Oh dear, this is what happens when I get super busy — I forget to think up a green change, then panic about it the next day, and end up in a mad scramble, having to do one of the dreaded things on my ongoing list that I’ve been hoping to push until the very end of my challenge. Today, that thing is sweeping with a broom and dustpan instead of vacuuming.
I love my vacuum. I really do. It’s cute and little and red and it sucks hard. I can get in every nook and cranny, and it’s so satisfying walking around afterwards without anything sticking to the bottoms of my socks.
Alas, vacuuming does suck up a ton of electricity, so from this day forward, I’m leaving it in the closet and using my broom instead. There’s going to be one exception, though: The day I move out of my apartment and into a house, I’ll most definitely need to run Little Red around before I leave for the sake of the newcomers.
Image of rainbow-coloured dustpans courtesy of Aviana on Flickr
Amy and I were thinking about vacuum cleaners the other day and it dawned on me what a profoundly absurd thing they are. As she loves to clean and is an asthmatic, we have a Dyson, but it’s still interesting when you think about them.
Before wall-to-wall carpeting, we had wood, stone, or tile floors. Cleaning these floors is low-tech, green, and simple. You just get out a broom and sweep. My parents, who have something like five dogs, ultimately removed our carpeting and replaced it with tile because the dogs were tracking in so much sand and mud. They just leave the broom out and sweep once a day or so to get the sand up. But, I guess because so many people dislike a cold floor, we got wall-to-wall carpeting as a standard. In order to keep a carpet clean, you need a complex appliance that uses electricity. If you REALLY want to clean it, you need a steamer, which is even more complex and even more of a resource hog.
The vacuum cleaner is a solution to a problem created by the “modern convenience” of carpeting. Had we not bothered with carpeting, who would really need a vacuum cleaner for daily use? Of course, friends have pointed out to me that hard floors are uncomfortable and cold in the winter, but it seems to me that we had a solution for hard and cold floors– slippers. Which is greener…a floor that lasts forever made out of well-sourced wood or ceramic plus a broom and slippers, or a floor that lasts only a couple of years made from plastics plus an electric appliance?
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that my place is all hardwood (or rather fake hardwood), except for the stairs. Still, though, I feel that sweeping doesn’t suck up all those really small particles of dust.
There is a way that you could use your vacuum, and other such appliances and feel guilt free *accept for the plastic that is used on them, but it’s recyclable.*.
If you’re willing to spend…say…$500 bucks, and you have a some space for a small solar panel, and two 6V batteries…there’s no reason why you couldn’t keep the appliances you have and create a little solar power spot.
I built one for my backyard that I recently upgraded…I power all my power tools off it, charge my cordless electric mower and more.
Here’s what I put together:
-1 64watt solar panel (Uni-solar)
-2 6Volt deepcycle golf cart batteries (ran together to form one large 12 volt)
- One charge controller
- One coleman 3500 watt inverter
Connect those together and you have yourself a guilt free power supply for your yard or even in your house if you mount your inverter inside.
This is awesome because you can always have your cell phone chargers on that inverter, vacuums, rechargeable anythings…etc…
It’s seriously easy to do, and rather than keep a vacuum you won’t use or give it to someone that may just throw it in the dump eventually…keep it and use it guilt free!
I love mine…I’m actually upgrading my battery bank this spring and adding 7 more panels for a total of 8 64watters…I can’t wait.
You won’t believe how cool it is and what an awesome feeling you’ll get about powering up things with clean solar power. I get all excited thinking about how much power I’m not taking off the grid for those things…but I’m a total environmental geek!
Cheers,
Morgan,
That’s awesome, and I’m actually looking at doing the same! Make magazine has plans and instructions for building a simple 20W solar charging system, actually. Our problem is the lack of a place to get good sun exposure, but we’re working on it.
Vanessa,
You can pretty easily shred some old rags up and attach them to a stick. Instant dust mop. Just spritz with a little water or vinegar and go to town. My parents used to do it in their younger days.
Vanessa, if you want to get all the dust off the floor but don’t want to vaccum your hardwood floors, why don’t you just get an old t-shirt wet or something and wipe them up? That way you are still getting the dust up and you will not be using your vaccum.
I found your site through the Alive mag.
The story they printed was inspiring to me, I am always looking for very small ways to change the way I do things. I feel like I am super busy and can’t give up my car and big things like that.
Thanks for showing me how to do the small things that can lead to big changes!!
i’m not so sure about carpets being a modern convenience… i think persian rugs (although they’re rugs, not carpets) have been around for a couple of centuries. we use them all over the house, and i’m talking huge rugs that cover entire rooms. although this is not me disagreeing with the getting rid of the vacuum. i think it’s a great idea
and if you have no rugs in the house, then you’re set, ’cause those things take a lot of effort to broom.
Yes, but a rug — even a big rug — can be hauled outdoors and smacked with a broom till the dust and dirt come off. It’s the tacked-down nature of wall-to-wall that makes the vacuum and steamer necessary.
What martha1955 said. It’s not rugs…those are fine, even the big ones. It’s the wall-to-wall carpeting that creates the problem.
The moment I’m not renting someone else’s property, the carpet’s going…not just because I think it’s silly, but because Amy’s an asthmatic, and carpets in Florida get damp from the humid air and become breeding grounds for mold and mites.
Apparently, the best way to clean a rug is to wait till there’s snow on the ground, then flip the carpet upside down on it. Beat it from the bottom, and all the dust and dirt sticks to the snow. But I’ve never yet tried it…
I find a broom and dustpan stirs up hair and fine dust, though it’s good for big messes. I love my dry mop with removable, washable pad. It gets smooth flooring clean right to the corners and swivels easily and reaches under the beds, etc. The difficulty for you may be the cleaning of the pad when it gets quite hair-covered and dust-clumped. I vacuum mine off. Then I can wash it. (Hey, it’s better than vacuuming the whole place! And honestly, I think the house gets cleaner.) You might have to pick off the biggest dust or hair balls (which your compost worms will love) and then beat the heck out of it against the side of the house–outside, of course!