environmentally friendly

How to Buy a Greener TV

jplatt — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 10:00:00 -0400

My friend Joe recently suffered a terrible tragedy: lightning struck near his house, and the resulting energy surge fried his coffee maker, alarm clock, old VCR and, worst of all, three TV sets.

And so Joe came to me, looking for advice on buying some energy-efficient TVs to replace the ones that he lost.

First of all, I told him to finally buy some surge protectors. Once he agreed to do that, I gave him the following advice:

1. Look for the ENERGY STAR logo. Qualified TVs use up to 30% less electricity than similar models, so make sure to use this as your starting point.

2. Skip the plasma. A recent study showed that plasma TVs use more electricity than large appliances like refrigerators. Ouch!

3. Skip the LCD. Liquid Crystal Display TVs use less electricity than plasmas, but one of the main chemicals in their manufacture, nitrogen trifluoride, was recently found to be 17,000 times more damaging to the climate than carbon dioxide. Double ouch.

4. Stick with the good old cathode ray. It may be hip and technologically savvy to have a flat-screen TV, but when it comes to energy efficiency, your old tube TVs still win hands down. Tube TVs have gotten much better in recent years, so you can still get an excellent image on a screen made with flat glass.

Sure, you can't hang a tube TV on your wall, but it's better than paying a fortune to your electric company.

No matter what you buy, you can save big bucks every year by unplugging your TV when it's not in use. Most models still suck in a fair amount of juice when they're not in use -- what's known as "standby" power -- so unplugging them turns them off much better than the "off" switch.

Plus, as an added bonus, unplugged TVs can't be destroyed by lightning. (Right, Joe?)

New Lenovo Laptop Earns PC Magazine's GreenTech Seal of Approval

jplatt — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 10:04:36 -0400

I'm in the market for a new laptop, but as a responsible buyer, I want to make sure I pick a computer that uses as little energy as possible and which has been manufactured using environmentally responsible methods.

The new Lenovo ThinkPad X200 fits both of those criteria. The laptop meets Energy Star and RoHS qualifications, and gets a Silver EPEAT rating from the Green Electronics Council (which rankes energy efficiency, use of potentially toxic materials, recyclability and packaging, among other criteria).

PC Magazine tested the X200 and found more good news: its battery lasts around 6 hours, and the laptop uses just 14 watts of electricity when idle. This earned the X200 PC Magazine's "GreenTech Approved" seal.

The basic ThinkPad X200 starts shipping next month at a price of $1,199.

Act With Your Wallet: Do Business With Green Companies

jplatt — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 12:00:00 -0400

Every home and business in America relies on technology. But picking the right technology -- and the right technology provider -- can be a daunting challenge.

But if you're serious about acting green, it doesn't hurt to insist that the companies you do business also act in an environmentally responsible manner.

Sometimes that's easy. If a product is specifically marketed as "green," you have at least a few facts that you can use to help make your decision to buy it or not.

But sometimes the decision is harder, like when you're looking beyond an individual product to a company's entire environmental philosphy. Toward that end, here are just a few questions you can start to ask that can help you come up with an answer:

Do they use reclycled or recyclable materials?
Do they ship their products in an environmentally friendly manner?
Have they made any commitment to using renewable energy sources?
Can their electronic be recycled with a minimum of poisonous e-waste?
Are they involved in any causes, or do they donate to any environmental charities?

You can also rely on information that others have come up, such as these lists of "green companies":

Meanwhile, you can also look beyond your technology devices to find out if any company you buy products or services from is truly acting green. Think about your banks, grocery stores, local restaurants, etc., etc., etc.

Good information makes better green consumers. So start your research, and if you have any other criterial you use when selecting a green business partner, post a response here and let us know!

From Green to Greenest

jchatraw — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0400

I'm sure we all have friends who just aren't quite there with the green lifestyle. Maybe just convincing them to recycle is like trying to persuade the Pope to become a protestant--it's a waste of your breath. Or maybe you have friends who have waded into the kiddie pool but aren't sure just how deep they want to go with this eco-lifestyle thing.

Well, here comes Lori Bongiorno's new book Green, Greener, Greenest: A practical guide to making eco-smart choices a part of your life to save the day. In the book, Bongiorno takes everyday products and consumer choices and shows you ways that you can be green, greener or greenest. It's non-threatening and isn't in the least bit condescending--definitely a breath of fresh air among some of the green brow beatings going on in the book realm. Everyone can feel good about taking a step forward and becoming more green.

Here's a green nugget from her book:

Most of us are aware of the dangers of overexposure to the sun, and it's pretty common knowledge that we need to seek out "broadspectrum" sunscreen—products that protect us from both the ultraviolet B (UVB) and ultraviolet A (UVA) radiation. However, a 2007 study by the Environmental Working Group says we may not be getting all the protection we need, even if we use sunscreens with high sun protection factor (SPF) ratings. That's not the only concerning news that came out of the EWG report. The bottom line: only 16 percent of the products on the market today are both safe and effective, meaning that they block both UVA and UVB radiation, remain stable in sunlight, and contain few if any ingredients with significant known or suspected health hazards. ...

Green
Use the best sunscreen to fit your needs. Because there are so many factors to consider when purchasing sunscreen and the stakes are high, the best thing you can do to find the safest and most effective products is to visit www.cosmeticsdatabase.com.

Greener
Don't rely only on sunscreen. Follow this advice from the American Cancer Society:
* Limit exposure to direct sunlight from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. when the sun's ultraviolet rays are most intense. The sun's rays are strongest if your shadow is shorter than you are. UV radiation can also pass through water and reflects off of sand and snow.
* Wear a hat with at least a two- to three-inch brim all around or shade caps, which look like baseball caps with a long piece of material draping down the sides and back. ...

Greenest
Urge the FDA, www.fda.gov, to set mandatory sunscreen safety standards, develop UVA standards, and approve new effective and safe sunscreens in the United States.

Shop (Green), but Not 'Til You Drop

jchatraw — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Adopting a greener lifestyle sometimes puts me at odds with the very lifestyle I desire. I want a more simplistic lifestyle, one that's not driven by our consumeristic society. But at the same time, I'm told I need to buy certain products to make that happen. When those colliding ideas are exploding in my head, it makes me want to run for the woods and live like the Wilders.

In Diane McEachern's new book Big Green Pursue: Use Your Spending Power to Create a Cleaner, Greener World, these two ideas that seem at odd with each other are neatly reconciled. McEachern does a great job of addressing this tension while giving the reader a clear path to move forward and understand how their new approach to spending can make a difference.

Here's a green nugget from her book:

Okay, let's get the "sacrifice" message out there in the open first. If we really want to protect the planet, we have to stop consuming so many resources and producing so much waste. There's a reason "reduce" is the first R in the environmental mantra "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle." Between 1972 and 1987, the U.S. population grew by only 16 percent – but the amount of garbage we generated increased by 35 percent. Right now, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), each one of us throws away three-quarters of a ton of garbage every year. All together, that's enough trash to fill the Louisiana Superdome twice a day, everyday. If we each cut waste by only 5 percent, we could collective "lose" more than 20 billion pounds of trash every year. Talk about a diet worth sticking to?

Hot News About Water Heaters

jplatt — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 12:05:35 -0400

They may have released the news on April 1st, but this is no joke: the Department of Energy has finally announced ENERGY STAR® criteria for water heaters, a move that could save Americans millions of dollars (and millions of pounds of carbon emissions) every year.

There are already federal standards for water heaters, but these new criteria take things several steps further.

The ENERGY STAR® criteria will be rolled out in two phases -- the first effective January 1, 2009, with the second effective September 1, 2010. The criteria vary for the five types of water heaters (high-performance gas storage, whole-home gas tankless, advanced drop-in or integrated heat pump, solar, and gas condensing), but they all raise the standards well above the existing minimums.

Meanwhile, GE took the opportunity announce what it says are the first two water heaters already compliant with the new criteria. The first of these, the GE Tankless Gas Water Heater, will be available this May. Their innovative new GE Hybrid Electric Water Heater is expected to so go sale in the fourth quarter of 2009.

Granted, these criteria won't help you if you're in the market for a new water heater today, but if you read up on the new rules, you'll be a better educated consumer, and your water will be hot without causing more global warming.

Build a Greener Web Site or Blog

jplatt — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 01:00:00 -0400

I love reading magazines online. I can instantly surf to the stories I want to read, and there are no paper copies to recycle. Nothing could be greener, right?

But what about all of that energy that goes into displaying a web site on my computer screen? My computer is using power, and so are the computers and servers that deliver that site to me. And if I found the site through Google or some other search engine, a whole new set of energy-burning devices enters the equation. Every click I make means power plants are spewing more carbon emissions into the atmosphere.

Meanwihle, I have several web sites of my own, plus a few blogs. All of them burn energy every time someone looks at them.

What's a green-thinking web-surfer/site owner to do?

One solution is CO2Stats -- a free widget you can easily add to your web site or blog (and which I just added to my blog here). The CO2Stats widget monitors how much electricity is being used to power my site. It displays a tiny, unobtrusive advertisement, and the CO2Stats Project uses that income to invest in renewable energy projecs to offset my site's carbon emissions. Meanwhile, the widget displays an estimate of how much CO2 has been offset by my site, and reminds visitors that they can act greener, too.

For businesses who want to green-up their sites, there's also a paid version ($9.95 a month) which is advertising-free and provides detailed analytics of your site's visitors.

Do you have other ideas on creating a greener web site? Let's hear them!

Can Products Be More Green?

jchatraw — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 04:15:57 -0400

In their book Cradle to Cradle, authors William McDonough and Michael Braungart succinctly explain why we need to rethink the way we're making things, putting environmental concerns ahead of cost point or ease of production. With an architect and a chemist serving as your guides throughout the book, McDonough and Braungart don't go brow beating as much as they go about asking the pertinent and relevant questions.

While not everyone may be on board with some of the questions they raised, what they said made sense. It left me asking questions, too.

Here's a green nugget from Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the way we make things:

"The design intention behind the current industrial infrastructure is to make an attractive product that is affordable, meets regulations, performs well enough, and last long enough to meet market expectations. Such a product fulfills the manufacturer's desires and some of the customers' expectations as well. But from our perspective, products that are not designed particularly for human and ecological health are unintelligent and inelegant—what we call crude products.

For example, the average mass-produced piece of polyester clothing and typical water bottle both contain antimony, a toxic heavy metal known to cause cancer under certain circumstances. Let's put aside for the moment the issues of whether this substance represents a specific danger to the user. The question we would pose as designers is: Why is it here? Is it necessary? Actually, it is not necessary: antimony is a current catalyst in the polymerization process and is not necessary for polyester production. What happens when this discarded product is 'recycled' (that is, downcycled) and mixed with other materials?"

Eco Friendly Promotional Products

HighEndPromo — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 18:05:55 -0400

We are a family owned organization in the Promotional Products Industry and we've recently decided that there needs to be a transition in the industry to a more eco-friendly way of promoting different businesses.

We are dedicated to doing our part in saving the environment while giving companies choices when promoting their business. Hence the birth of HighEndPromo.com. Our Primary focus is on Eco-Friendly products.

We have a growing product line of products created from organic, recycled and biodegradeable products. We will continue to expand our product line to include more innovative and unique ECO-FRIENDLY PROMOTIONAL PRODUCTS. Please continue to support us as we do our part to contribute to our environment.

We are very excited to introduce SOYBEAN FIBER PRODUCTS! READ MORE.....

Download Our Catalog

ECO-FRIENDLY PRODUCTS

Cut Waste: Download Your Movies

jplatt — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Toshiba announced today that it will probably write off nearly $1 billion in losses following its decision to dry-dock its HD DVD format. Beyond that, thousands of customers are now going to have to write off their purchases of HD DVD players and movies. And where are all of those players and movies going to end up? That's right -- landfills around the globe.

Blu-Ray may have won the battle, but the HD format war isn't over. New technologies are already being developed which will once again vie for market dominance. And meanwhile, your old players and movies are still sitting there, hoping you won't replace them and toss them like day-old bread.

So, if you haven't already invested in a Blu-ray player, you might want to consider a new video format that will never end up in the trash: a download. Numerous services (including Vongo, Netflix, and Amazon's Unbox) now offer you the chance to download movies directly onto your PC, either as temporary "rentals" or as files you get to keep forever.

Sure, you might not immediately think of your PC as your home entertainment center, but studies show that people are now spending more time in front of their computers than their TVs, so why not complete that transition?