Green living if money were no object

[AuntNi]

As Megan posted, a lot of things I do around the house combine frugality AND being good for the environment. But while I'm hanging out laundry, I sometimes fantasize about changes I would make if I won the lottery. Just for fun, tell me:
1) What green changes you would make if money were no object, and
2) What environmentally-friendly practices (even if frugal) would you keep the same?

Off the top of my head, I would change:

• Stay in the same 95-year-old house, but I'd add a ton of insulation.
• Replace the 20-year-old A/C.
• Tear out all the carpet in the house and replace with some kind of hard flooring.
• Donate all my stockpiled toxic cleaners and replace with green cleaners (I'm too germphobic to ever use 100% vinegar/baking soda.) And probably get a housecleaner a couple days a week!
• Do some terraced landscaping in my front yard so I'd have a great place to grow veggies.
• Buy all organic produce.
• Maybe get a hybrid car.

I'd keep:

• Hanging laundry to dry
• Recycling
• Carpooling (if we still had to work - hopefully we wouldn't.)
• Definitely cloth pads & Diva Cup. Maybe family cloth, but I'd upgrade to cute WAHM-made family cloth.
• Our 1500-sq. ft. old house
• Constantly trying to reduce our electricity/gas usage
• Buying locally-produced food where possible

I'd love to hear your blue-sky ideas!

[Karamom]

I would change:

Buy only organic, pastured local food.

get a whole bunch of solar panels for our roof.

Put in hardwood floors instead of carpet.

a whole house water filter

a maid who does "green" cleaning

I would still use cloth for almost everything, buy used, and try not to be a mindless consumer.

[~Megan~]

only local and organic food.
new home that is as off the grid as possible (solar panels, rain barrels, etc)
hybrid mini van that is supposed to come out this year
house cleaner with all natural cleaners (the new part would be the housekeeper!)
bigger home garden
energy efficient appliances (and maybe even a dishwasher which I don't have now)
all organic clothing, preferrably made by small businesses
all organic body care items made locally or by small biz preferred
I'd replace furniture that needs to be replaced with sustainable and organic pieces

This is pie in the sky, right?

[SleeplessMommy]

With solar panels, solar hot water and about $40k in extreme insulation work (replace siding, air seal, insulate basement walls) we could have a "net zero" home - that is average utility bills of ZERO for the year. We would also want heat recovery ventilation and a Prius or two with the aftermarket battery upgrade ($15K plus). Total cost there about $200K

I would actually prefer to build a new home, which would allow an even tighter net-zero house, a flatter yard for farming and maybe a big stream for micro-hydro power. (Hydro should be less expensive than solar if we pick the right lot!)

Our long term plan is to own a smaller house (right now we have 5 bedrooms). With a smaller house, the cost for upgrade to Net Zero would be much lower - to say nothing of reduced housecleaning time

[nerdymom]

ahh, my pipe dream is this: an old farmhouse with an airy wrap around porch, refitted with the best insulation, solar panel roof, a good well, and a hundred acres in the Shenandoah to have my own homestead on. Grow all my own fruit and veg, raise my own pastured dairy, poultry, eggs, pork, beef. Have enough to sell/barter for dry goods and grains. A medium-sized house, enough for the kids to share, and for me to have a dedicated sewing space. Have enough land to offer the kids a plot to live on, build on. To tread lightly on the earth, to be a good steward of God's creation and animals...I can think of nothing more ideal, or more lustworthy. :

[SeekingJoy]

Originally Posted by nerdymom

ahh, my pipe dream is this: an old farmhouse with an airy wrap around porch, refitted with the best insulation, solar panel roof, a good well, and a hundred acres in the Shenandoah to have my own homestead on. Grow all my own fruit and veg, raise my own pastured dairy, poultry, eggs, pork, beef. Have enough to sell/barter for dry goods and grains. A medium-sized house, enough for the kids to share, and for me to have a dedicated sewing space. Have enough land to offer the kids a plot to live on, build on. To tread lightly on the earth, to be a good steward of God's creation and animals...I can think of nothing more ideal, or more lustworthy. :

I think we would be neighbors.

If $ were no object, we would

* get a whole bunch of solar panels for our roof.
* install a whole house water filter with rain water collection system, cisterns, etc
* buy only organic, pastured local food
* solar water heater
* super insulate the house
* replace our bedding with non-toxic mattress, and organic sheets

[hillymum]

If money were no object,
I would buy the field behind our backyard and fill it with fruit trees.
I would have raised beds in my back yard for veg.
I would have rain barrels (instead of buckets ) to irrigate the plants.
All the windows would be replaced and new insulation put in the walls and ceilings. Carpets ripped out and replaced with wood floors.
All clothes woud be organic.
Food would be organic and locally grown, raised or made.
I would have a laundry room on the ground floor so I could walk out easier to airdry laundry.
I would have a huge covered wrap around porch.

This is my dream home, We currently live in my husbands dream home.

[LilMama23]

If money were no object - we'd have my dream home. A two story home in the middle of farm country with solar panels, rain barrels, a huge organic vegatable & fruit garden, and a clothesline outside. Inside would have all bamboo floors, closets with all organic clothes, pantry & fridge & freezer full of only organic, locally grown and produced foods, have organic beds & bedding, and eco-friendly housecleaners that clean my house with only natural cleaners.

A girl can dream.

[artparent]

i'm living next door to all of you i'm not sure where my partner lives, though my kids would be in heaven

*

[DaughterOfKali]

I'd have a whole house built with 'green' products. There are so many stylish, yet eco friendly products/supplies out there.

There are too many things to list here but let's just say that I want it all.

[Shakti77]

A house with a new addition on top - the addition would be green house with a sky window to let air in once in a while. I imagine my green house would produce tons of greens, veggies, etc

Green cleaning maid, definitely! so I'd have plenty of time to garden.

Green appliances

Really nice, well planned pantry that includes a cool dry room in the basement.

A nice green freezer, upright one only.

A front yard with moss instead of grass - needs no water, it would look green and it is a green option.

Solar panels, solar oven, etc.. to be more sustainable.

A green kitchen and the whole house for that matter. It will be a nice old house with character, but totally green. A couple of rooms will be off the grid.

Front porch with ceiling fans for the Toronto summers. A huge yard with organic garden. I'd hire a really good master organic gardener will plan and coach me for the first two years.

I'd look for really good furniture from thrift stores and refinish them myself with green options. No more particle board crap.

I'd get somebody visit me to henna+indigo my hair ('green' coloring option) instead of doing it myself.

Get a really cool green lunch box that's un-breakable and not plastic and looks very cool and keeps food warm.

All bakeware made of stainless steel, stone, and clay. No breakable glass bakeware.

What would I keep the same
----------------------------
- Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
- Cook every day. I absolutely love, love, LOVE to cook.
- Hanging laundry to dry (indoor only - I forget and leave it out overnight or when it rains. Drying in indoor clotheslines works just great for me.)
- Continue to garden. I'm just a newbie gardener and would continue with it even if I win the lottery.

[Helen_A]

OOOooo money no object...

Well -

Passive solar adaptions for the back of the house as south facing (glassed 3/4 height corridor, cost would be about £12K (not sure what this would be at current exchange rate though, lol), and would add a 'greenhouse' as a bonus).

Solar panels/tiles on the south facing roof - £30K would mean that we were net exporters to the grid by quite some margin as our power use is pretty low even by UK standards

Someone to come and sort out/remove the decking in the back garden and dig it over for veggies. Not sure of cost, but would pay happily to avoid a further year of DP not doing it!! Its a tiny tiny garden as well but he is more interested in moaning about my not having planted things when I can't until its dug and I'm pregnant and not up to digging this year!

Porch for the front of the house. About £3K for something wired, fully insulated, glassed.

Getting grey water sorted, plus installation of a tank (we are currently direct from mains here and it bothers me). CHP plant for hotwater/heating, plus solar hot water panels for the front (north) roof so not needing to use CHP between May and November for the water at least - would be about 20K all told.

Um... getting the kitchen sorted (not a 'green' thing as such, but it would be nice to have one that is actually going to function instead of being a shithole with dangerous wiring...) £10K would be an amazing kitchen, but £3K would do the job...


Although if truely money no object then a 300 acre estate somewhere would be, um, better as I could go and buy something already done (there is a country house with all adaptions on sale down the road from here, on higher ground than we are, still within an hours cycle of DPs work and already working as a farm for just under a million.....

[babysnyder'smommy]

install solar panels on our house

buy more egg laying and meat chickens

bigger garden...actually a huge garden!!

live in a cozy home off the grid!!

things i would keep...
buying all organic, local produce and eating a whole food diet

carpooling with friends to the co-op, playgroups...

hanging laundry to dry