Earth Day 2008 - Encouraging Greener Living
Happy Earth Day 2008! As people all over the world are paying more attention to environmental issues, there are many things individuals can do close to home--even in long-term care facilities.
In our March-April issue, contributor Mike LePostollec wrote about incorporating elements of sustainable design into long-term care. Some of the most common sustainable features include:
- improved insulation
- solar hot water heating systems
- daylighting (using natural light to illuminate building spaces, rather than relying solely on electric lighting during the day)
- geothermal heating, which distributes natural heat from the earth throughout a building
- green roofs, which reduce solar gain on buildings and lower cooling costs
- heat recovery systems, which provide a counter-flow temperature exchange between inbound and outbound air. Warm air leaving the building heats the inbound air, and vice versa.
For more ideas on how we can conserve resources, read the New York Times' Green Issue.