Mar

Sustainable and inspirational

From the bamboo sheets he sleeps on to the the bike he commutes on, Jim Di Loreto’s commitment to living a sustainable lifestyle permeates everything he does.

Jim Di Loreto, a photographer with the Natural History Museum, is one of the greenest guys at the Smithsonian. At work, he recycles everything possible, and as the property custodian for his office, he is responsible for making sure unwanted equipment gets properly surplused or recycled. For his photography work he often has to rig up mounts or frames to help stage the right shot, so he has salvaged and repurposed discarded parts and materials to build what he needs. Even his desk was an IKEA desk abandoned as trash at his former condo community center.

Jim’s approach to living sustainably comes primarily from his emphasis on efficiency and cost savings. He never buys bottled water but instead uses refillable metal water bottles since tap water is free and clean. He uses reusable shopping bags to avoid single-use plastic bags. He also bikes to work every day no matter what the weather─ 40 to 50 miles each week. Since 1999 he has biked more than 32,000 miles, saving a fortune in gas, parking, auto insurance and repair, and he is healthier for it.

James Di Loreto proudly displays his home’s LEED certification. (Photo by James Di Loreto)

Living green outside of work, Jim’s house is also very sustainable. Jim qualified for affordable housing and through a D.C. Government lottery won the right to purchase a new row house in a LEED (Leadership Development in Energy & Design) Development Community in the Brookland/Catholic University neighborhood. The LEED Silver-certified community was built by EYA developers who specialize in sustainable housing. Jim visited the construction site every week during the nine- month project. The house was built using FSC (Forest Stewardship Council)- certified wood, has a reflective roof with R19 insulation and R30 insulation in the ceiling, and is equipped with EnergyStar rated appliances. Recirculation fans bring in fresh air regularly and low-VOC (volatile organic compound) carpeting and paint keep the internal air quality good. Jim’s windows are double-pane, insulated and argon-filled for energy-efficiency; he has also added a film to block ultraviolet rays. The house came with efficient CFL (compact fluorescent light) bulbs, but Jim has already replaced them with even more efficient LED lights. He donated the CFLs to Community Forklift so others could put them to use. The house was furnished with low-flow plumbing fixtures, but Jim converted the toilets to dual flush and added extra insulation to the hot water pipes and tank to save even more water.

Jim even sleeps green. His bed sheets and bath towels are made from bamboo, a renewable and sustainable resource. He has begun making his own household cleaners from baking soda and vinegar to avoid chemicals and the costs of commercial cleaners. He also participates in Pepco’s Energy Wise program, which controls his thermostat, cycling it on and off during peak use periods in the summer to balance energy use against the demands on the grid, saving Jim money and reducing his impact on the environment.

It would be hard to top Jim’s dedication to sustainable living, but Smithsonian staff are finding ways to live and work greener every day. If any of these ideas interest you, make them your own. Every change makes a difference.

Neither rain nor snow nor heat nor gloom of night…(Photos by left, John Steiner and right, Eli Meir Kaplan)

A version of this post by Eric Hollinger was originally published by the Office of Facilities Managment and Reliability’s Sustainability Matters newsletter.