Green Plan

On her quest to go "GREEN", Kim has started her plan for her "paperless" office and has adapted many new ideas and services to help her along! 

Kim’s new motto in life are the 3 R’s:

REUSE - By “Reuse” she means more than just reusing products around the home and office.  Kim goes that extra mile to make her Clients happy and tries to maintain a long-standing relationship with each one so they will be her Client-for-life.  Her approachability offers a sense of relief and comfort to new people who are just looking for some advice.  With some time and TLC, they will become hers.  For them to “reuse” Kim as their Agent, as their children’s Agent, as their friend, their neighbor’s Agent:  that is her aspiration as a Realtor. 

RECYCLE – It is her love for the outdoors that guides her in the path she has chosen – to be “green” and whenever possible Kim uses only products that are environmentally friendly.  Kim is an avid sports fanatic and enjoys nature at its truest form.  She hopes to help her Clients see “green” in more than one way!

Kim has gone one step further than her competitors by starting development of her “paperless” office where all contracts and documents are virtual, which means no paper or ink will be used in printing or faxing.  Her client gifts and promotional products are also environmentally friendly products that help market her Real Estate career as well as help her clients to become environmentally aware themselves.  In time, she will have her office set up to run solely on solar power and have an alliance formed with the “green” building contractors of the city. 

REAL ESTATE - As a child of the industry, she has learned a lot and knows it takes more than just time and hard work to be a good Realtor.  It is dedication, honesty, and a commitment to your Clients that make the process of buying or selling their home less stressful and helping them make the right choices, not just for the “now” but for their future and for their peace of mind.  She realizes that any step in real estate is a big step – she is here to bridge the gaps. 

The design, location and size of a property are aspects often considered when shopping for a new home. But looking for energy efficiency, indoor air quality, water conservation and waste management in a prospective home could prove to be far more important.

The Clean Calgary Association, through funding by the Alberta Real Estate Foundation, recently published an informative booklet titled, Your New Home: a Guide to Healthy Living and Environmental Cost Savings. It’s a checklist for homebuyers on what to look for in a new abode, in terms of sustainability.

The guide is full of helpful tips and facts. Natalie Odd, Executive Director for Clean Calgary, says energy efficiency and indoor air quality are the most important things to keep in mind when buying a home.  Read more...

Download the guide now to start your own GREEN plan! 

Compost Guide - All about composting!

Green Cleaning Guide - A how to guide to a chemical-free clean home

Recycling Opportunities - A guide to the various types of recycling depots around Calgary

Reuse & Recycling - Clean Calgary’s guide to Recycling

Saving the World Begins at Home - Alberta Environment’s Guide to Household Recycling

TIPS AND TRICKS TO BE GREEN 

To live green means to help our environment from the dangers that are destroying it. It is an eco-friendly way of life, and many people are hopping on-board.   

Living green is a way that some people have found to help save planet Earth from a fast approaching disaster. Being eco-friendly is a way of life that many people have chosen to live because it helps slow down the process of destroying the earth. It means buying "green products" that are environmentally friendly, along with other endeavors that will help save our environment.

How Can I Help Right Now

Here are some tips for living green that you can implement immediately:

At work
1. Consider buying a laptop. Laptops use 50 percent of the energy used by a typical desktop PC when plugged in and just 1 percent of the energy when running on batteries.

2. If your copier, printer and fax have a sleep or stand-by mode, make sure it is selected. From the sleep mode, it will automatically wake up when you go to use it.

3. When using the copier at work, always make two-sided copies. If your printer also has a double-sided feature, use it.

4. If your office provides disposable cups for beverages, eliminate the need for them by bringing in extra glasses and mugs from home. Post a note in the lunch/break room requesting that your coworkers do the same. Keep the mugs in the lunchroom for anyone to use.

5. Use suppliers who will take back their recyclable or reusable products at the end of their life for proper disposal, recycling or remanufacturing.

Bathroom
6. If you have a nonconserving toilet (a 3.5 gallon flush or greater), retrofit it with a water-saving device. Fill a one-quart plastic bottle with water for each nonconserving toilet in your home, and submerge one bottle in each toilet tank. You will save one quart of water per flush and thousands of gallons a year.

7. Fix all leaks. To check for leaks, turn off all water in the house. Next, read your water meter, wait one hour (make sure no water is turned on during this period), and read the meter again. If the meter does not read exactly the same, there is a leak.

8. Take short showers. With water flowing up to five gallons per minute from a nonconserving showerhead, showers consume about one-fifth of water used indoors.

9. Turn off the water while brushing your teeth. Fill a cup with water and use it instead of running water. This applies to shaving as well. Partially fill the sink bowl to rinse your razor instead of running the water.

10. Buy a shower curtain that will far outlast cheap plastic ones; a shower curtain made of hemp will naturally resist mildew and is machine washable.

Building and home improvement
11. Carefully dismantle rooms and buildings during a renovation to salvage reusable materials and fixtures. If you are building or renovating a home, check out salvage yards and antiques stores for used building materials and fixtures. They can be a great source of inexpensive and vintage items.

12. If you live in a cold climate, paint your house a dark color. Dark colors reflect as little as 3 percent of sunlight, thus absorbing more heat. If you live in a warm climate, paint your house a light color that will reflect up to 90 percent of sunlight and keep your house cooler.

13. Before discarding empty latex paint cans, leave the top off and allow the remaining paint to dry completely. Latex paint is not hazardous once it is solidified.

Energy
14. Clean refrigerator gaskets and vacuum the condenser coils twice a year. Your refrigerator will operate more efficiently and use less electricity.

15. Wrap your water heater in an insulating jacket if it is located in an unheated space such as a basement or garage.

16. Use your microwave a toaster oven for small jobs. Cooking and reheating with a microwave or toaster oven is faster and more efficient than using the stovetop or oven, thus reducing up to 70 percent of energy use.

17. Arrange furniture to take advantage of natural light from windows. Place desks and reading chairs next to windows to cut down on the need and use of supplemental, artificial light during the day.

18. Switch to fluorescent bulbs in areas where extended lighting is required. Though the initial price is higher than for incandescent bulbs, fluorescent lights produce four times as much light per watt, last up to ten times as long and therefore cost one-third as much to operate.

At Home
19. Switch to online billing to conserve paper use.  Receive all statements, invoices, bills the "paperless" way.

20. Use curbside recycling to its full advantage.  Everything from cans, bottles, glass jars, paper, magazines, and plastic milk cartons can be put in the blue recycling box.  Read more...

21. Other way to recycle include Bottle Depots.  Here is what bottle depots pay for various containers: