Goal For The Green

Bottled Water Alternatives: Simple Ways to Save Money on Filtered Water and Help Protect the Planet

The taste of tap water is completely subjective, and even some consumers can’t tell the difference between filtered water and the H20 that flows from the tap.

If you don’t like the taste of tap water, however, the bottled version is a great tap alternative.

But, if you think your bottled water is filtered, think again. In fact, many bottled water companies get their water from municipal and county sources, instead of some remote mountain spring.

For those eco-chic families who want to go green, you’ll want a great tasting, filtered bottled-water alternative that is gentle to the taste and to the earth.
Here are a few bottled water alternatives to satisfy your taste for high-quality beverages, and that are healthy and safe to drink.

Bottled water history

Bottled waters were originally specialty drinks that were marketed to consumers for their health-giving qualities. In fact, many countries had mineral springs where wealthy people would drink the water during a visit to a spa or resort.

For people who were unable to visit these remote locations, the resorts and spas began bottling the mineral waters and selling it to consumers.

In the United States, there are over 183 varieties of bottled water. The oldest bottled water brand in the U.S. is Mountain Valley Spring Water. This water is from Hot Springs, Arkansas and has been consumed by United States Senators since 1904.

Bottled water alternatives

The first option to filter your water is to use a home water filtering system. You can use a refrigerator-mounted, faucet-mounted or pitcher-style water filter.

While tap water is safe, many water filters help to remove potentially harmful toxins and contaminants. Common contaminants found in tap water include chlorine by-products such as chloroform, parasites and lead – see the full list. These home water filters also do a great job of removing the metallic aftertaste that remains after drinking tap water.

Pitcher-style water filters are cheaper than faucet-mounted filters. Depending on the amount of water that you drink each month, the water filters will need to be changed every three to four months.

The second alternative is a purified water unit. This unit looks similar to a water cooler, but it is essentially a refrigerator with a filtration system. The water inside the unit is chilled and filtered and the cost to run this unit is cheaper than investing in a traditional home water cooler.

Lastly, you could install a whole house water filter which essentially gives you spring like water through every faucet of your home. Although this option is pricier, the Pelican Water Systems whole house filter is nearly maintenance-free and easily installed in any home and has a 600,000-1,000,000-gal. /5-year capacity.

Bottled water money-saving tips

If you must drink bottled water, here are a few tips to save money when you buy bottled water.
1. Start with inexpensive bottled water suppliers first, and if you find one you prefer over the others, stay with this water company.
2. If you like the portability of water bottles, buy a few, or a large gallon jug of water, and refill them using your home water filtration system.
3. Private label water bottles sold in grocery stores, big box retailers and warehouse clubs like Costco and Sam’s Club are cheaper than fancy water brands.
4. Do not buy bottled water at drugstores and convenient stores, where the water is more expensive.

While pests of all kinds are a nuisance, there are certain species that should be eradicated immediately before they begin breeding in earnest and taking over your home. For the protection of your property and the health of its residents, here are three pests that should be killed on sight.

Ants and Aphids, Backlit (Photo credit: binux)

1: Ants

A single ant colony can house more than 500,000 ants, so this isn’t a pest problem that you should ignore. As soon you notice the tell-tale trails winding behind your refrigerator or into your cupboards, start spraying the mounds and caulking the cracks in your walls.

2: Bed Bugs

These creepy crawlies live in your mattress and suck your blood while you’re asleep. They’re notoriously difficult to remove, often requiring the total replacement of your bedding, which makes it extremely important that you don’t brush off the signs of an infestation. You might just save yourself hundreds of dollars in furniture if you act fast.

3: Mice

Rodents breed more quickly than almost any other mammal, so if you’ve noticed gnaw marks on table legs or mice droppings around the counters, don’t hesitate to pull out the pesticide. You’ll need to make a decisive strike at these vermin before they multiply and outnumber you.

These are just three pests that can destroy the sanctity of your home. Act quickly as soon as you spot them so they won’t form a stronghold within your walls! If you need assistance with the extermination process, professional pest control companies can help. You”ll be happy to know that you can find pest control services online and in your area.

Guest Post by Zeke Iddon

Yes, the entire Internet.

A fairly odd question, but one that will probably give you pause for thought; in a world where the phrase ‘global warming’ is synonymous with SUVs, air conditioning and poor recycling, it isn’t often that we consider one of the most widely-used resources ever to grace the planet.

So, how green is the Internet? The answer will probably surprise you…

The Case Against

Putting aside for one moment the amount of energy used to power offices and home computer set-ups around the world, the data centers which they access are worth examining.

Forming the core of the ‘net, these data centers are absolutely gigantic – many are the size of large shopping malls – and house rows and rows of power-hungry cabinets as well as the systems which keep them cool.

It’s difficult to quantify exactly how much CO2 is produced globally since it can vary wildly depending on what power grid they derive their energy from (for instance, if a country runs its electricity grid via fossil fuels), but our best estimates put the worldwide CO2 emissions from data centers at around 80 megatons.

It’s a hard number to visualize, but to put it into perspective these data centers account for 1.5% of all the world’s electricity (as of 2010). By 2020, it is predicted that the emissions put out by all of the data centers on the planet will quadruple, making this sector of industry a bigger pollutant than the airline industry.

But if you think that sounds extreme, consider this: data centers are only 10% of the equation.

90% of the pollution is generated within our own homes.

Connecting to a network wirelessly (either through routers or via mobile carriers) accounts for nearly 43.2 TerraWatts of all energy usage, which carries a carbon footprint equal to putting nearly 5 million new cars on the road.

With this in mind, it’s not surprising that having this technology in our homes has implications not just for the planet, but also our own health. There’s strong evidence to suggest that radiation emissions from WiFi routers and static towers has a tangible effect on the human body, which gives further rise to concern about our reliance on WiFi. These dangers – as well as the carbon footprint – are greatly mitigated by simply plugging into a router directly.

Obviously we’re not suggesting that the world shuts down the entire Internet, but at face value, the Internet appears to be one of the biggest – and most often ignored – drains on our resources, and something that should be used sparingly… or is it?

The Case For

In order to fully understand this tricky puzzle, we need to look at the bigger picture. Every activity uses up resources; what it really comes down to is how sustainable those activities and resources are.

We cannot begin to count the amount of hours spent watching cat videos on YouTube, or how much energy is used up by teenage girls pursuing One Direction on Twitter. But what we can quantify is the energy savings afforded to businesses on a practical level:

Increased connectivity allows for better telecommuting. Home offices typically use half the energy of a corporate set-up, and hugely telecommuting reduces emissions caused by traffic congestion.

This applies to numerous industries, too – particularly ones that are moving towards digitization. If you cut out the amount of unnecessary travel, and also factor in that telecommuting is proven to increase productivity, the Internet is very much a force for environmental good.

And while the amount of data centers needed to house the ‘net is on the up, so are their efficiency levels. In part driven by Green Peace activism (and for cost reasons), many of the big data companies – Google, Apple, Facebook, etc. – are striving to make their data centers more energy efficient.

According to a Standford report, the big players have the potential to reduce CO2 emissions by a huge 88%, and Apple have already managed to become carbon-neutral.

In Conclusion

So the question isn’t necessarily how green the Internet is, but more one of how green we can make it.

The answer for those of us at home?

Plug directly into your wireless routers, and try to work from home more often.

The planet will thank you for it.