|
|
|
||
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
||||
|
|
|
|
||
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
||||
|
|
|||
 |
|||
|
DEAR EARTHTALK: How often do I
really need to change my car's oil? Conventional wisdom has always
put it at every 3,000 miles to prevent engine wear, but isn't
changing oil that frequently wasteful and unnecessary? Also, what is
the "greenest" and longest-lasting oil I should use?
According to the automotive website Edmunds.com, the answer depends more on driving patterns than anything else. Those who rarely drive more than 10 miles at a time (which doesn't get the oil hot enough to boil off moisture condensation) or who start their car frequently when the oil isn't hot (when most engine wear occurs) should change their oil more often - at least twice a year, even if that's every 1,000 miles, according to Edmunds. But commuters who drive more than 20 miles a day on mostly flat freeway can go as far as their owner's manual recommends, if not longer, between changes. As a car ages, more frequent changes might be in order, but that's for a qualified mechanic to decide on a case-by-case basis. "The necessity of 3,000 mile oil changes is a myth that has been handed down for decades," writes Austin Davis, proprietor of the website TrustMyMechanic.com. He says that the economics of the oil change industry demand pushing customers to get their oil changed more frequently - purportedly as "cheap insurance" against problems cropping up - whether they need it or not. One of the largest oil change chains, Jiffy Lube, for instance, is owned by Pennzoil-Quaker State, and as such has an incentive to sell as much of the company's traditional petroleum-based oil as possible. One way to reduce trips to and money spent unnecessarily on quick-lube outlets is to switch to synthetic oils, which last longer and perform better than their traditional petroleum-based counterparts. Davis says that educated drivers should opt for longer lasting, better performing synthetic oils, which are "most likely good for 10,000 to 15,000 miles or six months" whether or not their manufacturers recommend more frequent changes or not. Some synthetic motor oils, like Amsoil, NEO and Red Line, to name a few, are created specifically to last 25,000 miles or one year before needing a change.
CONTACTS: Edmunds.com; TrustMyMechanic.com.
DEAR EARTHTALK:
Can those energy-efficient compact fluorescent light
bulbs that are popular now cause headaches because of the flickering
they do? I converted my whole house over last fall and both my kids
were complaining of headaches on and off. WITH A SWITCH to energy efficient compact fluorescent (CFL) light bulbs already in full swing in the U.S. and elsewhere - Australia has banned incandescents, Britain will soon, and the U.S. begins a phase-out of incandescents in 2012 - more and more complaints have arisen about the new bulbs causing headaches. Many experts say that the issue is being overblown, however, that there is no scientific evidence that the bulbs cause headaches and that a kind of hysteria has grown out of a small number of anecdotal reports.
However, modern, electronically ballasted CFLs refresh themselves at between 10,000 and 40,000 cycles per second, rates too fast for the human eye or brain to detect. "As far as I'm aware there is no association between headaches and the use of compact fluorescent lamps," says Phil Scarbro of Energy Federation Incorporated (EFI), a leading distributor of energy efficiency-related products - including many CFLs. But Magda Havas, an Environmental & Resource Studies Ph.D. at Canada's Trent University, says that some CFLs emit radio frequency radiation that can cause fatigue, dizziness, ringing in the ears, eyestrain, even migraines. You can test to see if CFLs in your home give off such radiation, she says, by putting a portable AM radio near one that's on and listening for extra static the closer you get. She says that such electromagnetic interference should also be of concern to people using cell phones and wireless computers. Sometimes headaches are due to eyestrain from inadequate lighting. When replacing an incandescent bulb with a CFL, pay attention to the lumens, which indicate the amount of light a bulb gives out (watts measure the energy use of a bulb, not the light generated). A 40-watt incandescent bulb can be replaced by an 11-14 watt CFL because the lumen ouput is approximately the same (490); a 100-watt incandescent can be replaced by a 26-29 watt CFL, both providing about 1,750 lumens. If you're still skeptical, replace a 40-watt incandescent with a 60-watt equivalent 15-19 watt CFL, which will boost lumens to 900. Another consideration is color temperature (measured in degrees "Kelvin"). CFLs rated at 2,700 Kelvin give off light in the more pleasing red/yellow end of the color spectrum, closer to that of most incandescents. Bulbs rated at 5,000 Kelvin and above (usually older ones) give off a less pleasing white/blue light. The Environmental Defense website provides a handy chart comparing the watts and lumens of incandescents versus CFLs, along with further discussion about color temperature. CONTACTS: EFI; Environmental Defense.
DEAR EARTHTALK:
I've read that household cleaners contain cancer-causing
toxic ingredients. What should I do, then, to keep my house clean but
also safe for my kids? WHILE MUCH of the research is mixed or inconclusive, a variety of human and animal studies have linked chemicals common in household cleaning products with a wide range of health risks. The most offensive common ingredients, according to a 2006 study by the University of California Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, are ethylene-based glycol, used commonly as a water-soluble solvent in cleaning agents and classified as a hazardous air pollutant by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and terpenes, a class of chemicals found in lemon, pine and orange oils that can morph into carcinogenic compounds when they mix with ground-level ozone.
According to the non-profit Cancer Prevention Coalition, some other problematic chemicals found in many household cleaners include crystalline silica, an irritant to the eyes and lungs and a likely carcinogen, and butyl cellosolve, which has been linked to kidney and liver problems and is reportedly toxic to forming cells. The group lists dozens of other potentially dangerous ingredients in household products on the "Hazardous Ingredients in Household Products" PDF available for free on its website. Gaiam, a leading purveyor of green household and lifestyle items, reports that the average American household contains between three and 25 gallons of toxic materials, mostly in the form of household cleaners filled with petrochemical solvents designed to dissolve dirt. The company bemoans the fact that no law requires cleaning products manufacturers to list ingredients on their labels or to test their products for safety, leaving it up to consumers to make sure their homes are not only clean, but also non-toxic. Luckily there are plenty of "greener" alternatives now widely available from manufacturers like Gaiam, Earth Friendly Products, Citra-Solv, Ecover, Mrs. Meyers, Sun and Earth, SimpleGreen, Method, and Seventh Generation, among many others. Even big players are getting in on the act. Clorox recently released a new line of home cleaning products under the Green Works label to attract a greening clientele. For those so inclined, making your own green cleaning solutions is easy and cheap. According to The Green Guide, consumers can "circumvent the armada of commercial cleaners" by keeping handy an ample supply of eight ingredients for nearly every do-it-yourself cleaning job: baking soda, borax, distilled white vinegar, hydrogen peroxide, lemons, olive oil, vegetable-based (liquid castile) soap, and washing soda. CONTACTS: Cancer Prevention Coalition; Gaiam; Earth Friendly Products; Citra-Solv; Ecover; Clorox Green Works; Mrs. Meyers; Sun and Earth; Seventh Generation; SimpleGreen; Method Green Home Care Products.
© the Editors of E/The Environmental Magazine, 2008
GOT AN ENVIRONMENTAL QUESTION? Read the column archives at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalk/archives.php. |
|||
 |
|||
|
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
|
|||
THERE IS MUCH DEBATE
in the automotive world over how often drivers of typical passenger
cars or light trucks should change their oil. The quick-lube chains
usually recommend it be done every three months or 3,000 miles, but
many mechanics would tell you that such frequent changes are overkill.
Indeed, most car owner's manuals recommend changing out the oil
less frequently, usually after 5,000 or 7,500 miles.
While neither conventional nor synthetic motor oils are good for the environment
if disposed of improperly or spilled, most environmentalists would opt
for the latter since it lasts three or more times longer and thus reduces
waste (or energy use if recycled). Researchers have been experimenting
with producing greener motor oils - one pilot project out of Purdue
University has produced high-quality, carbon-neutral motor oil from
canola crops - but consumers should not expect to see such products
on store or garage shelves anytime soon, as the costs of production
are high and the availability of cropland is limited. But the very existence
of such alternatives - no doubt more are in the offing - bodes well
for the future as oil becomes more scarce and expensive.
Industry experts acknowledge that day-to-day exposure to older, magnetically
ballasted long tube fluorescent bulbs found mostly in industrial and
institutional settings could cause headaches due to their noticeable
flicker rate. The human brain can detect the 60 cycles per second such
older bulbs need to refresh themselves to keep putting out light.
