just some greenish ideas from Galicia / Spain

M

[Andy-and-Liz0]

I want to use a GREEN / ECO host badge. 

We are a superhost and have been for several years. Our listing is on a remote island and we are 100% off-grid. We use solar and wind power, rainwater collection, have a grey water system. All our linens are organic and we provide all bio-degradable shampoos, home made organic soap and mosquito repellent. 

We have composting toilets, low energy applicance and LED lighting. 

Even though we explain all of this in great detail, both in our listing and on arrival - 80% of our guests are brilliant, but we still get consumers who simply do not understand how to use less.

There is a huge movement now to greener travel, and this is something that the majority of our guests are looking for. I would like to specifically attract guests for whom this is a priority.

It would also be amazing if AirBNB would give recognition to hosts who achieve green standards. This would be also give credit to AirBNB for supporting minimizing the impact of travel on the environment. In this day and age AirBNB should be supporting this. I wonder what AirBNB's carbon footprint is? 

If you don't do it....someone else will

https://ecobnb.com/

Thanks

Liz & Andy - superhosts, wanting an eco-host badge.  

[Susan906]

I love the idea of an Eco host badge!

[Mary-and-Ben0]

I just gave this feedback to airbnb. I recommend we all offer similar feedback here, https://www.airbnb.com/help/feedback

What I said:

"Airbnb is not matching us with the guests who are looking for what we offer. We've had to cancel 10 guests in a row because they did not read the description of the place and were not aware that we're offering premium lodging for chemically sensitive individuals, and they were not prepared to comply with our needs on their end (fragrance free etc.) On the flip, the guests who do (often direly) need us report they have not found us on airbnb, but through other, difficult-to-use-and-rely-on means, like word-of-mouth and Facebook groups. Up to 20 percent of travelers will choose a fragrance-free, eco- and chemically-conscious lodging as their first choice. This is a huge market segment. I am aware that many people have asked you to bring back your search terms feature as this was very helpful to people looking for chemically-sensitive and eco-conscious lodging. another option would be to add a check box for hosts , 'Chemically sensitive, eco-conscious' or the like which would allow the guest to only view properties that are suitable for them. "

also, just FYI for forum members, we are preparing our home to be an EMF Sanctuary which will offer a low/safe EMF environment for the increasing numbers of us who are terribly EMF sensitive. Please let me know if you want to find out more information about our efforts in this regard. Love to all fellow lovers of Earth -- ❤️