Fall Home Maintenance Tips

As the temperature drops and the season changes from summer to fall, homeowners have a new batch of chores and challenges to face. Here are a few things you can do now to get ready for winter. 

• It is a great time to tidy up the yard and clean out your gutters before winter comes. Put your raked leaves and other yard waste in a compost bin and keep these materials out of landfills.

• Be prepared. Find out if maintenance is required to keep your heating system operating efficiently and schedule a service call before the busy season starts. Our licensed technicians would be happy to service your furnace. Click here to learn more on our website and contact us today. 

• Keep out drafts by sealing leaky windows. You can use a heavy-duty, clear plastic sheet or tape clear plastic film to the inside of your window frames during the cold winter months.

• Fall is the best time to clean the chimney and get vent systems checked. Pipes must be properly connected and there should be no signs of rust or damage.

• If you have a window air conditioner unit, it is time to remove it for the winter. If the AC must stay in place, seal it with caulking or tape and cover with an airtight insulated jacket.

• Winterize your home by caulking and weather-stripping all doors and windows. Check caulking around windows and do touch ups to reduce drafts and conserve energy. If you have questions about how to do this properly, check back here next week for our next post on how to install weather-stripping and caulking.

Happy fall to all of our customers and readers! Enjoy this beautiful season!

Back to School Shopping

Over 5 million Canadian children are getting ready to go back to school. This year, you can reduce the impact your back-to-school shopping has on the environment by making a few smart choices.

REUSE
Reusing items is the best way to minimize the impact of your day-to-day life. Send your kids to school with a reusable lunchbox and a water bottle. 

REDUCE
The best way to save energy and money is to not buy anything. Reduce the amount of new items you're buying this year. Take an inventory of the school supplies you already have on hand from last year and make sure not to waste money on new items that you don't need.

RECYCLE
We all know it's important to recycle paper and plastic items but you can also help drive demand for recycled goods by purchasing items that contain a high level of post-consumer materials. It's easy to find great eco friendly goods- check out Ecojot a Canadian company whose journals are made from 100% recycled post-consumer waste. As a bonus, Ecojot also donates a schoolbook to a child in need for the sale of each jumbo journal. Now that's some back-to-school shopping you can feel good about! 

Have a Better Barbecue

Summer and barbecues go hand in hand. But, did you know that your backyard barbecue can cause harmful carbon emissions? Especially when it is used improperly or with outdated equipment.  Below, find our top tips for having an eco-friendly barbecue.  

Find a fresh fuel
New fuels can reduce your harmful emissions and maybe even make your food cook better. For charcoal grills, look for organic or natural lump brands. Liquid petroleum gas is an even better alternative as it emits one hundred times less CO₂ than the average charcoal briquette. Avoid lighter fluids and self-lighting charcoals, as these fuels release chemicals into the atmosphere.  

Cut your cooking time
Reduce the amount of time you are burning fuel. Don’t preheat too long. Most grills only take five or ten minutes to warm up. Keep track of time and conserve your fuel and energy.

Clean your grill regularly
A clean grill means less smoke and less pollution. Use an all-natural grill cleaner green to scrub down your grill when the party is over.

Don't do disposable 
We all know it's tempting but don't create waste by using disposable dishes. Use reusable cutlery and washable cloths instead of napkins. If you must use paper plates, look for biodegradable or  recycled eco-friendly options.

Follow these tips and have a great summer! Happy Grilling!

6 Eco-Friendly Things to do this Weekend

This coming weekend is the August long weekend in Ontario! We here at National Home Services want you and your family to make the most out of your holiday. That being said, it should also be cost effective and environmentally friendly! That is why we have put together a list of 6 fun and eco friendly activities for you and your family.

1. Go Camping
Pack up your stuff, hop in the car and head out to one of Ontario’s beautiful campgrounds. Some options are the Cedar Park Resort in Hampton, or Ponderosa Camp Ground in Mount Albert. Don’t forget the bug spray, and, more importantly, the marshmallows.

2. Visit a Provincial Park
Take a chance this weekend to visit a provincial park. They are the perfect place to take in the sights and sounds of nature.

3. Family Bike Ride
Whether you are taking on The Ontario Bicycling Route, or just taking a lap of the neighborhood with friends and family, biking is an eco friendly way to enjoy the beauty of summer and get some exercise.

4. Go for a Hike
For some of the best trails Ontario has to offer, make your way to the Algonquin Provincial Park Trails where you can see 45 species of mammals, 138 breeding birds and a variety of plants, trees and fungi.

5. Visit the Farmers Market
Head out to the local farmers' market and purchase some organic products to support local vendors and, of course, the environment.

6. Spend Time in your Backyard
Organize a barbeque with family and friends. Soak up the sun with great food and refreshments while the kids play in the yard. Check HERE for our tips on green gardening. 

Green Gardening

Reducing the amount of water needed in your garden is a great habit because it can save money on your water bill and it helps reduce your carbon footprint. Here are some tips on how to practice garden water conservation and still have a gorgeous yard.

Choose native plants.

Native plants are adjusted to your area’s normal rainfall, soil conditions and climate. Once they have been established, they require little or no watering. The Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources offers a guide with plenty of suggestions for Southern Ontario residents.  Click here to access the guide.

Mulch it up!Mulching around plants is a great way to reduce water loss. (Plus it looks great!) Mulch also cuts down on water-stealing weeds. Natural mulches include compost, bark chips, and pine needles. Save money by spreading your grass clippings and ground-up leaves on flower and vegetable gardens. These organic mulches gradually break down and add nutrients to the soil.

Choose your grass carefully. A green lawn can drink up to 70,000 litres of water each year! You can keep your grass and manage your water use by planting drought-resistant varieties of grass like bermuda and buffalo grass which require 20% less water than some other common lawn grasses.

Mow less often.
Isn't this a great tip? You can mow the lawn less often! It’s a good idea to keep your grass long to shade the roots and slow evaporation. When you do mow, raise the height of your mower blade to 3 inches.

Follow these tips and you could have it all- a beautiful lawn, a lower water bill and a smaller environmental footprint. 

Getting Around Green

Transportation accounts for almost 25% of Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions.

What can we do to reduce that amount? Here are some transportation tips to reduce your carbon footprint:

Walk or Bike to Work

Consider Carpooling

Take Public Transit

Try a more efficient car, such as an electric vehicle

If it is not possible to change your method of transportation, try to offset your carbon footprint by living green in other aspects of your life. National Home Services strives to help our customers reduce their carbon footprint by upgrading their home equipment to energy efficient models.

On average, the installation of a new energy efficient water heater results in a reduction of 5.5 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents over the life of the equipment.

That means every water heater has the same effect as taking 1.5 cars off the road for a year! Do what you can and show your commitment to a cleaner, greener planet!

Earth Day 2014

Today is Earth Day! 

Celebrated every year on April 22, Earth Day is the largest environmental event in the world. More than 6 million Canadians participate in an Earth Day activity in their communities. Learn more about activities in your community at earthday.ca

5 Green Actions to reduce your impact on the environment

1. Simple Household Savers – Replace incandescent light bulbs with LEDs. Use aerators on faucets.
2. Washing and Drying – Only wash full loads of clothes and use cold water. Hang to air dry.
3. Clean Green – Choose natural, non-toxic cleaning products with ingredients such as vinegar or baking soda.
4. Food Choices – Choose local organic foods that are in season. What is in season in Ontario in the spring? Look for fresh local apples, cherries, strawberries, asparagus, cabbage, cucumbers, fiddleheads, radishes and spinach.
5. Donate and Recycle – Think carefully before throwing items in the trash. Consider donating or recycling. Harmful materials like chemicals, batteries and electronics should be taken to a local hazardous waste depot.

Last Minute Eco-Friendly Holiday Ideas

It is the season for giving! Here at National Home Services, we were thrilled with the results of our Holiday Toy Drive for SickKids Hospital. During this time of giving, we try our best to remember to be green whenever possible. We are delivering our donations unwrapped but, one of the biggest areas of holiday waste is in packaging and wrapping.

Check out our tips to reduce the amount of packaging and wrapping you use.

• Try out reusable wrapping ideas, like cloth bags, baskets and boxes.
• Recycle your newspapers, brown paper bags or Christmas flyers into wrapping paper.
• Instead of sending Christmas cards, send e-cards to your friends and loved ones.
• Bring your own bags when shopping. Keep them in your purse or car so they are nearby when needed.
• Think about alternative gifts that require no wrapping, like theatre tickets, museum passes, or gift certificates.
• Give homemade gifts like these Gifts in a Jar. Check here for more recipes.

If everyone in Canada wrapped just three gifts in reused paper or gift bags, it would save enough paper to cover 45,000 hockey rinks!

8 Tips to Curb Your Waste

The Holiday season is here! Whether your plans include hosting or traveling, use our 8 tips to curb your waste and your carbon footprint. 

1. Take inventory on the pantry. If you can avoid a trip to the store, you'll save time, fuel and money. 
2. When you've used up an ingredient, make sure to rinse the container and recycle. 
3. If you are cooking the turkey in an aluminum pan, don't throw it away! By clearing it of all food waste and rinsing it out, you may be able to recycle it instead. As always, be sure to check with your city to make sure. 
4. Serve cans of beer without fear. Aluminum is infinitely recyclable and easier to process than glass. Consider making the switch to cans this season. 
5. Pack the freezer with your leftover turkey and fixings instead of throwing away. The fuller the freezer, the more efficient it becomes. Save energy and prevent food waste from heading to the landfill. 
6. Don't want leftover dry goods to go stale? Consider sharing your extra food with the less fortunate this season. Prevent food waste by helping someone in need. Donate to a food bank or shelter. 
7. Holiday traffic is the worst! Spare yourself the trouble and hit the road early. Stop-and-go driving adds wear and tear to your vehicle and the environment. Beat the rush and do them both a favour. 
8. Give the host or hostess a real gift, not extra trash. Wrap presents in recyclable or reusable materials. 

Happy Holidays! Good luck managing your "waste" line this year! 

Top 3 Ways to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint

Last week we covered what your carbon footprint is and how to calculate it. (Read that post here). Today we'll go over our top 3 ways to reduce your carbon footprint.

1. Transportation accounts for a big portion of your  carbon footprint. Try to take the most energy efficient methods of travel whenever possible: biking, walking, or carpooling.
2. Home energy use is the next largest portion of your carbon footprint. Try setting your thermostat at a moderate temperature to lower energy costs. Better yet, install a smart thermostat like the SmartStat. The SmartStat pays attention to how you consume energy while factoring in the size of your home, number of occupants and type of HVAC system you use to maximize your energy efficiency.
3. Choose energy efficient appliances for your home. There are many resources to help you learn more about energy efficient home products. Check the Energy Star in Canada website  or read more about energy efficient home home equipment here. A more energy efficient home will lower your utility bills and reduce the emissions that cause climate change.

What is Your Carbon Footprint?

Our daily activities such as driving back and forth to work, using heat, and the consumption of food and goods causes many polluting gases to be emitted into the atmosphere. For simplicity, these gases are usually referred to in terms of the amount of carbon dioxide produced.

Your carbon footprint is the measure of the total amount of carbon dioxide you produce through these normal daily activities. These harmful emissions contribute to climate change. People concerned about the environment and global warming can try to reduce their carbon footprint by increasing their energy efficiency.

A great way to start is to take stock and calculate your current carbon footprint. Once you know the size of your carbon footprint, you can begin thinking about strategies to reduce or offset it. Just Energy offers a free carbon calculator for individuals, households or companies. Take a look here to find out your carbon footprint: Carbon Calculator.

In our next post, we'll take a look at the top 3 ways to change your habits and reduce your carbon footprint.

Feeling Haunted By Your Monthly Utility Charges?

Green Home How Tos: Detecting and Sealing Air Leaks

Reducing the amount of air that leaks in and out of your home is a cost-effective way to cut your heating and cooling costs, increase comfort, and create a healthier indoor environment. Caulking and weatherstripping are two simple and effective air-sealing techniques that are easy to do and offer quick returns on investment. We've already covered weatherstripping in a previous post.

Today we'll talk more generally about how to find the source of air leaks in your home. Areas that leak air into and out of your home cost you a lot of money. The areas listed in the illustration are the most common sources of air leaks.

TIPS FOR SEALING AIR LEAKS

• Test your home for air tightness. On a windy day, carefully hold a lit incense stick or a smoke pen next to your windows, doors, electrical boxes, plumbing fixtures, electrical outlets, ceiling fixtures, attic hatches, and other places where air may leak. If the smoke stream travels horizontally, you have located an air leak that may need caulking, sealing, or weatherstripping.

• Install foam gaskets behind outlet and switch plates on walls.

• Look for dirty spots on your ceiling paint and carpet, which may indicate air leaks at interior wall/ceiling joints and wall/floor joists, and caulk them.

• Cover single-pane windows with storm windows or replace them with more efficient double-pane low- emissivity windows. 

• Use foam sealant on larger gaps around windows, baseboards, and other places where air may leak out.

• Cover your kitchen exhaust fan to stop air leaks when not in use.

• Keep the fireplace flue damper tightly closed when not in use.

• Seal air leaks around fireplace chimneys, furnaces, and gas-fired water heater vents with fire-resistant materials such as sheet metal or sheetrock and furnace cement caulk.

Hope these tips will help you keep your home clean, green and energy efficient! 

Renewable Energy Explained

You see and hear this term all over the place, but what does it really mean? What is renewable energy and what makes it a green energy option? Read our quick explanation below, and be prepared to impress your friends with your new knowledge. 

Renewable energy comes from resources which are continually replenished, such as the wind or the sun. Generally, renewable energy has a much lower carbon footprint than traditional methods of energy production, such as the burning of fossil fuels. Energy from fossil fuels, like coal, oil, and natural gas, come from finite sources that will eventually run out. Collection and burning of fossil fuels also releases harmful carbon emissions into the atmosphere. Renewable energy resources and significant opportunities for energy efficiency exist over wide geographical areas, in contrast to other energy sources, which are concentrated in a limited number of countries.

What are the different forms of renewable energy? Solar power and wind power are two of the most popular forms of renewable energy available on the market today. However, there are other renewable energy sources, such as hydroelectric power, bioenergy, hydrogen conversion, ocean energy and geothermal energy. 

Green Grilling and Your Summer BBQ

Summer and barbecues go hand in hand. Unfortunately, your backyard barbecue can cause harmful carbon emissions, especially when used improperly or with outdated equipment. Thankfully, new technology offers options for a lower carbon footprint so that we can happily enjoy the summer barbecue season. Below, find our top tips for having an eco-friendly barbecue.  

If you are in the market for a new grill:

• Consider an electric grill. They are an economical option and release 99 per cent less carbon monoxide and 91 per cent less CO₂ than grilling with traditional charcoal.
• A natural gas grill is also a good option. Natural gas burns as the cleanest fossil fuel, with a lower carbon footprint than propane.
• An infrared grill is a good investment if you are willing to spend a bit more. They heat quickly, decrease smoke emissions by up to 80 per cent and use 50 per cent less gas.

 If you already have a barbecue:

• Select cleaner burning fuels. For charcoal grills, look for organic or natural lump brands. Liquid petroleum gas is an even better alternative as it emits one hundred times less CO₂ than the average charcoal briquette. Avoid lighter fluids and self-lighting charcoals, as these fuels release chemicals into the atmosphere.  
• Don’t preheat too long. Most grills only take five or ten minutes to warm up. Keep track of time and conserve your fuel and energy.
• Clean your grill regularly. A clean grill means less smoke and less pollution.
• Use an all-natural grill cleaner green to scrub down your grill when the party is over.
• Avoid disposable dishes. Use reusable cutlery and washable cloths instead of napkins. If you have to use paper plates, look for biodegradable or  recycled eco-friendly options.

 Do you have any tips we’ve missed? Please share in the comments. 

Keep your Summer Holiday Green

If you are getting away for a holiday this summer, follow these tips to help your home save energy while you are away.

• Turn up your thermostat to 29 degrees. (If you are leaving pets at home, leave it at a comfortable temperature for them). Experts agree that the energy saved from turning your thermostat up in the summer while you're away is greater than the energy used to cool your house back down after you return.
• Close window blinds and shades to block out the sun's heat. A lot of indoor heat simply comes from the rays of the sun though the windows.
• Avoid wasting energy on unused electronics while you're away by unplugging them—including hand-held electronics that might be charging, such as phones, MP3 players, chargers, and even laptops.
• Aside from one or two lights that you may want to leave on for safety, make sure everything else is turned off—all lights, ceiling fans, your radio and appliances.

10 Eco Friendly Things To Do On Canada Day

What better way to celebrate our nation's big day than to treat it right with eco friendly activities. We here at National Home Services want you and your family to make the most out of your holiday, that being said, it should also be cost effective and environmentally friendly! (It’s kind of our thing) That’s why we have put together a list of 10 eco friendly activities for you and your family.

1. Go Camping
Pack up your stuff, hop in the car and head out to one of Ontario’s beautiful campgrounds. Some options are the Cedar Park Resort in Hampton, or Ponderosa Camp Ground in Mount Albert. Don’t forget the bug spray, and, more importantly, the marshmallows.

2. Visit a Provincial Park
Take a chance this weekend to visit a provincial park. They are the perfect place to take in the sights and sounds of nature, and an even better venue for a date.

3. Start your Garden
The weekend is calling for good weather, so why not get out there and start on that garden you have been staring at since the start of spring.

4. Family Bike Ride
Whether you are taking on The Ontario Bicycling Route, or just taking a lap of the neighborhood with friends and family, biking is an eco friendly way to enjoy the beauty of summer and get some exercise.

5. Start a Compost
Grab any extra wetted organic matter (leaves, “green” food waste) and start composting. This is a great way to teach the kids about the importance of recycling material, and will act as great fertilizer for your garden.

6. Go for a Hike
For some of the best trails Ontario has to offer, make your way to the Algonquin Provincial Park Trails where you can see 45 species of mammals, 138 breeding birds and a variety of plants, trees and fungi.

7. Organize a Park Clean Up
Give back to your community and organize a park clean up on Canada Day. It is a great precursor for a block party, and I like to think of it as a mini spa treatment for Canada.

8. Visit the Farmers Market
Head out to the local farmers' market and purchase some organic products to support local vendors and, of course, the environment.

9. Spend Time in your Backyard
Organize a barbeque with family and friends. Soak up the sun with great food and refreshments while the kids play in the yard.

10. Organize a Treasure Hunt
Make a list of some unique spots in your neighborhood, and embark on a treasure hunt with the family. Don’t forget to enjoy the time with your family.

Saving Water in Your Garden

Saving water in your garden is a great habit and can translates to saving money on your water bill. Here are some tips on how to practice garden water conservation and still have a gorgeous yard.

• Choose Native plants. Native plants are adjusted to your area’s normal rainfall, soil conditions and climate. Once they have been established, they require little or no watering. The Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources offers a guide with plenty of suggestions for Southern Ontario residents.  Click here to access the guide.
• Add mulch. Mulching around plants is a great way to reduce water loss plus it looks great. Mulch also cuts down on water-stealing weeds. Natural mulches include compost, bark chips, and pine needles. Save money by spreading your grass clippings and ground-up leaves on flower and vegetable gardens. These organic mulches gradually break down and add nutrients to the soil.
• Manage your grass carefully. A green lawn can drink up to 70,000 litres of water each year! You can keep the lawn and manage your water use by planting drought-resistant varieties of grass like bermuda and buffalo grass which require 20% less water than some other common lawn grasses. It’s also a good idea to keep your grass long to shade the roots and slow evaporation. Mow less often and when you do, raise the height of your mower blade to 3 inches.

Follow these tips and you could have it all- a beautiful lawn, a lower water bill and a smaller environmental footprint.