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Households go green
By Xu Wenwen |
August 2, 2010, Monday
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FAMILIES are climbing aboard the low-carbon green bandwagon in one community, with the slogan "no low-carbon household, no low-carbon city." Xu Wenwen reports.
Sorting household garbage, eating vegetarian meals once a week and "resting" cars two days a week are among the measures some families in the Dongpingxiang Community are taking to go green.
Last month the community issued a "low-carbon household standard," with suggested activities to reduce carbon emissions.
It's one of the many moves in Hangzhou to encourage people at the grassroots level to protect the environment by making changes in their daily lives. Many people embrace the idea and some are quite creative.
"No low-carbon household, no low-carbon city," says Du Juan, director of Dongpingxiang Community Office.
The standard ranges from usage of electrical appliances to transport. The document has five major sections and 22 clauses.
It suggests families score their low-carbon behavior each month - the total score is 110 points.
For example, eating a vegetarian meal once a week is worth five points, growing 10 pots of plants earns another five, not using a private car two days a week is a seven-pointer.
Last month 15 households in the community were honored as models, with scores above 95.
The standard, including lots of practical items, was based on more than 700 suggestions submitted by residents of the community that spent a year on the project.
Spearheading the campaign is 67-year-old Sun Xinbao, called the "low-carbon doyen."
She has invented lots of energy-saving ideas. These include a pillow stuffed with used dry tea leaves to help people fall asleep, a grapefruit bowl made of half a grapefruit's peel to contain fruit, and mosquito-repellent soap made from leftover soap and repellent spray.
Moreover, she has changed some appliances to save more energy. For example, a 40-watt ceiling fan was converted into two, 6-watt mini fans - one for not-so-hot days, and two for really hot ones.
The cooling effect was the same and consumption was cut by two-thirds, Sun says.
"Our family's utility expenses have been cut in half," she says.
Dozens of other residents are devising low-carbon gadgets and activities.
Wang Luying, a 74-year-old lady, loves to grow plants that reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. She has placed around 100 potted plants around hallways in the community.
Recently, she has "invented" a natural window curtain "made" by living vines from an evergreen plant in a pot near a window. Some vines are 10 meters long and Wang bends to cover the window.
"I love green," she says. "The curtain filters sunshine, purifies air and looks sweet."
Rong Hanping is adept at sewing and using discarded materials. One of her eye-catching pieces is a bag made from an old pair of jeans, with two pants' pockets in front and two in back. Admirers asked if she had bought it overseas.
She also uses scraps of clothes to tailor cute babies' clothes, reuses food packages as containers, cuts up advertisement posters and makes them into notebooks.
These examples demonstrate that low-carbon living is also economical. Community residents are probably not aware of the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference, but they are sensitive to spending.
To save money and use energy more efficiently, residents have reached a consensus: Water cannot be thrown out unless it has been used three times, such as for bathing, cleaning the floor and watering plants.
Doyen Sun keeps a diary of her family's efforts. For example: on Thursday they went grocery shopping with reusable bags and didn't accept plastic bags at the store. On Friday she recycled old tea boxes into containers for other items. On Saturday the whole family took the bus to tour around, and they took their own chopsticks so as not to use reusable chopsticks.
It's not a lot of trouble to be low-carbon, but persistence and will are necessary. Dongpingxiang Community is a good example.
To decide how best to save money, residents once got together and stayed up all night to count the startup frequency of their refrigerators' quick-freezing space. Next morning they compared meter readings and found the best way to save power is to fill 70 percent of the space at one time.
Similarly, in the past year, they've compared what type of electric rice cooker is most power-efficient and what's the most efficient way to cook porridge and potatoes.
"This shows that a low-carbon lifestyle is far from diminishing the quality of lives, but can be fun and fashionable," says Sun.
Sorting household garbage, eating vegetarian meals once a week and "resting" cars two days a week are among the measures some families in the Dongpingxiang Community are taking to go green.
Last month the community issued a "low-carbon household standard," with suggested activities to reduce carbon emissions.
It's one of the many moves in Hangzhou to encourage people at the grassroots level to protect the environment by making changes in their daily lives. Many people embrace the idea and some are quite creative.
"No low-carbon household, no low-carbon city," says Du Juan, director of Dongpingxiang Community Office.
The standard ranges from usage of electrical appliances to transport. The document has five major sections and 22 clauses.
It suggests families score their low-carbon behavior each month - the total score is 110 points.
For example, eating a vegetarian meal once a week is worth five points, growing 10 pots of plants earns another five, not using a private car two days a week is a seven-pointer.
Last month 15 households in the community were honored as models, with scores above 95.
The standard, including lots of practical items, was based on more than 700 suggestions submitted by residents of the community that spent a year on the project.
Spearheading the campaign is 67-year-old Sun Xinbao, called the "low-carbon doyen."
She has invented lots of energy-saving ideas. These include a pillow stuffed with used dry tea leaves to help people fall asleep, a grapefruit bowl made of half a grapefruit's peel to contain fruit, and mosquito-repellent soap made from leftover soap and repellent spray.
Moreover, she has changed some appliances to save more energy. For example, a 40-watt ceiling fan was converted into two, 6-watt mini fans - one for not-so-hot days, and two for really hot ones.
The cooling effect was the same and consumption was cut by two-thirds, Sun says.
"Our family's utility expenses have been cut in half," she says.
Dozens of other residents are devising low-carbon gadgets and activities.
Wang Luying, a 74-year-old lady, loves to grow plants that reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. She has placed around 100 potted plants around hallways in the community.
Recently, she has "invented" a natural window curtain "made" by living vines from an evergreen plant in a pot near a window. Some vines are 10 meters long and Wang bends to cover the window.
"I love green," she says. "The curtain filters sunshine, purifies air and looks sweet."
Rong Hanping is adept at sewing and using discarded materials. One of her eye-catching pieces is a bag made from an old pair of jeans, with two pants' pockets in front and two in back. Admirers asked if she had bought it overseas.
She also uses scraps of clothes to tailor cute babies' clothes, reuses food packages as containers, cuts up advertisement posters and makes them into notebooks.
These examples demonstrate that low-carbon living is also economical. Community residents are probably not aware of the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference, but they are sensitive to spending.
To save money and use energy more efficiently, residents have reached a consensus: Water cannot be thrown out unless it has been used three times, such as for bathing, cleaning the floor and watering plants.
Doyen Sun keeps a diary of her family's efforts. For example: on Thursday they went grocery shopping with reusable bags and didn't accept plastic bags at the store. On Friday she recycled old tea boxes into containers for other items. On Saturday the whole family took the bus to tour around, and they took their own chopsticks so as not to use reusable chopsticks.
It's not a lot of trouble to be low-carbon, but persistence and will are necessary. Dongpingxiang Community is a good example.
To decide how best to save money, residents once got together and stayed up all night to count the startup frequency of their refrigerators' quick-freezing space. Next morning they compared meter readings and found the best way to save power is to fill 70 percent of the space at one time.
Similarly, in the past year, they've compared what type of electric rice cooker is most power-efficient and what's the most efficient way to cook porridge and potatoes.
"This shows that a low-carbon lifestyle is far from diminishing the quality of lives, but can be fun and fashionable," says Sun.
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