Blog-TOWER OF BABELI used to grimace when I heard that. Now I embrace it. Our planet is in deep trouble and I do not want to contribute to a landfill. How can we on a corporate jet, help the environment?
Well, I know there is not a lot of space on a jet to recycle, but I have done it. But what I am talking about is, shopping and in and around the hangar. I do the stocking 2x per month, and I separate the cardboard boxes from the trash, and they are recycled. I buy local produce which cuts down on the long haul emissions of trucks. And fuel 4 to 17 times less.
If you spend locally, not using the chain stores, every dollar spent in your community adds about 2x as much value to the local economy as it would at a franchise. When I am not in the hangar, I turn the lights off. Before a flight, I wash all produce, but do not let the water run incessantly. The hot towels – I throw them in with the laundry, and reuse them after they are cleaned, for the big cleaning on the aircraft. I always bring my own cloth reusable bags to the supermarket and try to carpool to certain airports.
I opened a drawer in my kitchen and found I had 5 old cell phones there. I dropped them off at Verizon. There is always another use for the things we no longer use. All the cleaning products I use are green; Windex is a memory, 409 – long gone. As far as appliances go in the hangar, we have an energy star dishwasher that has an energy factor (the number of cycles per kilowatt hour of electricity of approximately 0.65)-40 percent better than federal standards.
The average fridge uses 14 percent of the hangars entire energy use. Pre 1993 models may be costing 140 dollars per year. It is best to have the freezer on the top, and the fridge on the bottom, and forgo the ice maker, it demands 10-20 percent more energy.
How many of us, at home, open the fridge, and stare for 5 minutes. This wastes energy and gets in humidity which takes more energy to cool the hot air I no longer use Ziplocs, more landfill, I use reusable plastic containers for storage. We have a Brita water filter for our sink for drinking water as well.
So if we are doing our part and use common sense, we will contribute to earth day every day.