I live in a tiny apartment, I think that is pretty sustainable as I don't take up as many resources as a whole house. :)

That and I get green electricty

Our home was outfitted with solar water panels when we moved in. Apparently the local (NH) power company had installed a number of test panels for free in exchange for the homeowners collecting data readings over some period of time.

Being in New Hampshire you wouldn't think we'd get much use out of it but we actually shut off the normal water heater (electric) around April and run off of solar hot water exclusively until October/November. The rest of the year it pre-warms water fed to the heater. We are looking into replacing the existing water heater with an on-demand since that will more intelligently heat the water only when needed.

Traveling to other parts of the country I'm astonished to find that most of the homes in sunny states (think Phoenix) don't have solar hot water panels.

We have two rain barrels that supply all we need for gardening and yard use. I set up a drip irrigation system for our garden that is fed through the rain barrel, and it's a perfect system - less waste, more efficient, better veggies.
We also have an on-demand water heater, and we love it. It's fast, efficient and uses very little gas.

I have just purchased my first home and am considering the alternatives to the 'typical' sources of energy found throughout the home. I would like to start rainwater harvesting soon. I have heard of a technology where you tunnel into the ground to collect thermal energy which then radiates into your home and keeps the mean temp around 50 degrees. I would also like to install a solar hot water heater and/or an on demand hot water heater. I also know a man who is trying to outfit his heating system to run on biodiesel. There seems to be a plethera of opportunities no matter where you live.

Where's the option for "I don't do any of that shit and I throw my butts out the car window?"

Does living in a well-insulated 90 year old house give me any Green street-cred? If it has stood for almost a century, I'd say that's pretty good sustainability.

I wonder, instead of focusing so much on recycling used goods, why don't we pay more attention to making them not wear out so quickly? Isn't it better to use a not-so-recyclable object for 20 years rather than 10 recyclable objects for 2 years each?

I filled in option 3 because I think that merely having (2) rain barrels isn't all that sustainable compared to other things. However, living in the Seattle area leaves me very little other than that. I've pondered solar water heat or a small wind generator, but we don't exactly have a lot of sun here to heat the water (well, until the dry spell this summer), and nowhere near enough wind to offset the $800+ a nice wind turbine costs.

So I'll stick with my rain barrels and organic gardening (with burried drip hoses -- garden is higher than the house so the rain barrels don't work there), and keep looking for other ways to make my house greener (and more attractive) like improving the insulation, putting in skylights, etc.

I have just purchased my first home and am considering the alternatives to the 'typical' sources of energy found throughout the home. I would like to start rainwater harvesting soon. I have heard of a technology where you tunnel into the ground to collect thermal energy which then radiates into your home and keeps the mean temp around 50 degrees. I would also like to install a solar hot water heater and/or an on demand hot water heater. I also know a man who is trying to outfit his heating system to run on biodiesel. There seems to be a plethera of opportunities no matter where you live.

I wish being sustainable weren't so darned expensive. I manage to budget a few small improvements to the house a year, but so far all I've managed to do is look at the green products and sigh wistfully. We do compost all of our vegetable waste and paper, though, and I am installing drip hoses next spring.

I second the vote for older homes as 'green' - ours in a sub-divided house, which we occupy as a condo in South Boston. I think location is just as, if not more, important the material construction. Older homes are generally built both within a more community oriented plan, and are thus walkable. I never drive in my neighborhood - pitch here for owning a dog. ;)

I third the old house as 'green' notion!

Our house was built in 1921 and has a small footprint ( under 600 sq ft above ground ). We are in the process of strenghtening the structure and replacing utility systems. We reuse almost everything pulled off the house for something, scour Craigslist ( almost always worth the trouble ) for materials and just intalled a tankless water heater. A really great resource is the Habitat for Humanity ReStore. We find good stuff and will bring them whatever we can't use.

Yeah, not exactly "more sustainable than most," at least we shouldn't be. Doing compost, thinking about chickens and trying our hand at gardening, would love to figure out solar when it's available off the shelf.

Currently renting, with no garden, so not a lot of room for making changes. But planning on buying a small house next year, installing some solar panels and maybe a grey-water recycling system.

I live in an old house as well, and I agree that using and re-using counts too. I also use florescent lights, and bundle up instead of turning up the heat in the winter. I don't even heat the upstairs of our old home, last year my bedroom got down to 34! I garden and compost.

We are currently in the process of building a pre-fab house. Heating/cooling will be done by geo-thermal and a portion of the hydro will come from roof solar. For our efforts, the city of Toronto will kick in 60 bucks for a low flush toilet. Other levels of government will contribute absolutely nothing. You really have to be committed to be green!

· I have PV solar panels, and we've been collecting rain water for all uses including drinking, for most of my life, and certainly for all the 25 years we've lived (and brought up our three kids) here in Greenhithe.

· I planned for about 6 years to get a solar water heating system, but now that it's just my wife and me, we use so little hot water that it's no longer worth both the expense and the materials-use.

· IMO our main two reasons for considering that both of us are near-sustainable now (I myself have been for about 13 years), are that:

(a) we no longer use the (9yo) car more than once-a-month (wife catches the bus to work), and

(b) this house was small (1200 sq.ft) and middle-aged when we bought it in 1980, and we've kept it going with paint (for the galvanised-iron roof, and once on the walls) and some repairs, but have never considered buying a fancier one.

· A secondary reason we're close to sustainable is that we use very little fossil-fuel for winter heating (a few hours of LPG/propane on the coldest days, latitude 37°S and maritime climate), and we've cut down a big tree on the property (that was blocking solar access), so we'll be burning our own wood for several years, for heat. Neither of us buys much of anything; we live on organic food as much as possible (near 100% for me), and use clothes until they're thoroughly worn-out.

David ;
- {see my: http://au.geocities.com/davdnz }

Currently living in a 700sq ft loft apartment that is primarily daylit (during daylight hours, naturally) by 15 or so giant windows (which are insulated double pane glass) We also have a small on-demand water heater. Rely on public transportation and bicycle to get around.

fairly green way to live, and although lacking in equity it is pretty affordable too.

I can't afford a prefab house, or any decent sized house close to Sydney City (Aus) so I'm researching living in a '5th wheeler' caravan off the grid for a few years. With an treehugger style fit out design, Mostly solar power, LPG for what solar can't handle, any other eco mods I can fit in. No fixed address, while I still hold a steady job. Well I've given myself a year to research it....Here's hoping.

Well it´s easy to be sustainable when you live in a country where all heating is from geothermal energy, pipelined into each house. Electricity solely made from hydropower plants doesn´t drag it down either. It´s just the transport that´s hard to beat. Anyone looking into easy sustainable living should have a look at Iceland! Good infrastructure is the best when it comes to getting everyone to participate.

Living in a dorm there's not much I can do in the way of sustainable...although yeah, it's quite small, and I don't take up any resources on my own, so I'd say it's fairly sustainable. And my college (Grinnell) is looking into having more sustainability in building, so that's good. Although probably won't be fully implimented before I graduate.

5-year-old house in the UK, so thanks to new building regulations, very good insulation, small windows, etc. I did consider switching on the heating a couple of days ago, but by the time i'd cooked dinner the house was warmed up.
I grow (some) food, am hoping to grow more next year, and to add rain collecting and a compost heap (only moved this year, so other things have been higher priority).
CF lighting as much as I can.
No car, cycle to work.

So, sustainable lifestyle, but making changes to the house takes money & time, and has been lower priority than e.g. putting up shelves & security lights.

I get my energy from Green Mountain Energy, delivered by PSEG in New Jersey, but generated by GME, I think that qualifies as sustainable.

Seems to me the easiest thing to do, and while it costs us some extra money every month, it must be cheaper than having an all organic diet, and there is no cash outlay like with solar.

I've got to question the validity of living in an old house being sustainable on one count; is it well insulated? Windows and walls? And if it has appliances, are they modern and energy efficient?

Otherwise, I fully agree with the idea that continuing to use an old item is better than using the resources to build new, as long as the old one works efficiently.

How do you all feel about that concept as applied to cars? Keep an old one running, or buy new? Would it matter if the car was driven often or infrequently?

"I've got to question the validity of living in an old house being sustainable on one count; is it well insulated?"

Since I said it was a well-insulated old house, you can safely assume that it's well-insulated.

Gas-fired water heaters, one for the radiant floor heating system, one for hot water at the taps. A furnace we won't need until the coldest part of the winter. An air conditioner we only need in the hottest part of the summer. Rainwater collection, drip irrigation, good appliances, and we maintain it ourselves.

So, yeah, I call that sustainable.

On the other hand, I call planting a garden on a crappy old Pontiac and driving it around to celebrate the green lifestyle really stupid. But that's just me...call me crazy.

Lee,

Your house sounds awesome! Yours isn't the only older house mentioned, thats why I brought it up.

And yeah, planting a garden in an old Pontiac isn't my idea of 'keeping and older car running' either, but it sure is an interesting juxtaposition.

Our house was built in 1899, and is 2800 sq ft. Doesn't sound very green does it? We've been there for a year and a half now...between the previous owners and our own efforts, the house now has all-new vinyl-clad low-e windows, insulation throughout, a wood-burning stove to heat one part of the house, CFLs throughout, and a high-efficiency freezer. We're currently remodeling our kitchen and another room. The plans are on the way for a radiant underfloor system powered by solar collectors combined with a new high efficiency hot-water heater, thermal mass solar heating, high-efficiency dishwasher and refrigerator. Also have plans for a rain collection and irrigation drip system and possibly a wind turbine if the site specs out appropriately.
Also, all of our cars currently get 30-45 mpg. It's a constant struggle to decide what the best way to use what little money we have is...but it's great to see results little by little.